Happy happy Monday, everyone!

It's been another great week here in Forest Grove!

The sun has been out, and so have we! We've been spending a ton more time outside, and talking to so many people! It's been great and we average about 7 miles a day walking, some days less because of lessons and other days definitely more than 10. It's so good though, we love it and it gives me more opportunity to talk to Sister Leifson and get to know her better!

Some events from this past week:

Sister Christenson and I went to MLC this past week, which is basically a meeting like zone conference, except those who are there are the leaders from all over the mission. We got some direction from President and Sister Tateoka about what will be taught in zone conference and it was super exciting!

There are a ton more changes coming that will increase the diligence of the work here in Oregon, especially in including the members more in hoping those we teach to progress in the gospel!

Two days later, we had interviews with President and Sister Tateoka, and man, do I love them! They are both so wise and full of the Spirit. I left those interviews just feeling so loved and uplifted by the things they told me.

The rest of that day was absolutely INSANE! we had District council in the evening and after dinner went to three lessons back to back to BACK! Needless to say, Sister Leifson and I were mentally SPENT by the end of the night. We fell asleep pretty fast that night!

One of the lessons was with an older lady named Francine. She recently moved from a small town in Oregon, Vernonia, and we've been teaching her for a while. She was baptized in another church previously and she's been struggling with why she would need to be baptized again in our church. We were trying to figure out how to best help her, and we felt prompted to invite a member from Vernonia that she is good friends with. He was so willing to drive the 45 minutes to us! The lesson was awesome and he was so lovingly bold when talking to Francine about baptism! It was a great example to us about how much a person's heart can change by being bold!

She still isn't on date as of this moment, but we are hoping that will change with this next week!

So much has happened this past week, it's hard to write it all in one email! All in all, it's been great! I love being here in Forest Grove, especially with Sister Leifson! She's so great and has blessed my life in so many ways! During the interview with President Tateoka, he asked me if she would be ready to leave and be a senior companion somewhere else. I mean...she definitely is because she's an amazing missionary...BUT- I don't want her to leave me!!! So yeah...definitely mixed feelings about my reply to President Tateoka but all is well! I'm just trying to soak up every second I have with her!

Spiritual message of the week:

Today I've been thinking about "worth". On our way home oftentimes, we pass by this car that is for sale. It's a bug (so we usually race to see who can punch each other when it comes into view) and was pretty old but really nice looking. I don't know cars at all, but one of the first times we passed by it, Sister Leifson was baffled by how expensive it was, because I guess it's not a very high-quality car to begin with.

I was thinking about how the cost of something is decided. The nicer it is and the more it can do, the more expensive it is. The more that someone would want it also causes the cost to increase. In order to buy something, you have to wager how much you are willing to work for it in order to obtain it.

Being the missionary that I am haha, I related it to the gospel. You quite literally cannot put a price on Salvation! But what is up to you is what you are willing to do in order to obtain that Salvation. The price that Heavenly Father puts on it is living the gospel (building faith, repenting through the Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ, making covenants by the authority of the priesthood, and continuing to live faithfully and diligently). It is most adequately described in the Book of Mormon. In 3 Nephi 12:19 when Jesus Christ says, "I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit."

I was thinking a lot about what I am willing to do to pay the price of Salvation. How hard and diligently am I willing to work?

Literally nothing that we actually do will be enough to pay that price- because we need to be perfect in order to do so. But we are promised that we can receive grace as we obediently live the gospel.

How perfect is the Plan of Heavenly Father!!

Ending on a funny note:

We had dinner with a cute old couple, the Naones, and they were having a super hard time saying my name. Sister Leifson probably said it like 10 times. Because a majority of mankind can't say my name right (they usually say it like "McCowen") I just accept how they pronounce it, even if it's wrong.

The Naones end up repeating my name like "McCowen" and as they looked at my name tag, they were confused and went off by saying that there is a vowel missing in my name. They thought my nametag was misspelled because of how they were pronouncing it!😂

Have a great week everyone! I would love to hear from anyone how their week was!

All my love,

Sister McCown