Sunday, November 24, 2013

This could be rather repetative.....!

It seems to me that after about 48 weeks in the Washington Seattle Mission my words and letters home are rather repetitive and boring.  I really hope not, but there is a certain concern.  My daily schedule is almost exactly as the day before and on and on and on.  Our Mission Pledge says the day begins at 6:30 am (my time is usually 5:15 because that is when this crazy body awakens) and then we retire at 10:30pm (but Sister Carter and I are usually in bed by 10:30 pm). Really, it is a wonderful way to be organized and to leave the cares of the world behind but to try and make it more interesting is sometimes hard.

This week we did a 3 hour service project with the 4 Elders included.  Irene, who is 78, had all of us come about 4 weeks ago and remove all the upstairs furniture out...or into the basement and then pull up the carpet and all the pads.  It was a very big job (the carpet was extremely soiled by her 2 dogs and 1 cat....really, there are more animals in the homes than there are people).  Then this week we all went back to put it all in place.  The elders moved the very heavy furniture and we also moved furniture and we made all the beds and vacuumed the house as we completed and it was a 'beautiful' gift for her and we loved doing the work!  She also grows kiwi's and since the first frost was this week, they are now ready to be picked and she needs this 'team of workers' to come back and pick the fruit, she will put it in a box in between newspaper and keep it for about 10 days and WaLaa....they will be ready to eat.  We are excited.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago our Mission President Choi challenged us to have 20 contacts per day...which we have done.  You need to remember we are working with many less-actives and some new investigators...but not 20/day so this takes much work.  As we sat down this evening our count is 125 people we have visited with this week by knocking on doors.  We are outside and this week, though the sun has been shinning, the temperature has been between 42-46 degrees (according to Sis. Carter's Droid).  The air is very 'crisp' and a bit cold but really the experiences of meeting and visiting with this many people has been incredible.  This is a picture of the invitation we leave with them. 

Saturday Greg ad Angela were married by our Bishop Floyd in the Relief Society room in our ward.  This is the second marriage I have seen the bishop perform and he does a very nice job.

Angela is a non-member and a beautiful woman and Greg is a member.  She has had many lessons by Elders and also Sister Carter and I but still has some questions so we hope the time will come that she will join the church.  Angela was so thrilled to see us there, as she walked into the room with the music she squealed our names with excitement and stopped for hugs from both of us.  She and I feel that we probably knew each other before we came to earth.  

This week Sister Carter and I went to the temple to do an Endowment Session at 10.  Well, the roads were very, very busy and slow so we arrived in the dressing room at 9:55...too late.  Well, too late for an Endowment Session but such a blessing to do Initiatory Work.  This is the first time I have been in Initiatory since Dec. 2012 and I have missed it very much.  I really love doing this part of the Temple experience.

Sunday we had dinner  with "The Crockers" and also with Elder Porter (Layton, Utah) and Elder Griffiths (Holiday, Utah).  You would be amazed at the kind of young men these Elders are and the way they teach and handle themselves in the homes and how they pray for the members and bless their homes.  It really is a privilege to be with and associate with them.  
 
Monday Sister Carter and I had dinner with the Foke Family.  This is the Burmese Family that we have 'adopted'.  Esther tells us we are her mothers because her mother died when she was 10.
The three boys call us 'Grandma' and we love them dearly.
Foke Family: Foke, Esther, John (20) David (18) and Peter (16)
 

We have also taken it upon ourselves to be the "Bread Delivery Van".  The Methodists have the food bank in their church and a person applies and is able to partake of the goods with identification that they live in the area.  We do not use this program but outside the building they  have RACKS and RACKS of Franz Bread and it is delicious, especially the 24 Grain bread.  This Food Band is opened three times a week from 11:30 to 10:30 and we often stop and pick up a couple dozen loaves of bread. We give the Elders (2 Companionships) about 4-5/ week.  We give Jack a loaf, Essy upstairs a loaf or two, Irene a loaf, Nancy a loaf, we take one, and give our Ward Mission Leader who is a struggling student with a wife and 2 children 4-5 a week.  Anyway, we give away as many as we can.  What is not taken will be thrown away...into the dumpster so we really try to help as many as we can.   The Elders give part of their to a homeless man who does not have enough food and the 'circle of love' goes around and around and around.

This is really for Steve but tonight for dinner we went to the Ramirez family for dinner, our dear Mexican family we love so much, fed us Pozole....chicken and hominy beans and juice topped with shredded lettuce, sliced radishes and squeezed limes and crushed oregano in your hands and sprinkle on top.  Soooooooo good!!!!!!!

I daily see the work of my Heavenly Father in the lives of the people in this Tukwila and SeaTac area.  They are humble and extremely good people and I love that I have gotten to know so many of them and to feel of their love.  I have learned to love the Book of Mormon more and more and I know with all my heart that the words of this miraculous book are true and it proves that Joseph Smith is a Prophet in these latter days.  I know the value of prayer though often it is not answered when I wish it were so I pray for more patience and things 'just seem to have a way of working out'. Thank you so much for your love and kindness!  Thank you for your letters and all you do.
 
May God be with you and bless you.

All my love,
Sister Frame

Monday, November 18, 2013

"...the flower fadeth; but the Word of God shal stand forever" Isaiah 40:8





Monday morning after washing, mopping, cleaning, vacuuming and studying we needed a break and jumped on the train for the city.  The lite-rail (or train) is just a short block from our apartment so we are a bit spoiled. When we got to Seattle we walked 'down' to Pikes Market and saw these "Cabbage Bouquets" for just $10. They are just beautiful and then I found the verse in Isaiah and knew I had to share the bouquets with you so you could all read and see the flowers and know the power of God's word.  Hope you enjoy these three bouquets!!





 
Weekly, on Monday, we receive The Washington Seattle Mission "Good News".  This week Pres. Choi wrote the letter and he expressed gratitude for all the hard work and effort that is exhorted each and every day.  The he said, "This is the time that The Lord is hastening His work. His High Expectations must become our expectations.  We must raise our vision to His vision.  And although our thoughts are not His thought yet, our diving goal is to become like Him....that each of us can focus upon the Lord's thoughts and ways so that we can further His work." Pres. Choi is a Seventy and our Mission President and how grateful I am for his love and his desires to us to 'step up' to do His work.

Every week I also remind all of us to look for the Miracles that are a part of our lives. Thurs. @ 3:10 we drove down a very long lane to visit Dorothy whose home in on the shore of Angle Lake.  I drove down the lane and undecidedly turned the car around and headed it out. We still had about 500 feet to walk before we reached her home. After our extended visit at 4:20 (and almost dark) we went to the car, turned the key and there was 'narry a sound'... not even a click as I turned the key...because I left the lights on.  So I called AAA and the driver could not find the address until after his call to me.  It is now 5:30 when he arrives and its very dark.  He came down the very narrow lane and was pleased to see my car headed out the drive, attached the cables and WaLaa!!! the car started.  Why did I turn the car around instead of driving next to hers? These are the simple miracles I speak of...not luck!  I shared these thoughts with the driver and he was very 'impressed', shared my testimony of a Heavenly Father that loves his children just as we love ours and keeps his eye on us.  This was a great missionary experience, planted a seed and hope someone else will come into his life and water it and teach him.  I am glad the lights came on but now the radio, clock and CD are not working plus the 'maintenance required' light is on.  Saturday we spent 45 minutes at Auto Zone and after the gentleman checked all the fuses he said he did not know how to fix it.  Oh my, it is not fair that these '2 ole ladies', who are both widows have no one to take care of these car problems.  Sometimes life just is not fair!

Our count for the people we have spoken with this week is tallied to send to President Miller.  We  visited many, many people because we were tracting and 80% were non-members.  The plan for our visits was to give each home a ticket and tell them about "The Angels Sing" which is a Non-Denominational Celebration of Music held in our Seattle Stake Center.  This production has been held for 7 years and some of the diverse participants are:  The Ebony Church Gospel Singers;  The Catholic Kennedy School Orchestra;  The Spirit of Sounds Acapella Singers; The LDS Choir; Mt Rainier Orchestra; Community Orchestra from So. Puget Sound and Soloists from U of W.  I am sure you can feel what a glorious experience this will be of Celebrating Jesus Christ and His Birth by reading the program.  We pray for all that come that they will fill the beautiful beginning of The Christmas Season. One lady we visited is extremely pleased to hear of this production.  She has a depressed friend and is looking forward to bringing her to the performance.  Alli, an Islamic gentleman, told us he would like to come;  then he asked us if we would come to one of his Islamic Celebrations and we answered with an excited acceptance.  I do hope this works out.

To all of you I express my love for my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ!  I know that Jesus is the Savior of the world and because of His willingness to all He was asked to do, you and I have the incredible blessing of the Atonement that enables us to be forgiven for the sins and mistakes we repent of.  How incredible!!! I hope all of us can work harder at doing 'all we have been asked to do' to serve those with whom we are given a stewardship....and love doing it. I am very grateful Tami and Steevun Lemon lived through a Trek on the Wyoming plains during winter storms of November 14-16 with Steev's Young Adult's Ward. Thanks for your letters and emails.  Love to hear from all of you I love you all so much and pray for you and your success daily!
May God be with you and bless you and will you take time to look for the Miracles that are a part of each day of your lives....and record them.

Love,
Sister Frame

Monday, November 11, 2013

"The Lord is My Light.....‏"


I don't even know where to start with one of my most glorious weeks!! Wednesday we went to Zone Conference in North Seattle Stake Center and this was the best Zone Conference I have attended.  We were taught of the power of prayer in attaining our goals and that unity between companions and being of one mind helps us reach our goals.  Sister Carter and I have worked extremely hard understanding how to obtain unity and many, many times we find ourselves ending each other's sentences, answering questions in verbatim and often just thinking the same thoughts and words. We laugh and marvel at what happens.  These are incredible experiences and we know as we work harder at the unity required for successful missionaries, we will be blessed to find those that are looking for the truth and also rescuing those that have forgotten what they once believed!
Again we are reminded that "nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach". We are to talk with as many people as we can each day and yes, it is natural to be somewhat apprehensive about talking to them, but as we pray for the faith and strength to be more bold in opening our mouths, miracles will happen.  This is an example of the strength of prayers and the blessings it brings:
Sat. night as we had spoken with 18 people and we were dead tired, really we were, we pulled the car over to the side of the road and prayed for guidance and strength and courage to find 2 more people. You need to know it starts to get dark at 4 in Seattle and by 4:50...IT IS DARK and it was also raining.  Well, at this time it was about 6:45 pm.   Our purpose as we visited was to invite people to our "Angels Sing", which is the Inter-Denominational Christmas Program on Dec 13 and 14.  We decided to find 2 homes with the front light on and windows that looked inviting and....they were just down the road.  We we spoke with two men, one at each door and they were very kind and polite and acted as if they appreciated the invitation.  We are not sure they will come but we planted seeds of the Glory of Jesus Christ and of the beauty of His brothers and sisters worshipping Him and His Father. Our prayers were answered and we continue to count the many ways He blesses us.

As our Conference was concluding, Pres. Choi asked  all if we would accept the challenge to visit 20 or more people each day.  Yes, we stood with those that accepted the call.  This was Wednesday afternoon, so on Thursday, yes we visited 20 and returned home at 9:15;  Friday we visited 20 and returned home at 8:10 and Sat (after a glorious baptism in the morning) and taking a Sister to lunch who needed to chat for 2 hours,  we visited 20 people and returned home at 7:15.  This was an incredible feat for these two 'little ole ladies' but there was no way we were not going to accomplish our goal....the first week and we did it!!

Our Zone set of goal for 2014 of 301 baptisms and we really know it will happen!!   It is marvelous to sit in the presence of these young Elders and Sisters and hear of their faith and desire to do the work of The Lord and to have High Expectations (D&C 76:51-70)  I will never be able to express enough thanks to my Heavenly Father for the incredible experiences I have been able to participate in during my Mission and I will never be able to pay off the debt for all He has blessed me with!!

Elders Anderson & Flake, Sisters, and Bro & Sis Bracey
Sat. morning, Nov. 9, 2013 Brother Al Bracey was baptized a member of the Church.  The experience was so wonderful and it was just so good that 24 members of our Ward, not knowing Al or Kathy, supported them and came to the Baptism.  Hopefully,  all of you members in the Home Wards understand how important you are in the Missionary work of the Church.  The Missionaries just can't do it alone.  The new members need your love and friendship and kindnesses.  He was baptized by his good friend Brother Levorsen and was confirmed Sunday morning by Elder Anderson.  Elder Flake and Elder Anderson, Sister Carter and myself taught them the lessons, plus other missionaries that also planted seeds and taught them. 

Wednesday we went to Bellevue and met with the Senior Sisters, Sister Swenson from Orem, Utah and Sister Walker from Salt Lake City, Utah.  They live in Kirkland and are also working the same kind of Mission we are.  This was a delightful experience to get to know them and to share notes and common experiences we have had.

I continually stand amazed at the Power and Truth of the Book of Mormon.  I love this Book and I know it's words are inspired  and true.  This morning as I was studying Alma 62:41,  I was reminded of our individual responsibilities in controlling our reactions to various circumstances of life.  We know the wars and the adversities went on for extended periods of time (wars of the B of M went on for 14 years) and in verse 41, we are told that "many had become hardened....and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depths of humility.  These words written are beautiful and remind us that we may not be able to change our circumstances such as poor health, trying economic conditions or loneliness...we do have the strength as  we call upon our Heavenly Father, to control our moral agency and turn our hearts to God.  This we can do!  I remind my children how CRP keep Jerry alive the many times he crashed...as the 1st Responders came into our home and applied the techniques he needed to be saved.  So we should use CPR...go to church, pray and read the B of M...to keep our Souls alive and to give us the strength to make the moral decisions to be 'strong in the face of adversity'.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve this mission.  I value the privilege to ' Be about my Father's business'.  Thanks so much for your notes, letters, prayers and love.  I don't know what I would do without hearing from my children, grandchildren, family and friends because truthfully, I do get homesick and sometimes it is really 'kinda hard' but I love all of you very much and value the time you take to communicate with me.May God be with each of you this day and bless you in all you do.  Take time to look for the Miracles that are part of each day of your lives and record them so you don't forget them.

Love to you all!!
Sister Frame

Monday, November 4, 2013

Wow!! Our First Storm Hit....

  
Today is Sunday and Friday evening a big storm came with rain all night and massive
winds. Saturday it was very cold and was windy and awful.  We really wished we could
have stayed home but that is not the agenda so we headed out to do our work.   First
thing we did was to head west about 8-10 miles because we wanted to see Seahurst Park.  It's 
shores are on Puget Sound and we were told the waves would be enormous and we wanted
 to see them. Well, no such luck.  The park is closed until May 21, 2014 because they
 are taking out the seawall and improving the area.  So we drove south and came to an
 area where I could  get this picture.The waves were not as large as they had been
 and I am really glad I was standing on land and not on the water. On the way there
 was a tree blown over on top of a car, there was all sorts of debris on the roads,
and a tree was uprooted and tipped over on two power lines and leaning on a 
motorhome. What a mess!!  There was a police officer with his lights on blocking the
 street with the downed lines but we went past him to visit a less-active sister. 
We were glad after a long day in the wind and the cold to come to our little
 apartment safe and warm and have stir-fry and rice.  Simple but great.
 
We have four Elders also serving in our SeaTac Ward and we just love them.  Since our
 transfers a week ago they are now walking....no car.  I think it is because
 Pres. Choi wants them walking on the streets so they are more visible to the people.
Also, in this area we have many, many people who walk to the lite-rail, walk to work,
 just walking on the streets and so as the Elders are on foot, they will have the 
opportunity of meeting more and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  I 
think the Elders are doing just a super job and they really are meeting more people. 
They are: L to R: 
 Elder Anderson, Elder Flake (6'7" DL) Elder Griffiths, Elder Porter (Senior).
 
 Wow, this has been a very busy week.  We have visited more homes than we ever have
 but we have not been able to find as many people home as we would like.  However,
 since we took Angela and her boys, Jordan and Rashad to the Halloween Party, we also
 gave her and Jordan a ride to the Food Bank.  They are learning to trust us and 
know that we will help them in any way we can.  Yes, service is one of the more 
productive ways of people seeing what we are really like and allowing us into their 
lives to teach them and to love them.   We are taking Angela and the the boys to 
church and are excited to do it.  Oh dear, the phone just rang and Rashad is sick 
so they are not coming to church.  This is the 'real experiences' in the life of 
Missionaries.
 
Dawn has been working very hard with the Elders, trying to stop smoking and to stop
 drinking coffee.  She and her two boys came to the Halloween Party and experienced 
kindness and fun and were able to come into the Cultural Hall at the church.  Anthony
 12 and Juan 9 are coming to church today.  Mom is baptized but they are not so we 
hope this investment of time and love, now 9 1/2 months we have worked with them and
 also with the Elders helping them, we now see them at church!!!  Small and simple
 means bring people unto Christ.
 
This week on Monday we were invited to have dinner with Jess Ramirez and his Mom 
and his 2 daughters and also with Flora Saevedra and her 3 daughters.  Also Elder
 Porter and Elder Griffiths were there.  It was just wonderful!!   These people are
 incredible....Christlike in every way, kind, loving and fun.  We had original 
Mexican food with boiled flank steak, rice and a fried egg on top.  I am amazed at
 how good it was.  Flora is not baptized and her English is very broken but her 
daughters are baptized.  She and her girls live upstairs in the home and also Jesse's
 mom and Jesse and his daughters live in the basement.  They are both divorced but 
he helps support her and the girls.  This is a work in progress and we hope and 
pray that Flora will get baptized.  She comes to church each Sunday.  Oh, I love 
them so much!!!
 
We drove Irene to the Ferry early Tuesday morning at 6:15 and were able to see the
 Night Lights of Seattle because it was still dark and it was beautiful.  We are also
 going to give her a ride in a month so we will be able to see the Christmas Lights.
 
 Thursday Irene and Sister Carter and myself prepared dinner in our own homes and 
went to Dick and Annabell's home and ate with them.  Their daughter Marie was there 
and it was a wonderful time.  We really have grown to love these dear people and we 
love to be with them.  Dick and Annabell are now coming to church and we see grown
 in strength and understanding.
 
We continue to visit and love Karen.  She has not been to church for 20 years...has 
received her endowments and was very strong, an incredible genealogist and such a fun
 lady who had her feelings hurt.  Yes, she did come 3-4 times in March-April but has 
not been there since.  Her husband is not a member and they ride motorcycles in the
 warm weather so we are hoping that she will start coming again and become more
 converted.  It is so hard to know that decisions are made that are not best.....for
 all of us...but that Agency it the most important gift given to us.  As Jacob says,
 "O be wise, what can I say more".   (Jacob 6:12)
 
This week is one of those where I  can feel the influence of Satan in my life and I 
realize the continual effort it takes to 'stay true to the course'.  I know I am a 
child of God and I know He loves me and I am trying to be like Jesus.  Yes, it takes
 effort for me and also for all those I love.  Don't become discouraged and let 
darkness be a part of our lives.  We need to look to the Light of Christ. 
2 Nephi 10:14 we are told that The Lord will be a light unto them that hear His Words.
..so we need to take a time to go to Church, pray and study (CPR) to learn his words 
and to keep our spirits alive.
 
 I love my Heavenly Father with all my heart and I am so Thankful for Jesus Christ 
and for the Atonement He offered for each of us!
May God be with you and bless you this week.  Look for the Miracles that happen 
to you daily and record them in your journal.
I send my love to Mom and my children and my grand-children!!!! 
I surely wish Jerry were here with me to 'work this mission'!  Sure do miss him!!!!
Sister Frame