Life does get better.

the new years groove.....
Sisters and Dee. they know how to style...
The Oregon Portland Temple on its side.(sorry).

well it really does get better every day. I love being a missionary and not only seeing things happen in my own efforts but seeing other Missionaries succeed at what we do best. we have 3 baptisms in our district in the next couple of weeks, and we are hoping to set a date ourselves. if I could say one thing it would be live with out regrets......do all you can to live a happy life and don't turn yourself down. we have had a great new year so far and it just keeps getting better and better......we have more people to work with and I am getting closer and closer to coming home. sorry to Elder Spendlove and Soon to Be Elder Leavitt. I miss you and Can't wait to see you all when you come home from your missions. I know that this is the place to be and the time to be doing this......I truly have seen a miracle happen.....Me. I have stayed when I wanted to come home. I have truly found who I am and what I want to do......thanks to the many prayers from the family.

Happy Holidays

this is at the chinese gardens in downtown portland
same as this design all hand crafted
we were doing the river dance pose on new years eve. this was done at the Temperinis home.

The Oregon Portland Temple at night. only part of it

Things have been great here in Portland. I have really enjoyed the time here and all the experiences that I get. I have been really busy the last couple of weeks with teaching people. we have been teaching this young girl who committed to baptism. she committed on news years day. we have been teaching a bunch of people and I can tell you I have felt the spirit more now than I ever have....it is the greatest thing to ever have and to always have it with you. we had fun during christmas. we went to our ward mission leaders home and celebrated it with him. we started the day off by sleeping in and then going over to his house. we gave service by helping him build a dog run for his two dogs....we didn't finish it on christmas, we came back the next day and finished it. it was fun talking to my family about the afternoonish time. talked to all of my brothers and sisters and every one else there. its to bad I can't call friends huh. my companion and I both got pretty sick during the Holidays and I'm still feeling the after affects pretty baddly. the weather has been rainy lately

Wet Month

here is some of the reckage.
storage units
underneath houses were we tore out insulation.
after we got out of the house that is behind us.
this is before we got started on the second day of work.

Oh wow this month has been wet. we have had rain most of the days this month. it is nice though. I think I have gotten my webbed feet because it does not bother me any more. this last week we got to go back to Vernonia and help out with the flooding which was very fun. I rode in the back of a pick up truck to hold down about 11 Christmas trees. it was so worth it. cold but fun.

We have been so busy. in the past two weeks we have picked up 3 new investigators and several new referrals that we are going to contact real soon. with Christmas coming up we ahve had so much things to do but I am satisfied with what we do because it represents Christ so well. and serving a mission brings so much more joy because of this.

Scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 1.

love Trent

it me

things are going great in Beaverton. we have picked up like 5 new investigators in the past 2 weeks and they are very solid. one of them we will be meeting with today at three we hope. the work has really spead up. we had 14 baptisms in the mission last week and that keeps rising to....at zone conference we were all re committed to the morning schedule of getting up on time, exercising and the what not. it has been going great. crazy, I can actually get up in the moring and stay awake. I don't know if you heard about the news on Vernonia. ya its been really bad. we got to go for a couple of days and help clean up the reckage. it does not look pretty. thats ok though they are in good hands now so we aren't going back. although I would like to so I can help even more.
Pictures will come next week.

December

old town china town
the byu vs university of portland pilots
Miles who plays on the byu team. he served his mission here in portland. I got to know him before he went home.
Just a little Dollar Tree fun.
it flooded pretty darn clost to our apartment.

what a wonderful month this is. we get to celebrate the best time ever during this month. and it is all about Christ. christmas is coming up and isn't to far down the road. we have transfers coming up on the 20th of December and that meens that I could be out this area. I love Aloha, its a small town but very beautiful....I also love the members out here they are the best ever. we also have been informed that if any family is to send packages to 13635 NW Cornell Rd. # 100 Portland Or 97229. they have to have the packages before the 19th of december or the packages won't reach us untill after the holidays. just a reminder. we have been getting some pretty crazy weather lately. it has been very rainy. we got 4 days of rain and it wasn't nice rain either. it was flooding everywhere, as well as snowing and very heavy winds. it got so bad that all the cars in the mission were grounded unless you had an appointment you had to get to. we had like six appointment to get to in the one day we were grounded from our cars. any who I still love it out here and would love to stay forever........ok I would like to come home to. this is my last christmas in the mission. very scary to think about.

Love Ipson