Squirrel

Last week came and went without me posting anything to my blog.  I really don't have a reasonable excuse except to blame the squirrels.  Explaination time...  Saturday night my sister's family was here and my niece turned on the television. She loves to watch the Disney Channel.  The movie UP was on, so I started watching it.  My sister's family went home and the movie was still on, so I finished watching it.  I can't help it.  I love that movie.  Anyway if you have ever seen the movie, you will probably remember the dog Dug.  He and all the other dogs in the movie were very loyal dogs except when they got distracted by squirrels.  So I guess that movie was a squirrel for me, because I was distracted and didn't post on my blog.

I guess there can be many squirrels that take our attention away from what is important (no my blog isn't really important, but it kind of makes the point).  Thursday was Thanksgiving and we invited the missionaries to share our dinner with our family.  We had eighteen people here for dinner and it was a wonderful time.  Elder W. shared a wonderful message with us and showed a brief video on being thankful.  It was the perfect ending to a Thanksgiving dinner.  Now for the squirrel...  Black Friday! (du du dunnnnnn!)  I have never been black Friday shopping before so this was a new experience for me, except this year it actually started at 10pm Thursday night.  The shoppers all fighting (in the most literal way)  shocked me.  All those good feelings about what I am thankful for went out the window as I watched people act like animals.  Christmas should be all about the miracle of Christ's birth, but the squirrels are getting to that too.  Please remember the meaning of the holidays we are celebrating and don't let the squirrels get in the way.

Elder W. and Elder U. are doing great, the gentleman they found who was very eager to hear their message was recently baptized.  The elders are working hard and are having little miracles happen all the time.  An example would be this week they happened to visit a family whom the previous missionaries dropped because the family wasn't interested, but now they are ready to listen.  Elder W and Elder U are going back for another appointment.  Thank you for your prayers in their behalf.

Transfers are this week and I am almost certain that one of the elders will be moving on, they have been here together for two transfers, and that will probably be all they get together.  But it is pretty close to the holidays, so the mission president might be nice and leave them here, who knows?

Why do these missionaries leave their families and miss 2 sets of holidays?  Here's a hint, it comes from Mosiah chapter 27 verse 3 in the Book of Mormon:

Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

Well that's about all for this week.  May the Lord bless all our missionaries.  All the best to you this holiday season.  Be awesome this week. 
Share your love for the Gospel with someone you know.
Until next time,

Keep the battery charged

This week was disapointing for me, but seems to be going well for the elders.  I guess the reason I say disappointing for me is because I forgot to charge my phone Wednesday night and so it died while I was at work on Thursday.  When I turned my phone back on there was a message from the missionaries asking if I could go with them that night.  By the time I was able to call them back they were at their dinner appointment and they had made other arrangements.  I missed out on a great opportunity to feel of their testimony and the spirit they bring to their investigators.  Sad for me.  There must be some gosple principle that can be taught about being spiritually prepared by keeping my battery charged, so that I don't miss out on blessings.  - No, I still won't get a new phone, it's too much fun to have Elder U. and my nephews tease me about my old phone.

Great things are happening here, Elder U and Elder W were able to witness a baptism of one of their investigators and they have three other baptisms lined up in the next month or so.  They are working hard and they are being blessed for their work. 

I can't believe how fast time is going by, November is almost half over.  Before we know it, it will be Christmastime.  Which brings up a problem, I need ideas on what I can do special for the Elders this Christmas.  I would love any suggestions anyone might have.

Embarrassing story for the week... This p-day the elders came up to pick up their launndry and as they were going back down, one of the elders lost his footing and slid half-way down the stairs.  I guess he bruised his tailbone a bit, but nothing too bad, just a little hard to sit during their study time.  After he fell, he kind of laughed and said something like he liked our slide. 

That's about all for this week.
Remember to mention your missionaries in your prayers, pray for them by name.  I love our elders and will continue to pray for all of them.  The Lord is waiting to bless you, share your testimony with someone who needs to hear it.

Birthdays and Holidays

This week we celebrated a birthday for Elder U.  It's rare that we get to celebrate a birthday for an elder staying in our home, we are usually off by a few months or so, but this month the timing worked out and we were able to celebrate.  We invited them to dinner and then gave Elder U a tie tack, nothing much, just something to let him know that we care and that his birthday was not forgotten. 

This week was also Halloween and in this mission the elders don't proselyte the night of Halloween.  Instead they had a mission-wide conference with a speaker and then some activities to keep them out of the way of the trick-or-treaters.  It was also the end of the month and they were out of miles, so it was my pleasure to drive them to the conference.  I love it when I get to drive them around, then I can get an update on what they are doing in our area.  It sounds like they are working hard and having some success.  There is a gentleman they are teaching and it looks promising for his progress and they are teaching an investigator who is quite young, and so they are having fun coming up with little object lessons to make their point.

Life as a missionary is not always spirituality and preaching the gospel, there are challenges for the missionaries too.  Yesterday Elder W started having some ear pain or throat pain.  It seems like something that should be checked out, so I encouraged him to call the mission doctor to see what they recommend for him.  It is probably something as simple as strep throat, but even that would need antibiotics.  Anyway it wouldn't hurt if some extra prayers went out for him.  I'm sure everything will be fine, I will keep you informed.

So, this wasn't one of my best efforts.  It seems like time is just flying by faster and faster and so I run out of time to come up with things to write every week.  I am thinking about doing this on a monthly basis instead, but then I would probably forget and the blog would end.  Not the best option I think.

Okay, so enough rambling.  Time to end this.  As always, please keep (y)our missionaries in your prayers.  (To my friend the "Stealth Elder" - if you are reading this, please know that I am still praying for you by name and always will.  The church is true, God bless you).
Share your testimony with someone you love this week, and stay awesome.