Lemons or lemonade

This might have been a rough week for the missionaries, but it's all in what you make of it.  The Elders are required to report in with their statistics for the week and last week Elder B and Elder T were late reporting in because they were late getting out of an appointment.  The district leader wanted to teach the importance of obedience, so they lost their car for p-day and cut the number of miles they could drive.  They could have been upset and complained and used that as an excuse to do less work.  No, that didn't happen.  They spent many more hours on their bikes and even said that they were able to get more work done because of the bikes.  They were able to tap into the awesome members here and get rides from them.  Well, after a while, the district leader reevaluated his decision and gave them back their miles.  So, today is p-day and they have saved up over a hundred miles on the last day of the month.  They made the best of a difficult situation and they are better for it.

Good news, remember when I told you about going out teaching with the elders a few weeks ago?  Well the person we taught was baptized this past weekend.  Next week there are three more baptisms.  What a wonderful plan the gospel is. 

If you ever feel like it's tough sharing the gospel remember the recent convert who would go home to a non-Christian country and face persecution for their membership in the Church.  Won't they make it hard for you when you go home? 
Yes.
How will you deal with being rejected by your family?
The Church is true, isn't it?
Yes.
Then What else matters?

Want to grow your testimony?  Share it.

Be awesome this week.
Keep praying for our missionaries.

Great blessings are here for the taking.

The work here is going great.  Our missionaries are serving a fairly large area comprising two stakes.  Last Winter I was in a stake leadership meeting and our Stake President mentioned that he did not like the fact that we have to share our missionaries with another stake.  Lots of meetings resulted in the twelve wards in our stake and we are now keeping Elder B and Elder T busy enough that most of their time is being spent in our stake and there is little time left for the other stake.  Good four us, bad for the other stake.  There may be some changes and other missionaries might be assigned to that stake.  Our Stake President will be happy for that. 
The baptisms are happening fairly regularly now and that is pretty cool.  Last week there was a baptism that Elder W wanted to attend because he helped teach the lady who was being baptized.  I got to take him back to his new area and we had a great visit, but the fun part is that Elder W asked to borrow my phone to text his companion to find out where we were to meet them.  Well, I don't know if you remember me mentioning that my phone is about 10 years old....  It has the old style 9 key texting keyboard and so Elder W tried for a while to text, but finally gave up and said that he would just call when we got closer.  I guess my phone is just too old, but I love it when my nephew teases me about how old it is.   So I'm not getting a new phone any time soon.

Well I found out that I get to teach the priesthood lesson at the last minute, so I am going to cut this one short.

Be strong in your testimony and stay awesome this week.  Take good care of your missionaries and I will do the same for mine.  God loves us, it's up to us to share that love with others.

Jesus' Love.

This week was awesome.  We had some nice weather Tuesday, so I went out to work in the yard.  I often like to plug into my ipod and listen to one of the sessions of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Tuesday was one of those days.  So as I am listening to the first session I hear one of the speakers I hear one of the speakers talking about how much he loves missionaries.  Well I love them too, so I listened a little more carefully.  One thing he mentioned was about the commandment to love one another as Jesus loved us.  For the first time this scripture really hit me in a very different way.  Jesus took upon Himself my sins, so that I wouldn't have to suffer their consequences, Jesus died for me.  Can I love someone as Jesus loves me?  Wow, that's a tough one, I'm not yet that good.  But you look at these missionaries, you see a little of this, in that these fine young men and women, (and senior couples, and sisters) give up their lives for people they don't even know yet.  They are sacrificing time, money energy and a very important part of their lives to serve others.  That's a lot more love than I am showing.

Wednesday the district leader had exchanges, so Elder B went with the Spanish speaking elders and the district leader came here.  Wednesday evening I got a text from them asking if I was home.  I said yes, and they asked if I would be able to go with them (Elder T and the district leader) to a lesson.  They need a priesthood holder to go with them to the lesson.  I was glad for the opportunity and I am so amazed at how cool it is to hear them teach the basics of the Gospel to an investigator.  They taught the first lesson about prophets, the apostasy and the restoration.  What sweet testimonies were shared in that lesson and what a great spirit was felt. 

Lately I have been wondering when the blessings were going to come for having the missionaries in my home, I have had two vacuums break, a the water heater went out and on and on with the day to day average challenges of life.  Why should I feel entitled to anything?  So, finally I got this opportunity to share in this lesson taught by Elder T and the district leader and I realized that I couldn't be more blessed.  The spirit these elders bring to my home is so much more that a vacuum or two, and so I have changed my attitude and have begun focusing on the great blessings I have.

When I was driving the district leader home he asked Elder T what he learned from the exchange.  Elder T said that he learned to be more bold.  So now he spends more effort on not losing contact with the people he teaches and tries to teach at least two lessons to them a week and to set specific dates, not open ended times.  What a great district leader they have. 

While the district leader was here Elder B was with the Spanish elders and kind of got lost during some of the lessons (he doesn't speak Spanish).  But he said that he learned something during the exchange too.  He said that he learned a more simplified way to explain and understand the Ward Mission Plan.  These guys are great.

Life here is not totally serious all the time.  The other night as I was getting ready for bed I heard a noise in the hall.  I didn't think too much of it because this house can be noisy, so I continued on.  Pretty soon a nerf bullet whizzed past my door.  Okay, so it's time to burn off some energy and that's what happened.  It was fun, but as always it ended too soon.  (please don't be offended and think that I distract the elders from their work, it doesn't happen that often).

The Lord loves us more than we can know.  Try to think on that love and how we can love one another in a Christlike way.

As always be awesome this week.  Thank you for reading my blog.

Happy Easter - Look who the easter bunny brought us.

Happy Easter.

Have you ever had one of those days where absolutely nothing goes right?  Well this wasn’t one of those of days.  This was one of those days where the heavens open up and swallows you up in Our Heavenly Father’s love.  It’s like getting a celestial hug.  I know that sounds sappy, but that’s how this week ended.

So here’s the story.  Remember how I was worried that we wouldn’t survive this transfer without some change?  Well we really got change, in a big way.  First we learned that Elder W would be transferred to another area as District Leader.  That’s sad for us, but awesome for him, he will get to grow with his new leadership responsibilities.  Next, we would get Elder D (for only 3 days????) that was pretty sad, I don’t really understand that one.  And we learned that Elder M got his visa and will be leaving on Monday- again sad for us, but great that Elder M will get to the mission he was called to, that’s in Spain.  So, if you are doing the math that leaves Elder T here alone.  Not to worry, this Friday we got an awesome surprise and in walks Elder B (the first one).  WHAT??  Yes the wonderful elder from S. Carolina is back and ready to tear this place up.  I think this is the Lord’s way of showing his love for us. 

Having missionaries in your home can be a bit strange at times, but it’s hard not getting attached to them.  I would be proud to have any one or all of these missionaries as sons they are the best of the best, so when you get a chance to have one come back that is a real treat.  Maybe it is the mission president telling us that we didn’t get it right the first time and this time we need to treat Elder B better. J  I hope to be blessed to see Elder W again and that makes me very sad to think that when he goes home he will be going to New Zealand and that’s pretty far to come back for a visit.  By the way, the W in Elder W stands for Wonderful.

So last Sunday was General Conference, this week is Easter.  Please remember the reason for this celebration.  It’s not His death we celebrate, it’s His Atoning gift given to us that we celebrate.  Remember to thank the Lord for the opportunity we have to repent and be forgiven!  If the sound of this paragraph is strange to you, I know some totally awesome young men who would love to explain it to you.  If you know someone who needs to hear this message invite that someone to your home and have your missionaries come teach them.  You will be better for the opportunity.

Be AWESOME this week.

How cool is General Conference!  Okay, so how did you love Elder Holland's talk this conference?  Last October, he "got in your face" and wanted to feel as though you had your eyebrows singed.  So now, just when you thought those eyebrows would never grow back, he gives this awesome talk on how there is no darkness so deep that the shining light of the atonement cannot penetrate.  I think we look better with eyebrows.  Thank you Elder Holland for such inspired words.  And what's up with Elder Uchtdorf not using the aviation references?  I still loved his message.

Last week the missionaries came up to report on their week they found a nerf gun that one of my nephews had left on the couch.  We couldn't figure out how to reload it, so I called my nephew to ask how and he said I'll be right down.  He only lives about 5 houses down from me, but in the time it took for my nephews to get here the missionaries had figured out how to load the gun and they were waiting in ambush for my nephews.  Pretty soon, I hear screaming and then nerf darts were flying all over the house.  It only lasted about a half hour, but it was pretty crazy while the war was waging.  I loved it! 

This Wednesday is transfer day and rumor has it that there are about 18 new missionaries arriving and about 17 missionaries waiting for visas.  That means that there is little chance that we will get to keep these three elders for another transfer.  I will be pretty sad to see one of them leave.

"Cute" story for the week.  I picked the elders up from the stake center last Wednesday and we had a few minutes wait for a report from the stake clerk.  Elder W and Elder M like to tease, so they were talking back and forth and Elder M said, it would be hard once he got his visa because then Elder W and Elder T would have to walk again.  Teasing them that they wouldn't be able to baptize anymore.  Elder W was quick with a comeback.  He said that they were baptizing during the month and a half they had no car.  Then he said "Besides, Jesus baptized and he didn't have a car."  Yes, I am going to miss these guys!

Friday I got a call from the Stake President inviting me to do a sealing session at the Temple with him.  It was a wonderful experience.  There was couple who joined our group towards the end of our time.  The wife in this couple was in a wheelchair and it appeared to me that she had had some kind of brain injury.  She had great difficulty controlling her body, but that didn't stop her from participating in the blessings of the Temple.  As she was kneeling at the alter the sealer was touched by the spirit and we a got a bit emotional.  You might see this woman at the shopping center or other place out in public and think, oh, that poor woman, she can't do anything she is so unfortunate.  But, in the Temple this broken body is doing something wonderful.  She was part of something wonderful.  She was helping to seal a family together in that "broken" body of hers.  The woman she was acting for was truly blessed and could not do it on her own, so there was nothing broken about this beautiful woman kneeling at the altar.