The calm after the storm.

Sister Frisch and Sister Mortensen

There is a part in the New Testament in Mark where Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles are sailing on the Sea of Galilee. Christ is asleep, very exhausted from his day's labor, and a storm has risen on the sea. Winds are crazy, waves are scary, and I'm sure the torrent of water seems endless and frightening. By this time the apostles are full of fear that their boat is not going to survive the storm as they battle to keep their boat from capsizing . So, they wake up Jesus, and in verse 39 of Mark chapter 4 it says, "he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."

Lately it's been super stormy in Seaside. Like 80+ mph winds and high tide warnings, power outages, and trees and signs (metal speed limit signs being completely bent to the ground because of the wind) falling all over the place, and hail. Lots of it. So it's been pretty awesome. Right now though, as I type this, the sun is peeking through and I am actually seeing a blue sky. How beautiful. 

A week ago- Monday- as our district was playing gatorball (a mixture of soccer and rugby) I received a call from the mission office. It was Sister Burgoyne calling to tell me Bonnie, someone I taught for six months in Vancouver was getting baptized this weekend and I was going to give the talk on the Holy Ghost! HOLY MOLY !

Backstory on Bonnie. Missionaries first came in contact with her two weeks before I came as a newbie missionary to Vancouver. She was the very first person I invited to be baptized and she downright told me, "no." Well, over the course of six months, her answer to that question

became a "maybe", to a "when it will happen, not an IF it will happen." She has a huge testimony of her loving Heavenly Father and has faith. As Alma puts it in the Book of Mormon, "And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

So, in the past month and a half I've been gone, she found her faith and has been growing it and was baptized on March 12th. Sister Mortensen and I were able to receive permission to travel the 2+hours from Seaside, OR to Vancouver, WA to participate in her baptismal service.  Sister Tauala and Sister Nilson (my two previous companions) were also there because they taught Bonnie. It was a joyous reunion. I started crying because I was so happy. I love something Sister Tauala said. It went something like this, "I pray that if the reunion in the Celestial Kingdom is just like what all of you witnessed today in the gathering of all these missionaries, I pray that all of us may be there." Man, we tasted a little bit of the happiness and joy found in the Celestial

Kingdom and the love Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of His children.

This moment- Bonnie's baptism, is just one reason why the mission is worth it. There are so many hard, trying moments on the mission and in life that often leave me to cry out, "Lord, save me." In contrast, the calm afterwards is so sweet as I do reach out to my Heavenly Father who has been there all along, and he says, "Peace, be still." Right now I can feel that peace as I continue to look to my Savior and see miracles taking place.

True peace and happiness are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know God lives and loves. The Atonement is real and works. How grateful I am for the Atonement, especially the enabling power which allows me to feel of God's love and heals my soul. As we look to our Savior, we can always find peace.

All my love,

Sister Frisch

Sunshine!

I don't have much to say, at least lately, I haven't had too much to say. Sister Mortensen is my new companion and she, as well, is a Ute fan. Hmmmm, haha, she's awesome!

 I've been studying a lot on grace and I love this quote by Elder Oaks, "It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."
This past transfer was the hardest transfer on my mission and Sister Mortensen is the hugest answer to prayers. Seriously. But I've also learned the most this past transfer of the enabling power of the Atonement and patience. Holy moly, this is the Lord's work and everything is done in His timing on His watch. On the mission we have to have patience for ourselves, our companions, for those we teach, and how the work goes. Patience is definitely one of my weaknesses and I am working hard to make it a strength. But that is something I love about grace, as I put in my best efforts, and am exhausted to the point of giving up, as I reach to God, He reaches back with much more strength than I have.

Well, there is my two cents for the day. Peace!

Love you!

 Transfers. I am holding Sister Tuhoe's ukulele and jamming out to it. I'm still really bad at this whole picture taking thing

Friday, March 4, 2016

Today we helped clean the church building. Each auxiliary is in charge for a certain  month and relief society is it for March. Nobody signed up for this week so we helped the Relief Society president clean the building. We then did service with the Warenton sisters at the Catholic food bank. We then did weekly planning, which went super well! We did most of it before dinner! We had dinner with the Davis family. I had met sister Davis. Brother Davis I had talked to on the phone before, but I thought he was one of the kids. I asked if I could talk to his mother and I got an immediate hang up. Oops! The Davis family is fun, though Brother Davis is going inactive. His testimony is being tested somehow. We have been teaching members the restoration and talking about why member missionary work is hard and so we did that as our dinner thought with them. Brother Davis had been giving us a hard time about a dinner thought and the kids had been rowdy, but when we started talking about the first vision, the sprint was so strong. I wanted to cry. The kids were all quite and listening and Brother Davis was listening, too. I hope he comes back to church. We then went home and finished up weekly planning. We went through the ward directory.  For everybody I have a face and name together, we highlighted . We are going to start visiting every family and sharing the message of the restoration with them and getting to know them, as they are better established in the community than we are.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Today was an awesome but exhausting day. We had 6 lessons with investigators and less actives. It was also sunny! We had a lesson with Billie. She told us how she and her husband-Richard met. It's cute. They've been married for 40 years. We also had dinner at the Bushing's. Natalee was there. She had a friend over and while we were talking to sister Bushing, I overheard Natalee telling her friend she was going to get baptized soon and become a missionary and then go to school to become a teacher. It was awesome! She then watched little Mormon messages with her friend on Sister Bushing's tablet. It was an awesome missionary moment. Though we still can't get Sister Bushing or Natalee to church, Natalee is looking forward to going on a mission and getting baptized. 

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Fast Sunday! I forgot to fast until we were in the middle of Ward council and people talked about the Ward fast we were doing. I looked to Sister Mortensen and just mouthed, "oops!" She smiled and she knew I forgot to fast. Haha. Oh dear. So I didn't fast. Oops. Ken shared his testimony on the stand though. It was awesome! We were able to teach the Restoration to the Erdts family and Sister Nebeker. I love these two families so much! Sister Erdts gave us waterproof maps of all of the hikes on the Oregon coast. We live really close to a trail head, so for exercise one morning we are going to wake up early and hike a bit. I'm excited! We are also going to plan a hike for the district to do on p-day. Sister Mortensen and I really bonded. She's awesome. She's an amazing teacher. So yeah, awesome! 

God Doesn't Do Random (Including Lots of Random Thoughts and Stories)

  

 Sister Pope and I are waiting for a call from President Taylor (Who is back in business now, woohoo!) or the assistants to the president to call us about transfers which are taking place on Wednesday... Let's just say Sister Pope is super anxious (since she is expecting a call) and jumps whenever our iPads or other alarms go off thinking that it is the phone. I did prank Sister Pope though. She was changing her laundry and I said out loud, "Hello! This is Sister Frisch and Sister Pope." She immediately dropped her laundry and hurried into the room I was in. She mouthed, "Put it on speaker phone." I then showed her the blank screen on the phone and she about tackled me. Haha. 

We had a crazy bashing story which will not be shared, but we somehow ended up with three of the lady's refrigerator boxes to recycle. (Well, we are nice and she is blind so when she asked us to dispose of the boxes we did.)  We folded them up as much as possible and shoved them into our recycling bin. Sister Pope then tried to jump on top of them in the recycling bin which led to much needed comic relief for both of us from the highly stressful situation. It was a tender mercy.

This was a group of scriptures that really resonated with me this week-Ether Chapter 6, verses 7-12. This is the account of a people who crossed great waters in barges. Please read.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.

9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.

10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.

11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.

12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.

There are lots of things I like about this story. First off, the people were continually praying to their Heavenly Father, and because they were, they received light in their barges through the whole journey. What a HUGE tender mercy from the Lord that would be. Imagine a giant wooden thing that looks like an almond from the outside but is hollow inside. This is what these people sailed in. All of their supplies and animals were in the barges with them, and they were in them for 344 days. Imagine the stench, the feces, and without a way of light, but the Lord provided a way as they exercised their faith. It didn't matter when they were floating on calm waves or immersed in tumultuous water, they prayed to their Heavenly Father. And they were blessed.

A little over two weeks ago was when we took our crazy trip to Birkenfeld, OR and lost the bumper to our car. On that trip, Sister Pope lost her missionary name tag somewhere in the middle of the boondocks. Sister Pope and I knew there was no way possible she would be able to retrieve her name tag, but even the small things, Heavenly Father cares about. This Friday, during service, a lady came up to me and said, "Sister Frisch, I found a name tag that looks exactly like yours but it says 'Sister Pope'. Do you know a Sister Pope?" And I told her, “yes” and we were able to help her at the food bank. This lady-Stacy- was walking her dog all the way out in a town near Birkenfeld and found the tag. It was in her car and was returned to Sister Pope. Never in a million years would we have thought Sister Pope was going to see that name tag again. Also, the chances of Stacy coming to the food bank, on just the right day at the right time, is just crazy! It's one of those "God doesn't do random" moments. I'm thinking there was a reason Stacy found the name tag and later we met her. I have a feeling we are going to see her again. It was a huge tender mercy! 

Heavenly Father loves me. I know that. He also loves all of you. I know that too!

Love, Sister Frisch

Yet another short one...

Sister Pope and I, and the Pacific Ocean  

  Sister McMullin and I on exchanges.

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Seaside is awesome! It's been sunny for the good part of this week. We found two new investigators, another is progressing towards baptism.

This week we read 3 Nephi 11 with an investigator and verse 15 really popped out at me. It reads, "15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the
prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a
surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come."

Those marks were left in Christ's, perfect immortal body. His was an infinite sacrifice, and that really stood out to me. He is the Savior of all, and we can change as we come unto him. That is a beautiful
thing.

      Hearts from home.  

I was too tall for this miniature parking garage thing.

 A full bright moon.

And this is a real life hippie van we found this morning driving!

An ice cream adventure at the end of a long, tiring day.

Shekinah-wesome week!

This week was crazy! Here is the week summed up! We were outside of Seaside more then we were there. 

Tuesday we had interviews with President Ferrin 30 minutes North in Astoria. Wednesday we had zone meeting an hour and a half away in Rainier. Thursday we decided to find less actives that were on the very border of our area, an hour away, in a little town called Berkenfeld, OR. Long story short, the bumper of our car fell off in the middle of nowhere on the highway without cell service, so we were able to shut the trunk of the car on the bumper as to keep it on while we drove to where we had service and had help. That leads to Friday taking us out of Seaside again to Longview, WA to get a new car. Saturday we were in Seaside the whole day and Ken was baptized! Sunday we were again in Astoria for a Regional Conference, so yeah! Shekinah-awesome!

Shekinah is a Hebrew word I learned this week. It means, "the glory of the divine presence, often represented as light" or AWESOME! As I've been on my mission, people remember me as, "the one who thinks life is awesome, and says awesome all the time." Well they are right. I use it

as just "awesome", or "awesome-sauce", "awesome-possum", and now, Shekinah-awesome! I think there is no better word to describe the Restoration of Christ's gospel and priesthood to the earth.

The Burgoyne's (a wonderful missionary couple that works in the mission office) drove all the way from Vancouver to Seaside to see us and to see Ken's baptism. Sister Burgoyne shared this awesome word with me :) in 1820 Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son. That event would be Shekinah; it was full of light and truth as these two personages were able to teach and direct Joseph through revelation. I am so grateful for that moment. I am grateful that Joseph was humble enough to be directed by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know Heavenly Father loves us and Jesus Christ loves us, which is why we continue to receive revelation on how to live happy lives and how to live eternally happy. It's awesome! I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is real and works. Heavenly Father answers our prayers. He answered many of Sister Pope and my prayers on Thursday as we drove home with our bumper not attached to our car. He kept us safe.

I know the Book of Mormon is true! It was Shekinah-awesome to see Ken be baptized on Saturday. We have taught him for about four weeks, and in that time he learned for himself that the Book of Mormon is true and that God does answer prayers. He stands as another witness of someone who has found these things out for himself. And more importantly, it was awesome to see Ken make covenants, or promises with God to 1) take upon himself the name of Jesus Christ.  2) keep the commandments. 3) serve the Lord.

Here is a little thing I can't get out of my head, so here ya go.

Sometimes life isn't that grand,

But really quite bland,

"Faith is of itself a principle of power."

So go smell a flower

And look for God's hand in your life today!

Because it makes it Shekinah-awesome!

Love,

Sister Frisch

 We live in the Tsunami evacuation area.

This is going to be a short one.

Some highlights from this week (besides sharing the gospel and feeling the spirit):

- First day of February! Woooo! Today as we were driving, we passed the Seaside High School (which is tiny). There was an entire herd of elk just chilling in the grass on the football field. People had stopped and were taking pictures because it was crazy! Sister Pope has seen that happen before though. If you look at google maps, you will see that besides our little town and even smaller towns, there is just forest.

-Seeing the stars, because there were actually no clouds in the sky and we were in the middle of nowhere trying to find a less active’s house.

-Trying to walk in 60 mph winds with sideways rain flying at us. We were soaked in seconds. I am handling the rainy weather here pretty well! It's crazy rainy weather, closer to like our monsoon rains. I do love living by the beach, though it makes me miss swimming more, even if it would be freezing to go swimming in the ocean.

-On Tuesday Sister Pope and I taught the most unified lesson together, ever! It was an awesome day.  I don't know what to say, except, I am exhausted and ready for bed and we talked to every single person we saw today. We taught 5 lessons today :)

The cost of groceries in a touristy town... Hmmmmm. Expensive. I really have to think about what I buy for groceries. It's almost twice as much here as things were in Vancouver, so a lot more expensive. I eat a lot of eggs now because it's a cheap form of protein and they are a cheap food overall.

We were also told a police man had been killed in downtown Seaside, a place we had planned to go last night but ended up not. Spiritual prompting there! Because then we would have witnessed the shooting. So yeah, everybody has told us about it and to be careful.  On Fast Sunday there were a lot of testimonies shared about the plan of salvation and prayer in response to the shooting in our Seaside community. (It's huge when someone dies in a population of 5,000).

I know that Heavenly Father lives. I know He is real. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is real and that they both love so much, infinitely much. I know that this gospel makes me happy because it brings light into my life. Christ is the light of the world. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church, restored on the earth through his prophet, Joseph Smith. I know God answers prayers when we go to Him with an open and sincere heart. When we have faith in Christ and act on that faith, miracles can happen. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Frisch

This is a picture of a unicorn/hippie van outside of the local cannabis dispensary.

"If you want to know how much you are loved, count all the waves in the sea."

That's what a sign says in the member's house we do our laundry at. I thought it fitting since it is February and Arizona's 104th birthday is coming up on the 14th of this month.

I also love that quote because the waves are a constant. Every morning I can look out my window and see the waves on a continuos roll, until they crash or hit the beach. It doesn't matter if it is raining, hailing,windy, or sunny. Either way, the waves never stop coming. Our Savior's love is like that. Somedays we are filled with resentment towards people, or we make bad choices, or we don't live up to our expectations (actually those things happen everyday, just on different levels), they could be breaks to our Savior's love, but they aren't. See, Christ is the epitome of love through words and deeds. Not only was he a perfect being, but his love is perfect. It's infinite, just like the waves in the sea.

Seaside is a cute touristy town with lots of old, retired people during the off season. I love it! I lied in my last email though, when I said the area was 5 times the land area size of my previous area. It's actually 20. There are lots of places we cover with just forest and water, and not many people. But, it makes finding fun because so rarely do we see people just walking around. It's like a treasure hunt trying to find people to teach. The gold is getting to teach them about God's love and his wonderful plan. We have two investigators right now progressing towards baptismal dates. Ken is golden. He referred himself and wanted a Book of Mormon. His grandma was a Mormon and he loved his grandma a lot :) the other is a referral from her daughter who is a convert of a year. The main thing though is that they both have a desire to change. They recognize that they have agency in this life and can choose where life takes them.

Something that has really stuck out to me this week is that missionary work really is Heavenly Father's work. He knows the souls that are prepared to hear the gospel. He knows them by name. But, he won't lead us to them unless we are living worthily and being obedient. Sometimes Heavenly Father leads us to people who have no interest in the gospel at all to make sure that He can trust us with these individual souls and that we will take care of them, and work with all our might, mind, and strength to bring them back to Him. He also knows us perfectly. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our fears. He knows where we lack in missionary skills or even life skills. Yet he trusts us, and he trusts us to trust him despite our faults. He trusts that we will turn to him as we find those faults and weaknesses so that through His strength we may be able to continue His work. He knows it all. When we confide in Him and listen to the Spirit, and act on those promptings, there are no bad days in missionary work, because we are doing His will. That is what I learned this week. I wish I had learned that 6 months ago. But hey, better now so I can change the rest of my time out here, than later.

That is all I have to say now, except, I saw a whole arch of a rainbow over the ocean in the sky and it was super cool. Water and light is an awesome combination!