Car Loads of Fun In Eugene!

February 24, 2014

Hot dawg what a busy week ! First off Ryley happy birthday dude ! I

know I'm late but the first thing I thought on Friday morning was it’s

Ryley’s birthday.. Happy birthday. This past week has been quite

exciting. And I'll start with the highlight of my week... Experiencing

the Portland temple. The Portland temple is so beautiful to start. It

had rained about an hour prior to us arriving. And took us a good 2

hours to get down their. The van ride was exciting.. We stuffed 12

elders ( all of us bigger or taller in size ) in this Mormon assault

vehicle. We totaled 2500 lbs. in this poor van. The ride to the temple

was awesome. So green. So many trees and beautiful hills. It was a

pleasure to get lost in thought and admire Gods amazing creations. And

the rain just beautifies it all. When we arrived at the temple the sun

was out and shining on the glistening temple. Not to mention the guys

rappelling off it to clean this beautiful structure. Was cool to see

them with their power washers cleaning the spires and windows. The

temple has a really cool greenish tint. And the stone they used really

matches the pines on the grounds. Every flower is just marvelous, all

the pedals had flecks of rain spotted on them. The varieties of trees

had little droplets of water dripping onto the stained sidewalks. It

was indeed a beautiful sight. Me and my companion were hurrying

everywhere trying to take pictures of everything that stood out to us.

Which was basically everything. I felt like Instagram would of loved

me. I found myself thinking about all the photos my mom made me take

at all the temples I went to. And then I remembered the time I slipped

on the ice like a boss at the Logan temple. As we continued our trip

into the temple, the waiting room is so cool ! It's an inside garden

basically. Really captures your eyes attention and makes you want to

sit down and enjoy. As we checked in our cameras, got fitted, dressed,

and continued on with our endowment session I couldn't help but enjoy

that satisfaction that I always get when I'm in the temple. Such a

peaceful and reverent place. One that is set apart from the world. I

love temples. I love the feeling I get of how families can truly be

together forever and be sealed and bound on earth and into the

eternities. And temples always remind me of my family back at home.

Reminds me of my mommy who pushed me to go to temple even when I

didn't want to. Reminds me of my poppy who would constantly smile and

help me with anything during our session. And his kindness and example

to those around him. And then it always gets me excited to go with my

sister, and most likely her husband, when I get home.. Which then

leads me to think about my brothers and how I wish I were with them

playing lord of the rings on the tramp. And also attending the temple

when they are home. Ha. The temple has so much to offer us. It truly

is a house of God. It's where we can go with question or concern and

get those answers as we faithfully trust in The Lord. It's where we

can go and do missionary work for those who have passed on in this

life. I think of how lucky I am to be doing both missionary work on

earth and on the other side of the veil. The temple is where we can go

to get away from the stresses and problems of the world. And lose

ourselves in the beauty inside. It's where we can feel the spirit.

It's where the most joy is given to us. I wish I could go everyday.

And mom I'm so proud of your diligence and desire to go multiple times

a week. I'm SOOOOOOOOO jealous ! I'm also so proud. There are a

bazillion of other things you could do with your time.. But you choose

to devote it to your Heavenly Father. How amazing ! And dad I'm proud

of you for going once a week. Some people don't even go months or

years. What great examples I have. And that my family has. Ryley and

Connor I hope you get excited for that great day when you get to walk

into the house of The Lord. It is my testimony to everyone who cares

to read this far into my email that temples are truly ordained of God.

That they carry the unique ability to make FAMILIES forever. They can

truly bless our lives. And bless the lives of those who have moved on.

I love temples. And I hope everyone makes it a goal to go once every

two weeks. I'm jealous. Really I wish I could go more. But missionary

work for the people of Eugene, Oregon doesn't get done when were there.

Ok so now for the rest of the week. Extremely busy with service ! We

have officially been dubbed the moving company. Me and my companion

have moved 6 families in and our of their homes. All have flipped

pianos. So it gets rather intense. And this week we moved out 2

families. One was a non member. They are Lutheran. And old. And remind

me of my grandma when it comes to moving things. In fact it's

almost an exact same personality. Dad you understand right? And also

this week we cleaned up many branches and cut down a few trees. We

helped this elderly couple... The H's cut down a tree that had

fallen on their garage. Was pretty intense and reminded me of camping

and making log benches. And smelt really good. Sister H made us

shepards pie. My native food. And I ate a good 3 lbs of that. And then

after that we went and helped the G family take care of a tree,

which while doing that the Y family, also elderly and nonmembers were

walking by and we offered them help, ended up cutting down another

tree with much excitement. She tried to pay us even tho we insisted

that we do it for free so she agreed to take us to a Chinese buffet

restaurant. And this will lead us to give them our message. Even if

they are Buddhists. Anywho after our tree downing adventures we went

back to the grasses where we had Hawaiian haystacks (Another native

food to me). We showed them our homes and told them some stories then

went on back to missionary work. I guess the point of this story is

the food is back to normal ha ! :) also mommy my ear is much better.

Sister k just wants to be prepared with more drops if needed.

So take your time on it. I love you by the way. Did you know that?

Hehehe. Today is super cool. It's way foggy and were up on the top of

a hill/ mountain here at a members home doing laundry. I think today

we are going bowling as a zone. And we are doing splits with the

elders quorum tonight. Anywho I love y'all. I miss my home ward. Oh oh

oh.... I almost forgot... So really scary experience this week. I was

on an exchange with my DL and we were at my area tracting. We went to

this dudes house, as we stood at his door for like a minute he finally

came from around the side of the house... ( this story may be

disturbing to some parental guidance is advised. What follows will be

a play back from what happened on February 21 at approx 2 pm.)

👿(Devil face) what are you selling

👬 (two young men) (two young men)we're not selling anything sir.. But..

👿(Devil face) well you must be selling something or else you wouldn't be on my

doorstep! ( he then continues to pick up a garden hose..)

👬 (two young men)we're really..

👿(Devil face)what organization are you from? (Walking over to switch to turn on water)

👬 (two young men)the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

👿(Devil face)so your selling something then.. Religion.. Bunch of crap. (Edited)

👬 (two young men)um yeah I guess so..

👿(Devil face)do you know what I do to people who try to sell me crap? ( turns on

water ) (frightens missionaries)

👬 (two young men) (two young men)can we do anything for you ?

👿(Devil face)you can get off my property right now ! ( aiming hose at us)

👬 (two young men)=🙀(Scard cat) ok sure thing.. Have a great day..🙌🏃 ( us praising The Lord

and running)

So yea that was exciting haha :) and totally kidding about parental

guidance. I dunno how to spell disgression so it's guidance. Sorry

folks. Anywho love y'all.. Later !!