Benson Hill.... no sign of vampires

You know how last week I said I was going to make an outline for these e-mails. Well I lied. It didn't happen. So you just get whatever I make up right now.

Wilson fell off date yesterday. We went to see him on Saturday and see if he needed a ride to church. He said his mom will only let him come to the Malichi Church (long story) We have to back off for a little bit. We do have this 9 year old girl we are teaching. Her Mom is a member but less active and her grandpa is active. She has learned everything. The elders taught her but here mom got a little freaked out. The elders backed off and we stepped in. She is on date but her mom backed out of letting her come to church on Sunday. She wants to be baptized so bad.

A lot of people here have garden gnomes. I have started a collection of pictures of them. I am really excited they are all so cute and have there own personality! :)

It really doesn't rain that much. It hasn't rained since my first week here. It is cloudy and foggy though. But we have had 1 or 2 sunny days.

We have started a program where at 8 o clock every night we go to a members house and teach them a lesson and they pretend to be investigators. It is really helpful. We don't have a lot of people to see that late. We also get good feedback.

Hope all is well at home.

Sister DeKarver

Benson Hill... Go Seahawks? Part 2

Wilson is our only progressing investigator. One if the boys we are teaching went MIA for a few days. We went over to his house to talk to his aunt and he was just sitting on the couch. We were like DUDE WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!

Anyways. I am hoping to get better with e-mails. Maybe I will start writing an outline? Any ideas? What do you want to hear about?

Sister DeKarver

Benson Hill......Go Seahawks?

So the Seahawks won. Which means another day that we can't see anyone because  they are watching the game. It is getting a little annoying. I don't know who to cheer for the Seahawks or the Broncos. DELEMA. But not a huge one when you are serving the Lord.

I finally got to see Mt. Rainier yesterday. It is pretty big. The weirdest part is that there are no other mountains around it. All of the sudden there is just this giant mound of earth. Strange.

When I was at the MTC I bought a journal that has the painting, "hold to the rod" by ..... Christensen (I forgot his first name.) What do you thing the picture symbolizes. Some say he is holding all of his worldly possessions and he must let them go to hold the rod. I like to think of it as he is holding his burdens and he must let go of them and give them to the Lord in order to hold onto the rod.

I don't really have a lot to say. I really need to get better at this e-mailing thing. I have been a little sick this past week. With a non stop headache, neasea, and aching. For a day and a half we just went to scheduled appointments and then I came home and slept. I am feeling better but not fantastic.

We have someone committed to baptism. His name is Wilson, he is 12 years old and a little autistic. We have to be creative with ways to teach and keep him involved. His Mom is LDS but less active and his dad has his records removed. Anyways he says things like. "the Mormon church is 7/10ths true and the Malichi church is 3/10ths true." he is so cute. He is committed to be baptized on February 8th. I just hope his mom lets him. Even though she is the one that wanted him to learn and be baptized. She is a little wishy washiy and decided that her boys need to experiance all religions.

Benson Hill

Hello everyone! Hope all is well.

Mission life is good. There is lots to do and hardly any down time. My body is finally starting a adjust to the time zone and sleeping schedule.

My apartment is good nothing to exciting. We do have our own washer and dryer! Our apartment complex has it's own gym so that is really nice. We just got approved to use it as long as there isn't a man in it. (we haven't had a problem yet, no one wants to work out at 6 am).

Sister Alder has been in this ward for 4 transfers, this is her 5th. Before that there was no sisters in this ward for 12 years! Because of this we spend a lot of time visiting the Widows in the ward that the elders can't visit. It is like having a bunch of grandmas. The ward really like to feed us. I am going to get FAT! they are always feeding us and giving us cookies. It is crazy!

Most people here work at Boeing. We had to work around the football game on Saturday. Everyone is a die hard Sea-hawks fan. If they win 1 more game they will be in the Superbowl. (I'm sure Shane has a snide remark about that) If they make it to the Superbowl I am going to get a Sea hawks shirt. Well even if they don't I will everyone has one.

On Wednesday our miles got reduced. We used to get 1000 a month now we only have 600. We have to be creative and plan well. I am just glad we have a car.

We also have a phone. I am in charge of it because Sister Alder forgets it a lot. Our phone hasn't been getting texts and so we keep missing appointments. Then we get calls from members asking if we are okay. Our phone also gets awful reception in our apartment. It is crazy! We had to call our District Leader 4 times last night because the call kept dropping.

Our music rules are whatever the white handbook says. But President Eaton approved DISNEY. SEND ME FROZEN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! You can send CD's we have a player in our car.

One of the elders that had our apartment before liked to dumpster dive. We have a lot of random stuff. Sister Alder got rid of most of it. golf clubs and such. But we still have a mismatched stereo and a bunch of lamps.

Send all letters to the Mission office. I will get them 1 business day later. Packages I get every Tuesday at district meeting. (I haven't gotten the second package yet.)

Thanks for all your love and support.

Sister DeKarver  

WASHINGTON

Well I am here in Washington. It has been raining since we landed yesterday. On the airplane they had us all sitting together except for me. I was across the isle from everyone else. (and no Katie I didn't talk to the people sitting next to me, they didn't speak English.) It was hard saying goodbye to the Elders in our District as we parted ways at the airport. I am really going to miss them.

My Mission President and Wife are great. I also saw Elder Hendrick (I think that is his name) Willy and Shauna's nephew.

I am in Renton and we serve in the Belview ward (I think). There are so many people and things to remember it is going to be a while until i get it all straight!

My companion's name is Sister Alder. She is from Arizona. Our apartment is kinda gross. Elders lived in in before Sister Alder moved in 4 transfers ago. She has been slowly improving it. She says it is a lot better than when she first got there. My bed is so cute with my yellow and gray Comforter. We went tracking last night and found two potential investigators.

There is so much work to do and people to see. Last night we saw a less active woman. She is so great she has a daughter that has Surebrial Palsi. (sorry for the spelling). The little girl is so cute and I love her. She is 6 and even though she can't talk she is great at communicating what she wants. We also met a older sister missionary. Her Granddaughter goes to Westlake. You know Maddison. She is special needs and loves to hug everyone! I knew her once I saw a picture of her.

I keep getting car sick. I think it is because I don't have any sense of direction. (There are no mountains). Hopefully that gets better.

Please send any letters and packages to the mission home. I will get the letters a day later and packages at Zone Conference weekly.

Our mission president said something great to the sisters he told us to pretend that we are married and on a business trip. If our husband saw the way we were interacting with elders would we be ashamed. I feel like I explained that poorly. :/

We have a car only one set of sister missionaries doesn't and they walk by choice.

My area is very diverse. There are lots of apartments and so many different ethniticities. The Seattle mission has a Russian speaking division and it covers part of our mission as well. Weird thing is President and Sister Eaton's daughter is serving there speaking Russian.

Send me lots of pictures and quotes and stuff. Sister Alder has a huge collage in front of her desk and I an jealous. I need to get working on mine! we are going to the store later so i can get tacky stuff. (and some other stuff as well.

My normal p-days will be on Monday. Except during transfers they will be on Tuesdays.

I love you all.

The Gospel is true!

Sister DeKarver       

Last letter from MTC

This week has been crazy! but I don't have a lot to say. 

We are no longer teaching Jake. We switched and are now teaching Sara. We are also teaching Gabby who is an actual investigator! It is so exciting. She doesn't really know anything about the church and her mom keeps sending her anti mormon stuff. We are trying to teach her as much as we can and increase her desire to learn. Last night we taught her about the Book of Mormon. We don't know what we are teaching her tonight yet.  There are somethings about the church that she really likes and others that she doesn't like and makes her not want to do with the church. On of those things is Plural Marriage. I have explained it several times but i dont think she fully understands yet. 

I saw Madylyn Smith. (She was my friend in 6th grade) She is going to california. It was great to see her. I also saw April. I Screamed and ran up and hugged her. 

I have a new assignment Sister Swapp and I are the music Corrdinator, We lead the music in Sacramant. And plan the songs. We are also in charge of planning musical numbers and encouraging everyone to go to chior(even though we have never gone.) 

If you are sending a dear elder do it before noon on sunday. It takes a few days for me to get it and I want to make sure I get them all before i leave. 

Thanks for all your love and support! 

Sister DeKarver