Hello Friends and Family! Greetings from Tenino, Washington! My first week as a missionary in Washington has been absolutely amazing! Tenino, pronounced, (Ten- Nine- Oh) is named after the trains that used to pass through here during the wars, and what a fantastic place it is to live! There are still lots of trains that pass through the area, and it is a very small area; my apt. is right off of main street, and you can hear the trains almost anywhere you go in my area- I cover Tenino, Bucoda ( if you drive through it and blink, you miss it), and smaller parts of Rochester and Centralia. A lot of the missionary work in my area consists primarily of seeking out less-active or part-member families, and teaching them, and encouraging them to attend church. Every day our goals are normally 1, 2, or if we are really ambitious, 3 for all of our numbers, primarily due to the fact that there are not a lot of people in the area, and the houses/towns are all very rural, and spread-out. Everyone here has animals, any animal you can imagine, someone here probably owns it, and more than one of they do. So far in my week here, I have seen birds, dogs (I’ve seen like 25+ breeds this week alone), cats, chinchillas, lizards, chickens, turkeys, you name it....! The ward members here are absolutely amazing, and they are really very strong in their faith (the ones who are active and come to church every week). The Tenino ward has about 50 members, which is fantastic! It should technically be a branch, but if we were to get all of the less-active and part-member families to attend it would be a nice small ward. This week was the primary program, and almost all of the families that we visited and encouraged to attend came! It was wonderful! The bishopric is absolutely fantastic, and every Wednesday after ward mission council, we go visit Sister Queen. She has the best ice cream around for miles! ( Dairy Queen :)) The only places to eat at in my area is Jack-n-the Box (new!), Dairy Queen, Starbucks, and McDonalds. The ward is really awesome about their callings though, almost everyone has double or triple callings, and they each home/visit teach a good chunk of the ward (including the less actives). The 2nd councilor in the bishopric is also the young men's president, and the high priest group leader is also the scout leader - so that's really unique! There is also a large income range in the area, some live in fairly nice houses, but a majority live in trailer homes or similar. I know that the work here in my area is progressing; it may seem to be slow, but I know that it is helping, and that it is worth it. I have also learned that as far as missions go, the Tacoma mission is absolutely amazing ...! We are currently, and have been for a while, second in numbers only to the Salt Lake mission....! So its fun to go over our numbers every week during our mission conference call! However, I know that no matter where missionaries are, the work is progressing, and the lord is preparing the people - no missionary work is insignificant, because it is God’s work.
This week the weather here was really different! It only rained ONCE this entire week! How crazy is that!? It has been super cold here though, and really dry which is very strange for this time of year...! But I really have enjoyed it! The sun has been shining the entire day, and the nights are quite cold, but very dry for tracting in the winter. Because we eat dinner with the members at 4 pm, we don't start tracting until it is completely dark outside, which is really fun! :P I have turned my Pen light into a Harry Potter Magic wand, which is totally awesome! ( I'll send a picture next week! amazing what duct tape can do!) I just say 'LUMOS!' and my 'wand' lights up! so great!
My district leader, Elder Barney, is a broney. If you don't know what that is, google it. Hes really a lot of fun, but he is totally a hard-core broney and we all think it the funniest thing in the world!
Sister Muto drew me my missionary family tree, and she is my Mom, and my 2 grandmas go home this transfer. Elder Barney is my dad, and Elder Gee is my brother who came out the transfer before me.
We had mission tour this week, and Elder Snow, who served as a 70 and is currently the Church Historian spoke to us. It was really good to hear from him - he spoke a lot on involving the members in our missionary work, and how important that is!
Our mission has 48 people that are supposed to be getting baptized this week alone, which is super exciting!
I have also recently learned that my MTC Companion Sister Anderson, decided to go home. She was called to serve in Everett, so Elder Guier told me that Elder Hatch emailed him from Everett and said that she decided to go home.
I know that no matter where people are in their lives, we can always be missionaries. Just by being Christ like and seeking after righteous things, we can be missionaries in our every-day lives, just by the way that we live. I challenge all of you to reach out to everyone that you know around you, just by being an example, don't forget who you are, and what you stand for. The lord will not, and cannot lead you astray. Sometimes missionary work can seem hard, but just by loving everyone, and remembering the gospels Plan of happiness, we can be the greatest missionaries of all. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Alma 16:16.
I love being in Tenino, and loving the people who are there- it is God’s work, and I am simply the instrument in his hands. this gospel is truly a gift that god has given us, and I love sharing that gift with others. Have a great week everybody!
Sister Megan Chapple
This week the weather here was really different! It only rained ONCE this entire week! How crazy is that!? It has been super cold here though, and really dry which is very strange for this time of year...! But I really have enjoyed it! The sun has been shining the entire day, and the nights are quite cold, but very dry for tracting in the winter. Because we eat dinner with the members at 4 pm, we don't start tracting until it is completely dark outside, which is really fun! :P I have turned my Pen light into a Harry Potter Magic wand, which is totally awesome! ( I'll send a picture next week! amazing what duct tape can do!) I just say 'LUMOS!' and my 'wand' lights up! so great!
My district leader, Elder Barney, is a broney. If you don't know what that is, google it. Hes really a lot of fun, but he is totally a hard-core broney and we all think it the funniest thing in the world!
Sister Muto drew me my missionary family tree, and she is my Mom, and my 2 grandmas go home this transfer. Elder Barney is my dad, and Elder Gee is my brother who came out the transfer before me.
We had mission tour this week, and Elder Snow, who served as a 70 and is currently the Church Historian spoke to us. It was really good to hear from him - he spoke a lot on involving the members in our missionary work, and how important that is!
Our mission has 48 people that are supposed to be getting baptized this week alone, which is super exciting!
I have also recently learned that my MTC Companion Sister Anderson, decided to go home. She was called to serve in Everett, so Elder Guier told me that Elder Hatch emailed him from Everett and said that she decided to go home.
I know that no matter where people are in their lives, we can always be missionaries. Just by being Christ like and seeking after righteous things, we can be missionaries in our every-day lives, just by the way that we live. I challenge all of you to reach out to everyone that you know around you, just by being an example, don't forget who you are, and what you stand for. The lord will not, and cannot lead you astray. Sometimes missionary work can seem hard, but just by loving everyone, and remembering the gospels Plan of happiness, we can be the greatest missionaries of all. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Alma 16:16.
I love being in Tenino, and loving the people who are there- it is God’s work, and I am simply the instrument in his hands. this gospel is truly a gift that god has given us, and I love sharing that gift with others. Have a great week everybody!
Sister Megan Chapple