Farewell talks in the Merced 4th Spanish branch

I wanted to tell about the farewell talks we gave the last Sunday we were in Merced. They asked us that morning to be the speakers in Sacrament meeting. Yes, that's how they do things there.  But we knew they might eventually get around to asking us so we had thought about it some ahead of time.

However, when they asked us I was very worried because I had to give the talk in Spanish. Ugh. I prayed fervently and said, "I have been teaching about the Holy Ghost for 18 months now. And he can bring all things to your remembrance and he can give you the gift of tongues and I need that-right now."  It was amazing. I stood up and gave a talk for 13 minutes all in Spanish and felt the Spirit so strong the whole time. Afterwards, everyone came up to the stand and filed by to hug and kiss us and talk to us.  That's when I realized that I should have also asked for the interpretation of tongues because I didn't know what they were saying to me!

I could certainly feel their love though and what a wonderful experience to know, help, and love these good people. They welcomed us and loved us back.  It was a wonderful, wonderful mission!

Stay on a mission as long as possible!

Ok. It has been two months since we were released from our mission and this is the first time I have had time to finish my mission blog!  It is so much easier to be on a mission! Never go home!

Actually, I can see where we are needed here too so I guess we won't be going back out as soon as we had hoped.

On our way home from the mission we stopped at Mesquite and stayed with Edna overnight.  For some reason that brought me a great deal of comfort and peace of mind to stay with a familiar person with home cooked food and resting in the pool with her. I knew that life as I had known it for the last 18 months was over and I was about to be hit hard with life at home. I just didn't realize how hard but I was forewarned it was going to be hard.

When we came home we gave our homecoming talks, which went well.  Also our grandchildren sang "I hope they call me on a mission" which I absolutely loved! And we got to visit with family and friends which was nice.

The next Sunday we were asked to speak with Bro.Osguthorpe, the high councilman, in another ward.  It was funny because I had a talk all prepared and while sitting on the stand through the Sacrament the Lord said I needed to give a different talk. So I sketched out a talk about practical ideas to help them be member/missionaries.  It went fine and I could feel the Spirit.

Monday we were the speakers at the Empty Nesters where we felt the spirit so strong that Bro. Cardon came up after and said, "almost thou persuadeth me to go on another mission."  That's funny because he has been on many already.

These opportunities to speak were not unexpected or difficult.  But the family challenges and responsibilities almost brought us to our knees.

And speaking of knees.  I had my knee replaced one month after returning home. While out on my mission I knew I needed to have the surgery and lined up to have it done by someone that had been recommended to me. But I felt uneasy about the choice.  So much so that I realized the Spirit was saying to change doctors. I called and cancelled with him and made an appointment with the doctor Jon had had for his hip surgery and I never thought about it again. Complete peace. And I have been so blessed! Five days after the surgery I was able to go to church. I walk without pain or a limp in two and a half weeks. Now if I could just jump up off the toilet ha!

The day Glen came to the hospital to bring me home he had a heart syncopy problem and passed out. We had to stay in the hospital for a few extra hours while he was in the emergency room. The family stress, particularly Jon, is terrible on his heart. But we made it home and two days later he slipped while climbing on the tractor equipment and broke his leg! Amazing. So we try to help each other get around.  We share the walker and crutches and compression stockings! Its almost laughable! And we can't stay down like we should because of the family problems that require our immediate attention.  But the Lord has really, really blessed us to be able to do what needs to be done even with two wounded legs.

It was so much easier to be able to focus all of our attention, time, and devotion to missionary work. However, since being home I asked who in the ward needed fellowshipping to get them out to church and I have made a great new friend from going over to visit and she is coming out to church regular now, plus another sister that we have visited a lot is going to go to the Relief Society dinner with me next week and I have been assigned as her visiting teacher now so the missionary effort goes on!

Working hard for the Infantes

Elder Pack worked really hard to get the Infantes advanced in the Priesthood, their Patriarchal Blessings, their own endowments at the Fresno temple and sealed for time and all eternity! Bro.Infante is eighty years old. He has been a member for about three years.  His wife was baptized a few months before him. They now have all the blessings to keep them strong in the gospel. We are grateful we were able to see this take place before our mission ended!

Our zone missionaries at the Temple with Pres. and Sis. Clark

We loved our new Mission President and his wife immediately.
Pres. and Sis. Clark

Pictures of our newest members

Here are pictures of our newest members


Noemy  with Elders Kulbeth and Davis







Olivia Guzman with Adrian and Vida




Sergio Manzo: good friends with Ramon Rodrigues




Ramon Rodrigues: So strong in the gospel.  Already gave the talk at Sergio's baptism.




All the children love Elder Pack including the Chavez children at their baptisms.






Roberto and Rafaela Chavez with children

El Fin

Oh yeah. For my last Sunday in our Spanish branch I was able to get up and talk in Spanish without notes for fifteen minutes. Obviously the Lord helped me because I still couldn't understand much after church when everyone came up to give Glen and I farewell hugs. Of course that could have been because I was sobbing.

There have been a lot of "lasts".
 
The whole zone threw us a surprise good-bye party after our zone meeting. It was with balloons and cake that they made themselves.  I will sure miss associating with the young Elders and Sister missionaries.  We loved them.

We took a last trip with the Malhums to San Francisco and then the next day to the Oakland Temple. Glen really wanted to see the Temple before we went home.  I wanted to see what I could remember from 50 years ago when Uncle Louis was working on the temple.  Not much.  But we have really enjoyed the time we have spent with the other Senior Missionary couple, the Malhums.  Today was our last luncheon together after district meetings. Hopefully we will see them again after their mission here is over.

Packing up has been very unpleasant.  We have one pile of mission boxes that will go to some other Senior Missionary couple somewhere, along with the furniture.  Then we have one huge pile we are going to try to cram into our car.  And then we have another pile of things to distribute to the branch members because there is no way it is all going to be able cram into our car.

We have been doing all this around our missionary work.  They haven't called anyone as the new Relief Society president so I passed everything along to my counselors.  They haven't called anyone to replace Glen as Ex. Sec. so he is trying to tie everything up to hold them for awhile.

Plus he had the Spanish speaking Patriarch come up from Fresno and give blessings to five of our members.  And he pushed himself really hard to get Pastor Infante (80 years old) and his wife Rafaela to the temple for their own endowments and to be sealed together afterwards. Most of the members of the branch with recommends attended.

It has been amazing to see how much help we get from the Lord when we are on His errand.  We have loved being missionaries.  It has been serious work.  And it has paid serious rewards.  We see much that could still be done.  But we have no regrets because we worked every second to fulfill His purpose in sending us to the California Fresno mission.

Ready or Not

We are on the last days of our mission. That is a bitter-sweet thought.  Of course we are looking forward to returning to our family and friends and home.  But there is still so much that the Spanish Branch here needs help with. We will serve to the very last minute and leave the rest to the Lord.

When we think of the amazing experiences that we have had, the big baptisms are not what comes to mind first. Instead, we think about the four men recently ordained Elders. We think about working with an inspired LDS Employment Specialist.  We remember the Sacrament being passed by three little old men for the first time.  The spirit was really strong then.  We think about the new members being baptized in the temple for their deceased family members and the old members doing the work for their families and being sealed to their deceased parents. We remember the little man sitting there dressed up in his new Goodwill suit and tie waiting for the missionaries to come and teach him the missionary lessons each week. We think of the Relief Society sisters working together to make 400 tamales for the Christmas dinner. And bringing them their first dances at the socials.

We are especially thankful to be a part of people catching the vision of God's plan for them.  Just showing them what is offered in the scriptures makes their eyes sparkle. Hearing the plan of the restoration and the plan of salvation really makes a difference to them. Having a goal of getting to the temple gives their lives new purpose.

We learned to pull as a perfect team with the revolving four young missionaries assigned to our Branch. They gave legs and enthusiasm to our simple wisdom. We truly loved working with the other missionaries in this mission, both the young and the Seniors. We fed them at Zone parties, after meetings, and a hundred dinners. We loved them.

In the few days we have left, we have lined up the members to receive Patriarchal Blessings from a Spanish speaking Patriarch from another stake. We will take an 80 year old couple to be sealed in the temple. And we will invite every single struggling member and investigator to "come unto Christ".

What a blessing it is to go on a mission as a Senior Couple.  Your biggest achievement is learning to live and work together 24/7.  Your biggest growth is studying the gospel together. Your biggest joy is seeing conversion in the lives of the people you teach.

Ready or not we are leaving one area of service and moving on to another.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve with the Spanish speaking people, and others, in the California, Fresno Mission.

Can He Trust Us?

The Lord asks us to do things all day, every day and then leaves it up to us to do it or don't. If you don't, he still loves you.  He still helps you. He still watches over you.
But if you DO what he asks you to do, then he trusts you. And he will give you more and more inspiration of good things to do as long as you are willing to act on it.  If you don't act on it then the time will pass and he won't be sending you anything new for awhile.

That is where the parable of the talents comes in.  If the Master gives you talents and you use them and increase the value, then he can trust you with more. Talents can be skills, gifts of the spirit, and inspiration of what to do and who to do it for.

We have seen this happen in our Spanish Branch over the last 1 1/2 years.  We are now having baptisms weekly. New converts are leading and teaching others.  Branch missionaries are going out to find the less actives and visit the members. And they are holding family nights together.

When the members became strong enough and willing to act, the Lord sent us new members. When he knew the Branch was ready to teach each other, friendship each other, and give everyone a calling then he sent us people prepared to be baptized.

It has been a real joy to see this Branch grow and the members take care of each other. Some of our newest members are Ramon and the Chavez family.

Just Pinch Me

At church today we had an attendance of 63. It is so fun to stand at the chapel door and just look at all the benches filling up. But here is the amazing part.  Three people came to church today for the first time in a long time. One was for the first time since we have been here. They are people that we have visited at least 20 times each over our time on the mission. And suddenly, they were there. One sister with her son.  One sister with her three children. And one young woman that we have invited for forever. If you could have seen how their faces shone.  They knew they had chosen to do what was right and they were loving it.

And along the same lines, we have completely run out of space to sit in our Relief Society room! We have 20 seats. And we have 20 sisters that come each week and three young children in a double classroom. We have 30 sisters that attend at least once in a three month period of time. What will we do when they all come at once? It is a wonderful problem to have, but it is a problem. While discussing it with the other ward that meets in the same building at the same time it was decided to ask if we can knock a wall out of the back of the room to make it three classrooms large! Amazing, we now have so many sisters attending that they have to knock a wall out to fit us all in. Seventeen months ago there were six sisters attending. The Lord is blessing us beyond measure and beyond seats!

This past week we worked toward taking the newest members to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead. Elder Pack helped some of them find family names to take, got them all interviewed, made appointments at the Temple, found rides for all 13 of us going, and got us all through for the baptisms! One sister is deathly afraid to go under water.  She panicked at her own baptism. But she had her grandmother's name to do. She let everyone go ahead of her.  We told her she could just do the confirmation if she couldn't do the baptism.  But in the end she said she wanted to do it, and she did it. The Spirit of Elijah has hit her so strong that she went right home and looked on her computer to find another family name to do. We worried who would continue to help this Branch with their family history after we leave, and now we know. We will train this sister and even though she has been a member only a month, with the Lord's help she will magnify this calling.

Another sister in the Branch actually has a car that runs fine. And she needs friendshipping. So when the Lord directed us to her name to give the Relief Society sisters a ride to the Temple each month, it was such a perfect blessing! He is helping us fill every need and responsibility this Branch will have after we are gone. It is amazing to watch His plan unfold. We are so relieved and so grateful.

Here are three of the four brand new church members that we took to do baptisms in the Fresno temple today. Elder Pack helped them find and do family names. It was a great day!

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Taken for a Ride

I cannot thank my Heavenly Father enough for carrying our car in his hands throughout this whole mission.

In one three day period we were asked to take a missionary that serves 1 1/2 hours south of our city to a doctor's appointment 1 1/2 hours north of our city. We took advantage of the travel to stop on the way home and teach an investigating family that we met months ago at a restaurant.  They really like us to visit but they live 40 minutes away.  We played the "I'm thinking of a color" game, which the six kids loved! We have long since passed the family referral on to the missionaries serving in that city and they visit to teach each week. The oldest son was very interested in lds.org.  You just never know how things will turn out!

Then Sunday some Sister Missionaries in a city north of us asked if we could take them to a city two hours south of us to a baptism in Visalia.  Both of these young sisters had taught the investigator who was now finally being baptized. It was amazing to see these missionaries' joy in seeing their previous investigator get baptized and to visit again with the ward members they knew who had come to support the baptism. They felt the Spirit so much there that they said they felt completely drained on the ride home.  It was well worth our efforts.

However, this week has been very hot. It has been like 110 degrees hot. Our car, tires, air-conditioning, and every part of the car has continued to work perfectly as we serve in this mission. We have put 27,000 miles on the car just since we have been on the mission. And the car is ten years old.

 It is a miracle to me that the Lord is carrying our car through this mission. It is needed to take the Relief Society sisters to the Temple in Fresno each month, an hour away.  And it is needed to pick up people who need rides to church each week, sometimes making the trip back and forth to the church multiple times to pick up everyone. Every week there is a Missionary District or Zone meeting and we drive to the next city to pick up missionaries and bring them here. And we volunteer to drive the missionaries that are on bikes to across town appointments when the temperature gets over 100.

And somehow it all gets done because the Lord is carrying us-and our car.

Jesus is the Christ

We had a fantastic activity recently.  It was the Missionary Music Fireside! It involved our Branch and the YSA Branch and the regular ward that all meet in our building. Anyone could perform and our Branch had a new member sing a Spanish song with his guitar. Yeah, I know.  But apparently that is OK for a fireside.  He was so nervous but it was wonderful. The spirit was so strong in that fireside. There were some very talented performers.  And then as our zone leaders pointed out right before they sang "it isn't always about the singing. Sometimes it is about the Spirit you bring."  The whole evening felt so good!

We had recently found and talked with a Jewish man and since he was a singer and had performed in numerous plays and sang  the National Anthem in 50 ballparks across the states, we invited him to sing at the fireside. Included in the fireside were two short church videos, I Am A Child Of God and Because Of Him. So Christ was sang about a lot and viewed a lot in the videos, which he accepted very well.

The next day we had an appointment with him and reviewed all that we have in common with the Jews themselves and the House of Israel. It was amazing.  When we moved onto Christ we said that many people were confused and disappointed at the time because Christ was killed.  We said it was necessary and he cut in and said "Yes, for the resurrection and to pay for people's sins".  Wow. We were amazed at how ready some people are to feel a testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

We love this work.

Racing against time.

For some reason I am late writing this month.  I have taken on a couple of extra projects that require a lot of time; studying Spanish more and something that I can tell more about next month.

But our Missionary work is still going strong. We were able to go through the Temple with the sister we found over a year ago in Chowchilla.  She went for her own endowments and she was so receptive and loved every single thing there. It was a real joy to see everything again from a new patron's eyes. Then we turned around and took her again a couple of days later so she could understand it all better.  We took her when we took the Relief Society sisters in our Branch, which we do monthly. This week we will be going to the Temple with our Missionary Zone which is always great.  And best of all- the Lord showed us who can take the sisters in the Branch to their monthly temple visit after we are gone! The Lord has a perfect plan for everything!

The fact that we have less than two months left is affecting our work a lot.  We are racing to get many more things done or started before we go. We are trying real hard to have no regrets of what we missed when we return home. And we are trying to line up the members and teach them to do what we have been doing for them.

Elder Pack has been working very hard to get all the members called to callings in the Branch. And he is succeeding! Everyone is being called to a calling that fits their needs and abilities. Some members are so proud to be a greeter, to pass out the Spanish hymn books, or make up the programs etc.We now have more teachers called for the Gospel Principles and Doctrine classes. And more sisters have been called to help in the Relief Society. When you realize that only two or three members had callings before, then this is a big step for this Branch. We know from the Prophet that everyone needs a calling!

Elder Pack is also working very hard to get the Branch membership list cleaned up.  We have known for a year that many people have moved away or even died but the Church requires an intense follow-up before you can take them off the list-or they just send them back to you.  So we have been working very hard to assure everyone is accounted for so they don't fall through the cracks and someone, somewhere, can find and fellowship them.

It was a huge relief when our past mission president, Pres. Gelwix, told the missionaries and us that God doesn't want you to worry about your mission when you go home.  If you have done all you can to serve them then leave it to Him.  He knows them and how to take care of them. It is His mission, His area, and His people.

Missionary Work

As a reminder to ourselves of how we passed the time on our mission, I am including this month's  Stake report we send in each month.

This past month we focused a lot on individuals in the Branch.  We helped one sister that was being displaced from her home qualify for a different apartment and helped her find furniture from other kind members of the church. We then helped her move into her new home.  She was so happy to have a really good place to call her own.

Edgar Lopez, baptized last December, was moving home to Tijuana and so we helped him get his fork-lift training and certificate before he left so he can get a better job there.  We also lined up and helped him receive his patriarchal blessing before he left and took him to do baptisms for the dead with his wife for his deceased parents. 

We were able to get the information needed and ordered the Missionary Plaque for Susanna Montoya, our first missionary from this Branch in years.  It is displayed now in the church building and sets an example for the youth in our Branch.

In his calling as Executive Sec. Elder Pack has started the paperwork going for the advancement in the Priesthood of two of the men in our Branch.  They will soon become Elders in the Priesthood.  One brother, Pastor Infante,is almost 80 and Julian Mariscal is about 70 and one of our strongest Branch missionaries.

Julian recently had emergency surgery.  He only has one kidney and that is from a transplant.  He was told that he wouldn't survive a surgery but his gall bladder had to come out.  Elder Pack and the missionaries gave him a blessing in the hospital and the surgery went very well.  He is recovered and back at his missionary work.  His non-member daughters were very impressed with the blessing and have been attending church with him now.

We have had one baptism this month.  Francis Enriquez prayed to Heavenly Father to find a church to be baptized into.  A week later the Elders went by and started teaching her.  At missionary transfers sister missionaries continued teaching her and Elder Pack baptized her two weeks ago.  We have started meeting with her and her five children for Family Home Evenings and it is going very well.

The missionaries in our Branch did a missionary activity that was very successful.  We showed short videos at various areas in the church house and talked a little about each station.  For instance, at the baptismal font we showed the video of Jesus being baptized.  We ended up in the chapel for the video "Because of Him" and then had a couple of people bear their testimonies.  W asked one investigator how he felt after and he said he felt good and happy.  We pointed out that was the spirit. Besides members we had about nine investigators there. And then we served ice cream after so everyone had time to visit and fellowship.

We worked hard on supporting the Primary Temple Activity in Fresno and had members and one investigating family and one family who is just starting to come back to church activity show up.

The missionaries taught the fifth Sunday combined meeting last week on Patriarchal Blessings.  We are hoping to have several of the members of the ward receive their blessings in Spanish in the coming month.

Our Missionary Committee Meetings are going very well each week.  Elder Kulbeth, our Branch mission leader, is using role playing each week to teach our new Branch missionaries how to teach the lessons.  We also have the Branch missionaries go out and teach the New Member lessons and visit investigators and less active members.

Of course we can't forget the other missionaries that are serving here with us.  At last month's zone activity we served them up a potato bar with all the fixings, which they loved because it was food.  And this week we gave them rides to the zone activity in Yosemite Park, where we enjoyed watching them use up so much energy.

We love the work here and the people we work with.

Overwhelmed With Opportunities

The question was asked," What would you do if someone gave you $86,400 each day.  However, you must spend it all in one day because at the end of the day your bank account would be wiped clean and it would go back to zero.  And then the next day would repeat with $86,400.

It is interesting to see how much stuff you could buy in one day, for yourselves or others. Would you finally learn how to use it wisely? Would you learn to share?  Would you look for people who could use your help?

Well, every day we are given 86,400 seconds of time. That is more valuable than cash.  What do we do with this time?  Do we use it wisely? Do we share our time with others? Do we look for people who could use our help?

  We all get the same amount of time in our daily account but everyone chooses to use their wealth of time differently. Some people are hard workers and some people are hardly working. It is interesting to watch two fishermen go fishing.  One meanders around and while he fishes all day, his line is only really in the water two hours.  But the other fisherman knows ahead of time where the fish are biting and what kind of bait they are biting on.  He actually has his line in the water for ten hours a day.

If you are asked to raise your hand high above your head, it is amazing when asked to raise it just a little bit higher to find that you can.

Planning is important. We need to be "administering sound" to be "spiritually in tune". It becomes not "time management" but "priority management". As a missionary our responsibility is to work smart and with the spirit so we can get done exactly what the Lord wants and needs us to do. You will feel overwhelmed when you see the opportunities the Lord will give you.  But that is exactly where you want to be.

I Will Find You

So imagine for a moment what it was like living in the pre-mortal world.  We know we had a Mother and Father in Heaven. We know that we were learning and training there.  We know that the plan was presented to come to earth and get a body and to live by faith.  We know that anyone born  on the earth accepted God's plan for us.  We know we actually shouted for joy when the earth was ready for us.  And we know that everyone already has a spiritual knowledge and testimony that God is our Heavenly Father and this church is the true church. Every important truth that comes to our heart or mind is a reawakening of what we knew there.

But imagine what it was like when it was your turn to step through the veil and your spirit entered your baby body. We know you were an adult spirit because you deliberately made the choice to come to earth.  Imagine all the friends and family you had there telling you good-bye.    What would have been the last words your best friend would have said to you? 

What would have been the last words you would have said to them as you went to be born into an LDS family or to a life where you would become a member of Christ's church?

Your friend may now speak a different language than you.  He may dress differently, believe differently, have a different color of skin or nationality. It doesn't matter.  He is your friend from Heaven and he is counting on you.

Members of this church do not have to convince people of the truth we have.  These people's spirits already know.  The memory may be covered by circumstances, ignorance or sin, etc.. What wise members need to do is invite, invite, invite.  They need to open their mouths and invite everyone to hear the message of the restored gospel.

Because you definitely promised that you would. 

________________________________________________

Francis prayed to find a church to be baptized into. The next week the Elders knocked on her door. Today Elder Pack baptized her. She was prepared to recognize the Lord's church. She's great!

Hastening The Work

As Relief Society President I am responsible for teaching the class now and then.  And I can pick anything that I think the sisters need most to talk about.
So this week I had the lesson all planned.  But while studying about it I felt the Lord wanted me to talk about something else, Missionary Work.  So I found great stories and articles and put the lesson together yesterday, Saturday.
Then this morning I was praying and had a flash of inspiration from the Lord.  He didn't want MY lesson.  He had another lesson in mind.  So I went with it.
I told the sisters that for every 1000 doors that the missionaries knock on, one person is baptized.  That is more or less depending on what part of the world you live in but it is the average. 1 baptism per 1000.
Then I told them that if a member invites their friends or relatives to the member's home, with the missionaries present to give a spiritual thought or lesson, it results in 2 baptisms per 3 people.
1 per 1000 OR
2 per 3
Then I had the three newest members of our Branch stand and tell how they were introduced into the church.
Two had friends introduce them to the missionaries and have the lessons in the member's home.  The third one had a friend who was a missionary teach her.  We counted her 1/2.
The sisters cried as they bore testimonies of the truthfulness of this fact and I also had the member missionaries themselves tell how they did it.
I told them it was easy once you know how.
Our sisters are responsible for feeding our missionaries every night.  They take turns.  I explained that now all they need to do is invite a friend or relative also and the missionaries can take it from there.
Or I pointed out that one of the sisters in the class had a family night where she invited her niece's family and also a friend of her daughter's.  She had the missionaries actually do the family night.  Now both her niece and her daughter's friend are taking missionary lessons!
In our Heavenly Father's plan the members are now to be the finders of prepared people ready to receive the gospel and the missionaries are the teachers of the gospel.
This is the Lord's work. He has a plan to hasten it. We simply need to do it.

You've got to love that missionary work!

A few months ago we realized we needed to concentrate on the member/leadership part of our calling which is important but not where our hearts lie.  So we served where needed.  But for the last two weeks we have had time to do proselyting which is very exciting to us!

Looking for someone else's address we found three great groups, two Spanish speaking families that invited us back, and a young man named Zach.  Zach is a college student who is here on his own. All alone. He was very worried when we met him.  His room-mates had all left when school got out and left him with the utility bills, cleaning etc.  He had to move from one side of town to the other and had no idea how he was going to do that. Even though it was 9:00 pm, Elder Pack assured him we would help him move the next morning.  Sure enough, by 8:00 am he had three trucks and six big strong Elder missionaries at Zach"s apartment.  The young man was amazed. And grateful.  Of course we invited him to a baptism being held in the Young Single Adult branch the next day-and he came!  So then we invited him to church Sunday-and he came!
We are feeding him and the missionaries assigned to his Branch on Wednesday along with giving him the first discussion! And now Zach has a support group and friends.

Elder Pack loves finding investigators.  This week he met a man in Costco that said he would like to come to our church!  He lives in Mariposa and so we passed the referral on. That always feels like giving the other missionaries a gift.

Today, as soon as we got home from church, our zone leaders called and asked if they could meet at our home with a girl they had just met walking in our apartment complex while they were driving by. Stacia said she needed to keep walking and so they drove along slowly talking to her! She said she had company in her home and that is when they called us. And the lesson went really, really well.  It's a joy to watch really devoted, prepared missionaries in action.  They carry the Spirit with them wherever they go.

We also did Branch work.  We took another new member couple to the temple for the first time and did baptisms for the man's mother and father!  It was wonderful. We have great promises if we get new members involved in doing baptisms for their own deceased relatives.  Also that week we took some members of the Branch to the temple for a regular endowment session.

We are still busy.  And we are still loving it.

Throw a Family Home Evening

Glen and I offered to do a Family Night for a family in the ward and they could invite some non-member extended family members and a non-member friend. It takes planning and co-ordination with the other missionaries and I always wonder why we volunteer to do these things and then they turn out so great that we volunteer again!

This time a niece (sort of, Spanish style) came with her two children and also the friend of the member's daughter came. The teen-age friend has had one lesson with the sister missionaries already but is real new to all of the gospel concepts.  She is so excited because she "is learning in order" about God (her quote). It is always such a delight and so satisfying to offer answers to every question.  She said she was confused about how you get faith in something and then she went to our Young Women's class that day and the lesson was on how you get faith in something!  She says she knows that wasn't a coincidence!

The other lady, the niece, was really quiet. For a Catholic to hear that God is our literal Father in Heaven AND that he has a body of flesh and bones is down right shocking. But her two children just soaked it in. We sang I Am A Child of God.  We put a string on their fingers to help them remember things like what they had for breakfast that day.  And we told them that they don't remember when they were born but their mother did.  Then we said we were going to tell them things about BEFORE they were born and the hints Heavenly Father gives us and the string on their finger would help them remember.  Then one missionary read and showed the first two pages of the Children's Old Testament book about our pre-earth life in heaven. Then Glen showed the YouTube video I Am A Child of God. And the other missionary bore testimony about this principle so that the Holy Ghost could witness that what we had said was true.
After, we asked each child who they were and they answered right off that they were a child of God.

Of course we played the candy bar/pencil game after while one missionary sat by the children's mom and explained about the church and the Book of Mormon and gave her one. It was an absolutely wonderful experience.

And then we all had cake because it was one of the missionary's birthdays.

pictures to remember

Here are pictures of our Mother's Day Dinner/dance in our Spanish Branch 5/14

It's only fair that the male members of the Branch serve for the Mother's day dinner.

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Glen Renee Pack

15 mins · 

At our Mother's Day dinner we had Branch members go around with their Spanish guitar singing at the different tables.

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These missionaries are really cooking now!

One of the ways to show love to the other missionaries or to the members of the Branch is to feed them. They need it and they love it.

Monday was a zone activity for about 30 of our missionaries. The Monday before was a regular Pday with basketball at the church and Glen picked up some Costco pizzas for them.  But this Pday was more elaborate with fun activities planned so we volunteered to do a Bar-B-Q for them after at the pavilion behind the church house.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs and beans and potato salad and chips and watermelon and cookies etc. We have another Senior Missionary couple, the Malhums, serving in our zone and they helped us so we had a lot of fun ourselves.

Then on Wednesday we fixed our regular weekly dinner for the missionaries.  They go to a member's home for dinner each day and leave a prayer and scripture with the family. They talk with them about the family mission plan and hopefully get a referral of a friend or family member prepared to hear the missionary lessons. Since I am the Relief Society Pres. it is my job to fill their dinner calendar and my privelege to invite them to my home when an appointment falls through. Our four Branch missionaries have a dinner invitation every single night with the members.

On Friday night our Branch had a Mother's Day dinner/dance  for 80 people. That meant taking around invitations,  planning for the meal, buying the food and decorations, decorating the hall, cooking and serving the meal, arranging the entertainment  and of course clean up. However, this time we had help because we had an Activities Chairman! For the first time ever in this Branch. And she did a great job!  She assigned people to cook things, shopped and decorated with me, had a man read a mother's day poem and two men went around with a guitar and sang Spanish songs at the tables.  And then we had a dance with a regular MC! That still left me with the kitchen clean up because everyone else had brought investigators or less active family members with them for the young missionaries to visit with.  But that's a great trade off!  And Glen spent hours on soaking and cleaning the tablecloths. He really does so much for so many. The activity was a HUGE success.

Now Sunday is Mother's Day and the young missionaries get to Skype their mothers!  Of course none of them have computers or smart phones to do that.  So Glen has rounded up six laptops and they are coming over here for dinner and to call their mothers.  Some will eat while others talk and then trade.

Right now I'm thinking that maybe we should take a while off from cooking next week.  But Pres. Eyring says when you are exhausted you push through it and the Lord will help you.  And He always has.

Why I Believe

Last night we went to a fireside called “Why I Believe”.  It was really great.  One recent convert from each ward in our stake told how and why they joined the church.  Of course our little 50 year old Spanish sister had to have her testimony translated but everyone understood the Spirit she felt.  Language doesn’t matter for that.

But the best part of the evening came when someone called my name after and I turned to see Cindy smiling at me.  Cindy was baptized about 30 years ago and after two years she moved and fell away from the church. On one of the first Sundays that Glen and I were on the mission we went to her ward. It was 30 minutes away but we were the only missionaries in town at that time so we covered that ward too.  Her married son had recently found the church in northern California and told her to just go back to church and look for the missionaries and they would help her. She and her husband came to church to “look for the missionaries”,  except she was expecting young missionaries and didn’t see any so they left.  But Glen chased them out to their car and set up an appointment to go by their home.

Now her current husband is quite rough around the edges.  He doesn’t want to hear lessons so we visited and just became friends.  We would visit him on our “P” day when Glen could wear his Levis and cowboy hat.  They have a mini ranch with geese, dogs, ponies, emus etc.  Cindy on the other hand wanted to come to back church.  She was also rough around the edges.  Her language was hard for us to listen to.  She would pray with us and then cross herself after.  But we often visited, ate with them, and took them to church.  Her husband was diagnosed with cancer and we suffered through the treatments with him.

But new missionaries were assigned to the ward and we would text Cindy and stop by occasionally.  So it had been probably six months since we had actually seen Cindy.  And she looked so different!  We didn’t know if it was her hair or tan or what.  Just very different and we didn’t know why until we talked to her.

She had been going to church faithfully.  She had been praying and reading her scriptures daily.  She had a calling in the ward and she was going to Temple Preparation class to get ready to go to the Temple with her son’s family. Her appearance was different because she was different.  She was relaxed and at peace and had the joy of the gospel with her.  And THAT is why we are on a mission

A Temple Miracle

Before we came on this mission Glen knew very little about finding names to take to the temple and I knew nothing. We also didn't realize how much doing temple work would help strengthen the testimonies of new members and regular members. But the Lord knew and so he told me to have them fill out family group sheets and take them to the family history center.This worked very well and the members were able to do the temple work for their families and actually get sealed to their parents and grandparents! The spirit was very strong at those sealings.  That was great, that was amazing!  But it wasn't the end.

Glen set a goal of taking the new adult converts in our Branch to do baptisms for the dead. In our Spanish Branch just getting everyone lined up and interviewed for the recommends is an immense project. But Glen also wanted them to do their own family names. Since the Spanish here don't keep records, or know the names or birth dates of their ancestors, that was actually impossible for us but not for the Lord. Glen studied it out, called the Family History helpers, and was led by the Lord. He came up with a couple of birth certificates and worked everyone's memories and he found names for the converts to do.

One sister had her grown son (also a new convert) get baptized for her deceased husband, father, and brother. Another couple did their parents and grandparents.  Glen also found names for the Branch president and he was able to baptize his teen-aged daughter for his grandmother and then do his own grandfather. Some came just to do temple names and have the experience.

The miracle is that we still don't know how it got done.  But but it  got done. For instance, when President Estrada was going to baptize his daughter for his grandmother, he didn't have any idea how to do it. And he speaks no English so the instructors weren't any help.  So Glen leaned down over the rail to help him read it without his glasses on and realized that his eyesight wasn't good enough to see it and read it to him. After the initial surprise he looked at the President and then back at the card and discovered that now he could see and read it perfectly!

The members had such sweet testimonies today that they bore in church.  They said walking through the doors to the temple was like walking into heaven.  They cried as they spoke about doing the work for family members.  What a beautiful experience for all of us!

Elder Pack worked long and hard to get them their own family names to be baptized for. He even found family names for the President of the Branch. What a night!

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Bursting at the seams!

We had the most wonderful time last week!  Jenny and Brett, Dana and Deborah, Lisa and Steven and all of their families came to visit us. That was 21 people in our little apartment and it was wonderful!

We had collected six blow up mattresses and the grandkids loved sleeping on the wall to wall beds together.

Glen and I actually slept at a friends home in peace and quiet with our own bathroom so we were fresh to run with the family during the day.

And run we did!  The first day we went to Yosemite of course.  It was real nice but the best part was talking while traveling and getting caught up on the family and old friends. The kids were impressed watching Glen doing missionary "finding" even on the tour bus.

The next day we opted for less car time and so we went and played basketball at the church, came back to the apartment and swam in the pool (85 degrees in Merced), and then went to the park for a bar-b-q and Easter egg hunt.  The missionaries in our Branch came by and ate and shared spiritual thoughts with the family.

Glen was able to share his testimony one night and I shared mine the next day with the family. Dana translated mine as I was speaking in Spanish.  Glen thought I might not cry so much if I just said it in English but really??  

It was super fun and we were thrilled to see everyone even for a brief, brief time.

General Conference in California

So General Conference is a little different here on this mission.  For one thing it is translated into Spanish and shown at the Stake Center.  I sit in on the Spanish for awhile and when no one is looking I sneak into the chapel to listen in English which is so much more interesting when you know what they are saying!

We had a good showing of our Spanish members. We were especially happy to see the new members and less actives that came.

Between sessions the Branch has a pot luck luncheon and many of the missionaries in the zone come and eat too. There is a great variety, with Spanish and English dishes.  Everyone can find something they like and I am getting to where I recognize almost everything now.

This is a picture of me with my Relief Society Presidency sisters. Things in the Branch are coming right along.  We have many members with callings and a fully staffed missionary committee! It just feels so right now!

Taking time to celebrate

We have been married 43 years. I remember sitting outside Pres. Grant Fugal's office when he was Stake President.  His wife was sitting there too. It was their anniversary. She told me that when her husband was done with interviews they were going to go out for an ice cream. I thought that was so sad.

Not so sad anymore.  On our anniversary we had a District meeting from 10-1:00. Glen and I taught the lesson there on Revelation through Prayer.  We were scheduled to feed four missionaries at 5:00 and we had a Missionary Committee Meeting at 6-8:00pm. And we actually enjoyed the whole day! We did sneak in lunch with the Malhums (another Senior Missionary couple). Of course we still had our candy bars for breakfast in memory of the quick breakfasts we had in Hawaii on our honeymoon before catching early morning island hoppers.

But we celebrated the anniversary on Friday by going to Fresno to the temple and going out to eat at Chiles. When we went to pay the bill we were told someone had already paid it for us! It was a lovely, relaxing day.

And then the next day we went back to missionary work!

Hey- this is work!

We have been on a mission now for one year! And it just dawned on me that this is hard work.
I started suspecting that when we didn't have time to eat dinners. Or when we barely had time to heat up one little frozen dinner in the micro-wave and so we split it before running to the next appointment.

There have been a couple of illnesses and emergency surgeries that have required dinners to be taken around. It has been a blessing in impressing part member families. Mormons aren't too bad after all!

 And Glen has put in a lot of time getting five sisters their Food Handlers Permits through the Church Employment Services center. And a fork lift operator permit through the same place. People really need the opportunity to work.

 We have English classes that we teach each week with Glen teaching the beginner class and me teaching the slightly advanced class.I always figured it would be easier to teach the Branch to speak English than for me to learn Spanish. This is actually very fun and we have members and investigators there.

 We also keep very busy taking members to the Family History Center to get family names to take to the Temple.  When we go to the Temple in April we will be doing the sealings for the families of the Branch members that we have all been working on. Also we have some of the newest adult converts ready, interviewed, and excited to go do baptisms for the dead! Plus Glen has lined up a member of the Temple Presidency to come and speak to our Branch in April.  It is amazing how fast the Lord sends ideas to someone like Glen who is willing to move on them.

For me there are the Relief Society lessons, visiting teaching, lining up missionary dinners and also activities to be done.We had a Relief Society birthday celebration with a breakfast together and then we made 50 sack lunches to take to the Rescue Mission homeless shelter. It was really fun and I made a Spanish quiche that turned out surprisingly good. (Never made a quiche before in my life.)

 The Bishop's Storehouse has been closed for months while undergoing renovations. So we do the shopping ourselves for the members needing food and deliver it to them.

 And there is the Executive Secretary work for Glen along with helping the branch clerk (who speaks no Spanish). Glen does a lot of planning on the agendas trying to get everyone where they need to be, doing what they need to do.  That is NOT easy.

And those are just some of the things we do with the Branch.  Then we do MISSIONARY WORK. That means meetings (this week we left for a Zone Special Training meeting at 8:30am and got home from it at 6:30p.m. Yeah, that was one of those no dinner nights because we had to run and help a family member right after.) Then we work with the other missionaries in fellowshipping and teaching.  And Glen's specialty, finding investigators.

I think it would be a hard thing to return from our mission and wish we had done more. Our Mission President always ends his letters and lessons with this admonition:
                                 Never Surrender!  Never Quit!  No Regrets!

"The Go To Guy"

Our Mission President is into sports.  A real movie was made about him and his soccer team.(Forever Strong). So it's understandable when he talks in sport story mode. When he talks about Joseph Smith he asks, "How could the Lord choose a 14 year old boy?"  Then he explains, "The Lord didn't see a 14 year old boy.  He saw a "Go To Guy".  The guy you know you can trust in a pinch to do exactly what needs to be done."

 When you consider that we lived forever before we came here to earth, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew Joseph Smith there, it is easy to see that when they looked at him they didn't consider his age at all.  In infinity numbers are irrelevant.  What they saw was their  "Go To Guy".

So what do they see when they look at us? We may exhaust ourselves with fear, anxiety, distractions, and doubts but we want them to know that we WILL do what they ask. The Prophet Joseph Smith said we were ordained to our earthly callings in the Grand Council of Heaven. Whether it is as a missionary, teacher, Bishop, Young Women's President, home teacher or whatever, the Lord knew who he would call and to where.

So we have to be alert.  If someone offered you a cigarette right now would you go out and smoke it?
No.  So Satan doesn't waste his efforts there.  He will come after us with one of our personal weaknesses.

And so Heavenly Father gives us help.  Whenever we want to talk to him we can pray.  Whenever we want him to talk to us we can open the scriptures and receive answers. We can live so that we are worthy of revelation in our lives. Elder Bednar says revelation can come quickly like turning on a light.  Or slowly like the sun rising. Or even like being in a slight fog where you need to take a few steps in faith. Ponder, move forward,and we can say, "If this is a wrong decision or the wrong choice let me know.  Otherwise I will go ahead." He will always be watching over you.

President Monson says he wants to say to Heavenly Father, "I am Tommy Monson and you can trust me."
Now that is a "Go To Guy."  What we do for, and give to, Heavenly Father shows our love for him. He asks for all we have and in return he gives us all he has.  As the Lord comes to trust us, we can also become his "Go To Guy".

The New Norm

Being too busy used to be the exception.  Now it is the normal day.  Today as soon as I got up we did our companionship prayer and study time.  Then I had to make a dessert for later today and get ready quickly to pick up some Elders and go to our Missionary District Meeting.  Luckily Glen and I don't have to teach it until next week. It is so amazing to have these young Elders and Sisters teach us.  They are good!

Then I dropped Glen off and picked up a sister to take her visiting teaching.  I won't do it for them.  But I will do it with them.

Then I dropped her off and ran down to pick up Andrea Diez for her baptismal interview!  She doesn't have a car so I took her and her three kids under 7 to the church for her interview. She will be getting baptized this Saturday!  Yes I did tend the kids while she was being interviewed. But lest you think I walk on water let me tell you how it all happened.  Two weeks ago the Elders asked me to pick Andrea up for church, along with her children and their car seats.  It meant I had to miss my ward council meeting and go clear across town to get her, come back, take her home again after church, and come back for Glen (he doesn't fit in the car with everyone else). And I will admit I wasn't my usual cheerful self about it. So while I was pouting the Lord said only one thing: "and you want me to do what for you this week?"  In a second I realized that He is definitely working overtime blessing me every day.  If this daughter of God needs a ride to church and baptism and church again, I will do it.  I will do whatever He asks to show my gratitude to Him.  And I will drop the attitude.

Anyway, so after her interview today I went back home and cooked dinner for our two new neighbors.  Amber and Ryan (who looks exactly like Ken Pack!) were invited over for dinner.  They are young and not exactly married so we invited the two Sister missionaries from the Single Adult ward over too.  It turned out great!  The Sisters gave a message on prayer at the end of the dinner and Amber and Ryan responded quite well. There was a good spirit there. So we loaded them up on cake to take home and hopefully they will come asking for more. Spirit not cake.

Then after that there was a Stake Missionary meeting and Glen was willing to go without me so I could type up my Relief Society agenda, Visiting teaching report, and Relief Society monthly report for the Branch President...which I am going to do right now:-)