Happy Memorial Day!

Hi! I have hardly any time, but I am excited to talk to you all! This week has been an amazing week and it is so good to see how much the Lord loves us!

We got 3 new miracle investigators, all of whom are friends of members of our ward! They have been sharing the gospel with them, and their friends decided that they were interested in taking lessons from us! So we had some amazing lessons with them, as well as with our other investigators and less-actives.

 

On Wednesday, we went waaaay out in the middle of nowhere to find some members of our ward that we didn't know. Like, we went to the very end of an unpaved road, many miles out of town, and then went up this steep, bumpy, crazy driveway. Annnd, they weren't even home. Haha. And apparently people hardly ever go out there, because all the cows (of which there were many) couldn't stop staring at us. It was an excellent adventure, and we are glad we didn't get shot or stuck. Haha

 

We also got to go to Eugene on Tuesday for a dermatology appointment for me! I had some biopsies, just to make sure that I don't have melanoma again, and we should get the results soon. The doctor was super nice and all five of his children have been (or are about to be) sister missionaries! So it was fun to be able to talk to him about that :)

 

And we ate sushi on Wednesday with a guy who was just baptized in November and an awesome girl who's visiting from BYU! Who is actually the niece of someone that Sister W and I tracted into and loved! So it's all been pretty fun, for sure :)

 

I cannot believe that this is going to be Sister T's last week. I feel so extremely blessed to get to be her companion--especially her final companion! It is amazing to me that the Lord and President Young trust me enough to let me be the one to kill Sister T. (A phrase used when you're the last companion of someone going home.)  Especially since she is a mission legend. She really is an incredible missionary and person and I have learned so much from her! I am so impressed with the impact she has made on me and others, and I love that the Lord knows who we need in our lives to become who He wants us to be. 

 

Church yesterday was SO FULL, because Florence is a really popular vacation place. Especially for Memorial Day weekend, and, from what we hear, all summer long! It's weird to have traffic in such a little town, and to have our ward double overnight. Haha

 

AND, 7/11 is selling these slurpee straws with mustaches on them. And Sister T really loves mustaches. So J went and bought some for us and the W's, and we all used them with our water bottles during our lesson with him. It was so fun and they make us happy :)

 

Sister T and I get to hike to the Heceta Head lighthouse today with B (the Young Women's President in our ward) and go to her house for hamburgers! It is going to be so fun, cuz she is a blast, and she also has great wisdom from her own mission, so it will be really great all around. 

 

I hope you have all had such a wonderful week and that this week is just as great, if not better! 

I love you all SO MUCH and I appreciate you! Thanks for being awesome! :)

Love,

Sister Partridge

 

 

Last week for P-day, we went to the beach and just walked around for a long time. It was beautiful! :)

 

 

 

 

S moved, and it is sad! We have loved to have her at lessons and she is an excellent person. I love her! 

 

 

 

And the cows are from the long road we went on to find no one was home.

 

Rhody Weekend and Such Nice Things

Hello, everyone!

This week has been just lovely. It was the Rhododendron Festival (Rhody Weekend) this weekend, which is a little ironic, because basically all the rhodys are dead by now...But we had been hearing about this weekend for months and how there will be so much traffic, and so many bikers, and just craziness. Well, it wasn't nearly as crazy as we were expecting...at all. But it was fun to have a big thing for the people in the area to enjoy! There was a carnival in Old Town, and as we were driving home, we looked over across the river and it was so pretty with the carnival lights and everything.

 

Also, Sister T and I really need to see a black bear in the next 2 weeks. It's her mission goal, and my Florence goal, and it just hasn't happened yet. We keep hearing over and over about people seeing them recently, but these bears must just have really bad timing and they never come when we're around! What's up with that. We're still holding out hope, though. Haha

 

 

 

And Sister T got some toothbrushes in a package, and they're fancy pants vibrating ones, and she was just so excited about how clean her mouth felt after using it. She really just looked forward to brushing her teeth. So we've had a couple of teeth brushing parties with our neat new toothbrushes...it's been a good time. Haha. I just really like Sister T. She's excellent and I'm way glad we're companions! We've had some really good talks over the last couple weeks, and especially the last couple of days, and we've been having lots of fun. She rocks, and she is a wonderful missionary :)

 

 

News: R isn't getting baptized tomorrow. We had a little bump in the road, so we're needing to push the date back some. We aren't sure when yet, because we still haven't been able to meet with him for a while. I originally had been having a hard time with it, but I have really been able to have more faith recently and give it all to the Lord. He is definitely in charge, and I know that I can trust Him with R and that He will lead us in what we need to do!

 

Last week, for Mother's Day, we made 10 batches of cookies to take to some of the people we are working with. It was really fun, and we saw miracles of it opening up some great doors, and I got an excuse to wear my pear apron! It was also gorgeous weather, so we opened up the door, and played some EFY music, and baked cookies for service! It was way fun :)

 

 

And this week, we went to visit a couple that we've been working with a bit who just built this amazing new house! Seriously, it is huge. And awesome. She designed it all herself and she did an excellent job. It's really modern, and it has some neat features. And it was good to finally be able to visit again now that the house is pretty much wrapped up! They're really nice. It was a good time. Plus, S was able to go with us, and she's moving to California for Coast Guard culinary school this week, so it was really good to spend more time with her. I love that girl.

 

Really, I just love this whole ward and this whole area. There are such wonderful people here, and I was overcome at church yesterday with how much I love them. I'm so glad that I get to be out here on a mission and have such amazing experiences that I would never have had if I didn't come here! Missions have an incredible way of helping you become the person that Heavenly Father needs you to be and the person that you've always wanted to be. I have been thinking about that a lot lately, especially with Sister T going home soon and whatnot, and I am just so grateful for this experience and everything that happened for it to be possible. One of my favorite quotes that really helps me in everything is by Cecil O. Samuelson: "Make this the time of your life where you can show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ how much you love them." I hope that everything I do shows Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that I truly do love them and I want to make them proud of me in every moment. I'm trying to really make every moment count and be the best I can be for Them! 

I love you all so very much! I know I say that all the time, but I think you would be surprised by how much I think of that during the week and I how grateful I am for all of you. Thanks for being who you are!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

...Especially to me and my family and all others who got to skype/call their missionaries!

That was definitely the highlight of the week and I'm so glad that I got to see them. I couldn't remember my skype name, so I had to call my mom and ask her, and I just started crying so much the second I heard her voice. I couldn't even talk for the first minute of skyping because I couldn't stop crying. Haha. It was just so good to see my family and to talk to them in a real, normal conversation! And then it was even harder afterward not to be able to text them or just tell them something that came to my mind. I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life and such good examples! And I'm so blessed to even be away from them so that I can appreciate them and love them that much more. I don't remember what we really talked about--I even couldn't as we were walking out of the church directly after--but I know that it was just beyond splendid. They are such good people :)

My poor companion (who is awesome, by the way) is so sickly this week. It hurts my heart. But it was pretty entertaining, because when she's sick, she sometimes sleep talks. So...my companion taught me the first lesson in her sleep. Hahah, she's such a missionary, I love it. She started telling me how the Priesthood is the same Priesthood that existed in Christ's time and that the Book of Mormon is there to help us. And we had a nice discussion on how we just want to help people that don't know what right choices to make in their lives and we want to make them happier! It was a nice time. And it reminded me a lot of college, where Breanna, Vera, and I would have loads of fun sleep talking. Haha

But truly, I love to be here helping people learn more about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and helping them find a deeper sort of happiness! It's so great to have this whole time in my life dedicated to serving the Lord and serving His children. I miss weird things from home, even going to the store with my mom or studying for finals with my friends, but I know that this is where I need to be and I'm so grateful for the opportunity Heavenly Father is trusting me with!

R is doing well, although he didn't come to church yesterday, which was pretty sad. But we are meeting with him tonight still, and he is loving the gospel! It seems like he really just appreciates knowing that he has a loving Father in Heaven who is proud of him and who has a plan for him! It's really cool to see him find that :) And this week, we asked him if he had any questions or concerns with what we had been teaching him, and he was like, "Well, the gospel is true, so you've basically just gotta do what you've gotta do and follow what the Lord tells you." WOW. He's such an excellent kid, and it's great to see him and J recognizing small and simple miracles in their daily lives!

I also got TWO packages this week, one from Kayla and Devan, and another from the Young Men of The Enrose Ward! Thank you guys SO MUCH for your letters and your support and your love. It means more to me than you probably know! Also, I've been trying (still) to catch up on writing people back. So please continue to be patient with me! I promise I do love you! Incentive to write me: you get some awesome stickers on the envelope, thanks to my mom and the Williams Family. They may or may not include Disney princesses, Easter bunnies, penguins, and inspiring things like "CTR". Just saying :)

I read "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister this week, and it has inspired me to be so much better and really give my all to the Lord! After reading that, I had a lot of goals for the week. I love that we have so many tools all around us to lift us up and to inspire us to become who the Lord needs us to be! And I love the gift of personal revelation, where the Spirit can tell us exactly what WE personally need to get out of it. 

Which brings me to the OEM Hexagon of Personal Revelation! First, you need to PRAY, sincerely and specifically. Then, LISTEN. Heavenly Father is trying to answer your prayers, so you need to make sure you are letting Him! Then, WRITE down the impressions you receive, even if you're not sure if it's your own mind or the Spirit, just write it down! (Chances are, it's the Spirit.) Then, create a PLAN of action. And ACT on it! It doesn't mean anything if you aren't willing to take action on the guidance you have received. Then, show GRATITUDE to Heavenly Father for the answers He has given you! Doctrine and Covenants 78:19..."And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and all the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." I am ever so grateful for the guidance that God has given me when I am just humble enough and faithful enough to ask and to listen. I promise that this hexagon works. I have already seen miracles by putting it into action in the last two weeks. Make each prayer count! It is a blessed opportunity to talk to your Father in Heaven, the Creator of your spirit. What an incredible gift.

Things are not easy, even as a missionary. In fact, a lot of times, things are really hard. But God won't leave us alone. I promise, through testimony of personal experiences, there will always be good things amid the bad. What a blessing to have a Father in Heaven who is aware of us, who loves us, and who wants to help us. 

As I have been responding to letters this week and looking at pictures I brought in a photo album, I have been overwhelmingly reminded of how great my friends and family are and how blessed I am! I have had the most wonderful experiences throughout the years, and the most choice people to share them with. Thank you all for all you do for me and for being who you are! You are lovely :)

Love, 

Sister Partridge

 

Her view...

 

Happy CINCO DE MAYO

(There's not really any actual significance to this "holiday", but it's fun to have an excuse to celebrate something :))

Hi, lovely people! I hope this week has been great for all of you and I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you! And that Heavenly Father loves you even more!

Fun thing from last Monday--I got to go to TARGET! I know that some of you will really appreciate the magnitude of this event. We had to go to Eugene for a doctor's appointment (which actually ended up having to be cancelled, so we had a nice little roadtrip for basically nothing), and so we got to do our grocery shopping at Target! Man, it just felt like coming home. I love that place. Haha

Also, there were some warm days here, and one day was even 97*! It made me happy, and it made me think of my home of Arizona :) But everyone else wasn't so appreciative of it...I guess I didn't realize that it doesn't get hot here, so lots of people don't even have air conditioning! That's pretty crazy for me to think about, since I've only lived in Arizona and Utah, but I appreciated the nice warm weather for a few days :)

We volunteer at a soup kitchen every week at a Methodist church, and there's a little poster on their bulletin board that is "Advice from a Geyser"...when I saw it this week, it totally reminded me of Dad's "Advice from a Cow" tshirt! Haha. Thanks for being awesome, Dad :)

And, exciting news right here...I saw a chipmunk!!! It was really cute. And REALLY fast. Haha

Actual exciting news: R is getting baptized!!!!! Right now, he's on date for May 20, and I am so excited about it. He is just the most stellar investigator, and I love to see how easily he accepts things and catches hold of it all. He even texted us and asked to set up an extra appointment, so he is pretty cool. He's J's best friend, (J was baptized in February) so it's also really neat that they can support each other and read the chapters together and lift each other up! 

We also got to go back and see an amazing lady who turned 100 years old on April 30! So we took her a card and had a lovely little visit with her...she is truly inspiring and such a ray of sunshine! And she has the most gorgeous, peaceful backyard--I could spend forever there! She's such a sweetheart, and I'm glad that Sister W and I tracted into her! Old people are one of the best parts of living in this city :)

Thank you all for your prayers. I appreciate them so much and they are so helpful--I feel them strengthening me, honestly! It's the neatest experience. If I could ask you to do just a little bit more: pray for my investigators! Honestly, they need it much more than me. Satan is working hard to bring them down, but they need the Gospel to bring them up! So pray that they will stay strong. Pray that they will resist temptation. Pray that they will have a greater desire in their hearts to draw closer to Christ. Pray that they will be able to overcome addictions and obstacles. Prayer is truly one of the most powerful, magnificent tools that God has given us for everything! It is such a special experience to be able to pray to our Father in Heaven--the Creator of the universe. How neat that we have that opportunity!

In the MTC, we had this amazing experience where one of our teachers helped us "have an experience with God" instead of just praying. We had an excellent discussion about prayer, and then we went into a room and just prayed for ten minutes. It was the most beautiful thing, and I wanted to stay in there for half an hour more! I encourage you all to try this...at first it seems overwhelming, and you don't really know what to say. But it allows you to have such wonderful communication with Heavenly Father and to actually listen to what He is saying back through the Spirit! Please try it out. It's neat. 

I had been struggling with some things, and I was able to receive a priesthood blessing of comfort and guidance last night from my wonderful ward mission leader. Before he even said my whole name, I was bawling. Tears just wouldn't stop streaming the entire time, because my heart was so filled with the Spirit. Every single thing he said was exactly what I needed to hear, and there isn't a single part of me that doubts that that blessing was directly from the Lord, even though Brother H was the one speaking. I love my Heavenly Father and I love the priesthood. He gives us such amazing gifts to stay close to Him and remember that He is there and that He loves us! Wow, He is good to us :)

It is so good to see that Heavenly Father answers our prayers! Even through other people! I had sooo many experiences this week where other people were an answer to my prayers without ever knowing that there was anything amiss! ZTM was a huge answer to my prayers, Brother H's blessing was an answer to my prayers, little things people would say in our visits answered my prayers, B gave me a talk that definitely answered my prayers...it just keeps going and going. God certainly loves us and He will NEVER leave us alone! Prayer works!

We also had the most amazing meeting on Friday! It was SUCH an answer to my prayers, which is a little ironic, because a lot of it was about praying! Someone said "If we want to be extraordinary missionaries, we need to have extraordinary prayers!" And I really think that applies to anyone--not just missionaries. I hope that I never again take prayer for granted! I hope that each prayer is earnest and sincere and that I make every prayer count! I'll talk more about it next week, because I am out of time. But be looking forward to the OEM Hexagon of Personal Revelation :)

Thank you all for everything you do! Not just for me, but for each other and for everyone around you! I love you all so much, and I hope you have the most excellent week :)

Love,

Sister Partridge

*Sister L gave me and Sister T some popsicles after we did service for their neighbors, M and J!! It was delicious! :)

 *Oregon people really love to fish.  They even have mailboxes that look like fish!

*This is Grandma O and her heavenly backyard! She's the sweetest :)

*This is me by a really pretty bush in our front yard! Seriously, Sister S has the best flowers :) These and the orange ones next to it are the cutest and they make me smile every day! 

*I got a picture by a sea lion statue! Haha. That's yet another thing off of my bucket list! (Sister T wouldn't get out of the car because she thinks I'm weird :))

*Also, Sister N has a gorgeous view off of her back porch! It's because she lives up the most massive hill to ever exist. Haha

 *My last picture with my dearest Sister W...her new area is sure lucky! :)

*And I got to see my cute little Sister C! When we saw each other, we kind of just dropped everything and tackled each other in a hug. It was a great reunion :)

I definitely serve with some of the best people out there! I am so blessed!