Bye Bye Newport! Hello Klamath Falls! (03/23/2015)

Holo Madre!
Sister Chalfant and I were double-transferred out of Newport. We will be replaced by elders and there will be no more Sisters on this part of the Coast. I am back in Klamath Falls and will be serving in the 3rd and 4th Wards. My new companion is from Idaho and is in the middle of her mission right now. 

Sister Chalfant and I had to wake up at 4:15am (we went to bed at 12:15, since we had so much cleaning and set up for the Elders to get done) to arrive at the Corvallis transfer spot at 6:15. Left there at 6:40 or something and got to Eugene around 7:50. Left Eugene and got to Medford at 12 something, got lunch and then left for Klamath at 1:30. Arrived at Klamath at 3:15pm. 

LONG. DAY.

Apparently I'm now in a pretty good ward and dabble a little in the neighboring ward because they are in need of sisters so bad. This'll be an interesting last transfer I think...there was still snow in the mountain pass and it is not just light sweater weather like it was in Newport. Now I need to get my jacket scarf back out. On the plus side, I might actually get to see Crater Lake.

Now that I've been able to ponder things a little more, I think I'd be ok if I stayed at BYU for college. (Then I can visit Mara and Josh and Desmond and help out with cooking and stuff! I can have fun cleaning other people's houses :D, just not mine hehe.) I think I just got scared my first year there because of the crazy fast pace of everyone around me, but I know now it's nothing to be afraid of. With finding what I want to do with my life after my mission, I find it a little more exhilarating.

So with all that said I think I'll take summer classes at BYU. Thank you so much for getting all that college stuff done and signing me up for Summer classes at BYU. So were you able to get me signed up for those Fall semester classes? If you didn't get my email I really liked the 2F graph the best. I actually read the descriptions first and picked my fave classes and that one I think had all of them! Perfect!!! 

Here are some pictures from my last week in Newport.

-- A fabulous St. Patrick's Day package, the apple jacks, chips, pasta and caprisun are already gone :)

-- crazy awesome and delicious Grape Ape donut from Voodoo Donuts in Portland

-- and a picture with Wi, great New Zealander who we play rugby with and get our chicken fixes from. He owns a food place called Flippin' Chicken. 

ok, gotta go!
Love you bye!! 

A Crazy Busy Productive Week (03/16/2015)

Holo Madre!

The temple trip was amazing as usual with our entire Zone. It was a beautiful day if a bit long. We got to stop by Deseret book too, like I said last week. As for the long day at the temple....Well, we had to get up at 0430 am to get ready to get to the 9am session at the temple. We started the day pretty early and that's why it seemed to last so long.

The Zone Conference we had on Tuesday was very good. We learned a lot more about how to better teach the restoration of the priesthood to investigators. By not skipping or skimming over that part, they are able to know how important the power and AUTHORITY of God is right from the 'getgo'. 

Then, we had short lessons from our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders about prayer and its importance. You'd never believe how hard it is getting someone to pray out loud. People are so scared of being judged or rejected that we have to bolster their faith and confidence that they are loved by their Father in Heaven so that faith and love out weigh the fear.

Then, of course, we had the Atonement talks from various missionaries plus one certain curly haired one ;) I could send you the talk I prepared but it wouldn't be the one I actually gave. See, I had written the talk a couple weeks ago, but then we met a member who just moved into the ward and she shared her story. With her story and the spirit I felt, I realized I needed to change my talk a bit. So unfortunately, no, you kinda can't get the talk. The talks were pretty good and the spirit was especially strong that Conference. 

Then, at the end, we all got our new iPads. Basically they are the same as the ones we had previously just faster and with more storage. There is a rumor going around that Facebook will be back in a couple months in our Mission, and if that's the case it doesn't especially matter to me since I'll be back East side :).

PREACH MY GOSPEL - Newport Beach, Oregon

And now I dare you to ask what eventful thing happened on our way back from zone conference ;)

As for the "eventful thing" I would say you should talk to the stupid deer and give it a talking to for walking in the road but alas, I don't think it can speak at the moment...The mission car has a couple good dents in it now with some nice clumps of fur :) And No, t'wasn't me that was driving :)

This past week was crazy because it's rare that awesome or even super productive things happen on Mondays since we only have a couple hours of work and people just want to be left alone at those hours (7-9). 

Then we had Zone Conference on Tuesday which took the entire day, and we hit that dumb deer. 

And because we hit the deer we had to take care of it on Wednesday which ruined our hours from 11-1:30. 

We were still able to get things done but  it wasn't until Thursday, Friday and Saturday that we were able to get great things done in the area. We saw people we hadn't been able to have lessons with in a while and set up more lessons for this week. The best part was that we were able to meet the mother of one of our investigators. So now we know more of where our investigator is coming from and how we can best help her to understand the restored gospel. 

District photo

Sounds like you are doing great in Primary! Totally knew you could do it :) 

And for being on a nice healthy diet you certainly make a lot of great food for others to gain on...hahaha.

So, I made my Strawberry cookies twice and the Pancit too. Everything was eaten by the time I remembered to get a picture. Everybody loved them :) The Pancit came out better this time, but still not what I remember it looking or tasting like texture wise. But everyone absolutely loved it and some want recipes so :)

Yep I got my Pinewood Derby cars and will graphite them the day before the race. The Elders are super excited that I am letting them use one of my Pinewood Derby cars. They will share my gold car. Though I told them they can't have it until the day of the race. Sometimes boys can be very accident prone if you know what I mean.

Didn't get any other package <box for St Patrick's Day>. That box is so cool!! I wish it would come so I can show everyone! Stupid USPS indeed. When do you think it'll get here?

hmmmm....Me thinks my mother knows me too much since she keeps dropping movie references in the most perfect places. I have educated you too well :)

Gots ta go! Love you!

Kiana

I Love to See the Temple (03/09/2015)

Hi Mom!
HA! So now you've joined the stalker Moms huh? hahaha well I'm glad you were able to see that video. That is the OEM Mission song we sing after every lunch at Zone Conferences. President Russell had told us that we could sing our other thank you song for the people who provided our lunch. Then he started waving his hands once it was done for us to leave. Well, lets just say this, we love our President but there was NO WAY that the ENTIRE mission was gonna come together and NOT sing the OEM song. After a minute of sadness, disappointment and shuffling feet from a lot of us we all heard such a wonderful familiar song being started softly by a couple brave Elders. Then everyone burst into the song! I looked back at President standing with his wife and he could tell he had been over ruled.. even by his wife who was singing proudly with Sister missionaries a few feet from him. He gave in with a smile and joined the song. Once it was done I looked over at him again and he had tears in his eyes. This was truly a moment never to be forgotten. All the OEM together, all proud to be serving in Oregon. The spirit was pretty thick.
The voices singing loudest were likely Elder Pickett, Perrine or bah...I can't remember who else was standing with them, but yeah they have pretty good voices. Awww, I love my Mom. Well, it did help that I was the one practically right in front of him <the Elder shooting the video>. I'm sure I'm in the other videos too since we (Sister Chalfant and I) were in the middle of everything :)  Sister Chalfant took a video too but I'm not in it. Totally bummed I didn't grab my camera before going to lunch like the others did. Oh well. I'll just get one this Zone Conference. It's likely my last one :(

Sorry forgot to grab my notes again from the mission-wide conf but I'll try to get it to you next week with the notes I will be taking tomorrow at the Zone Conf as well. We have zone conferences every other transfer so this one tomorrow will be my last. I will cherish it like crazy.

The temple was awesome as usual! I love to see the temple and am grateful that my mission allows me to go every 3 or 4 months.

Portland, OR Temple

We drove up to the Portland Temple with the senior missionary couple and before we came back we made a stop at the Deseret Book store. Man! We need one of those in New York. There is so much stuff there that I wanted. Lots of great books from General Authorities and fiction and stuff, but alas I cannot touch them yet. I did get a cello hymn cd to listen to and it's beautiful to listen to on Sundays. There were a lot of great Sheri Dew books and some I wanted to look at from Elder Holland, Elder Callister, Elder Bednar, Elder Packer or Elder Ballard I think, and John Bytheway. I didn't pay too much attention to titles since I knew I wouldn't be able to read them anyways <until after my mission> so I can't tell you anything else.
Glad the box got to you ok. Just make sure to be careful with it because there is something in there I made that is fragile. I hope it didn't get ruined even though I wrapped it pretty good. I can tell you this though...One of the gifts you and Jimbo will both love and the other will likely torture you a little ;) hehehe (both are for Jim though).

ok gotta go! Wish me luck! i'll be making the Pancit this week.

Love you!! <3<3<3

xoxoxoxoooooo

....really quick though. The ward is having pinewood derby and ANYONE can enter. Could you send my black car and my gold car? I'd like to see if they still got it ;)

"Disciples of the Digital Age" (03/02/2015)

Holo Madre!

I am now past freaking out and just trying not to think about it too much. I am excited for home (it's home, who wouldn't be?) but I am just so close that I am wondering where the days are going and finding it increasing harder everyday to not push our investigators and people to progress in the gospel before I can't help them anymore. SO from now on til the last two or three weeks of my mission zip it on the homecoming unless it is for college things or something important, if you would kindly :)

Yep I found the rice noodles and will be making the Pancit twice. First for the Relief Society birthday activity and then for an investigator who is interested in learning to cook new things. I am thinking about cutting the recipe in half though since I had a hard time last time making it in such a large portion. SO for the recipe do I just cut all the ingredients in half or no?

An investigator named Carol taught me how to crochet and I really like it. It's different than knitting (which I still like the best). However, if I'm ever feeling down and feel like I'm not getting anything done I can just do two rows of crochet and it looks like I've done a lot! Yay exaggerated accomplishment! hahaha;)

As a missionary, I have learned to how to get crafty in order to create visual 'props' for object lessons. My Plan of Salvation out of felt is especially useful since we teach the Plan of Salvation frequently.

Here are the projects that I told you about last week.

I made a Plan of Salvation out of felt.

And I have my favorite "Armor of God" man to substitute for "Hangman"

I will make sure to send you my notes on what the conference with Elder Neilsen was about. But just as a sneak peak: It was all about iPads. We will be getting new ipads next week with new handbooks and ways to do online missionary work. They want to prepare us as "Disciples of the Digital Age" for hastening the work here on our missions and also for preparation and protection for going back out into the world of technology. If we are trained here how to use social media and technology to it's proper use than it ought to be easier for us when we are back home. The new iPads have new, stronger walls of filtering and restrictions. We will be trained to do Facebook better (once we get it back that is), we can do Facetime and Skype lessons and tons of other stuff I don't remember. The iPads we have now will be exchanged next Tuesday at Zone Conference for better heavy duty ones that the missionaries, who will be going home after August 23rd, will have to pay for like a bike. They will be their own iPads instead of being owned by the church. Break it and the missionary will have to fix it or buy a new one. Since I leave before then, my new iPad is basically a 'loaner', it belongs to the church and I don't have to pay for it.

We will be going up to Portland this Thursday for the temple!! So excited :)

I will get to go to the temple one more time at the very end of my mission and I truly don't care which one I go to for my last time. If it's the Portland temple, yay because it's pretty and has a small visitor's center. And if it's the Medford temple, yay because I might be able to see some old friends form Central Point :)

Love you bunches!

Kiana

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