Who needs a doorbell when you have a dog??

Seriously, everyone here has a dog. Almost always two, actually--a big one and a little one. Several people just have many little dogs. Or a lot of cats. Oregon people love their pets!

But HI everyone! How was this week??

I'll tell you how it was here in Oregon...WONDERFUL.

It's getting all spring-y, so lots of pretty plants are popping up out of the green-ness. I have three favorites that I just LOVE, and they are pretty popular, so I get to see them a lot, which makes me smile. One are the rhododendrons that are pretty much the symbol of this city because there are so many here...the red ones and the hot pink ones are just so cool. Each flower is like a bunch of hibiscuses bunched together. And there are these little bright pink bushes that look kind of like bougainvillea, and these pretty white trees that are like popcorn popping on the apricot tree. Oregon is just beautiful and I am so glad that the Lord created this earth for us to enjoy!

 

It's so funny being a missionary...At nearly every door, Sister W and I compliment each other's creative knocks while tracting, and we are always trying to come up with new ones, usually to the rhythm of a hymn. One time (Dad, you'll be proud) I did the beginning of the BYU fight song! It was a little long and awkward though, so it was discontinued :) 

 

We also know EVERYONE. Especially since Florence is just little. We will just be driving around town and we will notice people on the street that we have talked to. We will be able to say how well they received us, what distinguishing characteristics their house has, and we have little nicknames for most of them like "Holiday D", who decorates her house intensely for every holiday, or "C with the baby", who couldn't talk to us because he was putting his baby down for a nap. Those are lame examples, but it's pretty entertaining for us.

 

Also, Oregon houses (or maybe it's just here?) have the weirdest front door situations...it's really an adventure trying to find the front door to most houses here. Usually the garage is in front and you have to go around to find the front door. Or the front door, the garage, and the back door will all be in front and the doors will look the same. We've had some fun times trying to work that out.

 

So this weekend was really just the best. I had been struggling a little bit this week, just trying not to be apathetic and trying to stay positive and obedient. But then this weekend came, and the Lord, who was so aware of my hard times, placed so many magnificent spiritual experiences and miracles in my path. First of all, the General Women's Broadcast was incredible, and I took two pages of notes. Within three minutes, I just wanted to write down everything they were saying and everything I was feeling. I just love this church--what a wonderful, uplifting, blessed organization! One thing I got out of it was this: "As much as I can't wait to get back home to my mom and dad and I never want to let them go once I am home, how much more do I feel that way about my Heavenly Father? Although I am on an important, blessed mission here on earth, that will be both difficult and joyful, (similar to this mission for the church), and I have to be away from Him for a period of time, I MUST live in such a way that I can return to Him one day and make Him so proud of me." Each day, we should do what we know will make our Father in Heaven proud of us and will keep us on the path that leads us to eternal life with our loving God. AND, TWO of our investigators were able to come to the church and watch it with us!!! I was just so excited. 

**If you would like to watch the General Women's Broadcast and see what touched her so deeply, here's the link.  You will definitely be touched and inspired!  

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?lang=eng&vid=3408781210001

Church yesterday was even better. What I wrote in my study journal during fast and testimony meeting: "TODAY IS THE BEST DAY!!! My heart is SO full and SO happy, I literally feel like I am just going to burst. I can hardly stand how happy and full I feel and I just love the Spirit and this joy. I LOVE my companion and her friendship and spirit and testimony. I LOVE this Gospel and this church and the perfection of it. I know that this is the Lord's church and His blessed work. I know that God is so aware of us and loves us so much....and He let this glorious Sunday come at just the right time to uplift me and help me feel the Spirit when I needed it so badly. I am so happy. Miracles happen every single day in this work." How blessed I am. One of our investigators came to church for the first time, and I was so grateful that she could be there to feel of the powerful spirit in that meeting. I just cried right there in my seat because of my overwhelming gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the miracles I get to see every day and the perfect organization of His church and the glorious gospel that I get to live and share. I was full of such immense love for this incredible ward, I felt the strength of my own testimony and I felt it grow as I listened to the sweet, heartfelt testimonies of our ward members, and I thought my heart might burst because of my gratitude to God and how strong the Spirit was. The Spirit is such a wonderful thing, and I never want to be without it. I just wanted everyone in the world to be able to feel what I was feeling and know of the goodness of our God and what love He has for us. 

 

We had a great 5th Sunday lesson and a discussion about it in Ward Council before church. The lesson was on high expectations, and I will have to write more about it next week.

 

ALSO, General Conference is coming up this weekend, and I am just so excited about that. It is going to be so uplifting and inspiring and amazing that I can hardly wait to hear from our prophet and his apostles! PLEASE, if you have the opportunity at all, watch it. It will be another blessed weekend :) And I realized today, I get THREE mission General Conferences! That will be a real treat :) 

**If you would like to watch General Conference, you can go to lds.org where it will be broadcast.  Saturday 9:00 and 1:00 AZ time, and Sunday at the same times.  Hope you can watch!

Thank you all for everything that you do for me. I have been overcome multiple times this week by how much I love you all and how wonderful you are. I hope you are happy and that you can see the "small" miracles that are in your life each day! I know that God loves you just as He loves me--individually, continuously, and perfectly. Have a most marvelous week! Love you!!

Love, 

Sister Partridge

 

 

 

 

These 2 pics were taken while tracting.  The awesome bridge that we get to drive across every day, and my beautiful city! I sure love this place! :)

 

 

 

We always drive past these two geese in the same spot, and I finally got out and got pictures with them! They were far away, so Sister W just kept snapping pictures as I walked backwards, just in case they decided to fly away...which they did! But we got pretty close first, so it was fun.  They are HUGE!

 

 

 

Took a walk around our yard today and explored a lovely little trail.  It's so green and beautiful here! I love it!

 

 

 

 

The sun is STILL shining...

Well hello hello!

 

I hope everyone is doing so well wherever you're at. I'm so blessed to know wonderful people like you and I am so grateful for each of you! (And really--EACH of you. Not even just the whole general group :))

 

This week has been just as great as ever. The biggest setback is that I'm crazy tired, so I'm trying not to act cranky or slack on anything, but sometimes I do better than others, for sure.

 

First thing's first, though: I owe you all a miracle story from last week. So we got this name from our bishop of a lady who's name is in our ward, but no one knows her. So we went to visit, and I totally read the map wrong and led us to the wrong street. But we decided to still check it out because maybe we would go tracting there sometime. So then we had to turn back around and go allll the way down this other street, where only half of the houses had numbers, and everyone had really long driveways, and it was just way out. So we stop by a few wrong houses before we decide to turn around and go talk to this man we had passed sitting on his porch. So we drive back, and as we are parking, the very moment we are about to walk up to this man's house, this taxi comes towards us, which I thought was random, since we were way out in the woods. So I'm like "Who takes a taxi out here??" and Sister W, totally joking around goes, "D C does!" So we walk up to the taxi, and we're like "Hey, do you know who D C is?" And she's like "Yes. I'm her." WHAT.  So we go up her driveway after the taxi leaves, and she comes back out of her house and says "Actually, can you come back after 5? C told me to tell you to go away, but I told him to mind his own business. And he leaves for work at 5, so if you could come back then, that would be great." And, of course, we said yes! So we go back that night, and she is just the nicest lady and so loving and open and kind, and she tells us her amazing life story and the struggles she has overcome, and we are just in awe. And then, come to find out, she had actually been praying for friends and for someone to love and support her the day before we found her. WOW. If we hadn't taken the wrong street first, or wandered around trying to find her house, or driven any faster, or anything, we would have talked to C instead of D C, and he would have turned us away. Even the slightest difference would have made it so neither of our prayers were answered that day. Heavenly Father most certainly does perform miracles today, and He is so aware of each of us and our situations, and I can promise that He does answer our prayers. It was so incredible and I am just so glad we got to meet her! We are now visiting her once a week to teach her the missionary discussions so that she can know for herself if the gospel is something that she wants to pursue. SO cool.

We also had someone that we tracted into a couple of weeks ago actually call us back! Usually we give them a mormon.org card with our phone number on it, and they say they'll call, just to be nice, but they never really call. But J did! We haven't met with him yet, but I am excited for when we do.

One of our most solid investigators, J, will sometimes just feel like getting out and doing service! So she calls us every once in a while and asks if we can go do service together. So last week, we pulled weeds for a lady in our ward that is pregnant, and then a couple of days later, J just went and asked her neighbors if she could pull their weeds because she wanted to do service! The Lord is so working with her and helping her have these feelings so that she can stay busy with good things. And service is most definitely a good thing! I love how many service opportunities we have as missionaries, and I encourage each of you to find one way to serve someone today! Even if it's just tiny, it will be a blessing to both you and the person you served!

 

We also had exchanges this week, and I got to take over the area for a couple of days! Sister W finally got to leave and experience Coquille, and Sister B (who was in the MTC the same time as me) came here to our lovely town! All of our appointments got cancelled, so we didn't get to teach anyone while she was here, but we contacted some other people, and I got to drive the car and we had some real fun times!

 

And Zone Conference was on Friday, and every time President Young comes to a meeting, I am just amazed by everything he says. The Spirit is always so strong and I always get so motivated and I learn so much. Between all the people who spoke, I took three pages of notes...haha. We also did these fun skits about missionary work based on Primary songs! Man, I miss Primary. And I REALLY miss helping in the Enrose Ward Primary with that great presidency! 

 

Today, we had the most fantastic P-day activity!!! We went with the J and the R families to Hobbit Beach. To get there, you have to hike down the Hobbit Trails, which is indescribably cool. It's just this little path in the middle of the forest and everything is green and covered with moss and there are all these cool trees and "troll houses" (which is basically just a little archway of branches). And the beach is soo gorgeous, I can't even describe. And there are hardly any people, and tons of sand dollars and sea anemones and starfish and it is just amazing. And it was so fun to play in the sand with the kids and explore some! So that's pretty much what all the pictures are from this week :)

 

I hope you all have a most amazing week and that it is full of good things! Everyone here is on Spring Break, so I'm not sure if it's Spring Break at home, too, but if it is, enjoy! I love you all SO MUCH!!! 

 

Love, Sister Partridge

 

We went "sledding" down a big sandy hill.



 

 

Sea Lions!  There's a place called the Sea Lion Caves, and if you just look off a cliff by there,

there are lots of them just on the rocks!

 

Heceta Head Lighthouse

 

 

Beach Selfie

So many sea anemones!



 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello!

 

I hope you are all wearing green. A) so you don't get pinched, and B) because it's just a fun thing :)  This week has been a good one! Sister W and I have made lots of good goals, and I have made several personal goals, so we will see how well I can keep those and improve!

 

We spent pretty much all day hanging out at home getting things done, so I finally wrote some of you back! I have been the absolute WORST and I am so sorry. But I am definitely trying! Just try not to hate me and continue to write and know that I really truly love you :)

 

Also, I have an EXTREMELY short amount of time today, so forgive the lack of detail in this particular letter...although some of you may be grateful to not have a long one like I write most weeks. Haha

 

It has been sunny for about 6 days in a row this week...that is just crazy, and so beautiful. The sun here is different, and doesn't keep anything warm, but it's still nice to see it :)

 

Mom, thank you for sending me the lemon blossom! That just made me smile. I love that you know the small and simple things that make my heart happy :)

 

Parker...you're going to NICARAGUA?!?! You are going to be SOO spectacular and I cannot WAIT for you to join me in this work! It is such a blessed thing and such a joy. Those Nicaraguans are so lucky to have you and I know that that is EXACTLY where the Lord needs you. I have such faith in you and you are always in my prayers!

 

So, I made bacon for my first time yesterday!  And Sister W has a weirdly powerful sense of smell, so when we were heading into our dinner appointment like, four hours after I had made the bacon, and directly after tracting in windy weather and around several dogs, she just sniffs and goes, "We smell like bacon and wind and dogs. We cannot go into a dinner appointment like this."  So we got some of my Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer and put on way more than we would normally need...so hopefully we didn't smell too much of "bacon and wind and dogs" for the members to handle. Haha

 

We had the most incredible, miraculous experience on Friday, but it is much too long to write this week, since I am two minutes late in finishing already. But I will try to include it next week!

 

I love you all LOADS and I appreciate everything you do for me. I think of you more than you know, and I am constantly grateful for your influence and example to me. How blessed I am that the Lord let me know such wonderful people! Have a most marvelous week! :)

 

Love, 

Sister Partridge

 

**There are a bunch of alpaca across the street from the church and I made Sister W pull over and get pictures with them because I think they are hilarious and awesome. That's one thing off my bucket list while living here! :)

 

 

This is just a pretty view of the river off of the highway on our way to church. I am so blessed to be serving here!!!

 

A couple of sisters that used to serve in our mission came to visit!  Sister B, the blonde one, was actually one of the first sister missionaries that ever served in this area!  It was so fun to visit with them, to get advice, and to truly be inspired by them.  They are really wonderful people.  :)

 

 

A member of our ward

has the most gorgeous land and view. She lives up by the Heceta Beach lighthouse, which is supposedly the most photographed lighthouse in the world! You can hardly see the lighthouse in these pictures, but it is still an incredible view :) 

 



 

 

I survived my first real transfer!

Hello hello!

 

I hope this week has been so good for all of you. It's been good for us, for sure!

Nothing super incredible happened, necessarily, but we see miracles every day and it's great to be doing this work! Especially when I am surrounded by such wonderful people!

 

I got to start off the week with exchanges, which was just so much fun. I love the people in Bandon and I'm not even actually serving there! 

 

Something I have learned this week is really to just speak positively about other people! It is so hard to be around when people say even slightly negative things about other people. We learn it best from Thumper on Bambi: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." It lifts us and others when we say nice things and love those around us! If you're struggling with this, PRAY. I can give you all the advice in the world, but Heavenly Father gives the best advice, and He knows what you need for your specific situation. Trust Him, love Him, and love His children!

 

Oregon weather is the craziest thing in the world. You hear about sheets of rain...well, Oregon's got that down. And people always talk about how Utah weather is so unpredictable and weird, but at least it varies by day! Oregon thinks it's better to depend on the minute, sometimes second. One moment, it's just misting, then it's pouring like you've never seen, and then all of a sudden, you realize it's not raining at all anymore. Haha

 

Also, daylight savings is the worst and I am so grateful that Arizona doesn't believe in that. That's all. 

 

Transfers were this weekend, also. Sister W and I are both staying, luckily, but the zone leaders decided it would be funny to tell us that I was being transferred to Klamath Falls...I'm not. But Elder W, who is here, is being transferred to Coquille. So it's sad for our little group to change, but I'm excited to meet the new elder (Elder T) and work with him! It's exciting to hear about where everyone is changing to, but a little stressful at the same time.

 

Sister W and I have realized that we pretty much have the same taste buds...we like the same things, and have many of the same favorites. (Speaking of food, she cooked brussel sprouts yesterday, and I didn't actually eat any, but she said they were yummy! However, when we came back in after our day, our apartment smelled NASTY. Oh my, it was so gross. Haha)

 

It's also very rare that we have a day where we don't match...we are almost always wearing the same colors, and we don't even realize it! I guess we just have really good companionship unity? :P

 

While we were tracting a couple of days ago, it was SO windy (like, the kind of wind you can lean into and not fall over) and as we walked up to this one house, the pine tree out front kept swinging and almost hitting us. We had to keep dodging the branches! It totally reminded me of the Womping Willow on Harry Potter...Pernicious Pine? Pummeling Pine? Nah, it doesn't really work. Haha

 

I wish I had more time to tell you about each of our investigators, but maybe next week. We are finding new people like crazy, but we are struggling keeping return appointments and actually teaching them! But we do have a new man we are teaching that will be NINETY years old in a couple of months. He is so funny, and every time we go over, he starts out by saying that he isn't interested in talking about the church and just wants someone to visit with. But, by the end of all of our visits, we are just having a full-on gospel conversation and he totally gets it. It is the best! We love C. 

 

We also had a crazy experience this week...we got a couple new investigators through a service opportunity we do, and they were super interested--asking for a Book of Mormon and everything. So we met with them at Safeway, and the lesson was going fine, they were asking all these questions and seeming interested, and then the woman just goes off about how they spoke to some Mormons in Hawaii who said they couldn't go to the beach. We finally figured out that she was talking about missionaries, and we tried to explain that members can go to the beach, but why we couldn't as missionaries and stuff, and she just starts yelling at us about how God created this earth for us to enjoy and how she doesn't want to listen about a church that doesn't let its members appreciate God's creations and all this stuff. Sister W and I just sat there and tried to testify and share truths with them. Part way through, she and her boyfriend looked at each other and started giggling like the whole thing was planned. Then she just kept yelling at us and put the Book of Mormon back on the table and stormed out. It was the weirdest experience ever. And then, a guy behind us just starts clapping and goes, "Good show!" Haha. So strange. Never a dull moment in missionary life!

Thank you all for everything you do for me! My mom is so good at keeping me updated on your comments and I love to hear them! You are so supportive and wonderful--I am sure blessed!

Please write me and tell me how you are doing! I love to hear from you!

Have a marvelous week :)

 

Love, Sister Partridge

 

 

 

Elder R, Elder W, Sis W, Sis Partridge

Happy March!

Hi beautiful friends and family! Happy March! We are just a little bit closer to General Conference and Easter and I hope we are all able to prepare for those wonderful events throughout the next month.

 

Speaking of wonderful events, I heard the Gilbert temple was dedicated! WOW, what a treat. That will be (and already has been) such a blessing to the people from Arizona and all over the world. It's great how many times, when Sister W and I say we are from AZ, the first thing people think of is the Gilbert temple. Temples have such a huge impact and impression on people and I am so grateful for the continued construction of these holy buildings and the work that goes on inside. It never ceases to amaze me what beauty and peace lie within and what blessings and inspiration we can receive through temples.

 

I also heard lots of rain has been happening down there! Of course we get rain up here, but it is never nearly as exciting, and it's such a different rain. The rain here is cold. Haha. I miss Arizona storms and sunsets, but nothing compares to the joy of seeing how people progress and change through learning about the Gospel and growing closer to Christ, so I guess I can wait a little while to come back to those. :)

 

The highlight of the week, probably, is that we got iPads on Tuesday! Once again, the OEM (Oregon Eugene Mission) is a pilot mission for a great thing that will help the work along! We are still figuring them out, and we have to transfer allll our teaching records and things from this massive binder onto our thin little ipads, one by one, but we can already see how they will be such a blessing in missionary work. Of course, like anything, they could be a distraction and a hinderment (is that a word?) to us as missionaries, but if we are obedient and remember our purpose of bringing others unto Christ and the truth of this restored gospel, they are bound to assist us in accomplishing miraculous things. We had a three hour long training for the ipads, and it was so incredible. At each of our meetings, ESPECIALLY the ones that President Young and Sister Young attend, I am so inspired and motivated to work harder and rededicate myself in serving the Lord. We also have a lot of fun, which doesn't hurt :) A scripture we use daily is Doctrine and Covenants 88:73, where the Lord tells us, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time." I can definitely see how this work is progressing and how it is certainly the work of God. L. Tom Perry compared the importance and the effect of this time to the incredible event of the First Vision...WOW. I am so amazed at that and so blessed to be such a huge part of it in this missionary force! To anyone thinking of serving a mission: pray sincerely and fervently about it, and know that God has a different plan for each of His children. But know that even though it is hard work, the blessings and power of this calling outweigh anything negative you can think of. It's exhausting to be a missionary, but I love it more and more each week.

 

Our car was also in the shop for a few days this week. There was a seep in the transmission, and they said it would take over a week, but we actually got it back within a few days, so that was an awesome blessing! But in the meantime, Sister W and I got to be a little more creative on how we got everywhere. Luckily, we have fantastic ward members that were willing to help us out a lot. But we did get a chance to ride bikes all the way to the church building, which was an adventure, to say the least. Haha. We also have been riding our bikes down to the beach for our morning exercise recently. It's so cool to live so close to the ocean! But it's so blocked by trees and the dunes that we never even remember we are on the real and actual coast. Haha. 

 

I love this ward and this area and the people that we are teaching. The more time I spend here the more I recognize how much everyone knows each other and knows about each other in a small town like this.

 

Transfers are also this weekend, but I'm pretty sure neither of us are getting transferred. I still need too much training for that :P

 

Also, when we were going to dinner at our ward mission leader's house last night, their neighbors were walking their dogs, and they have a Newfie!!! I almost cried looking at that beautiful dog and it just made my heart happy to have that reminder of home.

 

You are all so wonderful and I appreciate your love and support and prayers. I miss you, but it's good to know I have such fantastic people that I love so much all over the world. Thank you for everything, although I'm sure most of you don't even know how much you have done for me. I have been so blessed to be surrounded by such good examples, and I just love you all a bunch! Have such a splendid week and please write me about all the things! Even the small things are so fun to hear about. So please! And thanks!

Love you! 

Sister Partridge

 

*There was a smiley face painted on a tree stump! So I made Sister West stop and get a picture of me with it. We are just so happy to do missionary work!