Fastest week ever...

This week has flown by! I feel like last Monday was just a couple days ago! And some of the things I have written down to share with you seem like they happened weeks ago...time flies when you're having fun and you lose yourself in the service of the Lord! That's the goal, I guess, right? (I'm sure time isn't flying quite as much for Mom...haha). But it must have been pretty long, because it was long enough for me to get sick and then start getting over it already! But everyone here is getting really sick, so hopefully I won't get anything again. And hopefully my companion won't get anything!

 

Well, the big event of the week was Sister W's birthday yesterday! She and I and J (the guy that got baptized a couple weeks ago) all went over to the W's after church and had some cake and opened presents (I got one too, because they are just so nice :)) and had a gospel discussion. And then, after tracting and seeing miracles, like we do every day because Heavenly Father loves us so much, we went to dinner, and the wonderful couple that fed us had decorated with balloons and streamers and had brownies and everything! This ward is so loving and supportive and is full of incredible people. Brother and Sister F, who were the ones that had us for dinner yesterday, have such an amazing conversion story, and while we were talking, I just felt so uplifted and motivated and inspired! It was such a testament to me that we need to surround ourselves with good people and that we are so blessed to have good friends and family and neighbors to support us and strengthen our testimonies with theirs.

 

It has been sunny here the last few days, finally, but it just seems a little odd and out of place now to have sunshine and clear enough skies to see the stars...haha. But many mornings, it is foggy, and it is just gorgeous to drive over the bridge into town and see the fog over the lake and the mountains and trees...it always just helps me remember that I'm so blessed to have been called to Oregon. Heavenly Father loves us so much.

 

  

He definitely loves me enough to put me with a stellar companion! I just love Sister W so much. She is such a goof, but that is perfect, and she always helps us to work hard and know what we can specifically do to always be improving. I think she's exactly what I needed in a trainer, and Heavenly Father definitely knew that. We have talked so many times this week about how incredible it is that God has such a detailed, perfect plan for every single one of us, and I know that nothing happens by coincidence. It's so fun when Sister W and I both get so excited about just being missionaries and we just are so happy! That happened last night, when we were talking about how much progress and growth we have seen in some of the people we are working with. That's one of the best parts of being a missionary--we get to see so much positive change in people's lives and notice the improvement that they might not even notice themselves! Missionary work is a wonderful calling and it is such a blessing to act on that, even if you're not a full-time missionary.

 

One of our investigators had a miracle this week! It was even a miracle inside a miracle. She has dyslexia, so she has had a hard time reading her scriptures, although she has gotten better and wanted to read more and more as she has gained a stronger testimony. But this week, she got an answer to her prayers through reading the Book of Mormon! She was so worried that she wouldn't get an answer, so it was SO exciting when she texted us Mosiah 5:2 and 1 Nephi 11:6! She also quit smoking this week, and she is the one motivating her inactive boyfriend to come to church every week. I sure love that woman and I am so glad I get to serve here and know her.

 

While we were tracting one day, we knocked on a door, and the guy was like "This isn't really a good time..." and he was using his legs to hold something back from running out the door, which is what a lot of people here do with their dogs. But when I looked again, I realized they were children! And as he was shutting the door, and we said we'd come back another time, the little boy yelled out "COME BACK IN FIVE MINUTES!" haha, Sister W and I have been cracking up over that all week. I'm not sure that it's actually funny to any of you, but I appreciated it.

 

And we had a tracting miracle! So every night, we prayerfully set goals for the next day on what we want to accomplish. And then we strive to hit those goals! Well, it was 5pm, and we hadn't taught any "other lessons", but we had as our goal to teach three...so we were worried we wouldn't hit it, and we only had twenty minutes before our dinner appointment. So we went tracting, and we got all three lessons in those twenty minutes! Heavenly Father definitely blesses us when we work hard and follow the Spirit. We also got three return appointments with people while tracting and continually get to have conversations with wonderful people...So Sister W and I love tracting! Even though every single time we go tracting, it starts pouring. Or even hailing! (That's why we look all wet in the picture attached...cuz, you know, Oregon is rainy!)

 

 

One day while we were tracting, we saw a salamander in the middle of a driveway, and we decided that we should move it so it wouldn't get run over! So Sister W picked it up to save it, and she accidentally dropped it and killed it! (Also shown in a picture...sorry.) It was so ironic and sad.

 

 

Also a little sad is that we are having water troubles...our water is orange and yucky, so we are using water bottles to brush our teeth, and we can't do laundry or shower until it gets fixed, which will hopefully be soon!

 

Sister W's mom called a salon here and arranged for a birthday surprise for her--and me! But it was really cool, because she didn't know how she would let us know about it, but she ended up calling the girl who does the Bishop's wife's hair! So she was able to let us know, and we got to go do that this morning. Sister W got her hair cut and colored, and I got a pedicure! I just thought that was so thoughtful and wonderful of Sister W's mom and so cool that it all worked out through Sister H :) But while we were there, I was upstairs with my nails, and she was downstairs with her hair, and it was a little freaky to not be with my companion! Just a month in, and I'm already so used to having someone with me 24/7! I can't imagine what it will be like after 18 months...haha

 

Also, thank you Reachel for doing my outfits...I'm already needing to get creative, and definitely using the pictures you took, but I feel pretty accomplished that I still haven't repeated an outfit yet!

 

Thank you all so much for all you do, really. You are so appreciated and I love you so much! Have a most wonderful week and keep me updated on all that you do! :)

 

Love,

Sister Partridge

Well, it's been a month!

Hello friends!

 

Can you believe it's been more than a month since I left? Some days it feels like it's been forever, and some days it feels like it's flying by. Most days are somewhere in between, though. The days are very long, but the weeks seem so short.

 

This week has been so packed with wonderful things! We had an absolutely incredible zone meeting this week with President and Sister Young, and we all left feeling so motivated and inspired to be the best missionaries there ever were! They are wonderful, and I am so blessed to have been put in this fantastic zone. I got complimented by President Young in front of the whole zone during our roleplays for being excited and happy and sincere...slightly embarrassing, of course, but so very cool. And afterward, President Young came up to me and Sister W specifically and said, "You two. All I can say is 'WOW.'" So we must be doing something right! He is so inspired and so connected to the Spirit...I took over two full pages of notes during that meeting. It was wonderful.

 

Another truly marvelous thing that happened this week was J's baptism!!! He is incredible and was so prepared by the Lord for this Gospel. He is already excited to serve in the Church and wants to help us with our missionary work...he has been such an example to me and such a great reminder of why I am out here. We had such wonderful support from the ward at the baptism--we had at least thirty people there, and he was expecting about twelve, so it was a nice surprise! Sister W and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour", and we have been asked to sing it again at church on Sunday, so I guess we sounded alright! I'm sure we could have sounded better, but we were both just so excited and nervous for J that we were shaking...which probably gave us some unnecessary vibrato. Haha. But the Spirit was strong and J bore his testimony after he was baptized, which was a great experience. The other people in the picture of five people are the W's--we had all our lessons at their house and they really befriended him and are such a great support to both him and us. Also, Sister W and I went tracting in the craziest storm the day of the baptism, so although we looked all cute and put together in the morning, by the time the baptism rolled around, we looked a little homeless...hahaha

 

 

Also, speaking of pictures, I got to hold a massive snake! We teach a less-active couple every once in a while, and they live with a member who has these huge pythons...one of which, we get to hold! It was sweet.
 

 

 

And I have officially had my first misson-scary-dog experience! I didn't get bitten or anything yet, but we were walking up to the house of this family we teach, and we knew the dog should be somewhere, but it was creepily quiet. So we walk around to the porch, and he is just sitting in front of the door staring at us. Sister W says, "Hi, Scout!" and he just bolts at us, growling and trying to bite us. And Sister W screamed. And it was scary. That's all. Haha

 

It has been such crazy weather lately and soo stormy! Our water and power went out, so we were freezing when we woke up and didn't get to shower or anything, but it was back on by the time we got back from our meeting, so all was well. And trees are falling everywhere, because the ground is so soft that they just tip right over in these huge winds we get on the coast. The tree that's in the picture was so soft that it just shattered all over the road when it fell. It was crazy. 

 

 

I also got to go to Bandon for exchanges with Sister M this week! That was so wonderful and I learned a ton. And she is just adorable and such a good missionary. I love exchanges.

And we found out earlier this week that the olympics are happening? What?! Haha, we are so out of the loop on everything...which is great, I guess! We definitely get to focus on the Gospel and how to bring others closer to Christ and become the best we can be!

In light of that, there is a wonderful scripture on coming closer to Christ: "Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." --- Moroni 10:32

 

Have a blessed week! Be happy and safe and serve those around you! Thank you all so much for everything--I am truly so blessed to be surrounded and supported by such amazing people. Love you!!

 

Sister Partridge
 

 

Oh, and Happy late Valentine's Day! I love you all so much and I am grateful for you every day! On the 14th, I did a little scripture study on "love" and here are a couple of my favorites:

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

Romans 8:35,37 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

Oregon is finally starting to be...Oregon-y!

Hello! 

This week has been great. Definitely still hard (mostly getting up in the mornings) but great nonetheless. The subject says what it says because, as some of you may have heard, there have been some storms up here in Oregon! Eugene and other places got tons of snow, and they had to close down some of the highways. But here, we just got LOTS of rain. Which is apparently kind of abnormal, but it's finally starting to be more like the Oregon that I expected. We did get a little snow on Thursday, which was gorgeous, because they were huge flakes that just floated down and it looked so peaceful...but it melted by noon; however, apparently it was still enough reason to cancel school on Thursday AND Friday...haha. But it's been quite rainy and windy...our power went out the other day, and we went tracting (knocking doors) in the pouring rain two days in a row. It was an adventure, and everyone thought we were crazy, but I'm lucky to have a companion who just laughed with me about it. And we still had success! Heavenly Father blesses us when we are obedient and work hard to do what He wants us to.

Speaking of my companion, she and I have become better friends in the last week, and she is great at being obedient and working hard, but still having fun! We laugh lots, and we work well together. I'm blessed! 

As I mentioned last week, I am in a little place on the coast...and we live right down the road from the beach, but you would never know it! So after we emailed last week, Sister W and I went to the beach and it was GREAT. It lifted my spirits and was a good bonding experience for us. It started raining right as we drove up, which wasn't exactly ideal, but it made it more of an adventure. There were several seriously massive logs (like in my facebook picture) and hundreds of shells (I took some souvenirs) and dozens of jellyfish (...I didn't take souvenirs.) all along the beach, which was awesome!! 

I hope I never start to take for granted how beautiful this place is...it is so green and enchanting and lovely. I'm sure I will get used to it, but I pray that I won't.

On Wednesday, some lovely ladies in our ward drove us down to the Medford Temple! (Which isn't actually in Medford...so that's kind of funny.) It's the teeniest, tiniest little temple, but it was such a neat experience to be there with my zone. Temples are magnificent things, and we are so very blessed to have so many of them! I love the work that is done in temples and I love the peace and closeness to Heaven that you feel in those holy buildings. We get to go to the temple once every three transfers, so once every 18 weeks. So, like I said, I timed it right to get here just as a temple trip was happening! We also went to Applebee's and this little bakery in Reedsport called the Sugar Shack, so that doesn't hurt either.  ;)

We are so well taken care of by the members--we have a dinner appointment at someone's home pretty much every night, and they sure love us and watch out for us. It's helping me grow a greater love for everyone around me, be it investigators, members, or random people whose doors we knock on.

We have a few investigators, but one of them I'm particularly excited about because he's getting BAPTIZED on Saturday!!!! I've, of course, only been here for a couple of weeks, so I haven't seen the whole process, but he has made so many positive changes in his life and he has such a strong testimony and so much trust in God! I am so excited about him. He is solid.

Two of the hardest things here (which will make sense if you know me well--Mom already nailed it before I even left) are not holding/playing with all of the adorable children, and not singing to songs that are on at stores/restaurants! It's such a struggle, you guys...haha

I have loved hearing about everyone who has been able to go to the Gilbert temple open house! A nonmember man invited us inside last week and gave us a pamphlet for the Gilbert temple (in Spanish...haha) and it turns out, he planned a trip down to AZ just to go see the temple! And he's not even a member. He was so sweet and told us to come back if we needed anything at all. It was a pretty neat experience.

We also ran into someone yesterday while we were tracting who grew up in the Church, but is now Buddhist. She's not interested in learning about the Gospel, but she was SO kind and wanted to make sure we were taken care of also. She gave us chocolate and chatted with us about her job and we petted her adorable puppies...it was nice.

Small and simple blessing: I wanted mangoes so much the other day--it just popped into my head. Then a day or two later, we were grocery shopping and I saw some mangoes! They were so cheap, so I bought like, six. I know it sounds way silly, but it lifted my spirits and it was such a tiny blessing for me. 

For those who have written to me: I'm so sorry I'm so slow getting back to you. We can only write letters on P-days, which are packed with other things to get done, so I'll try to catch up as soon as I can. Please forgive me! Haha.

Mom: Brother H and the watermelon! Hahah. Apparently, my ward mission leader called my mom and asked what my favorite treat is...and she nailed it. Haha. The funniest part is that Elder W, the other new-ish missionary here, had his favorite treat, which was banana cream pie. ...A little bit more normal. Haha. Brother H was so sweet to get this little baby watermelon, which is so out of season, and have it for me when we had a meeting this last week. I'm a little bit scared about what other dirt you gave him, Mom, but it was such a fun surprise.

Also, an even better surprise was that package! Mom, you are the BEST! EVER! :) Thank you so much, sweet cousins, for all of your little notes! It was so fun to be able to know who it was (either by handwriting or the things you said) before I even got to the signature! Happy Valentine's Day :) And thank you to the cute W family--I loved your pictures and your notes!!! You are all such a blessing to me and I appreciate your love, prayers and support!

Have a wonderful week! :)

Sister Partridge

PS, Something I forgot to tell you about the MTC that my family will especially appreciate: we had glowy ceiling stars! It made me smile every night as I went to sleep :)

 

 

I'm an Oregonian Now!!!

Hello dear friends and family!

First of all, you are all lovely, and you are such a blessing to me, even so many miles away, in different cities, states, or even countries. I so much appreciate your love and support--it helps a ton. 

 

I don't even remember the last part of the MTC since I wrote last, but it was a most amazing experience and I loved every second of it, especially the people and the Spirit there.

 

Getting to the airport was a bit of a mess, since there were so many of us with so many bags and we didn't know what we were doing, but we made it! President and Sister Young were there, waiting at the airport, and I already loved them. They are such kind, fun, wonderful people and I know we will be well taken care of. They have fabulous office missionaries helping them out, and I am so blessed to be in this mission! Everyone is so obedient and happy and I am so glad to be in a group of such wonderful people.

 

I have hardly any time, so I'll try to keep this short, but still sufficient :)

I'm still not unpacked (Yes, I've been living out of suitcases for the last three weeks...), but as I slowly find time to unpack, I keep finding Christmas tree needles hiding amongst my things! It makes me smile and definitely miss the Christmas and home :)

 

My companion's name is Sister West, from Flagstaff, AZ, and she is great! I'm learning lots from her, and we get along well. While I was meeting with President Young when I first got here, he had me start out with a prayer.  He told me that he had no idea where I was going to be assigned, but as soon as I started that prayer, he knew exactly where I was supposed to serve!  Is that fantastic or what?!  No doubt, I'm where I'm supposed to be!  We have dinners at member's homes almost every night, which is such a blessing. We love our ward!  We live in a garage apartment at a member's home. She is a sweetheart and it's a wonderful apartment! We also have a really nice car, which is so nice.

Oregon is so beautiful and green and just lovely. I'm right on the coast and it is gorgeous! We've gotten to see the ocean a couple of times so far as we've been out contacting, and I love it. It's only really rained a couple times since I've gotten here, but it's misted a few times besides that. Our feet (and usually our hands) are always so cold, but we're surviving and staying happy!

The people here are so diverse, and while we've had some interesting experiences, I have met so many kind, wonderful people! I'm blessed :)

We didn't know that yesterday was the Super Bowl and we had scheduled to go tracting at the exact time that it started...needless to say, pretty much everyone was busy watching and having parties, but we still got to talk to a couple very nice people. I'm sad I missed our wonderful family party, but I hope you all had the best time, even without me! :)

 

We got to have a mission-wide conference call (kind of like a mid-week phone devotional) and that was super neat. We also get to go to the Medford temple on Wednesday as a mission which I am way excited for! I'm so blessed to get to go right at the start of my mission!

 

We have some great investigators at all sorts of stages of progression, and I'll try to write more about them and send pictures another time when I have more time!

 

Things are great, and I'm settling in nicely. I know that this Gospel is true and I'm so grateful that I can be out representing our Savior Jesus Christ in Oregon! I love you all, and thank you for everything you do. Keep up the good work! 

Love, 

Sister Partridge

PS, Write me letters!!! :)