"Each Day is a Beautiful Day to Enjoy!"

The post title came from note on a card from a wonderful friend that lifted my heart and spirits the day I received it. And yes, regardless of rain and wind and clouds....I love each day and I hope you do also!

 

Last pday about12:30  not much was happening so we decided to take the light rail and  zip to Seattle, walked about 35 blocks, ate Piroshky, a Russian sandwich for lunch, watched the people, the birds and the water of Puget Sound and the boats.  It was very relaxing. This morning we are going to Seattle (again) with Sister's Lance and Moreton who are also in our Mission  We met them in the MTC and see them at Senior Conferences and Zone Meetings. Tell you about our trip next week. These are a few of the beautiful blossoms we've been seeing around where we live, some days the rain is worth the bloom.

 

Our days continue to be busy and to fly by.  Really, we have been in this mission for 3 1/2 months and it was just yesterday when I left.  We are teaching and working with 10-12 people each day.  The joy and the kindness of Father's children is so great.  We love them and we see progress.  Yesterday morning prior to church Roberta texted me.  We had given her a lesson last week to read the Book of Mormon.  She has been a member her entire life but her knowledge and testimony of most things is weak.  So, our lesson continued to focus on her Patriarchal Blessing and also preparing to go to the Temple before we go home.  Her message said she had read 4 chapters in the BofM and she threw her coffee pot away.  She was excited to see us at church.  She has worn white pants and white blouse to church for about 3 months and we had a beautiful blue blouse and black skirt for her.  She was beautiful and so pleased of the progress she has made.  Do you think she made my eyes a bit teary....Oh my!

Friday we went to Mercer Island to a "Senior's Conference.  28 Seniors were in attendance at the home of Pres. and Sister Larkin.  The meal was an incredibly delicious pot-luck experience.  After the meal and mingling, Pres and Sister Larkin spoke with us.  The message was that our assignment in the Mission Field is to build up the Kingdom of God.  We have been set apart by the Priesthood of God  to "Preach My Gospel" and great blessings are being bestowed upon the people of the earth that do not know God.  Pres. Larkin promised that our families will be blessed and Father will care for them ad watch over them.   Our families will prosper because we are willing to make this sacrifice and give this service to Him on our Mission. He closed with Pres. Hinckley's quote that everyone needs a friend and to be nurtured and loved. Roberta says that is why we were sent to Tukwila...to find her, love her and bring her back to Christ.  These words make the time, money, effort and energy worthwhile!

 

I hope all of you are working hard to strengthen your love of The Lord.  Thank you for the years of my life that I have watched and observed you and saw the good and the kindness you give to others.  Every morning each of us should go on our knees and pray for the experience to share the  gospel of Jesus Christ by our words and actions that day.   We are extremely blessed to have the knowledge of The Savior and His teachings in our lives.  Make this a beautiful day.  Take the time to tell those you love how you feel.  Life is so Great!!!

 

Love,

Sister Frame

Where can I turn for Peace.....?

The blessings of modern communication that allow us in Seattle Washington to watch April LDS General Conference live from SLC is incredible and it does bring me peace. Today and yesterday I was absorbed in the spoken words and the beautiful music.  I rejoiced in Saturday Conference as Elder Craig Cardon reminds us of forgiveness and of the importance of continual love and showing confidence in spite of temporary setbacks with substance abuse.  Oh, I am very thankful for the blessings of being tutored by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Great News!!!   I received an e-mail from Craig.  He passed the Utah State Bar!!  Pretty great and now he adds that to the California Bar.  It is a good thing that all of us can do hard things.

 

Many are the blessings we have received in doing this wonderful Missionary Work which has caused me to joy in the mist of one of the most sorrowful events of my life.  I have been enabled to have Faith in God to a greater degree knowing he is with me.  I realize that agency is the most blessed gift we have, but when we make poor choices, such as addiction, we totally lose our agency and life is blurry and sad and extremely hard.

 

We are witnessing miracles daily and we love it!!  We find people home that have not been there in 4-5 visits and they are pleased to see us.  We usually teach a lesson and share our ipad music and their spirits are touched.  They like the reminder of what they believed when they were baptized.  It will take more visits and more time and love but I feel that many of there wonderful people with return to activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 

We have met a non-member.  She is a friend of a member and had an extremely seriously broken arm so we went with the member to help clean her house.  Then we went back and vacuumed and cleaned and mopped her kitchen.  She loves us and we her.  We do not talk about the church but she continues to ask questions.  So, we will see what happens.We are helping the Elders with the Foke family from Burma.  We just love Esther and she loves us.  They were at conference and we sat by them.

 

Tomorrow is pday and there is soooooooooooo much rain we really don't want to do much or go anywhere.  We thought we might go to Seattle again but probably not.

Since I have not heard much from my family because of Spring Break I hope they have had a happy, fun and safe week.

We are all extremely blessed to live in this wonderful land of America.  Although I know nothing of what is happening in the world (no tv, newspaper, books ) but I do see hundreds of people in our neighborhood that are thrilled to be here from other countries.

I love my Heavenly Father and I know he knows who I am and what I am doing.  I know that my prayers and faith will bring someone into the lives of my children to bless them and their families as I serve The Lord.  How thankful I am to wear this Badge of Honor that says :

SISTER  FRAME

                                                           The Church of

   JESUS  CHRIST

         of Latter-Day Saints

       I love all of you!   I love your notes!   I thank you for your friendships and kindnesses!

            Take good care of all your families and friends and neighbors.

Sister Frame

Oh my, the Sun has been out for FOUR days!

It seems that I might have a tendency to repeat myself, but you must know I do repeat myself EVERY day.  Up at 5:30, read The BofM  and pray till 6:25 and get ready, walk till 7:00,  eat breakfast, shower, get really ready for the day, read and study till 9:00.  Then we meet at the kitchen table and recite our Washington Seattle Pledge,  recite by memory D&C 4 and then my memory recite the "Standard of Truth".  It is so amazing what this ole brain can do with the help of my Heavenly Father.  Then we study our mission lessons, more of the BofM and work on our schedule in our planning book for the day.  So, there is a great amount of 'repeat' but I really do love what we are doing.
Exciting day on this Easter Sabbath, there were 17 people that we have found 'less active' and they were in attendance to Sacrament meeting.  This is just the most exciting event we can be involved in.  They come and they like what they feel and hear and it brings back memories of how they felt when they were baptized.  Each of us need to get out of our 'comfort zone' and look around and find someone that needs a smile or a kind word or a ride somewhere.  Life is so good and remember that a smile costs nothing!

Yesterday we had a baptism for David and Peter.  They are 19 and 18 from Burma and it was just awesome.  I was asked to give the talk on the Holy Ghose (so what's new) and then they and their family and a few ward members came to our Clubhouse and had some goodies.  Our Stake Pres. does not want refreshments at the church.  He feels it takes away from the baptism and I agree.

We gave some wonderful lessons this week to less actives and I must say...again...how I love my ipad.  The music and the short videos are so powerful to touch people's hearts and then to reinforce the message that was given.

Christina and Romeo Juco, from the Philipeans, invited us to breakfast at 9 and we had fried chicken, taquitoes, long rice with many vegetables, brownies and sprite.  This mean threw off our eating plan for the entire day.  They are such a beautiful couple and they have 2 little boys who are in elementary school.  That evening we went to Gov's where our lesson was just incredible.  The two girls love us to come and their mother has more faith than ANYONE I know and I just love them.  That night we also visited Esther, the mother of David and Peter and had a wonderful visit.

Sat we went to Dick and Annabelle's home and did yardwork for a couple of hours.  He is so much like my Dad and works like a mad-man at 86.  We mostly worked in the flower beds with Annabelle.  I just loved being in the dirt and outside in the sun.  Loved it!!  Loved it!!  That night they asked us to go to Issaquah, about 30 miles north east.  Their son-in-law plays the keyboard in a fun band that plays in a Pizza Parlor.  They also introduced us to daughter RoseAnne.  Pizza was great, salad was incredible and the company was incredible.  Love these wonderful people!

We keep quite busy, infact I don't know when we sit down, except at the kitchen table to work in our Area Book and work our schedule for the week +.

My purpose here in Washington is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them remember what they once felt and remind them of their love for the Restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

I love what I am doing.  Yes, there are hard days and some discouraging days but....who doesn't have that in their lives.

Please remember to continue to pray for the Missionaries of the Church.  There is an incredible amount of work that needs to be done.

I love all of you!!

Love,

Sister Frame

Today while the sun shined.....I smiled and smiled and smiled

Last night as we were going to an appointment, a young man who was visiting the ladies next door asked who were were and she told them we were some nuns.  We laughed and thought we ought to buy some different clothes."

This was a very good and interesting week. I continue to meet more people and really love each one I meet.  I am just so interested in their reasons they stopped coming to church.Last Sunday on St. Patrick's Day I ate my first meal of 'corned-beef and cabbage' and found it delicious.  We actually had two invites for the same meal so we felt very loved.

Monday was our p-day.  The Senior Sisters from Kent drove here and we rode the light rail (again) to Seattle  where we again went to Pikes Market; yes, we had crab again at the Crabpot and we sang with some gospel singers on the street.  We were greeted by 13 people people who were excited to see Senior Sister Missionaries.  It is a great testimony that "one must always live what they believe because someone will be watching."

Tuesday we spoke with Sister Mattos, a less active member.  She has been in the hospital having test that show she needs a stint for her heart.  Her surgery can't be done through the femoral artery so she will have an incision in her chest.  I asked her if she would like the Elders to give her a blessing and I think she really was surprised to be reminded of something she has forgotten.  She will tell me when  I call next week.

A great day this week was the "Plan of Salvation "and part of "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" which we gave to Dick and Annabelle, our practice figures (whose lives are being changed without them knowing it).  We sang a song with the ipad music and then Dick called on himself for our opening prayer.  We were stunned.  It was a simple work of art by an 86 year old who probably hadn't prayed in 70 years.  The Spirit of the Holy Ghost radiated the entire room and and our hearts and minds and did not leave!  Sister Carter and myself were mouthpieces of our Heavenly Father in teaching these sweet people.  It was incredible!!

Thurs we  visited a woman who finally returned our 4th phone call.  She has been active but when released from the R.S Presidency 3 months ago, has just not returned to church.  Our visit was delightful and we sang "I am a child of God" and had a prayer.  Hopefully she will soon return.

We love the Folk Family who are refugees from Burma;  mom, dad, David 19, Peter 18 and John16.  The Elders are teaching them and we went to visit.  I had met her in RS and visited with her so we were familiar.  As we visited she said she just was not sure she knew enough to be baptized.  Then the words were spoken, "You don't have to know everything before being baptized but you will know the sweet feeling in your heart as you are taught".  Esther, the mom, then said she could not deny how she had felt and loved the teachings of the Church.  Later she gave the Elders all her tea and coffee.  Wow!  You just have to be here, but please believe my words and know the beauty of Missionary Work!

Friday we had a simple and magnificent miracle.  Our GPS took us to the wrong area.  Then we received a call from Jerry Templeman whose wife we have been visiting at a care center.  We really were guided to her because Bishop did not know of her.  She is paralyzed in the legs and part of her arms.  Bro.Templeman wanted to know how he could get her to church.  We had seen some white vans come to Church but we were not sure, saying we would find out and call him.  Well, in this area where we were totally lost from the address listed in the GPS we drove into a parking lot and 3 ACCESS Transportation Vans were parked.  They drive handicapped individuals and others for $1.25 each way.  We called Jerry with this miraculous information 5 minutes after his call.

This work is incredible and Father walks with us daily.  I know Heavenly Father loves these people in Tukwila, WA but no more than those in Alpine, Nephi, America Fork, Orem, Highland and all other cities.  We are His children and He is just waiting for us to ask in faith and He will guide and direct and support us (Ama 36:3)  He did not say he would remove the trials, but he would support us through them. 

I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost.  I love working with these wonderful people.

Thanks so much for all of your love and prayers and support for me.  Also, for the prayers for the thousands of Elders and Sisters throughout the world.  They work so hard and need your prayers more than you will ever know.

May the blessings of Heavenly Father be with you daily.  Love, Sister Frame

**This sunny day we went to Seahurst Park on the east shores if Puget Sound.  Great break.  I know this picture looks like the one in Seattle, but oh we'll...I am happy!
 

What a week!!

We are busy in this part of the Northwest.  We continue to dodge raindrops, drive in the rain, visit people, eat p-nut butter sandwiches, observe ALL the beautiful flowers and blossoms coming into bloom and we sleep very well because we are exhausted!

This week was very busy.

Monday we went to Verizon to get Sister Carter's new phone to work the way she wants it to.  It is a new Droid and she is having a few issues so the 2 hours in the mall seemed quite long.  We had to shop and do some errands.  Then at 6:00pm we went to the church for FHE and waited in the rain for 40 minutes.  Our 'lady with the key' was t-boned in an intersection on her way and ended up in the hospital.  Not too serious but her car is totaled and she is extremely stiff.

Tuesday our zone went to the Bellevue Temple and experienced a wonderful session.  I felt so at home because the Endowment Rooms and the Celestial Room are just like the Provo Temple.  This is hard to understand because the Provo Temple is constructed round and the Bellevue Temple is tall and rectangular.  Anyway, it was a good day and when we arrived home at 2:00 we went to Dick (86) and Annabell's(81).  They were baptized as children in Salt Lake and have never gone to church.  Their names are on the records of the church so we sought them out and we dearly love them.  We have become dear friends so we asked them if they would act like non-members and allow Sister Carter and myself to practice the Mission Lessons.  We taught them The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. and it was a wonderful experience.  They felt the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and so did we.  After the lesson they invited us to dinner Friday evening at Hong's Gardens...a Chinese restaurant that was delicious.  As we took them home, we went in for pie and ice cream.  At 8:50 we told them our curfew was 9 so we left after a fun evening.

Wednesday we drove to Renton to have a meeting with Pres and Sis Miller, 1st Counselor in the Mission Presidency and also the 2 other sisters on the same mission we are on, only in another city.  Great Day with excellent training and ideas exchanged and I came away feeling I was really doing a pretty good job as a missionary.
Thursday we went to Irene's home, a non-member with a severely broken arm.  Her good friend is a member and we told her we would like to do some service.  Irene did not want Mormon's in her home preaching but we promised we would not say a word (which is hard for both of us) so we just cleaned and smiled.  If was such a good time and we were invited to come back in a couple of months for some barbecues and games and fun times.  Service is the best way there is to show the love of Jesus Christ.

Friday morning we invited the 2 Elders in our ward to come to Sister Purcells and clean the yard of her mobile home.  She is the one in the car accident.  After 2 hours and 4 people working, it really looked GREAT.  We then drove her to her bank and helped her arrange for a car rental.

Feels good to physically work and it feels even better to serve!

We spent 1 1/2 hours listening to one of our less-actives who is trying to come back from drugs and addiction,  also her husband.  Well, they both crashed this week!  It is incredibly painful to suffer the consequences of our choices...and running will not help.  So, we listened and listened and listened.  I hope they can make wiser choices with the help of their Heavenly Father.

As I live each day I am extremely thankful for the blessings I have.  I live in this beautiful land of America and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in these latter days.  I just know Heavenly Father's desire is that all His children would come unto him.  This city in Tukwila where we live is most diverse. Often we never see another Caucasian in this area.  People are from Somalia, Ethiopia, Burma, Philippines, China, Japan.  I went to a barbershop to place a sign about the english class we are going to teach.  The barber and owner was very kind and gracious and as I reached to shake his hand, he said, "No, I can not touch you.  I am Muslim".  I learn many things daily and respect of others is at the top of my list.

Thanks to all of you for your notes and thoughts and support and prayers for myself and all the missionaries throughout the world.

I Love my Heavenly Father and I am so appreciative to serve him.

Make your day a great day!

The Standard of Truth...

I want all of you to know that the following words are repeated every morning of every day in companionships in the Washington, Seattle Mission, and probably all over the world.  They are:
         The  Standard of Truth has been erected;  no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing;  persecutions may rage,  mobs may combine, armies may assemble and calamity may defame but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country and sounded in every ear;  till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say, "The Work is Done"!
These are powerful words!   I love them and have them memorized along with D&C 4.  These remind e and all missionaries why we are here for 18 months and teach us it is possible to do the work we have been set apart to do!
          Saturday evening we attended Tamirat Yirgulem Ayana's baptism.  He is an incredible 21 year old Ethiopian attending Highline Community College.  What a beautiful hour we spent in this service and his testimony that he loved Jesus Christ was very tender and also he was thankful for his new-found family of brothers and sisters in the gospel.
           We are carefully loving Karen N. into coming back to church after a 15 year hiatus because of hurt feelings.  She is such a lovely lady and we pray she will 'let go' of her hurt feelings and the fear of coming back.  She was in the Stake Primary Presidency when she decided not to come to church.
And guess what, we just returned from church....and Karen was there.  It was so good to see her and she liked how she felt.  Many that know her were kind and visited and made her feel good.  It the hall after Sac. meeting she came to us and said, "Please don't stop visiting me just because I came today".
This made my heart so happy!  It was wonderful  to know that she wanted to return and brought herself back!  She had listened to the promptings of the Holy Ghost to be able to do this.
Today Penny G,  Amy C. (mama cracker) and Roberta were also there.  Last week we had 11 less-actives so today the numbers were smaller (daylight savings time probably made a difference) but we were happy with who were there.  Roberta's eyes dripped tears in RS as we sang I am a child of God. She told one of our members that the reason Sister Carter/Sister Frame were sent to Seattle was to find her.  Oh, what Joy!!  All her upper teeth are gone so one of the goals of our mission is to see her with both sets of dentures before coming home.  We are also going to start planting seeds of The Endowment for her.  This will be incredible.
          P-day we took our DL and his companion to Sizzler for dinner.  They are such fine young men and they did appreciate some food.  We can't have them in our apt. so this is the best we can do.
          Tuesday we went to an address we did not recognize until arriving...and it was a dark, uncomfortable feeling mobile home.  We did not want to go but then changed our minds.  The door opened with smoke wafting out the door, no lights on and an older lady cracked the screen.  She said Machelle R was not there.  We did not leave.  Then she said she could not talk because she was in a bad place.  So, we gave her our card with our cell # on it and gladly left.
That evening our phone rang....it was Machelle.  She thanked us for coming by a month ago to give her a Birthday card and said she needed help.  She was in a bad, very bad place and needed us to pray for her.  Would we please come back.   We quickly called the Bishop, he knew her and she had been a member for abt 5 years and had some emotional problems.  He was unable to come with us so the Elders drove their car and followed us.  Upon our arrival, a boy answered the door saying she could not come to the door because she was sick.  We did not leave.  Then he said she was in the shower so she could not come to the door.  We did not leave.  Our DL who is 6'4'walked over to the door so they could see more than women.  Finally Machelle came to the door apologizing.  We invited her outside where it was really quite cold and had her sit on a chair so they could give her a blessing.  She had a black eye.  This is so hard!  She is a Child of God and he loves her.  Why do these things happen?
            I love doing this work for my Heavenly Father!  This week went by quickly.  We did a 4 hour service project for Mah's;  visited 47 people and saw a miracle today.  I know we are doing good things for this Seatac Ward.  When we knock on doors to visit, no on is intimidated or uneasy by these '2 little ole ladies' and we have made some incredible friends.
I know Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers!  I know He wants His children to be happy by making wise

"It rains as we walk and walk and walk....."

This week has been the wettest of our two months in Tukwila...but we love it.  Really, we never use a umbrella because we were told we would look like tourists....so, we either walk without or flip our hoods over our heads.
Monday we rode the lightrail into downtown Seattle, to Pikes Place and Market Pier 57 where we ate AGAIN at the Crab Pot.   SOOOOOOO GOOD!!  We walked the streets and foud little stores, enchanting eating areas under pergolas lined with green leaves.  Oh, how Fun!  The ride into Seattle was 30 min and the return ride was 20 min.  The 'exclusive' ride was $1.50 for Seniors for all day and we could have gotten off at any of the 12 stops.
District Meeting was Tues and with Transfers last Tues we were introduced to our new DL...Elder Buckway from Centerville.  He is very tall and attended Viemont High.  Fine young man with great leadership skills.  Sister Carter and myself came away with new challenges to perform and we still feel such a strong desire to 'rescue and love' those that are less-active.  If we don't bring them into activity, who is going to fellowship all those new converts brought in by the thousands of new missionaries?  Really, this new program is vital to the success of membership involvement in fellowshipping new converts.
Tomorrow is Sunday (I am writing early because we are too tired to stay out any later)  Last week we visited 77 homes.  Not sure this is the best way to do this work so the last 2 days we have prayerfullyconsidered  what we are doing and how to improve.  Yesterday and today we spent all of our time visiting with fewer people and learning more of them and realizing we need to do this more.
Tomorrow we expect Tracy, Sue and Matthew;  Betty Jo and Jonathan;  Dick and Annabel Powers...he is 86 and is a stubborn ole sort (kinda like by dad used to be) and we just love these two people.  He just loves these 2 ole ladies and is really starting to soften!!  This will be 2 Sundays at church.  Also, we expect Vicki and Charlene.  Not a bad addition to any Sac. meeting.
I want all to know how much I love serving my Heavenly Father and standing as a witness of Jesus Christ.  Yes, it is hard work, but my family gave me some wooden blocks reminding me, "I Can Do Hard Things!"  And yes I can!!!
I just know Heavenly Father loves His children.  He wants all of us to be taught the Doctrine of Christ and to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God.  I feel it a honor to be called as a missionary to spread this message.
Thanks to all for your love, support and friendship.  I Love all of you!!
(Five of our children went to Salina to spend a day, a night and a day with their grandmother Bird on her 92 birthday.  Can you believe that?!?  This kinda makes my eyes sweat and I love them for their kindess and unselfish behavior).  This also makes me homesick!!

Love,
Sister Frame