Goal setting is an act of faith; We follow up simply to count the miracles

November 19, 2013

The only picture I can procure at the moment from Halloween. I was Jessie from Toy Story 2, Cassell was Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We're not allowed to tract on halloween, on account of this is Tacoma and so pretty much we're gonna get shot. So we were required to listen to the gunshots from the safety of the church building with all the missionaries in the Tacoma East zone from 3-9pm. 6 hours is a long time to entertain a bunch of 18 year old Elders, so my comp and I planned out a plethora of activities (one of which was carving oranges, see picture) and made about a bajillion snacks. We over estimated the hunger level of the Elders though so we had 2 pans of cupcakes, 1 pan of cookies, and a pan of rolls left over. We walked around the next day and gave them to the homeless. Having been in the same area for 4 transfers, I'm pretty much on first name basis with all the homeless people in the greater Tacoma area. Also all the Cambodians. I love love love talking to everyone but that means I'm talking to about 200 people a day everyday for 6 months so I'm running out of people I haven't already invited to learn more. I am legitimately making round 2 on all these people who are like, yeah you've already prayed with me and given me a book of mormon back in June, don't you remember? What I really need to start doing is asking the cambodian ones if my grammar and pronunciation has improved at all since the last time I contacted them. But then there's the awkward times where it's like, yeah you've already tried to teach me in Cambodian and I'm still Marshallese/Korean-black/Laos/PuertoRican-Chinese so I still don't understand you. This happens more than I would like to admit.

The latter picture is the most unattractive thing I've ever seen and therefore I plan to print out copies and distribute them among the investigators and fellow missionaries. If this doesn't shake their testimony, I think it's safe to say that nothing will. In the black is Cassell, my former comp who still is in my area and teaching the people we used to teach but with a new comp, sister Packard (in the blue). It is so weird for me. They're talking about investigators that used to be mine too and it's hard for me to hear about it later and not be a part of it. Also I feel like I'm being broken up with because I call like the day after transfers and the voicemail message is changed and the text signature doesn't have my name on it and I can't help but feel like HOW COULD YOU MOVE ON SO FAST. Except obviously this is how it works in missionary work, you get transferred and it's fine.. minus the unusual situation of I still see my old comp and old investigators everyday and they just have someone new now. Sniff. But I have plenty to do to stay busy so occupying my mind is the best way to move on! In the white and yellow is one of my posterity, Sister Walker. I think Sister Dunster is directly behind Cassell so that's unfortunate that you don't get to see her too but when I find my camera cord I'll send pictures that I took instead of ones other people sent me because they thought I looked funny. These two are from our Zone Leader Fish, who was in a car driving away and zoomed in super close to try to get a candid of our group but I spotted his sneaky behavior, hence the pointing and the face which translates to, "I see you, you fiend". Also besides that I just look like this on a fairly regular basis.

Well those were meant to be brief picture captions and as it turns out, each could be their own chapter book series for young adults.. so look for those published in a kindle bookstore near you.

In other news, our reunion was a great success. We had 70 people there, it was such an interesting mix because we had people come who had told us they wouldn't go, and people who drove 1.5 hours just for the event, when there were people who lived 5 mins away and said they'd come and make 100 egg rolls for it and then didn't show. Don't worry though, we went and visited those people and they gave us some of the egg rolls. I creepily took pictures of people the whole time on my storm trooper pentax, so we could know who was there and who came in what groups and was friends with whom. Last night we sat down with an elderly couple who used to work in the branch and went through the pictures with them so we could connect names to faces and find out the background stories of the people who were there, including how active they were initially, where they were living now and who they still keep in touch with from the branch. That was equal parts helpful and hilarious, because they sat and bickered over every person that was brought up (ie they disagreed on what their name was, how many kids they had, what callings they held, why they stopped coming to church etc). Considering the amount of eye-rolling that occurred between them in just those few minutes, it's a marvel that after 50 years of marriage, their eyes haven't rolled out of their skulls.

Lastly I gave you the wrong address. This is so uncomfortable.

7227 13th Ave Ct E apt #21

Tacoma, WA 98404

All the numbers are the same but the difference between Ave Ct. E and Ave is randomly significant because in Tacoma those addresses are completely across town from each other. I do not understand how this is possible. Also, there's a 13th St E, a 13th St Ct E, a E 13th St, and then on the other side of Tacoma there's a 13th Ave S, 13th Ave Ct S, a 13th St S, a 13th St Ct S, and a S 13th St. If anyone knows who created the Washington street system, please alert me immediately so that I can send them a strongly worded letter, along with an invitation to learn more about the gospel. Which, chances are, I've already extended to them at some point over the last 6 months anyway.

(Anyone notice how I just brought it back full circle?)

I've been in the WA-TAC 25 weeks, and the church is true here too!

-Sister McQuivey

I'm Full time Cambodian and I love it!

November 12, 2013

The Twins are doing well! I've been working them hard so I'm lucky if one of them stays awake during planning at night. It doesn't help that they're battling a 2 hour time difference (1 for utah, 1 for daylight savings time) and that all 3 of us have some sort of variation of the same flu/cold. But we're missionaries and we don't have time to be sick so we're pushing through!

We've got a huge reunion planned this Saturday for the old Cambodian Branch which lasted 26 years and has been dissolved for 8 years. The most updated ward list is from 2004, so most of the phone numbers and addresses are totally incorrect. But we're working through the list and hoping for attendance of 100 of the original 600 members. We've called every phone number on there and are driving around to the addresses to deliver fliers which we made inviting everyone to the reunion. One side is in English, the other side is in Cambodian, because in most of the households there's a mix of some people (the parents) who can only read Cambodian, some who can only read English (the kids) and some who can't read either (the grandparents).

 My previous comp Cassell and I worked super hard on those fliers, including meeting with this monk Chao 4 different times to check our grammar and translation. He pretty much laughed and said, "who translate this for you? This make no sense! This funny!" to which I held my head in shame and admitted most of it was Google translate. According to him, our finished product "makes much more sense for Cambodian people" so at least we have that. We're hoping to meet with the monk weekly for language study help.

At this point with the reunion, we've gotten so many 'maybe's that we could end up with 10 people there or 200. We're hoping it's closer to the latter but there's no way to no for sure until it comes. All I know about Cambodians is that they don't ever keep appointments or schedule anything, but maybe if enough people give them enough reminders, they'll come to a party.

We're in a brand-new apartment so our bishop, Relief Society President, and Elders Quorum President have been trying to acquire us furniture. We each have a bed and a dresser, and dishes in our kitchen, so that's pretty much all we could ever need! Minus a microwave. I'm now learning how much I rely on a microwave every day now that we don't have one. But our bishop assures us one is coming  around the corner, so I guess this is the perfect time to exercise some faith.

Tell Tutu I got the package with the socks, the Target gift card, the Halloween package, and the one with the 6 foot tall pumpkin man. Thank you so much!

My new address is 7227 13th ave E apt # 21 Tacoma Wa, 98404

Love you all!

-Sister McQuivey

P.S.  As it turns out, they sell hair dye at the dollar store so obviously I had to try that out. I died my hair red for Halloween! I was missionary Jessie from Toy Story 2. I'll send pictures next week. Also it's permanent so that's interesting. I'm officially a Weasley!

Photos of Janessa's Twins!

Janessa's two new greenie companions. They are both (or rather all three of them are) Cambodian speaking!

Thanks to Janessa's Mission President's wife who posts all of these great photos for us to pilfer!

And They're Off!

Getting picked up at the airport!

A little later on...6 weeks or so...Transfer Day!

It's TWINS!

November 5, 2013

My two baby greenies fresh from the mtc arrived today! I've been a madman for the past few days packing and unpacking in my new place and trying to get things in order to train baby missionaries. It's going to be a blast but for now I'm exhausted and am just trying to get through to the end of the day. Twins are twice the fun and twice the work! I'm proud at last to be a mission mom and to introduce them to the rest of the mission family (their grandmother is the missionary who trained me, etc.)

They are named Sister Dunster and Sister Walker and are so adorable! We are going to study hard and work harder and hopefully get some work done.

Love you all! I've got to go tend to the twins but I'll send out a longer email next week.

-Sister McQuivey

This Post Features Photos from September and October

Sister Cassell and Sister McQuivey

The missionaries in the Tacoma area were invited to the mission home to carve pumpkins and to meet the mission president's children and grandchildren who were visiting.

October 2013.  Transfer date.  We're staying together! Things are going so good. I'm working so hard. They've set the goal mission wide to teach 20 lessons a week, so we've set our companionship goal at 40 a week and make it almost every week. 10/22/2013

Pictures From District Meeting, Saturday September 13th 2013

Role Playing

More Lovely Photos

Sister Cassell and Sister McQuivey

Zion's Camp Activity

The missionaries got to take a day in their service clothes to test themselves physically, learn to rely on each other and the Lord, and enjoy lessons for life and the mission at this beautiful retreat.

Dinner Zion's Camp Posted Sun. Sept. 27

Beautiful Zion's Camp

Pictures from Letter 10/8/2013

Me and the other sisters in my district/zone on a p-day. In case you forget what I look like, I am the one wearing the iron man glasses

As per usual, I have befriended all of the UPS workers in the greater Tacoma area. This is an average day with ups Ryan.

This is when our ward had a Luau. Me and my companion, accompanied by 3 primary children and a less active we've been working with in the back right. 

This is a Sister Baca, a 4-foot tall Korean woman in our ward who we adore. She's a convert of like 9 years, and just went to the temple for the first time a few weeks ago. She has us over for dinner a lot, and calls us to come pick up containers of rice and kimchi even more often. One time when we were at her house we were taking pictures of our eyeballs up close (it was the elders idea, I promise) and she wanted to try but every time the flash went off she blinked so we have about a kadrillion pictures of her eyes closed and this is the most open eye picture we got. She is the cutest human being to walk the earth. When I grow up I want to be her.

I've been in the WA-TAC 19 weeks, and the church is true here too!

And dang, wasn't conference good? I shoulda brought my notes so I could type up my favorite things. There's always next week.

-Sister McQuivey

More photos of Sister McQuivey and Sister Cassell

Baptism!

Just found this gem on her companion's blog.

Among the Children of Men

10/22/2013

There is no such thing as reading the scriptures too much. But if there was such a thing, I think I almost would have hit it. My everyday vocabulary now includes "and it came to pass that we went to McDonalds", and I express emotion by saying "I am exceedingly sorrowful" or "this is the best thing to happen among the children of men". On our investigators progress records, I write things such as, "we taught him the restoration, and he was therefore desirous to be baptized". I'm going to be the most ill-adjusted returned sister missionary a year from now.

My "babies" (or greenies, missionaries from the MTC which I will train) are coming 2 weeks from today which is equal parts exciting and terrifying. We don't know where we'll be living or if there will be a 4th and if we'll be able to understand anything anyone is saying. There is no Cambodian speaking branch here, but we're hoping the call will be extended for a Cambodian speaking sunday-school teacher and we'll be able to hold at least that aspect in Cambodian. If we can get a big enough group to that, they'll talk about calling relief society and priesthood teachers cambodian speaking, and then eventually a whole branch. But that might not happen until after I've already gone home. It's all up to the stake leaders. We've organized a Cambodian branch reunion to take place on the 16th of November. Hopefully we'll be able to get as many of the original members there as possible, as well as any investigators, and there we'll announce a Cambodian Sunday school class and tell people pretty much the more people we bring, the more classes they'll get to hold in their own language. The original Cambodian branch had 700 members, and at its peak it was split into 2 separate branches. But now there are currently 2 of those original 700 that are still active. And since the Cambodian branch was dissolved almost 10 years ago, many more Cambodians have moved to the Tacoma area that aren't members. We have a lot of work to do. Isn't it fun to be anxiously engaged in God's work?

Don't forget the invitation extended to each of us at conference- invite a friend to an activity in or out of your home between now and Christmas. I know as you pray for direction of who to invite and what to say, God will direct you. This is His work, after all, and as long as we're doing the best we can, He won't let us fail.

I love a particular quote from my mission president. When asked about how to be bold with extending invitations to people without being overbearing, he said the following, "If you don't know where the line is, it's better to err on the side of too much. In the next life, I would much rather someone approached me and said, 'you were a little pushy with me' than say, 'why didn't you try harder? I didn't know what I was missing out on' ".

This gospel is one of happiness! Don't deprive anyone you love of its blessings just because of temporal fears. An invitation extended out of love, even if rejected, is always a success.

Remember:
"You is kind
You is smart
you is important"

and I love you!

-Sister McQuivey

6 on Date and Other Assorting Things

October 15, 2013

Suasedai, y'all.

I learned y'all from Sister Packard who I went on exchanges with this week! How did this happen, you ask?

News 1 is that I went on exchanges this week with the STLs (not to be confused with STDs) or Sister Training Leaders. They're other fellow missionaries who are like zone leaders in that they're called to watch over a certain number of sisters in the surrounding areas. They try to go on exchanges once in a while to see how we're doing in our area and if we need any help with anything, etc. I went to their area, and one of them came to my area and spent the day with my companion. The reason this is exciting is because I was with Sister Sarah Packard (friend from BYU, and niece/cousin to the Boston Packard Mission-President family) that whole day! It was super fun catching up with her and learning from her example and experiences. She hit her halfway mark the day I was there, which means she only has 9 months left. I'll send pictures of us next week.

News 2 is that we have 6 on date this week! When you invite someone to be baptized, and together you set a goal date for them to work towards to be baptized on, that's called having someone "on date". So this past week, we invited 6 different people to be baptized, and each of them committed and set dates to work towards to be baptized on. This is kinda a big deal! That's why we're out here as missionaries, is to invite people to take the steps that will lead them to Christ, and baptism is a pretty significant one. Having people on date means you have people progressing towards baptism, and a baptism is always a reason to celebrate. So I have decided to throw 6 tiny parties in a row to celebrate each of them. I will be inviting my companion, my pillow, and the spiders that insist on living in our apartment. It will be a rager, I'm sure.

News 3 is that we had a tiny miracle-
we had a coupon for buy one get one free Wendys chicken sandwiches (coupons are the only reason to ever set foot in a fast food place because we can't justify affording it otherwise). So, we're in the Wendys, pooling together all the change we could find in our couch and car and pockets in order to pay for lunch, when this less active guy finds us and introduces himself. He insisted on buying us lunch, talked to us about his conversion story, and committed to come to church on Sunday for the first time in a long time. So we got a free lunch, an unexpected lesson, and were able to remind the guy why he was baptized in the first place and help him want to return to church. Hooray!

News 4 is that my companion Cassell and I have taken to naming the missionaries in the zone after the Disney characters they are most like. We have a Zazoo (lion king), a Kronk (Emperor's new groove) a Flynn Ryder (Tangled) and a Prince John (cartoon Robin Hood), just to name a few. At first the Elders acted like they were too cool to care what Disney character they were named, but as of late they've dropped the facade and started begging to be named the character of their choosing. I have to say, nothing makes me happier than yelling out, "Piglet!" and having a 20 year old Elder spin around and respond immediately to the name we picked for him.

I've been in the WA-TAC 20 weeks, in the MTC for 10 weeks, and a missionary for a total of 30 weeks! And yes, even in Tacoma, the church is true here too.

Love,

-Sister Diddly-homeslice knick knack paddy whack J-McQuiverly