December 15, 2015

Another great week of missionary work! Miracle story: so we had just
tried this person who used to investigate the church, and she totally
shot us down. We walked away feeling a little discouraged when we hear
someone yelling at us from across the parking lot. This girl yelled
"Hey! What church are you from?" So we walked up to her and told her
and she told us that she has been looking for a new church because the
churches she goes to lack the presence of God. We shared "He is the
gift" (Awesome video btw, go watch it) with her and she loved it. She
agreed to meet with us again and it was just such a cool experience!
The weather here has been crazy. Super windy and northwesterners don't
know how to handle the wind. We have had a lesson in the dark because
of power outages, so that keeps it interesting. A girl in the ward
invited her friend to the potluck we had on Monday, and then later we
found out that her dad had passed away that night very unexpectedly.
It was a cool opportunity to testify of the plan of salvation, but
really hard to watch her struggle. Our other investigators are doing
well, and we have one that is really ready to be baptized but is
having a hard time committing to a date. We just need lots of prayers
for those we are working with! This morning we got to go up by mount
saint Helens to these caves that you can hike, but once we got up
there I realized I shouldn't be climbing around on rocks with my hand,
so we just had to enjoy the nature while everyone else hiked. It
amazes me every day how beautiful it is here! I will never get tired
of the green and even the rain. I am so grateful for this opportunity
to be spreading gods word here in the most beautiful place! Thanks for
all the support and prayers! I love you all. Have a fantastic week! :)
Sister Henderson

#SHAREtheGIFT

December 8, 2014

This week has been so great! We had the opportunity to go to the temple on Tuesday as a mission. It was so refreshing to feel the peace that the temple brings! After our temple trip, we had a Christmas program as a mission. The spirit was so strong and really got me excited for Christmas. Christmas time as a missionary is the best! People are a lot more receptive to us and are more willing to meet with us. We had to drop a few people this week, which was really hard. It always breaks my heart when we have to drop people because they aren't progressing. We went tracting this week a few times in the pouring rain. I actually really love it! I don't think I will ever get tired of the rain. Thankfully I got a good raincoat so getting wet is the least of my worries :) I now know why missionaries gain so much weight. People won't stop feeding us. On Saturday one of our recent concerts fed us dinner. She still hasn't told her mom that she was baptized because her mom has a history of chasing away missionaries and screaming and yelling at them, but her grandma lives with her and knows about everything. Her grandma is from the Philippines (and is so TINY) and wanted to make us dinner, and her mom showed up halfway through our dinner. Sister Thomas and I were preparing ourselves for the worst, but her mom just sat down and started eating with us and was very pleasant. We were so shocked that she was so nice to us. The lord really does provide miracles! Our investigator, Vivian, still won't commit to a baptismal date. She knows it's true, but she just isn't ready to make that commitment. Hopefully she will realize how important it is and choose to make that decision. Our other investigator, Rose, is doing great. The only problem is that she lives with her 16 year old boyfriend. They are both so interested and just love everything we teach them. They got really excited about the plan of salvation. Well that is about it for this week. I am still plugging along even with the pain I am in with my hand. Thank you for all the love and support! Have a great week and remember to be nice to the missionaries :)

Sister Henderson

December 1, 2014

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was so wonderful. We had two thanksgiving dinners and then we got to go to the mission president's house for pie that night. I think I might have gained 400 lbs just from that one day, but it was so worth it :) This week wasn't too exciting, a lot of people were out of town so we didn't have much success this week. Hopefully things will start picking up again this week. I want you all to know how grateful I am for all the love and support! It has been a hard week with how much pain I am in with my hand, but I can feel the prayers and love from all of you. Sorry this is pretty short, I can't type too much without it hurting. I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Henderson

Cutest puppy ever

November 24, 2014

"I NEED MORE COFFEE!"‏

It has been the crrraaazzziiest week! Good news: I'm done with training! I can't believe I have been here for 3 months already! Time really does fly when you are having fun :) My week was pretty normal until Friday. We did some service at Meals on Wheels for their Thanksgiving lunch, so we got to spend quite some time with a lot of old people. I am NOT used to old people, since I serve in the Young Single Adult ward, so it was definitely a different experience than I am used to. We all picked a table, and we had to serve the people sitting at our tables. I have never heard the phrase "I need more coffee!" in my entire life and I have never seen anyone drink as much coffee as these old people. What was even funnier was watching all these missionaries trying to make these old people coffee. None of us knew how much cream and sugar to put in so we all just guessed. We sang Christmas songs at the end with the band that volunteered, and lets just say that the crowd went wild. They just loved it. That took almost our whole day, and then we had to finish some last minute details for Minji's baptism. We ended up not having anyone to make refreshments (And you all know how important those are) so Sister Thomas and I ended up making cookies and brownies until about 10 pm. We then got a call from some sisters who didn't have a place to sleep that night, so we had to drive about 25 minutes to pick them up and bring them back to our house to stay the night. We didn't end up getting to bed until about midnight, and then we had to be up by 5:30 the next morning to prepare everything for the baptism. Thankfully, everything worked out and Minji was baptized. Her whole family came and they are so supportive of everything. This whole experience with Minji has just been surreal! We taught her everything in 2 weeks and she was so excited for her baptism. She is one of those people that every missionary dreams of teaching. She is the definition of elect! She was confirmed on Sunday and her family came to church to be there when she was confirmed. She was just crying and so overcome with the spirit, and it was really neat to see! In other news, no transfer letters! That means that Sister Thomas and I get one more transfer together! She will be going home at the beginning of January, so this is her last transfer. I am loving Vancouver and couldn't think of a better place to serve. The people here are so amazing and the members are so supportive! Thank you for all the prayers and support! I love you all! Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving :) Eat lots of food, but don't get too fat!

Love,

Sister Henderson

Minji's Baptism

Missionaries in my zone that helped at the Meals on Wheels 

November 17, 2014

What an insane week! On Tuesday, it was SO windy. People here don't know how to handle the wind, and neither do the trees. I can't tell you how many trees didn't make it through the wind. We had zone meeting on Tuesday and we did exchanges that day as well. I stayed in the YSA and we froze our little buns off. Not only was it super windy, but it was freezing cold too. On Wednesday, sister Thomas came back and the weather was the same. Insanely cold and windy. Thankfully we had a lot of lessons that day, so we didn't have to suffer too bad. We took a less active member to the family history center and one of the old people there was warning us that the next day was going to snow 4-6 inches and that we would lose power. He was really concerned with making sure we had toilet water, and we reassured him that we would figure it out. At least the old people here are taking care of us haha. On Thursday it did snow, but definitely not 4-6 inches. We were worried that our cars would be on lockdown with the snow (The mission president likes to do that) and our area is waaaayyyy too big to walk everywhere, and we had a really important lesson with our investigator, Minji, so we drove over there before the would lockdown the cars. Thankfully we got the lesson over with, and they didn't end up taking away the cars. I can't imagine not having a car in the YSA since everyone lives so far away from each other. I guess it is really early for it to be snowing here, so everyone was really shocked. On Friday Elder Snow came to our mission for a mission tour. It was a long day, but such a great one. I learned so much from him. On our lunch break, him and his wife came and sat by us because I guess we were laughing too much and they wanted to sit where the fun was happening. I found out that his grandpa (or great grandpa?) co-founded Snowflake (makes a lot of sense) so that was pretty cool! On Saturday Minji had her baptismal interview and is all set for her baptism this Saturday! We are getting really excited! Everything with her has been so amazingly easy and I have been waiting for something to happen to keep her from being baptized. So far, nothing. Keep her in your prayers! We had stake conference this weekend, and at the adult session, we had a "missionary and friends" choir, so we all invited our investigators to sing with us. Our investigator, Vivian, did it with us and it was such a cool experience. The spirit was really strong and it was just so good! On Sunday, president Taylor spoke at stake conference and it was just really good. Well, that's about it for this week. We will hopefully have a baptism this weekend, so make sure to pray for us. The work here is booming! We get transfer calls this week, so hopefully sister Thomas and I don't get transferred. She has been here for 9 months, so it is very likely that she won't be staying. I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Henderson

Let it Snow!

November 10, 2014

It has been quite the week here in Washington! The weather is cooling
down a lot and people are already putting up their Christmas stuff. I
made sister Thomas start to go running with me, so she isn't happy
with me about that. I just need to work off all the crap they feed us
in the YSA. So good news, our investigator Minji, the one who randomly
came to church, is on date for November 22! We are really excited! She
is awesome and so adorable. She was making sure that she was still ok
to be be baptized and was telling us how excited her family is for the
baptism! President Taylor came to our ward on Sunday, so we introduced
him to Minji and she was telling him how excited she is to be
baptized. She is pretty solid :) we only get to meet with her twice a
week for half an hour, so we are trying to cram in as much as we can
before her baptism. We found 3 new investigators this week, two of
them used to be investigators, so we just started meeting with them
again. The other one we found while tracting, which is nearly
impossible to find 18-30 year old women who are not married and don't
have any kids. We were pretty excited about that one! Our other
investigator, Hannah, is doing awesome! We took her to a baptism on
Saturday and she loved it. She is still try into decide if she wants
to join the church, but she is excited to come to church this weekend!
Vivian is doing ok. She isn't progressing very well and has a lot of
concerns. Hopefully we can clear things up for her. She has been
investigating the church for a year now, so we hope that she will
figure things out! We got to go up to Longview this week, which is an
hour drive. I know know what everyone talks about. It smells weird up
there. We met one of sister Thomas' childhood friends there who ended
up moving her a few months ago! She isn't a member, so it was cool to
teach her! Not much else is happening. We are just trying to work as
hard as we can! And don't worry about the subject of this email.
Everyone thinks we get to do what we want because our boundaries are
insane, so it is really funny that they think that. Well, I hope you
all have a good week! I love you all! Thanks for the support and
prayers. They really do carry me :)
Sister Henderson

November 3, 2014

I think that the rain is bringing success with it here in Vancouver. We have finally been seeing the fruits of our labors! We have taught so many lessons this week, and our investigators are progressing unbelievably well! We put another one of our investigators on date this week and we finally got to start teaching her the lessons! She has been asking us since the day we met her when she could be baptized, and now that we started the lessons, she is basically good to go! It has really been one of the best weeks since I have been here! Sister Thomas turned 21 on Thursday, so we ate A LOT of cake that day. Everybody we saw gave us cake. Talk about a sugar overload. We got to go to the temple with one of our investigators and her aunt that day and take them to the visitors center. It was so good and they loved it! I really hope this helps her in her decision to be baptized! On Halloween we had to be in after dark and there was a YSA thing in Oregon, so none of the YSA's were available to teach or anything. We ended up going to an old couple's house and cleaning it, even though it wasn't even dirty. They gave us cupcakes, so I wasn't about to complain! On Saturday, one of our recent converts took us out to a German restaurant and it was the best thing I have eaten on my mission. It is unique to Oregon and Washington, so that is kind of a bummer. 

It has been super rainy here, like nonstop rain for the past 2 weeks. I love it! Everyone thinks that I can't handle the rain since I am from Arizona, but in fact, it is the opposite. It just makes me love it even more. It is cooling off a lot and I am loving the cooler fall weather. I had my first experience with daylight savings on Sunday. It was good because we got an extra hour of sleep. I am not, however, looking forwarding to losing an hour. I love Arizona because you don't gain anything, so then you don't have to lose anything.

I can't believe that Bryce got called to Washington! I totally called it! Congrats Bryce! You are going to love it! Vancouver actually used to be in that mission, so a lot of missionaries in my mission were originally called to Kennewick. It isn't as cool as the Vancouver mission, but it is alright I guess :) I can't believe this transfer is already halfway over. I really hope I get to stay here forever. I think that 18 months in the Clark ward would be a dream come true. It is a great place to be for a long time!  I will have to talk to President and see what her thinks :) I hope you all had a great Halloween! Have a great week and keep doing missionary work!

Love,

Sister Henderson

Temple trip with our investigator

October 27, 2014

What a week! The work here is so good. Unfortunately, we had to drop one of our investigators because she won't come to church, which was a bummer. We have been meeting with her since I have been here and they have been teaching her even longer than that. It was really hard to drop her but I don't think it will ever be easy to drop anyone, we did find a new investigator on Thursday! We taught her a lesson on Friday and put her on date for baptism! She came to church on Sunday and she was sharing a ton of comments which was so great. Our other investigator that we had on date decided that she wasn't ready, so we won't be having a baptism next week. All we can do is keep meeting with her and help her get to the point where she feels like she is ready! The weather has been crazy. It has been super windy and rainy. There was a tornado in Longview, about an hour away from me, but don't worry. I'm still alive. I'm only missing one leg so I still have another to spare. In Vancouver there were trees laying in the middle of the road which reminded me a lot of what happens in Arizona when it rains. You would have though the world was ending with everyone's reactions. 

We got a new car this week, so in the midst of the shuffle we got to drive the AP's truck since we didn't have a car, and you kinda need a car when you cover 5 stakes. We had way too much fun with it and tried to convince the AP's to let us keep it, but they gave us a new Ford Fusion instead, so we let it slide just this once :)

Funny story of the week: a girl in the ward signed up to feed us on Friday night and told us that she was going to take us to her home ward's Halloween party/chili cook-off. That was great and all, but she didn't show up until 40 minutes late so we were left to hang out with her mom the whole time. Everyone in the ward was really confused and thought we were new missionaries in the ward, and were disappointed when we told them that we weren't. The elders that are actually in the ward glared at us the whole time and were not happy with us being there. It was actually pretty funny. It was so weird being at a family ward party because there were kids everywhere and a lot of pregnant women. Kids are a foreign concept in the singles ward! We just felt so awkward and out of place. I don't know what I am going to do when I leave the YSA. It is a totally different kind of work. I love the members in the ward because they are so supportive and so missionary minded. A lot of them are returned missionaries so they are so helpful. 

That's about all for this week! Nothing too interesting, but we stay busy! I can't believe that I have been out for almost 10 weeks. It really does go by so fast! I really don't know how I have been able to wake up at 6:30 every morning. Miracle truly do exist! Thanks for all the prayers and support! They really do help me to work harder every day. I love you all! Have a great week and an awesome Halloween! Stay safe :)

Sister Henderson

Short lived joy

We are a little excited for Halloween 

This stupid balloon was only supposed to stay lit up for 15 hours. It has been a week and it is still going strong

October 20, 2014

The weeks here all blend together! This week was pretty successful but
discouraging at the same time. On Monday for FHE there was a potluck,
which we got one of our investigators to, and it was great! I really
just liked it because there is free food, but our investigator loved
it! We met with her the next day and put her on date for November 1st!
Her name is Vivian and she is so ready for baptism! She has been
taking the lessons for years but now she is 18 can finally be
baptized! We had zone meeting on Wednesday and sister Thomas and I had
to give the training. It went very well for my first time I guess. The
rest of the week was a little harder. We didn't have much success and
everyone we tried by wasn't home. On Sunday none of our investigators
came to church which was a bummer, but we did have a few less active
members come! The bishop had a fireside on Sunday night for he recent
converts and investigators and we got a few to that! The senior couple
is on fire! They went to Longview, which is part of the ward but is an
hour and a half away and we don't have the miles on our car to get up
there, so we never make it up there. There are only about 12 members
that come down from Longview for church, and the senior couple went up
there and talked with the stake president and there are 500 members
that are YSA age with their records up there! Now they are just going
to be finding those members and reactivating them so Longview can have
their own YSA ward. We are super excited about this! Great things are
happening in this ward and I am glad to be here! There is so much work
to do so we are for sure kept busy! The members are still feeding us
every night, so I'm not going hungry. Getting a little chubby maybe,
but not going hungry :) the weather has been rainy, which I LOVE!
That's about it for this week, I'm just staying busy. I can't believe
I have been our for 2 months! Time really does fly in the mission
field! Hope everyone has a great week! I love you all
Love,
Sister Henderson

October 13, 2014 Sushi Moto!

Another great week here in the best mission in the world! On Tuesday a
member took us out to Sushi and I tried it for my first time! I loved
it! It was delicious! Where has it been all my life? On Wednesday we
got a new investigator who has been taught all the lessons and is so
ready for baptism! She came to church on Sunday and loved the YSA! We
are super excited and as going to put her on date this week. We also
got to watch Meet the Mormons on Wednesday. They wanted all the
missionaries to watch it before it came out, so we all got to see it
at the mission office, and then they fed us lunch (free food!). I
loved it! It is so good! On Wednesday night we did exchanges with the
Hermanas who are our STL's and I got to stay in the YSA with Hermana
Clanton and sister Thomas had to go to the Spanish area. Because I
stayed in my area, I had to drive all day on Thursday and it was
great! It made me realize how much I miss driving! While we were on
exchanges on Thursday, another member took us out to sushi! So I got
it twice this week, not that I'm complaining. On Friday the transfer
letters went out. We were nervous because earlier this week, president
said that only 10 companionship son the whole mission were staying
together. Thankfully, no letters came for us! We are the only ones in
our zone that stayed together! This is for sure Sister Thomas' last
transfer in the YSA. She will have been here for 9 months by the end
of this transfer! She will only have one left before she goes home, so
she will get to have one more area! On Saturday we got to go to the
temple! Sister Thomas' first two converts, an older couple, were going
through the temple for the first time! It was so good and I just love
the temple! On Sunday we got another new investigator, so that is
pretty exciting! The work is progressing here so much and I am so glad
I get to be a part of it! The weather is beautiful and is starting to
cool down. I love the mornings here because they are always foggy and
it looks super cool! It hasn't been rainy yet, but everyone says it's
coming, so we will see! I am doing good, but I got sick this week. The
cold is going around and missionaries are around a lot of people, so
we get sick easily. But I am not going to let it stop me from working
:) there is too much to do! I love you all and hope you all have a
great week! Thanks for all the support!
Love,
Sister Henderson

Sushi!!

October 6, 2014

What a week. The week are just flying by faster and faster! I seriously don't know how today got here so fast! I guess that is a good thing, right? The first transfer is over next week! Crazy! So this week, we got a new investigator, Victoria, who is Chuuk. There are a lot of people here from Chuuk but they are some of the most humble and Christlike people I know. Her dad answered the door and made us come in and sit down and gave us both water and then he sat in on the lesson with us. We are so excited to have Victoria! She is so open and receptive to the message! We got a senior couple this week in the YSA and we helped them move in on Wednesday. They are so cute and energetic and are perfect for this ward! They are so excited to be here and I know that they will do a lot for all these young single adults! Our ward now has 3 sets of missionaries! It is much needed though because there is so much work to do! We cover 5 stakes and go as far as Longview which is about an hour and a half away, so we don't have the miles to go up very often. I feel like we are always driving because everyone is so far away from each other, but I am grateful for the car! I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to do much but we are always busy! Conference was so amazing! It is like the Super Bowl for missionaries :) We all get so pumped to hear the prophet! It is even more amazing as a missionary because we look at everything so differently! I didn't have a favorite talk, because they were all so amazing! I learned a lot about things that I need to change to make me a better missionary. If everyone hasn't had the chance to see the video I shared on facebook, watch it. The sisters that made it are in my district and all the other missionaries that dance in it are in my district as well. They tried to get sister thomas and I to be in it too but we didn't know what they were talking about so we left. So I almost got my chance to be famous. Oh well. I am just impressed with it! I wish I was that creative! The weather has been unusually warm... 78. But i am loving it! It is finally getting to be boot and cardigan weather! I am super stoked! It rains on and off but has been sunny the past couple of days. Everyone tells me to wait until it starts raining nonstop and I can't lie, i am pretty excited. The members are still spoiling us, we have only had 3 dinner appointments cancel on us since I have been here! They feed us very well! I need to start doing more crunches and push ups or I am going to gain 5,000 pounds in the next 18 months.Well, that is all I have for this week! I am doing great and I am just trying to push myself as hard as I can! I love it here so much and I couldn't think of a better mission to serve in! I am pretty biased, but this is the best mission in the world! :) The members are fantastic and the YSA's are on fire with missionary work! I hope everyone is doing well! I Iove you all! Have a great week!

Sister Henderson

September 29, 2014

This week was so great! We had a baptism on Tuesday for a girl that has been taking the lessons for about 6 months. She decided to tell her aunt and uncle that she lives with who are members, and it turned out great! She had her uncle baptize her and her aunt made all the programs and brought refreshments and everything! They made it so much better than any missionary could and I am so grateful for them! There were a lot of nonmembers there so that was pretty exciting! We had brought out a jumpsuit for her and she told us that her grandma had actually bought her a white dress from Deseret Book. She looked so beautiful and she just glowed the whole time. She didn't want to admit how great she felt afterward, but we could definitely tell :) We got to go to the temple on Friday which was so great! The Portland temple is so gorgeous and it was much needed! I felt so refreshed after we got back and it was just what I needed! There was another YSA baptism on Saturday that we got to go to as well. It was in Portland but she lives in Vancouver, so she will start coming to the YSA next week. The baptism was great! I love going over to Portland because people there are crazy. You always see something interesting on pretty much every street. I just love it though. It keeps things interesting :)

We are getting a senior couple in the YSA this week, so when they come there will be 3 sets of missionaries in our ward. We are so excited for them to come because we have a lot for them to do! It will for sure make things a little easier and it will help us continue to be more successful. Added plus, senior couples are so cute and funny so that will be a lot of fun to work with them! Not much else has happened, but it was for sure a week full of miracles. Time is already flying by! I have been out on a mission for almost 6 weeks and I have been in Washington for about 4 weeks now! I understand now when people say that on a mission, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It is so true, missionary time is crazy! I am so excited for general conference this weekend! General Conference is like Christmas to missionaries! It gives us so many opportunities to invite people and gives us something to invite them to! 

The weather here is so beautiful! It has been pretty overcast this week and it has cooled off a lot, but I love it! It is finally cardigan and boot weather! :D I was definitely called here for a reason. The weather makes me happy!

I love you all and I hope you all have a great week! Enjoy conference and let me know what you get out of it! :)

9/22/14 Another Great Week in the YSA

What a week! The work is truly hastening here! We got a phone call
from a less active and she was saying that she had a friend who was
basically homeless that had been staying with her and she wanted us to
come teach her. We went over for the lesson and the girl was super
sweet. She is only 19 and has had such a hard life and just moved here
from Arizona and really has nothing. She told us that she needed to
turn her life around and that she is open minded about what we had to
teach her. We started the lesson and she immediately started crying.
The spirit was so strong and she agreed to be baptized in November!
She came to church yesterday and was such a rock star. She was so
excited to come but she had the stomach flu and she came anyway. She
just wanted to be there so bad! In relief society she was
participating and making all these great comments so I am so excited
to continue working with her! Also at church, this girl just showed up
and came up to us and asked how she can become a member of our church.
We were trying not to let our excitement show and she agreed to start
taking the lessons! It is a miracle because on Saturday we had a
little "pep rally" because as a mission, our goal is to find 400 new
investigators within the next 10 days! It is a big deal and there have
already been so many miracles! On Saturday I had the opportunity to
attend a baptism, which was one of the best I have been to. This guy
has been investigating the church for 3 years but couldn't get
baptized because he had fines to pay off first. So he has been
attending the singles ward for 3 years and he finally got them paid
off! So many people came to the baptism and it was so amazing! We have
2 baptisms this week, Kaili and Jessie! My first baptisms :) it will
for sure be a great week! Our ward is so amazing and so supportive.
The ward missionaries help so much and they truly are such great
members. I hope I get to stay in the YSA for a long time because there
is so much work to do here. It is hard for sure, but it is so
rewarding. The weather here has been really warm and dry (today is the
first overcast day since I have been here) and the trees are so
beautiful! It is so gorgeous here and so green! I love it so much!
Well, not much else is happening. Just working hard and staying busy.
I love you all so much! 

Sister Thomas & I at Wendy's

September 15, 2014

Crazy to believe I have almost been here for 2 weeks! I am absolutely
loving the YSA ward! It is such a different kind of work here since we
are looking for such a narrow group of people but it is so rewarding!
And the members here definitely take care of us. We have dinner
appointments every night and they either make us food or take us out.
We are so spoiled. The weirdest things have happened this week that
are hard to put into words. Let's just say that after a conversation
with a less active member we definitely felt the power of satan over
her and the deceit she was being fed. We came home after that with the
weirdest feelings and asked the members we lived with for a priesthood
blessing and felt so much better after. One of our investigators has
been struggling with the word of wisdom and she has been sick so we
asked the elders to give her a blessing and it was so amazing! She had
so much faith and the spirit was so strong and she was crying after
because she felt so amazing! We also got her to go to the relief
society activity craft thing and she loved it! But we still can't get
her to go to church! Another one of our investigators asked to move
her baptismal date to September 23 instead of December 23 and I am so
excited for her! Everyone already thinks she is a member and she is
going to byu in January so she figured she might as well not wait. But
she has such a solid testimony and is so great! One night at a dinner
appointment with a RM and her mom, they tried energy healing Sister
Thomas which was so entertaining to watch her expressions and it got
really weird so I told them it was time for us to go. We got in the
car and started laughing so hard because it was SUPER weird. She said
that weird things follow her on her mission and I can definitely see
that in action. Haha. It keeps me on my toes! Not much else has
happened, we had a zone BBQ today which was super fun but we didn't
have time to do anything today, so I have to keep this a little short!
Thanks to everyone who has emailed me, and to my one sister that
emailed me. I love hearing from everyone but that's hard to do when
nobody writes me. (Guilt trip) I love you all! Thanks for the support!
Sister Henderson

First week in Washington!

Wow, this week has been crazy! So on Tuesday we had to get up at 3 am and finish packing to get to the bus to go to the airport at 4:30 and we barely made it! We flew into Oregon and then we went to the mission office to eat lunch and fill out paperwork where we had our interviews and got our ipads set up. That night they sent us out with other missionaries and I went with two sisters and we just went tracting. It was so much fun and I gave out two books of mormon which was awesome.That night we just spent the night at the mission home with president and sister Taylor. They are amazing and I can tell that they are going to be great for me. On wednesday I went to my area, I am in Vancouver in the Clark YSA ward with sister Thomas! YSA is such a different experience and we have the biggest area in the mission, so we get a car and we get more miles on it every month since we have to drive so far everywhere. There are elders in the YSA as well so we teach the girls and they teach the boys in the ward.Since we have to rely on referrals from other missionaries, we don't get a lot of success tracting since we just have to refer them to the other missionaries that cover their areas. We have a few investigators, and we have 3 that we put on date. One of the investigators, Amanda, is so ready to be baptized and wants to do it this month, but the problem is that she needs to get married first. She lives with her boyfriend and she said he is going to propose any day now and then they want to get married within the next couple of weeks.So we will see if she actually gets baptized this month, but after they get married we have to refer her to a family ward where she will get baptized. But I am so excited for her and she is so excited and ready to be baptized! Another one of our investigators wanted to get baptized on December 23, 2017 and we were really confused so we asked her about it. She said she wanted to get baptized on the 23rd of any month and the next month with the 23rd on a saturday was on December 23,2017. We had to explain to her that it didn't have to be a saturday so she was really excited about that and agreed to get baptized on December 23 of this year! :) We are going to try to convince her to move it up a month or two, but hey, it's better than in 3 years! We don't get a lot of investigators since we are a singles ward, but a lot of the work we do is with the less actives. We hunt down all of the less active sisters in the ward and teach them and try to get them to come back. We really do have a lot of success and we had 4 less actives come to church yesterday! 

We had meetings before church yesterday and the power went out at like 8 at the church building yesterday morning. We had our meetings by the windows where there was some light and we walked by the chapel where there was a sacrament meeting going on, and I have to say it looked really creepy. They all had lanterns and their phone lights on and they were passing the sacrament in the dark. We laughed about it and then realized we had investigators coming to church for the first time that day and we tried to imagine what they would think. Probably that we worship satan or something. So we prayed that the lights would come on by 11 when our ward started and the lights finally came on at about 10;30. Huge miracle! 

We live with the old bishop of the singles ward and he just got released last week but they are letting us stay! They are so sweet and take good care of us! Since most of the singles live with their parents, we get fed very well. We have dinner appointments every night so we never go hungry. If they don't feed us, they take us out to dinner, so it is all good! The singles ward is awesome and the members in it are great and so much fun! It is fun to be with people my age! Sister Thomas is such an amazing missionary and has done so much for this ward. She has been in this area for 6 months and will end up finishing her mission here by the end of my training. I am so glad we get along and we have a ton in common so it is fun! She is hilarious and can always make me laugh but she is also a very hard worker! I am doing well and loving the missionary life! I love you all!

Sister Henderson

President & Sister Taylor

ME AT MY FIRST DOOR!!!

Sad to say bye to Sister Hughes

Me and Sister Thomas

Safe arrival in Washington!

With President & Sister Taylor

First P-Day at the MTC!

This week has been amazing! I know why they call it the spirit prison now, because the spirit is so strong but you feel stuck here! I have a trio so that means instead of getting one awesome companion, I get TWO! Sister Hughes and Sister Kramer. They are SO amazing and I am so glad I get two of them! My district is amazing and I am so lucky to spend so much time with 8 amazing elders and sisters. I love watching them grow and it is so great to have so many people to grow with! So I probably have the best teachers. Sister Evans and Sister Murphey are in charge of hiring all the teachers and they occasionally pick up a district to teach. We seriously lucked out. We always have other teachers in our room observing them so it is pretty legit. I have learned SO much in the past few days and it feels like it has been an eternity. Not that I'm complaining or anything :) Our class is on the fifth floor so I get to climb 5 flights of stairs 5-6 times a day and I LOVE it. No really, my calves are looking awesome! Today was P-Day so that means I got to go the the temple this morning which was so great. It was really what I needed!We are learning to teach investigators (teachers pretending to be investigators) and it is a huge learning process. We are nowhere near committing them to be baptized but we are getting there. So I learned something revolutionary. There is an elder in my district that was talking to one of our teachers and they were talking about how they have the same birthday. So I asked them when it was and they said August 12. I freaked out. The elder is the exact same age as me and I think that its amazing that there are 3 of us with the same birthday. Everyone in my district is going to Washington, but only Sister Hughes is going to Vancouver with me. Sister Kramer and all of the elders are all going to Tacoma which is pretty great. I found out that I leave next Tuesday morning so I'm not sure if I'll be able to email! I love you all! Thanks for all the support!

Love, 

Sister Henderson

Preparation

Well, today was my farewell and I am getting more and more nervous to serve! I am just so thankful for this amazing opportunity to serve the people of Washington and I know that I am making the right decision! Saying goodbye to all of my friends and family was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do! I know it is only for 18 months, but it is a long time to go without hugging your mom. (Hopefuly) All of the posts you will be seeing on here are from my mom posting my weekly emails, so it will kinda be me, but not really. Mom, I am counting on you (no pressure).Thank you to everyone who has supported me this far and I expect everybody to be writing me letters! I love you all!