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.