Five is a magic number

Today we had five investigators from five different families at Sacrament Meeting!
 
Edgar, the non-member, came with his wife and her less active sister that we visited earlier in the week!
Victor came with his wife and three children.  Victor is a non-member-so far!
Maria de Jesus is back from Mexico and she came.  She had a blessing for her legs last time she was here and they don't hurt her any more!
Alonzo is an older man investigating the church and he brought his neighbor, also not a member.
We had trouble seating everyone in our Relief Society room and the chapel looked great with all the people!

But like all good shepherds, the missionaries sorrowed over the ones who didn't come. With the four Elder missionaries and us in the Branch, everyone (investigators included) gets multiple visits each week. It is a great team to be on.

One of our members that recently moved to St. George came back to visit today.  All she could say to the sisters in Relief Society was "Utah is a whole different world!"  And she is right.

All of the Elder missionaries and Elder Pack sang "love at home" in Spanish for the musical number. They sounded really good.  They sang their hearts out for the Elder that is finishing his mission this week  and going home to Australia. We sure get attached to the missionaries we work with!



 

Funner than Disneyland!

What a great feeling it is to have the perfect investigator appointment turn out perfectly!

A Mormon lady started coming to our Branch and I learned she is living with her sister who hasn't been to church in 15 years, but who is a member. And the lady's husband has listened to the missionary lessons years ago but isn't a member.  So, we had our work cut out for us right?

Upon hearing that the husband is out of a job right now, Elder Pack went  through list of Mormon business owners here in Merced and called the most likely one for this man. We took the application over and helped him fill it out since his native language is Spanish.

I visited with the two women while Elder Pack helped the man.  By the time the application was filled out I had both sisters committed to coming  to church Sunday and bringing the Elders over to teach in the home this Friday!

Elder Pack was talking gospel to the man this whole time in addition to the application.  We also showed them a couple of the Bible Video movies which set a sweet spirit in the home.  But everyone, including his wife, was amazed when he said "I'm going to church Sunday". We love a good investigator and  you could just feel that he is such a good man.

We have very promising appointments for every day this week!  This is so much fun!  It's better than Disneyland!

The Numbers Add Up

Recently we were taught an interesting concept for missionary work. Everyone should be a part of the tidal wave of missionary work that is here now.  Joseph Smith said sharing the gospel is the most important work we can do. And here is an easy and effective way for members of a Branch of Ward to help.  That's you!

There are about 46 Sundays in a year where conferences of some kind are not scheduled. Generally, two adult speakers and one youth speaker are asked to speak. And oftentimes a musical number is included. 

And believe it or not, everyone knows someone in their extended family, neighbors or friends that are inactive or not members of the church. It might be hard to just ask one of them if they want to come to church with you.  But it isn't hard to say "I have been asked to give a talk, sermon, musical number, etc at church this week.  Would you come to support me?  Listen to me?  Give me feedback? Hear your grandkids or family?  That is easy!

And look at the numbers.  That means 92 friends of the speakers, 46 friends of the youth at least, and 46 friends of the person performing a musical number.  And THAT means 184 people there in God's house each year, feeling His spirit where an ordinance is taking place, being fellowshipped by everyone there, with questions that the missionaries (full-time or ward and branch) are happy to answer!

Numbers don't lie.  Thirty of the people invited will join the church. And you can do it all over again the next year!  Try it and be sure to ask for the Spirit's help in knowing who to ask this week.

Another Amazing Missionary Experience!

Yesterday was Zone Conference and we sat next to a man who had already been on a mission about 30 years ago.  He had only been a member 16 months when he got his mission call.  Since he is Spanish/Indian he wanted to go on a Spanish speaking mission. But he was called on a mission to Scotland!  Being new in the church he took his call to his Bishop and said he wanted to send it back and get a new one.  After the Bishop called him to repentance and explained that this was a call from the Prophet, the man named Tom DeDios, accepted the call and went to Scotland.

While there they found a group of refugees from Chile.  He was the only missionary in Scotland at that time that spoke Spanish!  And so he taught and participated in baptizing enough people that they started a Branch there in Scotland!

How fun it must be for the Lord when He orchestrates these kinds of miracles. I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord, I'll be what you want me to be.

Each baptism is special

We had a special baptism this past weekend!

Julian has read the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles manual, and is on the Doctrine & Covenants right now.  He was an investigator for two months and is now the newest member of our Branch!

 Julian is retired and has a set income.  His wife is younger and she still works.  This is important because Julian pays a set amount of the bills and his wife pays the rest. Julian's wife is Catholic and isn't interested in joining the church-yet.  So when the principle of tithing came up Julian was sad.  He wanted to pay his tithing and obey all of God's commandments.  But after paying his share of the bills he only had $4 a month left. He wrote it all out for everyone to see.  He didn't know what to do.

As missionaries we tried real hard to teach this principle, along with faith. Julian said he had faith, but he didn't have money.  Finally, he talked to his wife about this. And a miracle happened.  His wife agreed to pay more of the bills so he could pay tithing.  She said, "I will do this for God and because Julian loves this church so much."

Julian's wife and daughters and two friends came to his baptism!  We served refreshments after for fellowshipping and they stayed to talk with the members and missionaries for another hour and a half!  It was a wonderful answer to prayers and faith.

The previous day we took three sisters to the Temple for our first Relief Society temple day.  One of the sisters hadn't been able to go for over a year because her car can't make it.  Another hadn't gone for almost that long. We discovered that to pick them up, go to the Temple, and come straight home takes six hours!
We were so spoiled living close to a Temple in Pleasant Grove!  It was a great experience though.

Pictures of Yosemite park and Tammy's visit

It was fun having Tammy here for a couple of days. We also took her on our missionary appointments and showed her off to our Spanish branch members. She could talk with them! They loved her.

Tammy came to visit and we went to see the giant sequoia trees. They are magnificent!

Grapes for the Welfare Farm

A carload of missionaries heading for the church welfare vineyard. Notice they are still clean and refreshed. The second picture shows the grapes they cut drying on the trays. The next picture shows five very dirty and tired missionaries. ...Yes, they are holding each other up. It took twenty Branch members five hours to harvest this row of grapes. And there are hundreds of rows on eighty acres for wards to harvest.

(4 photos)

Glen and all of the other Elders and members and their families went to give service on the grape welfare farm at harvest time.  It was HOT and backbreaking work and a labor of love for the Lord and his people.  You need to get under the plants to cut the bunches of grapes just so.  Then you lay them out on trays which are really papers.  They dry right there where they lay.  In two weeks you turn them over and as they dry they become raisins!  Then they are passed out through the Bishop's Storehouse.  Simple and beautiful.

Tammy came to visit

Tammy came to visit for the Labor day week-end!
The first night we took her to do a family night with us to a less active/part member family.  The visit went over really well.  The mother wanted to see Johnny Lingo because of the old memories it brought back to her from when she was active in the church as a teenager.  Tammy brought the movie with her for us.
Then we played "colors" which the children had fun with. And we served rice krispies treats which they Really enjoyed!  They are looking forward to the next family night with us.

We also took Tammy on our visits to less actives and she met Pedro.  His wife is working out of town so he really appreciated the visit and Glen could give him a lesson and leave a prayer there for him.

It was my turn to teach the Relief Society lesson Sunday-in Spanish of course.  I taught about prayer because the sisters here were confused on using Christ's name throughout their praying instead of praying to Heavenly Father and also about the difference of praying for group things in public and personal things in private. Also I used the lesson as an example of not having to try to cover all of a manual lesson or conference talk in one class time.  Rather, pick a concept and develop that. I think it worked out alright. The members here might not know as much as elsewhere but they are humble and accepting when they are taught. And they are all willing to pray and teach lessons in class!

It was fast Sunday and Tammy bore her testimony in Spanish and everyone loved having her there. She visited with the four Elder missionaries now assigned to our branch with us and they enjoyed that.

It wasn't all work and no play however.  We swam in the pool three of the days and took her to Yosemite Park and also to see the giant sequoia trees.  They were truly amazing and we rode around looking at them in an open air shuttle that made it even more fun. We also made it to the Cheese Factory for Tammy's birthday.

On the way back from taking Tammy to the airport we stopped at a farmer's market where Glen passed out three referral cards to some good people.  We also visited a less active/part member family and gave them a lesson on faith and the mustard seed except we used sequoia trees!  It went over real well. And then we gave two missionaries a ride to see the Mitchells because the missionary's bike had a flat.

It is always good to get back into a routine of missionary work and it is so rewarding and feels so great!