Info Post: Christmas Care Packages

Hello Friends and Family of Sister Casey,
The mission home has a special request for anyone who would like to send a care package to our missionary. Here they are.

Dear Parents,  

     We are continuing to prepare for Christmas.  We know that you are preparing to send Christmas packages and special letters to your missionary. We would like to ask that all Christmas letters and packages be sent to and arrive at the Mission Office before December 3rd.  All Christmas packages and letters will be given to the missionaries at our annual Mission Christmas Celebration.  The packages will not be opened at that time.  Our hope is that each missionary will have a package under the tree.  The packages will be distributed and given to each missionary at the end of our Celebration, then taken to their apartments. Allow plenty of time for your package to arrive. 

     Please put a Christmas symbol (star, holly, etc.) on the outside of the box, so we can identify that the package is for Christmas.  This is very important!!!

            MISSION OFFICE                4007 Bridgeport Way West  Suite D
                                                            University Place, WA   98466

     We are so excited. Christmas is such a special time in the mission field. 

With our love,

President and Sister Weaver

Gift Ideas:

·         REFLECTIVE GEAR, ARM BANDS, Bike lights

·         Winter wear- hats, scarfs, socks, THERMAL GARMENTS-SOCKS

·         THANK YOU notes, stationary, envelopes, stamps.

·         FAMILY PICTURES – Letters

·         Talks on CD, books by the Twelve, or 1st Presidency

            APPROVED MUSIC CDs

            LDS composers, LDS songs, (hymns, EFY )

·         GIFT CERTIFICATES   (Stores located in the mission)

                        Penney's, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sears, Target

                        Located in all parts of the mission - Walmart

  

GIFT IDEAS THAT SHOULD NOT BE SENT TO MISSIONARIES

      X   any type of Nerf or air gun

      X   games

      X   lots of candy or sweets 

                 (the missionaries receive a large amount of sweets from members)

Thank you.  Merry Christmas 

Photo Post: Summer 2013

Picture Post: From the WA-TAC Blog

Kawehi's mission has a blog, thebeautifulwa-tac.blogspot.com, and here are some of her pictures from there.

From her move to the Silverdale Mission

At the June zone conference

P-Day Mission BBQ in August

Transfer meeting at the end of August

At a zone conference at the beginning of September

Thanks for stopping by and following our missionary.

Letter #22: Journal Entry 07.31.13

Aloha family,

There is a miracle I can see everyday of my life, I just have to take time to recognize it. I experienced the miracle of the gift of tongues in my first area. One evening as we were tracting and knocking on doors we came almost to the end of the two hours (5:00-7:00pm) specified by our mission for this particular proselyting method. We were tired, discouraged and unsuccessful in finding people ready to hear the gospel. We talked about just calling it quits even though it was not quite 7:00 and we still had a few houses way at the end of the street. But I had a prompting that we should just at least finish this street. Right on the dot of 7:00, we knocked on the last door and we met a man and his family who had been looking for a church to go to. We gave him a Book of Mormon and set up an appointment for the next day. We came to learn that this man spoke very little English and his family spoke no English at all. They spoke Swahili. We got him a Swahili Book of Mormon and through fasting, praying and a lot of faith we were able to teach him the lessons in English as he translated to his whole family and extended family. I believe that through obedience to the mission rules, having faith in the Lord, and by listening to the prompting of the Holy Ghost we were able to find this family and share the gospel through the gift of tongues.

My rottweiler miracle: My mission president asked us missionaries to tract everyday from 5 - 7. This one day my comp and I started right at 5 and so far we were not very successful. The homes were really spread far apart and it was coming to 6:40. We thought it would be ok to just stop a little early today because the car was parked several miles away but then a prompting told us to just knock on the last 5 houses of this street. A very nice old man came to the door of the very last house that we knocked on and he invited us in to meet his sick wife. We had a wonderful visit and taught the first lesson to them and bore testimony. We felt blessed that we followed the promptings because we ended our day with a great door. We walked away feeling uplifted and happy that we were able to share our testimonies with this great couple. As we started walking back to the car a very big dog started barking at us. I looked down and it was exactly 7:00 on the dot. Then we heard another loud barking coming from the next house and a huge rottweiler started charging towards us with his big sharp teeth. I could feel my heart drop as I wanted to run but just could not run but could only move just really slowly like in slow motion. I stretched out my hand that was holding the Book of Mormon to try to stop the dog and we just prayed really hard. As soon as the rottweiler came to about arms length away from us it looked like he just hit a wall and fell back. It was like a force field was surrounding us. We kept walking and he tried charging us again and once more as he gets to within an arms length of us it looked like he just hit a wall and then was thrown into the wild blackberry bushes. We were so shocked. We immediately said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the protection that we just received. I know that Heavenly Father sent Guardian Angels to come down to protect us that day. I feel their presence all the time protecting us and watching over us. I know blessings and protection comes when we obey the mission rules by tracting on time and finishing on time and by never giving up even though we had a hard day tracting we kept strong and ended in a wonderful day and was blessed for it and witnessed a miracle. The funny thing was that the dogs never barked on our way to knock on these houses but only after we finished our last house. Tender mercies.

I have a strong testimony on how important the gospel is and we were protected so I can still go on through my day sharing the gospel. This was a day ... it was a hard day and I gave it all and never gave up and I know thats why the Lord blessed me. Just like Ammon in the book of Alma when he was teaching the king and falls a sleep and was about to get killed ... Ammon gave his all and the Lord helped him and kept him safe. I think this is my little Ammon story on my mission.

With Love and Aloha,

Sister Casey

Letter #21: Journal Entry 08.06.13

Okay so today was an amazing day. It starts off with us at comp/personal study the STLs came over by surprise to study with us. It was good..... funny story cuz we were going to go over at the end of our study to prank the Silverdale Elders. Well we could not cuz the STLs came over.....Bahhhhh! Then we had a good time visiting our LARC and then lunch with Sis Porter then our meeting with the elders was good..... Then we tried to meet with Potes/ LARC....all went good to see that guy at outlook apt. The one from knocking that was busy but said to come back and wanted a BOM. He said to come in ... and last time his roommate was there and said he has questions for us if he is here next time we are there. Well his name is Rob and so happy he got a BOM. He has a friend thats a Mormon and that’s the one who text the other sisters. He is in their ward. Well he had so many questions from prophet, gay, 3 kingdoms,etc. So we answered them very good I think and it made sense to him. Then his roommate came home. His name is Kenny he is black and he also had so much better questions for us. The Lord helped us so much when we were meeting with them. The spirit was there the whole time. His questions was about the different missionary works, garments, etc. Then Kenny asks me this question... we told him how we read the Bible and BOM and how it’s another testament of Jesus Christ and to look at it as the 2nd reference to a book report for school.... Then Rob explained it to him very good. That was cool. So back to the question he asked me was. “As I can tell sis. Casey you are....another ethnicity. I want to know your feelings of the religion or this church.” Well because he is black he wanted to know from my side cuz we go through like the same thing with the white man. I honestly can’t say or write what I said to them cuz I do not remember at all what I said.... but I know the spirit was there when I was speaking. It was a good amount of time not too long or short. But I remember the way they were looking at me when I was bearing my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.... and their eyes had some spark to it they were speechless and smiled and both of them said thank you. He was raised Southern Baptist....but I know I mentioned about leaving my family for 18 months cuz I know I can be with my family forever and I want to share with others my testimony so that others may be with their familes for eternity. So then we got more into that... we looked at the time and said we have another appointment to go to... (we really only had to go tracting)... but we have a whole lesson on that can we come back some time. They said how about Thursday same time ... Thats in like 2 days. okay! We prayed with them and now they both are new investigators!

That lesson went so good and the spirit was there and the Lord put words into my mouth. I truly feel like the Lord prepared them both for us to teach. This is all His work and we are just His tools or instruments in His hands. I love missionary work so much. And the rest of the day was “peachy key.” We had 3 BOM, 1 other, 3 LARC, 2 New. Best number for one day in a long time. Best story ever!!! I can see them both in white. I hope everything goes good and as the spirit tells us. Mission...mission...mission. That’s what it’s all about....to have moments like that.

Then with our RC the Pomers family Van and Valari was great. Valari read to us her patriarchal blessing. She has a wonderful blessing.