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:-)