Happy Halloween in a couple of days!!
Both of our wards are having truck or treats on Saturday, so we will get to stop by and say hello. We actually have to be in our apt by 6pm on Sunday cause of all the trick or treaters. It is weird to live in a place where they still go out on Sunday. We just get to have extra time to study and probably go to bed early. Some Halloween right?? My comp and I bought pumpkins and we carved them this week. It was really fun. We listened to Christmas music and carved our pumpkins. I made mine and it said.. OEM. (Oregon Eugene Mission) it also had an anchor on it, that is the symbol of the mission. It was fun to carve and talk with S. Stoehr about fun Halloweens in the past. Here are some pics from that night. We are good at documenting :)
This week was so great!! We are teaching a lot and we found 6 new investigators to add to our teaching pool. 4 of them came to church yesterday!! First, Kevin Robin and Yaya. They are the family of 6 from Cali. We taught them the 1st lesson on Saturday night and invited them to come to church. They weren't really set on coming so we didn't think any more of it. We were sitting in the pews at church and out of the corner of my eye I saw there whole family walk into the building. I was THRILLED!!! They walked it and everyone came up to introduce themselves and the Bishop came right over and said hello. It was sweet! The talks were about Revelation and Agency. Man, the spirit was so strong and I knew they could feel it. The kids, Yaya (9), Brother (7), Stasta (6) and Pip (4), all went to Primary and LOVED it. The primary program is in 2 weeks and they invited them to have a part and be in it. Kevin and Robin came to Gospel Principles and they talked about the Priesthood. It was so cool. Many of the people in the class were converts and they shared experiences and testimonies were borne and it was just awesome. Kevin just kept shaking his head and agreeing with everything. I could tell that his mind was comprehending everything and they understood it and they just get it. Ah, I love there family so much!! I love teaching them!
We got to teach Emma (11) and Cole (14) on Saturday too. We had to run by the ward mission leaders house to drop off our progress record and they were at the house playing with their kids, so we called up there mom to make sure it was okay and we taught them the Restoration. Cole is very angry and upset with life. It is sad to see. He doesn't believe in God and is just mad at his dad because of the parent's divorce. He understood everything we said, but wanted to keep his thoughts to himself. He didn't come to church yesterday, but Emma did!! She is such a sweet girl! She loves learning and was in the primary program yesterday in the junction city ward. She went to 1 practice and had a part in it and everything. She took it all in when we taught. We asked her how she felt when we were done and she said that she is so excited to be in church again, and believes it all!! She asked if she could give us a hug at the end of the lesson. She will be baptized in a few weeks!! Please pray for Cole and Emma. Such good kids :)!!
We had an awesome lesson with Cindy this week. We talked about baptism and the holy ghost. She feels like she doesn't know yet. We are excited to teach her again and let her know that is starts with the belief, I know she is ready. I think she is just a little scared of the truth cause she has been looking for it for so long and doesn't think she will ever find the truth. I love the gospel and it is so perfect. My testimony has been so strengthened this week and I know without a doubt that this is the only true church on the earth. Jesus Christ set the perfect example and if we follow him, we can have eternal happiness with our families forever!! I love it so much. It makes me sad that people don't want to listen, but they have their agency.
We also have a new investigator, Jamie. She has a complicated story and not sure if I want to go into the details-- BUT we taught her yesterday and she wants to come to church next week. She loves to learn and is excited to hear the Book of Mormon, she can't read, on the lds.org. We had an okay lesson with her, we are excited to go back and get more taught... she is a chatter box :).
We read the Book of Mormon with Brad and Jackie and Gracie. Gracie went to church yesterday and was in the Primary Program. Brad and Jackie couldn't make it to church, but they said next week. I hope they keep that commitment. The family, Gambee's, that has fellow shipped them is awesome. They had a thought or impression to drop off a parenting book and CD's to them, but weren't sure if they would be offended. Well it just so happened that at the apt, Brad asked us what he could do to be a better parent and was looking for things in the church that could help him!!! So inspired. We told the Gambee's and they sent the info right over to them.
Both of the wards are starting to help us out more. They see that we are working hard to get people to church and they needed to see that. I am grateful for the people that help us missionaries out. It makes our job so much easier. I commend all of you that help us out, we love it so much :)!!
I went on exchanges with Sister Kaufusi!! I came out to Oregon with her. She was in a different district in the MTC so I didn't know her, but I love this girl so much!! We had so much fun together! I went to Springfield... everyone says that it is the ghetto, scary, psycho.. whatever you wanna call it, part of Oregon. I didn't think it was all that bad. haha. We taught a lot of people and had a good time. I like switching it up every once in a while. It makes it so much fun!
We have Elder Kukuchi coming to tour the mission this week!! It will be a huge mission conference again! Sister Abbott- my trainer and Sister Losee are coming to spend the night with us!! I am looking forward to it on Thursday!! I love learning about missionary work and how I can be better at using the things that I have and know to help people come closer to their Savior. Welp, Peace out!! Have a good week and a good halloween!! I love you all!!

Love Sister Glasgow XOXOXO

I got to be at the Coast again today!! It was a beautiful day in Florence! It was a nice little breeze, the sun was shining, and not a cloud was in the sky! We got to shop in all the little shops. It reminded me when we would go to Cali in Seaport Village or Sedona. One of the missionaries, Sister Wood, came back to visit, so she wanted us to go to the coast with her and Theran Wilson- a recent convert! The 4 of us girls had so much fun!
We met with Stephanie this week. We had dinner with her and Omar, her boyfriend. She made us yummy spaghetti-- btw no one feeds us spaghetti, I think that was one of the few times I have had it since I have been out, shocker huh? Well Omar left early so he could go play basketball and then we could finally talk to Stephanie about what is going to happen with them. They told us that they were going to plan on getting married in the summer and then next October go to the temple! It was fun to talk with her, without him there, cause that would have been a little awkward. Before we left she gave us a little present. It was a beautiful heart necklace with a nice note! I seriously love her so much. I hope that I am near this area in the summer so I can attend there wedding and maybe even be allowed to go to the temple in a year with them... so cool!!
Last Monday we had our Watermelon eating contest! Oh man, those Elders loved it! It was kinda gross though. They were spitting the seeds all over, smashing the water out of the melons and other weird things that boys do. S. Stoehr and I had a good time watching it all. This is one of the pics from it. We also got to tour Autzen Stadium. Wow that is a huge stadium. They told us that it is one of the loudest stadiums. They broke the record a few years back for the loudest stadium... louder than a jet plane! We got to run on the field and take as many pics as we wanted. When we entered the field, we got to go thru the tunnel the players run thru before the game. After the tour we got to watch a 10 minute clip of all the Ducks football highlights over the last year. It was so cool, but it made me want to watch a game!! Not aloud.
We taught Sara about the Plan of Salvation. She doesn't really believe in a lot of the things that we say, no commitment at all. We went to Cindy Anderson's house last week. We taught the Plan of Salvation to her too. She is really searching, praying and reading from the Book of Mormon. I love being over at her house! She is such a sweetheart. Tonight we are teaching her again. We are going to invite her to be baptized. Please pray for her! Finally saw Brad and Jackie for a few minutes this week. Jackie's step mom has only about a month to live, so they have been busy with all that family stuff. We set up a time to meet with them on Thursday.
On Tuesday we are going to be trained by President MacDonald. I can't wait!! His b-day is on Thursday, so S. Stoehr and I wrote in the sand and took a pic for his b-day. He is the man!! After we are trained I am going with my tongan sister, Sister Kaufusi, to Springfield. I am kinda nervous cause I hear it is kinda spooky and creepy over in that part of town, but I am glad I get to be with Fusi for the day!! She is so awesome!
We had a combined District Meeting on Friday. We spoke about Agency and the Book of Mormon. When we have meetings we do so many role plays. I love doing them, some of the most special experiences come from doing these! We practiced handing out the Book of Mormon. As a mission we are focusing on this, because that is one of the unique things to our church. I am glad that we are doing this. I love the Book of Mormon. I am so passionate about sharing it with everyone. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has increased so much as I read from it everyday. Just as Joseph Smith said, it will draw anyone nearer to God by reading it and by abiding by it's precept. We can read it, but when we actually live what we learn, it becomes so much more! I love being able to show the pictures in the soft cover copies. It draws people's attention. Love it!! S. Stoehr and I made a goal of handing out TONS of Book of Mormons before the end of the transfer. We are excited about reaching and going over our goal. :) In preparation for giving people them, we both read the talk, Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon by President Benson. It was given in a Conference talk the year and month I was born-- November 1988. This talk will blow you out of the water!! He is so bold and it still applies to today. If you haven't read that talk, I invite you to read it, then start opening your mouth and pass out some Book of Mormons!! (for Chase--- Book of Mormons, or Books of Mormon?? haha love ya buddy!!)
We got a new ward mission leader in the Santa Clara 1st ward. I am so stoked about it!! Bro. Hentzley is so excited to be apart of the missionary work and he is gonna help us out so much!
This week we weren't sure if any of our investigators were going to come to church. We were kinda bummed, so we have been praying that we would have a miracle- we do that a lot. Oh yeah, side note--- Jackie got a new work schedule, she doesn't work on Sundays anymore!!!!!!!!!!! YESSS!!! Our prayers were answered :)!! Back to Sunday.-- So during the Sacrament I notice a man poke his head thru the door and then leave. I recognized him as the husband of a less active member of the ward. Well we went to the Sunday School and in comes this man, he is not a member! Score- he was our investigator at church! He came in late, so I couldn't talk to him till after the class. The whole class I was praying that he would not bolt out so I could catch him, say hello and invite him to take the lessons. The closing prayer was said and I went over and said, "Brother Clark!" I didn't know his first name, but I thought it appropriate since he would soon be a member :). He then says hey and that his name is Robert. He told us that we could stop by and visit with his wife if she is ever available. Well I wasn't going to take that as an answer so I told him that we wanted to teach him and asked if he was interested. He told us that the other missionaries were intimidated, but we could go if we wanted to. The ward mission leaders wife was overhearing the conversation, comes over and asks him kinda laughing, "hey when are you gonna be baptized." He just laughed and said, we will talk when you come over on Thursday. Yippee!!! So cool. Another story- A lady that hasn't been to church in the last 6 years came yesterday. She has 3 kids and 2 of them want to be baptized! She is a sweet lady and is very excited to be back at church. I guess she just ended a really bad divorce and is looking for some guidance and direction-- what better way to do that then at church..... remember Elder Bednar, we come to church and our meetings to have a revelatory experience. I am looking forward to teaching the kids!
Last night we had an appointment with a less active family, but they canceled on us. I was really bummed and I didn't know what we were going to do. It was about 7:30pm and it was really dark out, so tracting or OYMing were out. We decided that we needed to see the Fransens, they are also less active. When we knocked on the door, Sister Fransen flew open the door and let us right in. She was so happy to see us!! She then told us her story-- Basically she hasn't been to church in the last year and is so upset that she can't get herself to go back. Her 3 kids aren't active and she feels like she failed. I was so grateful to be there for her right then, we shared the scripture in 2 Nephi 26: 23-24. She just cried while we were there and after we were finished we asked, "so, how we can we help you." Her reply "I think you just did." I felt so grateful that we had listened to the promptings we received so that we could be the listening ear she needed.
Quick funny story-- we had a correlation meeting on Sunday with the Ward mission leader and his wife. None of the ward missionaries could make it to the meeting, so it was just them and S. Stoehr and I. Well the wife went to throw something away and on her way back she accidentally tooted. I tried to not draw attention to it as she politely said "excuse me" and sat down, BUT my comp was another story. As I looked over at her about a minute after it happened she was bright red and couldn't hold in her laughs any longer. That made me laugh. Haha, all 4 of us were rolling on the ground. It was hilarious. Ha!
Welp, that's is mission life for ya!! I love it here so much. All the leaves are falling from the trees and it is usually foggy in the mornings and clears up by the afternoon. No rain yet, but I just take it one day at a time!
I love you all! Be happy and safe!!! Talk to you all next week!!!

October 11, 2010

So it has been a "Not so bad" kinda week. Nothing too exciting but nothing horrible either. I like weeks like these! To start off-- Tuesday morning S. Stoehr and I went running. Well when we got back to our apt she said, "oh no, I forgot the keys, do you have them?" I don't drive or have keys so I didn't grab them. Man, we were locked out of our apt!! It was 6:30am and no one was awake in our apt complex. We saw a lady open and shut her door, so we asked if she had a card so that we could slip it thru and try to unlock it. But she just looked at us crazy and said no. Bummer. We waited outside till about 8am and finally a lady across the street was awake. She let us use her phone. I only have two numbers memorized, ours and Central Point. I was glad that we got a hold of someone and eventually we got in. haha.
The elders talked to someone down by Autzen stadium and they got their number and we gave them a call. Kevin and Robin have 4 kids and she is prego with her 5th. They invited us over for yummy tacos and fruit! We found out that they had a baptismal date a few years back, but they weren't married and things got a little lost and twisted around. Well, they just moved into a house, they are married and are so awesome! I straight up asked Kevin if he would join the church and he said "yeah." It blew me away!! They are going to a Catholic church right now and they really like it, but we are going to be teaching and hopefully they will be a great addition to the Santa Clara 1st ward!!
We had a lesson with Cindy Anderson. She married to a less active member. She grew up Jewish, but doesn't practice. We taught the Restoration and the spirit was so strong. Cindy has a lot of questions and it has been great to answer them thru the spirit. I don't know a lot of the times what I say, but I know that the spirit testifies of truth and we could all feel it. She is pretty much ready to learn and I am excited for her to become a member and for her husband and kids to get active again!!
We haven't seen Brad and Jackie for almost 2 weeks. Brad actually called us on Saturday and left us a message saying that he wanted us to come by and talk with them!! He was afraid that they offended us. Funny thing is that we called Jackie and left her a message asking when we could come by again. Brad wasn't aware of this so it was good to hear from him!! We spoke with Brad and he told us that he had been on Mormon.org and that he was chatting with some missionaries and just felt like something was missing. He recognized the spirit and that he hadn't been with there family while we have been gone. I am excited to go over this week and let them know just how important this is. YES!!!!
We went tracting on a house with 3 houses. As soon as we pulled up to the street I knew that there was someone that we needed to find. The first man was very rude and yelled at us that his family was having dinner and that we interupted. The next house was empty. The last house was kinda in the back part of the neighborhood. We knocked on the door and I just knew that we needed to talk to the person inside. We heard a baby crying and then it was quiet. Finally, Amanda opened the door and she spoke with us. She was scared to open the door cause it was kinda late and her husband wasn't home. He baby was crying and hungry so we didn't get to talk too much, but she wanted us to come back on Tuesday night! YES!!!! I am so grateful for times when the spirit speaks to me and I feel led to find people. It is truly a miracle!!
Today we are having a watermelon eating contest! Our ward mission leader always gives us food and so he gave us 6 watermelons!! We asked our elders in the district if they wanted to so we are excited! I got my haircut today... mom I wish that you were here so that you could cut it. Luckily it turned out alright :) We are also going to tour Autzen stadium, where the Oregon Ducks play. I am stoked to see it and be on the field!
Well sorry this letter isn't that great, but I am glad to have good weeks like this. Always room for improvement, so I am excited to get to work tonight!!! Find find find, teach teach teach. Yep, it will be great!!
I love you all so much!! Thank you for all giving me the support and love that I NEED!!!! Take care this week!

Love Sister Glasgow
XOXOXOXO

October 4, 2010

This weekend was so amazing!
Friday afternoon S. Stoehr and I went over to a recent converts house and burned some nylons. We have both been out for 6 months.. crazy! It was fun to have a Little burn party. haha... that night we filled up the font and had the water all warm and ready... But where was the Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader? At about 10 min till I felt like I should call them and make sure they were coming (the Bishop and the WML are a father and son). Well they had forgotten about the baptism and were not ready. I was really frustrated and annoyed that they forgot, but I told them to hurry over so we could get started. We just listened patiently to the prelude music for about 20 minutes. They arrived finally and we had a wonderful baptism. Stephanie was really emotional the whole time and I knew that she felt the spirit testify to her that what she was doing was making Heavenly Father smile. :) When she came up out of the water she was glowing. That whole night she was beaming and so happy. It truly is the Lord's work and this is the only way. I was so pleased that I got to be apart of her life and see the change come over her as she read from the scriptures, came to church and prayed. She invited her mom, aunt and some friends from work to the baptism. I was glad that they were there for her and they felt the special spirit during the service. I love baptisms :). Well that just kicked off the Conference weekend for me. I was such in a good mood and loved hearing all the talks. I had a wonderful experience as I listened to the prophet. As he spoke his words were the Lords. He spoke, but to me it felt as if the Lord was speaking that to me. I will never forget that experience! I was so overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude for the many wonderful things in my life. I have a good life. I have such wonderful people around me and I really thank all of you for the love and support! I couldn't do this work without that! I need all of you. As the prophet spoke of Gratitude I felt so blessed and was reflecting on the life that I have. I am grateful to be here now in Oregon serving, giving back to Him for the many things that He has given me. I love being able to serve in Oregon! The mission has been one of the hardest things, but it is so worth it! I hope that everyone that is even considering to go, will GO! Go and don't look back! I love my mission!
So at the beginning of the week it wasn't so peachy as the weekend.... sad. We went to Laura Anderson's house.. the one that wanted to fight with us. We asked her to work towards baptism, but she told us that she is not ready. I was really glad that she isn't opposed to it completely, but I know that she will come around sooner or later. She was making Amish Friendship bread and gave us a starter bag... that made me think of you mom. Oh yeah and we cleaned for a lady in between conference sessions on Saturday and she cleans with Vinegar and Water... make me think of you again mom. :) I sure miss you, so that was a little refresher and I felt like you could be in the next room baking the loaves of bread or cleaning in the next room. Love you. So we aren't teaching her anymore, hopefully in a few weeks she will be ready. We went to Brad and Jackies. I bore my testimony to them and told them that they needed to act and do what we ask them to do if they want to progress. It is really sad, I love this family so much. I just don't know how to get across to them and have them have experiences on there own. It is complicated. We decided to give them some time on their own to pray and read and hopefully they will want to be baptized. They want too, but just aren't sure if Mormon is the way they want to go. They told us that we pray to the Mormon God.... no no no!! Ahh they need time, so that is what we are doing.
So Melissa and Danika... haven't talked to them yet. They are hard to reach, but when we went over last night we met Danika's dad- Dan. He told us that Melissa and him are not dating anymore and are going to be separating. I felt really bad and he was on the verge of tears. I told him that when they get things all settled that we would come back.
We were not able to contact Heather this week. I was so sad. I was thinking a lot about my investigators as I listened to conference and I especially got the chills when Elder Scott (I think) talked about abusing medication. I have met many other people here that have been abusing those prescribed prescriptions. I am so grateful for latter day prophets who are so inspired and say what the saints need to here.
We had District Meeting on Friday... we were soooo busy that day, but it was sweet! S. Stoehr and I taught the other elders how to begin teaching. When we were planning I was thinking that we should make up and acronym to the work B E G I N. So we decided that B was for Bullet Points. I kept spelling the work bullet wrong every time I wrote it down. Well on Friday at the meeting I started to write on the chalkboard. I started to write Bullet and in my head i was saying, "ok Sister Galsgow, don't spell it wrong and look like a goof." As I was writing I heard S. Stoehr say.... "ummmm Sister Glasgow." I looked at what I was writing and I spelled the word Butt. I was so embarrassed... I couldn't believe that I did that in front of all the other missionaries. My face was bright red and all I could say was, "how embarrassing!" We all got a laugh out of that one :).
I am looking forward to the new week! We are going to be finding a lot of new people. Last night we got 3 referrals and they all sound very promising.
This morning we went hiking with Sister Nichols and Sister Wilson, at Spencers Butte again. We could actually see all of Eugene and the whole valley. I felt like I was on the top of the world. Dad that reminded me of hiking the Superstitions and getting to the top and feeling so good! (minus the fact that it only took us 30 minutes and it was dinky little switchbacks.) The whole state of Oregon is covered in trees! I also got to go to the mission office and I got a lot of mail, so that made me happy. Thank you for all the pics mom. I love seeing you all! The boys are getting so big and all are so handsome.:)
Sister Losee is getting transferred on Wednesday. I am sad that i won't get to see her as much anymore. We are going to hang out with them later today, so that will be good to be with her again. I talked to her on the phone last night and it is so weird to talk about missionary things with her... all business like haha.
Well I hope the weather starts to cool down in Mesa. I know that the rainy season is just around the corner. We had a weird hot pocket this week, but it won't be long before it rains all the time. I can't wait. Love you all!! Please pray for the investigators. They need your help, love and support. Get out and share the gospel! Take care!

Love Sister Glasgow :) XOXOXOXO