16-Month Mark - Only 2 months to go! (02/23/2015)

Holo Madre!
I can't believe it is the end of February!! I am totally gonna freak when March 1st comes along. Today is my 16 month mark, so I am already freaking a little bit. It feels like I just got here in Oregon and yet I feel so much time has gone by as well. I have no idea how I'm gonna handle being home with no set schedule. Here is the District I was in before this last transfer, with the exception of the guy in the vest. 

Of course, me and Sisters Burrell and Chalfant (lower left). The one kneeling right above me is our District Leader. Above him is his previous companion who is now home. The other two are the Waldport Elders and our Senior Missionary couple, the Deals.
So, I can't seem to find the Pancit recipe. Could you resend it to me? I will be making it for the Relief Society birthday party in March. I'll just do a half-batch though, since the last time I made it it was just gigantic and no one has a pan big enough.
Here are a bunch of pictures from the Tide Pools last p-day. It was all pretty much on the shore. We got to go at low tide and it was totally perfect. Since it was President's Day, we got to get in for free!!! It was a great, long walk up too, since we had to walk across treacherous cobblestones to get to them. Talk about unsure footing.

The green things are the Anemone. We weren't allowed to touch the Starfish since they are recovering from a mysterious disease they had back in June of last year. 

No oysters, but we did see a lot of mussels. There were entire beds of them everywhere that we were advised not to step on. Totally not allowed to touch them or pick them up. You'd be literally tearing them out of their home and possibly body if you're not careful. 

The only thing we were allowed to take out of the area was drift wood, which I have a huge armful of now to make something super cool ;)  Not sure yet who I'll give it to yet though. I did make something for Mara and Josh that I'll be sending today hopefully. I got a 'Living Christ' and put it in a bigger frame. Then, around the edges I cut out different pictures/scenes with Jesus and put them around the border. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself ;) I'll take a picture of it and send it to you later so you can see it. And you can tell Jimbo that I got him a birthday present that I'll be sending but he isn't to open it until his birthday hehehe ;)
Seals and tons of birds hangin' out on a little rock island thing we couldn't get to.

And here are some super cool pictures that any one missionary who comes to the coast has to get :)

Photo on the left is a bed of mussels.
I got a Valentine's package full of awesome chocolates and letters from Jay and Kim and the kids. Please tell them Thank you from me :)
Hahaha (no sugar allowed in the house) sounds ok to me as long as I get to have my Foo Chow chinese food when I get home. I am dying for Foo Chow and Roma's. And even more for my bookshelf. I am just going to stare at my books for a while when I get home and then take them off the shelf, put them on my bed and sleep with them. They've been oh so neglected ;)
<Mom's response to Sister Duenas: "So, you want me to go move your books around for you? Then they won't feel so neglected......muwahahaha <evil laugh> ;)   >
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! DON'T YOU TOUCH MY BABIES!!!!  unless you are going to dust them of course, then feel free :)    I WILL know if they are out of order :(
What?! Movies I understand going without, but how have you lived without Foo Chow for 16 months?? I had to live without any good chinese food for a year until I got to Central Point. Now I'm in heaven with 5 chinese restaurants pretty close by. Seriously, Newport is amazing and I would totally consider living here permanently.
This is a new project I am doing. I've learned how to crochet and I am making a washcloth for whoever what's it :) 

I've been super crafty lately...that's just scary. I'm crocheting, made the 'Living Christ' frame thing, made a Plan of Salvation out of felt, made a Restoration tower out of Jenga blocks, and now I have my favorite "Armor of God" man to substitute for "Hangman". Crafts are addicting once you get into them. Scary, scary....hahaha. Seriously, I have soooo many visuals for nearly any kind of lesson now it isn't even funny. They are all pretty cool though. I'm proud of them :)
ADIOS! Love you too!!
xoxoxoxoooo.............and back <3
Pooks

Homework - Study the Atonement and Resurrection (02/16/2015)

Holo Madre!
We get to go to the Portland Temple March 4th! So very excited!. I have written a letter for Jimbo in response to the letter he just sent me. Great letter, highlight of the day award :)  Tell Roger and Lynne I got their card as well, and the money. Please tell them that I said Thanks and that I can't wait to get back there to see everyone. Also got the chocolates and card from Gma Darling, yummy! and a card from the Collyers/Momma C. Tell everyone thanks for me. Tell Patty Mayonnaise I said HI as well!

Yes, We are still serving in the Food Bank and we might be helping out in the garden soon too.

Check this out! Lilian Lane is the north boundary on the coastal area of the Oregon Eugene Mission. It is at the tippy top of Depoe Bay. Technically if we stepped over it we'd still be okay and in our boundaries but if we went around the bend past it then we would be in Oregon Salem Mission territory.

 

The Alaskan senior couple is finally here in the OEM Mission Office. It'll be fun now that we have two sets of Christiansens in the office. We also got two Chinese sisters! Great things are going to happen in the OEM! Haven't met the Chinese Sisters yet since I'm out on the coast. We will be having a mission wide conference though with Elder Nielsen again on the 24th so I might get to meet them. Homework for the mission-wide conference is to study the resurrection and Atonement...oh darn ;)    Seriously one of the greatest subjects to focus on. Since it is the entire mission there's no telling if I'll have to talk or not. We all have to prepare a talk and I don't know how many will be asked to speak. 

Valentine's Day was just like any other day for the most part. We got some valentines from the young women and some 'mystery' white and pink tulips with chocolate covered strawberries from someone ;)  Thanks Mom! 

We had scheduled lessons for that day, but when our people remembered that it was Valentines Day they all cancelled on us. Such is mission life. So instead we went outside and street contacted since everyone was outside anyway enjoying the beautiful day. 

To end the day, we had the evening session of Stake Conference. Despite the holiday there was a good number of people present. It was a great session and Elder David Evans of the Quorum of the Seventy is an awesome speaker. He was someone you wanted to listen to, you could tell that really loves the people and you could just feel that the Spirit and him are good friends. The Stake Conference was a lot about councils; Ward councils, family councils and then down to the smallest husband and wife councils. It was great for the members to know that the bishopric and all the other auxiliaries always council together in keeping the ward unified and healthy. I think most people think that the bishop is always the one who makes all the decisions, but often it is really a group of people making decisions based on what's best for the ward or branch. Elder Evans also talked about forgiveness, both giving and receiving. He mentioned that when we confess to the Lord and have gone through the repentance process that, as it states in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord remembers them (our sins) no more. Of course you, I and many others already know that scripture well, but then he added this wonderful insight. Once we have repented and the Lord has forgiven us, virtue lost becomes virtue again. The lair becomes honest (in a way) again and all is set back into original place with a nice clean slate to instead make the right choices. Of course I couldn't remember what he said exactly so it's a paraphrase but you get the idea. The Atonement is a beautiful gift and I am grateful to be out and sharing it.

Love you! I'll make sure to get pictures at the tide pools.

xoxoxooooo

Pooks

Finish the Race Strong (02/09/2015)

Holo Madre, 
Yes I got the little package! I absolutely love the little Book of Mormon!! I have given it a name it is so adorable, it's name is Bomito. BoM = Book of Mormon and then -ito for little :)

We have been getting tons and tons of rain this past week, and today I think is the worst. I had to drive from Corvallis back to Newport this morning at 6:45am in the crazy sideways rain and impatient drivers. It wasn't bad, though I had stayed up with Sister Haugen (love her!) helping her pack and stuff til midnight last night and so I was really tired since we had to wake up at 5:30 the next day for transfers :) We all drove up to Corvallis so Sister Burrell could get to the transfer spot at 6:30 and we wouldn't have to wake up at 4am to get her there from Newport. We stayed with Sister Haugen and her PA companion Sister Geisler and had way too much fun talking all night long. She is going to Riverside Grants Pass, neighbor to my Missionary "birthplace" (first area of her mission) Redwood.

My companions wanted to see how long my hair could get. So, of course, that means they had to straighten it. I have very long hair right now :)

           

Last P-Day... laundry, eat, and wrote letters. A rare nice relaxing P-Day :). We hope to go to the tide pools next Monday since it says it'll be sunny. The low tide is at 4:30 pm so I'll make sure to get pictures to you the next Monday since I'll have already emailed.

Believe me. I am in hyper-drive trying to get everything done here before I go. There is work still needed to be done and 3 months is nothing. We had a specialized training this last week and those of us going home in May, June and July have been given a challenge. Since we are the last of the people who answered the call immediately after the change (aka. part of The Wave) we are part of history and we are to be finishing the race strong and not slowing down because we see the end of the tunnel. Missionaries leaving in the month of May (me!) have been challenged to get 2 baptisms before they leave, missionaries leaving in June - 3 baptisms, and missionaries leaving in July - 4 baptisms. We are all pretty excited about it and feel the spirit working within us. As soon as President issued the challenge I thought of certain people we needed to get more serious on working with. We have a great teaching pool but now we need to really light the spiritual fire under them. These last months are going to fly by and I just hope I'll be able to help Newport out in some way before I get to the chopping block and have to leave these wonderful people :)
Time to go grocery shopping now.
Love you,
Pooks

02/02/2015
Had a super fun time playing "Minute To Win It" game for Newport Ward activity.
There were five challenges that each team member had to complete. Our team placed a very close 2nd overall. 

1- Sail boat races; paper sail boat to blow around a "buoy" (rock) with a straw, most lap in the minute wins.

2- M&M Mover; suck up M&M with a straw and transfer it over into a cup at the other end of the table. I did this one and tied with another member, he one the second time. Though since he is a bagpipe player I feel like he cheated. Who would be able to beat that great lung capacity?

3- Penne Pick Up; spaghetti noodle in mouth to skewer a penne noodles and transfer it to the plate. No hands.

4- Cookie Face; move oreo cookie from forehead down to mouth just using your face muscles. Totally got it ;).

5- Stocking Smackdown; with a stocking that has a tennis ball stuffed in the end on your head you must knock over half filled water bottles on the ground. Super funny to watch.

M&M Challenge - part 1

M&M Challenge - part 2

Winners of the Oreo Cookie challenge

Still Loving Newport! (01/26/2015)

Hi Mom!

Yes, I am liking the ocean more but it still makes me nervous. The ocean is nice just to take pictures of and walk on the beach, but definitely not going in it now or in the future unless on a boat (but not as a missionary) :) It's pretty to look at, but not to touch because of obvious reasons like getting 'eaten' :)

We do "walk week" or "walk day" stuff to contact more people on the streets, and to be seen and save on gas and miles. We usually have certain people we are seeing each day who are in specific areas, so we plan finding places and times for walking/tracting based on our appointments. We don't do much tracting (walking) at all since many people here know LDS members and they kind of just ask us questions. Plus, we do a lot of service so  they come to us and members are a bit helpful in the finding too. We do have a good size teaching pool, but we are trying to find more people since we baptized the ones we had in our teaching pool. We also do a good amount of work with 'less active' members, but that's typical. There are some great people out here. I absolutely LOVE the area and the Newport Ward!
The Hatfield Marine Science Center was fun. We built houses out of Legos and sent tsunamis after them. Mine totally stayed standing! Yay me, maybe I have a future as an architect... HA yeah right :)

A gingerbread lighthouse and ocean!!

The college placement test went pretty well. I did well on 2 out of the 3 sections - Sentence structure and Reading comprehension were great, but the math was ... sydu5sdlf7dfkui#@*!!!. It took me about 2 and a half hours to take and then we did lunch. We went to this small cafe that gets a rating of "meh ok". But THEN!!! We went to this place across the street called Sweet and it had this huge counter and on the far left was tons of chocolates and in the center was cookies and fudge and then the last two sections of counter had ice cream!!! I got a Red Velvet truffle and a Raspberry Velvet truffle and some ice cream (one scoop cake batter and the other marionberry pie). Super delicious :D. That ice cream was super good and it did indeed have small pie chunks in it :) I was going to get some fudge but Sister Chalfant got a whole pound of it of various flavors so I didn't want to go over board. Sugar high week is coming!! 

Yay free time at lunch! #missionfun. I built the Medford Temple and Portland Temple out of Pass-Along cards and then.....it turned into a 'bridge' because I'm clumsy and the top fell down. They were built on a 'sure foundation' - my study journal filled with notes from all scriptures, the life of Christ, General Conference, Stake Conference and Hang Man ;)

                           

A member treated us to breakfast at La Mason, a French restaurant. I had the traditional Eggs Benedict, my new fave, and our breakfast came with an appetizer of bananas and cream with brown sugar on top. It was delicious!

Minute To Win It is a game show and we are doing a smaller version of it for a fun Ward activity this Saturday.

It is Sister Burrell that cooks and plays the ukelele. She is a 'ginger' and gingers can do anything :)

The (National College Championship) football game was an atrocity. I am 'hurting' for The (Oregon) Ducks - they played so bad. Bro Phillips and Elder Deal (senior missionary) explained football things to me so I knew enough what was going on. It was entertaining, but also sad to watch....poor "Ducks".

We were given permission to watch a local production of the play "Shrek" since 22 of the 65 people in the cast are LDS members and are in the Newport Ward :) But, unfortunately, we didn't have an investigator to go with us, so we couldn't attend the play. However, the Director of the play (who is LDS) recorded it, so she might give us a copy for after our missions ;D Next year we think the play will be The Little Mermaid and we all want to come back for that.

This is a funny sign that we passed while out walking. Super great restaurant that we will go to when I come back to visit, since it is more pricey than my missionary budget will allow. Of course that's only if you would come to Newport with me after my mission :)

Love you bunches of baby elephants!

xoxoxoxoxooooooooo

Kiana

Serving in a Threesome is Awesome! (01/19/2015)

Holo Madre!

It is very windy here! We've had tons of wind and rain on and off over the weekend. It's finally super nice today in the 60's with a light breeze :) We are planning on going to the Hatfield Marine Science Center today with our Ward Mission Leader and his family. They are super awesome! We have frequent correlation meetings with him and always keep each other informed and updated on new people coming into the ward or needing any kind of assistance spiritual, temporal or otherwise. He gets the "Fantastic Ward Mission Leader" award. 

I have other pics I can send you too about where I live which is basically right next to the ocean. Every time we see the ocean we want to go down and write the Plan of Salvation in the sand. We are relatively close to the church building, just 5 or 7 minutes depending on traffic and tiwi :).

One of our tools for teaching the restoration through a tower that gets knocked down when the Priesthood gets taken away.

We have a record number of missionaries in the ward of 3 Sisters, 2 Elders (Blackwelder DL and Heaton) and a Senior Missionary couple (the Deals)! It's super nice having Senior missionary couples in the Ward to help us out. Let the Branch back home know that a Senior Mission is like you are on vacation with the Lord. The rules of regular missionaries have no ground with Senior couples. They can very nearly do whatever they wish as long as they are helping the Ward and Missionaries where they are stationed. We love our Senior Missionaries!

It is so much more fun as a trio that's for sure and I think that we can get more things done and there isn't as many awkward moments in proselyting and dinners. There is always something to talk about, sing about or reflect on together. Teaching is a bit more of a balancing act but it always goes well since the Spirit is the guide and teacher.

We have a food pantry that we volunteer at in this area as well. And since all the missionaries come to serve at the food pantry at the same time, we get tons of things done and then the boss has to think up more things for us to do. She is astonished at how much work we get done and we love doing it. We're not just a whistle while you work crowd, but one that talks and laughs together and swaps crazy missionary stories and spiritual studies as well. I'm sure that sometimes she has no idea what we are talking about and finds us strange but we can definitely see her feeling the Spirit and being more happy whenever we are over. We go every week for a couple of hours and it's so fun. Though instead of grabbing the food and giving it out to people like in Central Point we are sorting all the food and stocking the shelves... hmmm, it sounds vaguely familiar if only it was soap and candles...hehehe ;)

No activities Ward or Relief Society activities yet, but we are preparing one for Jan 31st, a Minute to Win It game night. Everyone is super excited about it and hopefully we have a ton of people coming. There might be some rootbeer floats too :)

Oh my goodness.....such silly people. Everybody keeps asking me that question. It's just a pretty ribbon! :( We were helping a member wrap her presents for Christmas and she said I could keep the bow. So, not to lose it I put it on my tag. It shiney. Me likey. Me takey :)

Here is a song we've been singing to people as a trio. I mean we have a ukelele, so why not?

Love you bunches!
Kiana

Seals and Whales and the Pacific Ocean, Oh My! (01/12/2015)

Holo Madre!
I am really loving my new area! It is beautiful and the people here are amazing!
The Newport Ward covers a couple places so it's rather large. The cities/towns of Toledo, Newport, Depoe and Siletz is the area I cover right now. Depoe Bay is by far the prettiest and combined with Newport has just tons of seafood and other places to see and visit. Love it here! Though I'm still convinced that the ocean is going to eat me. Seriously, it is way too huge for my comfort and if a tsunami comes we are totally soaked toast. We can see the ocean from our apartment and it only takes one minute to get there by foot. But since we are so close we get tons of great pics :)  Ok, here are some great photos of me at Depoe Bay!  

Sister Duenas at the Whale Statue at the sea wall in Depoe Bay, Oregon

Depoe Bay is the whale watching capital of the Oregon Coast because it is 'home' to a pod of gray whales for 10 months of the year. It is also the smallest navigable harbor in the world apparently. Here is a continuation of sunset pics at Depoe Bay. So so pretty.

Sunset at Depoe Bay

We had nothing to do on New Year's Day (turned into a p-day by President), so we went to to the bayfront. If you ever want a good dish of fish n chips DON'T go to Sail Inn Cafe...'tis gross - the fish tasted like rubber and was super bland and no juice, bleh! 
Go to Mo's restaurant instead, it's owned by members of the church and it has awesome seafood and clam chowder :) After eating there we went to peruse the gift shops where I got some cool knick-knacks to remember Newport. Newport is very tourist-y, but there aren't very many tourists here yet until the summer, since school is still in. I'm grateful I'll be leaving right as it gets crazy :) 
Yep, New year's Day was the day of 'evil' tights incident that hurt my back. My back is much better now. There's just a bit of leftover soreness, but it doesn't hurt anymore thank goodness. I got a new pillow to celebrate :)

Seals and the docks at Newport. 

There is more ocean than houses and stuff in Depoe since it's a small place. Just look at the pictures! It is obviously more pretty. I've had seafood 4 times so far ;) LOVE IT!!!!

The first pic is Newport and the second is Depoe Bay.

Newport, Oregon

Depoe Bay, Oregon

My companions (Sis Chalfant and Sis Burrell) are pretty wonderful. Sister Burrell is another "ginger" friend and she loves Doctor Who and Star Trek and other nerdy things just like me. But tell Katie not to worry because Sis Burrell doesn't know much about anything Jane Austen or whatever, so Katie is still my favorite ginger ;)

Sisters Chalfant, Duenas, Burrell

We have been given permission to watch the (2015 National Football Championship - College Football Playoff Game) football game between Oregon University (the"Ducks") and Ohio State (the "Buckeyes"). Though I know very nearly nothing about football I'm still going to watch and just cheer and boo when everyone else does, that or eat chips :)

It's funny every time I tell someone I don't understand football they say "oh don't worry I'll explain it to you!" and then the game starts and they completely forget about their poor  uninformed friend. Maybe this time I'll understand since I'll be with the Ward Mission Leader's family and the senior couple. Older people love explaining things :)

Love you bunches!

Goodbye Klamath Falls, Hello Newport! (01/05/2015)

Hi Mom,
Yeah, so I am no longer in Klamath Falls. So, I had a pretty cool companion and was super excited to serve there, but alas 'twasn't in the program. I got to Klamath Falls last Monday afternoon, helped my companion pack her stuff all night, got up and cleaned the apartment, put stuff back in the car, and drove back to the Mission Home in Eugene through the snowy mountain pass. We got to Eugene around 1pm. I was reassigned to Newport and will be in a threesome for the rest of this transfer. Newport is a city on the Oregon coast. Left for Newport at 2:30'ish, picked up some extra stuff (bed and table for me) and got to Newport at almost 6pm...'twas a long day.
Sorry I only got one picture from Klamath Falls, but I wasn't even there a whole day/24 hours. Though, I did get to meet the Bishop and his family :) He and his family are very nice, and he is from PA, so it was cool to talk to more East Coast'ers.

Sister Duenas and Sister Bonetti (Klamath Falls, OR)

Don't worry, I am staying nice and warm. At the end of this transfer I'll be sending more boxes home, since it'll be warmer come February and March out here. Oregon is NOT like New York holding on to its' winter through 'til April.
I absolutely love my new companions (Sisters Chalfant and Burrell). I am in one ward (not two) again, but it feels like there are so many people here, even though it's the smallest ward I've been in so far. My first Sunday here in the Newport Ward was super nice, especially since it was Fast and Testimony Meeting. They had me give the closing prayer since I'm new to the ward.
So, my back injury incident...I was finishing up packing my things last Monday, and as I bent down, and not lifting or moving anything, I got up and something in my back went kind of "snap twisty". I said 'ow' and just didn't slouch anymore for the next couple of days. It hurt, but it was manageable pain....and then the evil tights incident happened :(  grrrrrr    I decided to wear tights one day, even though I knew I couldn't bend very well, because it was going to be cooler that day, so I needed tights. As I was attempting to manage the tights, my back screamed in protest and I heard a very loud evil "POP". I rested for a few minutes, then get down on my knees to pray.....another discovery, Kneeling = mucho pain. We got some numbers of LDS Doctors in the area, but they are all on vacation...HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :) So, we went to a walk-in clinic and got to sit and wait in very 'nice' wooden chairs (ouch!). The doctor prescribed some pain killers, and they help, but they make my brain fuzzy and that's not good, since my brain is already weird anyways...hahaha. Between the meds, the bag of frozen corn and the heating pad, the pain is easing up. Don't worry, I got a Priesthood blessing on Saturday.

Articles of Faith (Klamath Falls)

On a happy note, I do like Newport. 
Though I truly believe that the ocean is going to eat us all, since it's just ridiculously huge :)
Love you bunches of baby elephants!
Kiana

<Mom Note:  We received an update from the Mission President's wife on January 7th about Sister Duenas' back injury. The pain is lessening and Sister Duenas will be fine, but has to be careful with her back, no lifting things that are too heavy and take short breaks if driving long distances and use a lumbar support for her back where possible.