Happy New Year

I Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I certainly did.

 We currently have three missionaries living in our home, it is interesting how that came about but it's like this. Elder C from Oregon is awaiting a visa because he was called to serve in the Brazil Manaus mission so in the mean time he is here  but because he may leave before the next transfer it's better to have him here with 2 missionaries so that when he does leave there is still a companionship here and not just one lone Elder.  The other two are just awesome.  Elder L is from Tonga and Elder W is from Jacksonville Florida.  All three Elders were able to talk with their families on Christmas Day and that was great for them and their families.  The members here just love missionaries and so they are always giving treats and junk food to the Elders, the only problem is that they are all gaining weight and they don't really like the idea of going home fat.  Elder C's mom saw him on Skype on Christmas Day and told him that he looked fat, so he is trying really hard to turn down deserts and extra treats.  

I went down to the apartment this week and there was this countertop just filled with junk food! Most of it was not really good and definitely not good for them so they kind of threw all of it in the garbage.  This really upset Elder L because in Tonga there are too many people there who go without and here they just throw food away.  How sad is that?  It really tugged at my heart to realize that we waste so much while people are out there starving... 

Today's reward was awesome, there was a knock at the door and Elder M and his mother were here from Houston Tx.  Elder M finished his full time service 2 weeks ago and now he is moving back to go to college near by.  It's great to see that the missionaries don't forget us.

Goodbye and Hello (for a few days anyway)

Today Elder T from Arizona left for Brazil. It was pretty sad to see him leave, but I am totally excited for him because he is absolutely ready to teach. I just pray that the language will come quickly for him.  The people of Florianopolis Brazil will be so blessed to have him there.  

Today we got a new Elder from Cedar City, Utah he is Elder R and he is waiting for a visa too.  His call is to Florianopoliis Brazil also. He arrived in the mission the same time as ElderT but he is still waiting for a visa. He was with the zone leaders but that meant that there was a companionship of 3 elders so now that there is a place here he is companion with elder V from Philippines. There is a chance that he could be here just one day because official transfers are tomorrow.

Here's this week's events. Friday night the missionaries had no appointments so they needed to do some contacting all over the city, but since they are on bikes they needed a driver.  I was lucky enough to be that driver.  It was so awesome to be able to see these two young men share the message of the restoration.  One of the visits went really great and Elder T invited someone to be taught and they accepted, they go back Tuesday.  They made a few more visits and made some more appointments, then we went to another ward area and had a totally different experience.  We knocked on a member's door who hadn't been to church for a long time and she said that she wasn't interested.  The elders tried to find out what her concerns were but she didn't want to discuss that with strangers, then Elder V started bearing his testimony to her and she said Whoa, whoa.  That's enough and dismissed us. That is the first time I can remember ever hearing someone interrupt a testimony.  I feel very sad for her.  We had a similar result at a different house just down the street.  I feel sorry for those members who have lost their way, it doesn't make sense to me, but I guess they must feel like Jesus Christ is kind of like Santa Claus and they are just too old to believe in the Savior of the world.  Sad indeed.

Saturday night my nephews came over and waited for the elders to come home and they attacked the elders when they came up the driveway.  Pretty funny and it lightened things up a bit.  

I just heard about transfers and I worst fears came true.  Elder V is leaving and Elder R is also leaving and he won't even be here a full 24hr day.  That really makes me sad.  I guess that Heavenly Father has a greater need for these great missionaries somewhere else.  I sure hope the new guys keep their appointments made last Friday night.  It sounds like there are lots of changes throughout the mission.  I hear that one of the elders coming here is Elder C.  

Well that's all for this week.  I need to go to bed and I'm kind of sad about the changes, so I will end this one.  

As always keep praying that God blesses His missionaries.  I know He loves them all.

Please do your part to help the missionaries in your area, God will bless you for it and you will love it.

Last Minute Update We're Losing an Elder.

Today is Sunday and after church I went home teaching then up to my sister's house to play a game with my niece and nephew.  I came home about ten minutes to five and as I was walking in the door my phone rang.  Mom was calling to tell me that the missionaries needed a ride to their appointment.  Ok, fine I home so I can give them a ride... as we were talking Elder T from Arizona gave me a hug.  I was confused about the hug and he said that he had to tell me he loves me before he could tell me that HE GOT HIS VISA to Brazil.  Elder T leaves next Monday and I am super excited for him, but really sad for me and our mission because he is an awesome elder and we will miss him.  He says that he is kind of nervous.  I was totally expecting him to be here for at least another month.  I guess that someone in Brazil needs him more than we do.  I am going to miss this young man.  God Bless you Elder T.

Take Care of My Sons.

In order to tell this week's story I have to tell you a little about me.  

I work in a hospital, and so last Thursday I was heading back upstairs after lunch and I saw the Zone  Leaders in the lobby. (I knew that Elder M from Houston might be having surgery, so I was kind of watching out for him.) It was still a surprise to see all these missionaries, so I went to talk to the Zone Leader and found out that Elder M was going to have surgery in just about an hour. The funny part is that I got a text from Elder M's mother right after that with the same information.  I got off work about 3:30 and then went up to the waiting room and I got to see a bit of what a parent feels while waiting for their child in surgery.  I tell you it's a bit stressful.  Just before Elder M went in to surgery I saw His surgeon and told him that he had better take good care of Elder M. I got a kind of funny look from the doctor but afterward i explained that Elder M was one of my elders.  

While I was waiting for the surgery to be done I had a great opportunity to visit with the "mission mom" - the mission president's wife.  She is a great lady and is very concerned about her missionaries.  She is from Idaho and just a very caring person. Well the surgery went well and I was able to text his mom with updates for when he went in and when he got out of surgery. I even included a couple pictures.  She was very grateful.  The one bad part was when I put my phone back in my pocket it actually called Elder M's mom, well it's just not fair to talk to an elder's mom without letting them talk, so I just quickly hung up.  I can't imagine how stressful it was for her to get a call.  She probably thought the worst was happening, but I do know that the surgeon called her and let her know that the surgery went well.  I overheard the first part of the call and he called her Sister M....  How very cool to have a surgeon show so much respect for a missionary and his mother.

I guess I should tell you how I knew that Elder M was having surgery. Monday is p-day for the mission and so this past Monday the missionaries in the district came over about noon for my birthday.  That's where Elder M told me about his surgery.  It touches my heart to think that these awesome young men would sacrifice a part of their free time to spend with me.  They word hard for six and a half days a week and p-day starts with personal and companion study until 10:00 am then they clean the apartment do laundry and shopping etc and then p-day ends at 5 or 6 pm and it's back to missionary work.  I feel totally honored to have them as friends.  Elder T from Arizona just took over with cooking hamburgers and getting other things done.  I really like that young man.  I feel like these are the sons that I didn't have.

So that's how this week went. 

The Gospel is true. God Loves YOU.  Please do all you can to help your missionaries in any way you can, but especially with finding people to teach.  YOU need to be a part of the missionary process or they just won't be very successful.

Pray for our missionaries  everywhere and search for your own missionary opportunities.

I LOVE These Guys

Sometimes I just connect with one of the missionaries more than others.  And this must be the case with Elder T from Arizona.  It's so much fun to get to know these dedicated servants on a more personal level. When most members see the missionaries they are pretty serious about the Gospel and  they are always at there best.  When they are home in their apartment they have the opportunity to be more relaxed.  

I tell all the elders on their first day here that this is THEIR home and they need to feel comfortable to ask for whatever they need if they can't find it.  They have free access to the whole house and I will be upset if they don't make themselves at home here.  So with that as background here's how the past few weeks have gone.  

Two weeks ago the faucet in the apartment kitchen was leaking, so I went down to look at it.  While I was down there Elder T asked me if I could show him how to sew a button on his shirt. (you can learn anything by searching on google).  So the next day I went down and walked Elder T through how to sew on a button.  I told him that my mom would be happy to do it for him, but he wanted to do it himself because he would need to know how when he got to Brazil.  He was very grateful for the help. He did a great job sewing the button.

The bike saga continues.  Our area covers lots of dirt paths on the side of the road that have way too many thorns so it is almost a daily occurrence for either Elder V or Elder T to have a flat tire.  So the hint here is that if you live in an area that has missionaries on bikes, keep extra inner-tubes handy so that if you see them pushing, rather than riding the bike you can offer them a spare.  They will love you for it.  Right now Elder V is borrowing a bike from one of the zone-leaders and Elder T is using another one from the mission office (the first one had tires so old that the rubber was rotting).

I think that the ninja wars might be starting up again, last week I found some ninja's in a sort of pyramid on my keyboard (one was holding 4 others one on each knee and one on each shoulder) and today there was one hanging from the ceiling fan.  I know who did this. and his initials are KT.  

so the note on this one says "Ye are the light of the world... Let your light so shine." -Matthew 5:14-16.  there is a ninja and light stick hanging from the light. This made me laugh.  I absolutely love these guys!  

Well that is enough for today.  Keep praying for our missionaries. While you are praying for our missionaries, pray that you will be able to provide opportunities for the missionaries to share the gospel.

And So I continue...

Last week I spent in Provo, UT attending BYU's campus education week.  It was pretty cool.  I attended one class that talked about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is really embracing electronic resources to spread the Gospel of Christ.  It made me feel like I really need to write on my blog. 

A lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog so I will try to get you up to date on what has been happening.  Elder M from Texas got a new companion Elder P got transferred and Elder V from the Philippines replaced him.  Elder M seemed very comfortable here we were able to visit fairly regularly and he kept us up to date on what was happening with the work.  Just when all was going great there was this influx of new missionaries in the mission and that meant there needed to be several more companionships created. In anticipation of that growth, we were asked to house the zone leaders for a short time so we got Elder C from Japan back for 2 weeks - I really liked him, so I was happy to have him come back.  The funny part is that he remembered about the scone parties, so we had a scone party just before they moved out. It was pretty fun to have 4 elders living in our home even though it was just for 2 weeks. 

They added 2 new elders to our stake (they don't live here in our house). The problem with adding 2 elders to our stake meant that there weren't enough cars in the mission and Elder M was told that he shouldn't be riding bikes.  Long story short.. Elder M got transferred out and Elder V got a new companion who is actually assigned to one of the Brazil missions.  Elder T from Gilbert, Arizona is waiting for a visa and they say that it averages 7 months for the visa to be processed so if all goes well we can have him here for a while.  I really think he is a great elder.  He is fresh out of the MTC and already doing great things.  I feel really bad because they don't have a car and since Elder T will not stay in the mission, he doesn't have a bike.  So for his first few days here I let him borrow my bicycle but that was a mistake because it is kind of a junk bike and so he got a flat tire the first day, so the Stake President noticed them walking the bikes and took them to their appointment and took the tire to get fixed.  Well he couldn't get the tire back on the bike right and so he ended up walking the bike a second time.  There is no way it was his fault, but I am sure he felt bad about it.  But I really feel bad for all the problems I caused him.  Anyway I think that there are a lot of members who are providing rides for our elders. The day the bike broke down the elders went to a lesson and the man they taught just wanted to argue about silly stuff. This man was kind of rude to them and there were bad feelings starting to develop but at this very moment The Stake President felt the need to go pick them up.  President Howell is a very inspired man and Elder T and Elder V learned a great lesson about trusting our leaders.  

I think the lack of a car can be a really good thing because it requires the elders to get rides from members.  When the members get to see the awesome young men who are serving in this area they will get to know the elders and feel more motivated to provide them more missionary opportunities. 

Well, that's too much for this blog, I will try to write less on the next blog, but maybe write more frequently.

Please continue to pray for our missionaries. 

Elder G went home last week and we welcomed Elder M from Texas. He has been out 17 months and  the day after he got here he had minor surgery.  Nothing serious, he is back to work already, but what a way to start out.  We have an awesome stake so they arranged to have someone to work with Elder P while Elder M stayed with a family during his recovery.  Lots of people have been blessed by this little setback and they still managed to teach 20 lessons this week.
I was talking with a member of the stake presidency tonight and he said that he got in trouble for keeping the missionaries out too late.  The good news from that is that since the elders are so busy they have requested that we get another set of missionaries in our stake.  How cool is that?  I told them that they could house 2 sets of elders here on a temporary basis, but I think that it would be best that they stay separate.  I think more work would get done.  It would be pretty nice to get double the blessings with twice the elders though.  Maybe they could stay here. Wait, what if they get sister missionaries?  Nope they can't stay here with elders.
Well that's about all for this report.
Until next time.
Keep praying for our missionaries, both male and female young and old.
Helaman had 2,000 warriors, today we have more like 60,000.  Keep sending your best!