No Better Place to Be (Cheesy)

Hello!

A lot of this week was spontaneous reliance on the Lord. 

Monday evening we got a call from Brother Auchziger. He has a ton of health problems, one of them being cancer. So, Monday he called us and bishop to come and talk with him. We is 69 and hopes to live to be 70. He told us he believes he has 6 months to live and started planning out his funeral and things. 

We haven't been able to see Bonnie in a while because she has been sick, but Tuesday we decided to drop by with some goodies to see how she was doing. We ended up spending two hours with her listening to Christmas music, listening to her concerns, organizing her CDs, and eating goodies. Sometimes we need to have those bonding moments with investigators because they are normal people. So are we.

(WAPIS-water pasteurization indicators)

Wednesday, we made more WAPIS (WAPIS are water pasteurization indicators)! As always :) we meet new people all the time there. We tracked a lot downtown, visiting the old folks home as well. There is a sweet old lady-83years old named June. We call her Miss June. We took her to visit a less active in a different part of the old folks home. Long story short he wasn't there as we knocked and rang a doorbell, but on the doors are these other things right below the peep holes. I asked June what they were for and what happens if we push them. She proceeded to tell me, "they'll probably blow up." Straight face and all. She's a funny lady. Gotta love Miss June! Also, a couple weeks ago we printed out the pictures we took with Bill for him and he shows them to everybody! We are going to find frames to put them in. Man, I love old people.

Right now our teaching pool is small. We have three progressing investigators-one progressing towards a baptismal date. Bonnie, Makalii (new investigator this week), and Virignia (baptismal date!) so, we are trying to find more people. Now, the best way to find people to teach is through members. We have found that the number of people baptized found by missionary efforts (tracting) in this mission is next to none. Like 5% or something tiny. Members play a HUGE role! And I never realized that until I got out here. Members and missionaries together bring the best results for bring souls unto Christ, Not just the missionaries. So, we are still in that dilemma of trying to re-activate 400 inactive members, or trying to clean up the records. On Friday, I called 12 numbers from the ward directory in a row and all of the phones were disconnected. We have also found a couple addresses where the people no longer live there, so that is always fun, sifting out records. 

Thursday, I had my first break down. I couldn't stop crying for 40ish minutes and just felt so stressed and frustrated and sad. After the breakdown we contacted a referral who is a potential investigator! We are meeting with them next week to invite them to take the lessons. Then, we spent the evening with Roger and Vickie. They are converts in the ward, in their mid and late 50's. Roger has had terrible health his whole life with heart failure, etc. A couple of weeks ago he went in for surgery to get his pace maker replaced and he ended up having terrible blood pressure and was given 6 months to live. So, we check up on them every now and then. What was cool was while we visited them, we realized they would be perfect to bring along to an appointment with Donna and Dave. Donna and Dave are stagnant investigators, but Roger and Vickie are a lot like them. I am excited to see how our next appointment goes. Roger and Vickie have such wonderful testimonies and impactful conversion stories. That was a powerful, spiritual moment after my breakdown. It gave me a little momentum. 

Friday was weekly planning. So, the day goes as follows:

6:30 am wake up and workout

7 shower and get ready

7:30 breakfast

8 personal study

9 companion study

10-11 weekly planning part 1

11-12 lunch

12-2:30 weekly planning part 2

After 2:30 tracking and visiting less-active members of our congregation

(our appointment fell through )

5:00 dinner. We ate at Jerusalem with members, a Mediterranean food place. 

6 tracking and visiting LA (less-active members)

We ended up stopping at a members house at about 6:45pm just to say hi and leave a short message but it turned into dinner number 2 because they kept insisting we eat Thai food. So we did. It was delicious! They have a young less active member living with them, so we taught them a lesson.

8:15pm had a meeting with the ward mission leader and that ended the night.

Saturday, we did three hours of tracting after studies and service. It was the perfect time to go because we talked to at least 20 people! One house sister Tauala had a strong prompting to go to. It was set back from the road, pretty much in the middle of the forest. I felt fine going there, so we did. As we walked up the driveway a lady walked out and was very nice. We asked if she had a belief in God and she replied, "I'm looking for one." Bing. Golden. She is looking for a relationship with God. After talking with her some more she broke down crying saying her younger sister got in a car accident just yesterday and broke her neck. She wants us to pray for her. Sister Tauala then went into the plan of salvation and brought out a “Book of Mormon” to share with the lady. She was looking for one of the scriptures that talks about the SpriteKit world in the doctrine of Christ scriptures we have been reading. As she struggled I got the strong impression to give this lady my “Book of Mormon” I have been marking all up while on my mission. So, I did. I flipped through it I came upon the perfect chapter to share with this lady. We left. I hope we hear from that lady soon. Her name is Brandy.

Saturday was also General Women's Conference September 2015. AWESOME! It was pretty cool because every single thing that was talked about in Women's Conference sister Tauala and I had studied that morning. My favorite was the story President Uchtdorf shared "Summer with Great Aunt Rose". An investigator was supposed to come with us to watch it, but she bailed, so that was sad.

Sunday was awesome because it was fast and testimony meeting and everything was great, but one of the coolest things was we were contacting a referral and the mother-in-law to the referral ended up answering the door. She asked if we were Jehovah Witnesses. We said no, Mormons. Her face lit up like she was coming home and found out that she was a member long ago in Guam and is still a member. She is coming to church with members next Sunday. I am so excited to see this lady again.

This is Brother and Sister Latta. They are AWESOME!

Today, before grocery shopping we got another call from Brother Auchziger. His wife has dementia and had fallen in the shower and the care giver needed help lifting her. So, we drove over as fast as we could and helped lift her out of the shower. The care giver was pretty shaken up and so was Brother Auchziger. I love that guy. And all the old people.

This week I felt the spirit confirm to me at every location that this is where we need to be right now. And I feel at peace and am filled with so much love for these people. Sometimes my heart aches with the troubles they are going through, but when I testify of Christ and His Atonement, nobody can help but feel comforted. This gospel is true!

I love you guys so much! The boys grow up so fast and are smart and athletic. Mom, you are the most self-less human I have ever met. And dad you will continue to be the most intelligent person I know.  I have the best family in the world.

Love you guys!

Sister Savanah Frisch 

Washington Vancouver Mission

2223 NW 99th Street

Vancouver, WA 98665

It Rains a Lot in Washington!

Tracting in the rain.

First off.

Here is my mailing address:

Sister Savanah Lynn Frisch

Washington Vancouver Mission

2223 NW 99th St

Vancouver, WA 98665

Second thing. I had my first baptism on Saturday and it was incredible! It was for a cute 10 year old. Her mom is super inactive and didn't even come to the baptism, but her dad is starting to come back. After the baptism, he said he wants to work towards becoming an elder and being endowed. So, that is way cool! We are working a ton with less actives and part-member families.

Third thing. Transfers were this week and we have 23 new missionaries. We have a super young mission- over 75% have been out for less than a year. There were also at least 6, 6 week old trainers and most everyone else is a 3 month old trainer, so we are the young training the younger in missionary work.

We took out two sisters, so here we are at the mission home.

 Sister Tauala and I took out these new sisters.  They flew out from the MTC Tuesday morning.

Here is a quote I really loved from Elder Uchtdorf's talk "The Love of God" from general conference in 2009.

"Our Father in Heaven has given us, His children, much more than any mortal mind can comprehend. Under His direction the Great Jehovah created this wondrous world we live in. God the Father watches over us, fills our hearts with breathtaking joy, brightens our darkest hours with blessed peace, distills upon our minds precious truths, shepherds us through times of distress, rejoices when we rejoice, and answers our righteous petitions.
        He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fulness of joy. He has promised
us all that He has.
        If all that is not enough reason to love our Heavenly Father, perhaps we can learn from the words of the Apostle John, who said, “We love him, because he first loved us.”

Sister Frisch

 This is Kailie, the girl who was baptized this last Saturday.

 Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Bristow.

This stove is from the 1950's.

We met this lady with a bunch of plants in bird cages. It was rad.

 More tracting in the rain.

I Love Food. A Lot.

Isn't it pretty. Also, they make kombucha so we drank kombucha (:

 I get the question a lot: what has been the worst thing you have eaten on your mission so far? Answer: nothing really that bad, yet. If anything, people serve us a lot of enchiladas, but because they aren't close to the Mexican border, let's just say they aren't really enchiladas at all. But they aren't bad. Just not an enchilada. Also, for those who know of my fear of tomatoes, that fear is gone. Everyone grows tomatoes here, and yesterday, I ate one all by itself and it was delicious! It was a giant, hometown, Cherokee tomato.

This week has been the week for delicious homemade food! We eat with members every  night. On Wednesday, recent converts made butter chicken curry which is like chicken tiki masala with naan bread. Yummmm. Then, last night the members we live with made us a meal. It was roasted lamb, homemade bread, homemade tiziki (however you spell that) sauce, with a Mediterranean salad where the only thing not grown from their garden were the olives and feta cheese. Delicious!

Rain er'ry day

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." - John 14:27

On Saturday we spent 5 hours at a local farm, harvesting carrots with the stakes in Vancouver and other cities. In total we harvested, washed, bagged, and moved 11 tons of carrots. That is right, over 22,000 pounds of carrots! All to be donated to the food bank for the homeless and impoverished. We then had 5 lessons on Saturday. So by Sunday, both sister Tauala and I were exhausted from the week and Saturday.

We have 4 investigators with a date set to be baptized, one being baptized this Saturday. We also have transfers on Wednesday and I get to stay with sister Tauala because I am still training :)

Random thoughts:

Give the Lord our will to consecrate our actions, which will help unify us with people we meet.

"Hope of God's Light". It is a Mormon message that tells the slow conversion of a man about to commit suicide to one who believed in a God. My favorite part is when he states: "I realized that it is part of our condition as mortals to sometimes feel as though we are surrounded by darkness. But even though we may feel lost, God promises to illuminate the way before us. No matter how long it takes."  This week we have been busy in missionary work, but it has also been hard and it seems that we have hit a road block in finding people.

I felt pretty homesick one night this week, and just sat until I had to go to bed. I felt empty and exhausted. That day had been productive, but at the same time I just felt so lost, like what am I doing. One of the people we visited was an inactive (someone who doesn't go to church any more) who claimed to be an atheist. But as she described her love for her children I could tell it was an act. And it made me sad. It made her sad, denying the existence of a God. I felt as she must feel, lost and out of contact with God. Just as the quote says we feel surrounded by a "burrito of sadness" as I like to call it. We distance ourselves from God. But that is just it. We distance ourselves from God. HE. IS. ALWAYS. THERE. He is always here. And he will lead us on, "illuminating the way before us." As I went to bed that night I said a long prayer. Probably the longest one I've said in my life. And when I woke, I was rejuvenated to go out and do the Lord's work. I really am only just the instrument in His work.

 Know God lives and loves. I know that through the proper steps we can return to live with our Father in Heaven as we see the beauty between the perfect balance of justice from the Father and mercy from the Son. How grateful I am for the Atonement, especially the enabling power which allows me to feel of God's love and heals my soul. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son and was called as a prophet to restore Christ's church. I have seen this truth transform from a belief to knowledge on my mission and it has made this gospel that much sweeter to me. I am forever indebted to my Savior who holds the infinite weight of human hope. I am grateful for our modern-day prophet, Thomas S. Monson who guides and directs us, leading us to truth in a world full of grey.  I love my Savior and my God. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sister Savanah Frisch

Sister Frisch's September 7, 2015 Letter

Fog in our backyard.

Time passes so quickly, when I finally have a moment to sit and think about the week as a whole, not individual days, the days run together. This week, the famous Pacific Northwest weather arrived! It rains every day, now, and is cold, but the sun never fails to shine through at least once a day. They are little tender mercies that I love. This week has been full of those tender mercies.

On Monday, we had Family Home Evening at an old folks home, so, I got to see Bill! The Bill I have talked about before. Here is an added bit about his story--- we got talking about teeth somehow and he made the comment how he hasn't had them for 60 years. I was confused since he is 83, which meant they've been gone since he was 23. Turns out he was a boxer while in the army and lost all of his teeth after six years of that. He is a tough old fellow.

This is Bill.  Now, he spends his days making those 1000 piece puzzles.  

He whizzes through them, too!

This is Virginia, one of our investigators with a baptismal date.

Here is my testimony

I know God lives and loves. I know that through the proper steps we can return to live with our Father in Heaven as we see the beauty between the perfect balance of justice from the Father and mercy from the Son. How grateful I am for the Atonement, especially the enabling power which allows me to feel of God's love and heals my soul. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son and was called as a prophet to restore Christ's church. I have seen this truth transform from a belief to knowledge on my mission and it has made this gospel that much sweeter to me. I am forever indebted to my Savior who holds the infinite weight of human hope. I am grateful for our modern-day prophet, Thomas S. Monson who guides and directs us, leading us to truth in a world full of grey.  I love my Savior and my God. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

We're matching today, kind of...

Our zone. Today during dodgeball we stopped to make an "S".

Tuesday we had a District meeting, and then had lessons with three investigators.

This is my District.  We have the ASL (American Sign Language) Sisters and Elders.