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!