A Wonderful and Wonder Filled Week

What a wonderful and busy week we have had!  Simply wonderful.  It has flown by with all of the things that we had going on.  Here are some of the highlights, but hang on, because this will be a long post I'm afraid!  But I never want to forget these things!

On Sunday evening, after speaking in the Logandale 5th ward, we had the opportunity to go to the Smith Center in downtown Las Vegas, a new and beautiful venue for performances.  We were able to see the Zion's Youth Symphony and Chorus, made up of youth from the Las Vegas area.  They performed "Saints and Pioneers", a musical tribute to church history and the pioneers.  It was so professionally done with such beautiful lyrics and music that it was truly a highlight of our stay in Las Vegas.  We were able to go with our friends, Jay and Valerie Chapman and we had a wonderful evening together.  I'm so sad that the quality of this picture is so poor!  See how cold we look--it WAS cold!  It was 37 degrees when we woke up Monday morning--so so cold!

On Monday morning we came to the mission office and learned that we had no internet connection due to a modem problem that affected our whole building.  We rely so heavily on the internet for IMOS--internet missionary operating system--and for our email--that I couldn't get the work done that I needed to get done.  Of course there are a million other things that needed to be done, but they could wait for another day. I really needed the internet!  Hopefully we would have the internet on Tuesday. . . but no!  We didn't get the internet back until Wednesday at noon, and I was so far behind in what needed to be done!  How did we ever get by without the internet?

But on Tuesday we had an event that we had been looking forward to for a few months.  Elder Larry Echo Hawk of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife were coming to Las Vegas for a mission conference.  He met with the mission presidency, the office staff, and the assistants in the evening at the office and it was just a joy to hear him and his wife.  They are truly gracious and wonderful people.  On Wednesday it was a full day of meetings with half of our missionaries and Elder and Sister Conder and Elder Dana went on that day to attend the conference while Glen and I stayed at the office and "held down the fort."

After the Wednesday mission conference, the Mesquite Zone came to the office to take care of some business.  Since they are a few hours away, we don't see them very often and it was so fun to see them!  I'm standing by Sisters Garcia and Hanson, and the zone leaders are Elder Findlay and Elder Duwona-Hammond. 

 On Wednesday night we had another fabulous treat.  We were able to go to the Smith Center again with our friends from our ward in Layton, Dave and Diane Lemmon.  It was so fun to see them and to spend the evening together!  They are such great people.  It was another great concert with pops music.  We got our tickets from the the sister missionaries at the Employment Center and we were so grateful!

On Thursday, the other half of the mission met together to be instructed by Elder and Sister Echo Hawk and President and Sister Black.  We attended this day and it was truly a spiritual feast to hear Elder and Sister Echo Hawk tell their conversion stories and other inspirational stories.  I took pages of notes.  It would be hard to describe just how wonder filled it was.  He is truly a man of God. 

After the morning meeting in the chapel, we ate lunch in the cultural hall.  Glen and I fixed our plates and as we walked by the table that the Echo Hawks were sitting at, Sister Echo Hawk motioned to us and told us to come and sit by them.  They didn't have to twist our arms!  We had such a wonderful conversation with them and with the other sister missionaries at the table.  Oh my, I just can't get over it.  We didn't ask them if we could take a picture with them, or even have our camera at the table,  but she said, "You can take a picture with us!"  Glen went to the chapel and got our camera and we were thrilled.  After lunch, Sister Echo Hawk said to me, "Your spirit radiates and speaks to my spirit.  I feel like we could be such good friends."  I will never forget it, it meant so much to me.  What an incredible woman she is.  I just hung on every word she said.

After lunch we sang "Army of Helaman", singing again, "And we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth."  I just love that.

After the conference, so many missionaries lingered in the parking lot, just savoring the experience we had just all had.  We love these missionaries so much!

Elder Skinner, Elder Paz, Elder Jones, Elder Blanco and Elder Schmidt.  We were at the MTC with Elder Jones and  Elder Schmidt and they will always be special to us.

Glen discusses a housing issue with Elder Carlson that will have to be taken care of.

Some of the Las Vegas zone members--wonderful missionaries. Then after the mission conference, I was able to go teaching with Sister Carr and Sister Dewey!  We went to two different families and taught their children.  Oh, I just love doing that!  They are such good missionaries and I loved being with them.

On Friday morning, we had another gift--Dave and Chris Rothschild, also from our ward in Layton, stopped by the mission office.  They were on their way to Long Beach California where they will also serve as office missionaries!  It was so so great to talk to them and hear about their experiences at the MTC and they listened while we told about some of our experiences!  We wish them the best!

On Saturday we had another fabulous day.  We stopped to inspect a new missionary location in Las Vegas and then we drove to Logandale again to inspect four missionary apartments.  Here is one of them with Bishop Evans, Elder Cedillo, Elder Hoskins, and Glen.

Check out this beautiful place with Elder Kraft and Elder Jones!  They love it here!

Bishop Evans and his wife, Susan, had invited us to go four-wheeling with them after we spoke in church in their ward.  Since we wanted to go to Logandale to see the elders' apartments, we were so excited!  Oh, what an amazing couple they are.  We had the time of our lives with them.  They were so hospitable and gracious, and we loved every minute of it.  Susan fixed us the most delicious lunch, and we were able to see their beautiful garden.  Check out these green beans!  We picked them and she gave them all to us!  She also loaded us up with butternut squash, peppers, kale, pomegranates from their tree, and a half gallon of pomegranate juice!  We were ecstatic!  

Then they took us four-wheeling in their cadillac of four wheelers--check this out!  It had such great suspension that it was just an awesome ride.  The flag with the pirate on it is for Moapa Valley high school where their grandson plays center on the football team.  

Look at this beautiful terrain.  We loved being on the sandy roads as well as the rocky ones.  We even saw big horn sheep up on the rocks! 

Bishop Evans even let Glen drive for a while.  Can you see me taking the picture in the back seat with Susan?  We will never forget this day--it was just so great to see the beautiful Moapa Valley and spend time with our wonderful new friends.  We really did have a wonderful and a wonder filled week.

The Lord Will Hasten His Work

It's so exciting to hear everyone talking about the announcement of the ages for missionary service!  It seems like the interest has been pervasive and it's so fun for everyone to join in on what their perspective is.  Glen found this quote this week that was so awesome, I wanted to share it.  See if you can guess who said it:  

"We believe, as the time draws near, the Lord will hasten his work, and nations will soon be gathered into the fold for Christ.  The work urges and is becoming very much enlarged and extended, and requires a commensurate accumulation of men and means, and expansion of mind and energy, ability and perseverance.  The Lord our God is our strength. . . blessed forever be his holy name; great and wondrous are his ways.  Let all nations give heed to his servants, for they are preparing the way for his coming. . . for this is the Lord's work."  Pretty awesome, huh?  Try to guess and the answer will be given later in this post.  (Are you SO excited to find out?)

But for now, we had our four month anniversary on Friday of going into the MTC.  Can you believe it?  It has flown by, and yet on the other hand, it seems like forever ago that we had another life.  Our mission is officially one-third over.  By the time we go home we feel like we will finally have learned what we're supposed to do.  Anyway, here are a few of the highlights of the week.  

On Sunday night, we had dinner with one of our ward missionaries, Nate Jones and his wife Deng, pictured in the middle.  Wow, the dinner was simply superb and we learned that he is quite the chef.  Elder Alford and Elder Vieira were also there and it's always so fun to talk to them.  On the right side is a couple from Hawaii, Mike and Carol Keanaaina, who were visiting. We had a such a great evening with them.  We LOVE having dinner appointments!

On Monday, we received three new elders into our mission who are visa waiters.  That means that they were  called to Mexico but their visas didn't arrive in time for them to go there, so they were sent here to work until their visas come through.  They are awesome elders, so we hope they can stay here for a while!  I had to process them for our mission and prepare their orientation materials for them and Glen and I oriented them.  Jared was also a visa waiter before his visa for France came through and he spent a few months in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri--and that mission was probably really sad to have Jared go, just as we are always sad when the visa waiters leave.  One of these elders said, "I really like it here.  I wouldn't mind staying here for my entire mission."  What a great attitude!

This large glass sign is in the mission office above my desk and is visible to everyone who comes into the office.  Since the mission formerly included Reno and its surrounding areas, there was a big star on the glass for Reno (where Glen's hand is) and Las Vegas.  As missionaries and others would come into the office they would frequently ask why the star for Reno was still there, so one day I asked Pres. Black if the star could be removed.  He said that he thought it should.  To make a long story short, Glen and I researched it for a few months and Glen wondered if he could etch the glass where the Reno star was.  But then he could see that the white part of the glass wasn't etched, it was sandblasted,  so he did more research and took it to a glass man who did a beautiful job of taking the star out.

And voile --here is the finished product!  The star is now only visible for Las Vegas.  I know you can barely see it--the bottom of it the picture sadly wasn't in the picture, but you get the idea.  What's so great is that it would have cost over a thousand dollars to have the glass redone, but by just taking the star out, it saved the mission that much money!  Hurray for Glen!

I've mentioned a few times how every missionary loves mail and REALLY loves packages.  These two awesome elders, Elder Johnson and Elder Barlow knew that Elder Wong hadn't received a package since Christmas.  So they put together a package for him which was actually twice the size of this one, but I sent it to Elder Wong before I remembered to take the picture!  Anyway, they wanted to let Elder Wong be excited to get a package and they worked hard to make it a nice one for him.  Can you believe they would do this?  So so thoughtful and kind.  They are so sweet and amazing.  And funny thing--a few days later a small package really did come for Elder Wong!  

And speaking of mail, we got the most adorable letters from Jade and Brigham.  Oh, it made our day!  Don't you just love children's artwork?  There is nothing like it in the world.  We just cherished it!  This one is from Brigham.  Thank you Jade and Brigham!

This one is from Jade.  Don't you love the hair,  the eyelashes and the lipstick?  I also got letters from our stake that they did at the General Relief Society Meeting, and that was so nice of them!  Thank you Crestwood Stake Relief Society!  

On Tuesday it was election day and all of us were white knuckled with nervousness about what would happen.  We were so disappointed with the results, but as Sister Conder said at the devotional the next day, "We're here to focus on our work as missionaries, not to be overcome with the emotions of a bad outcome of the election."  I thought that was so true and put things into perspective.

On Friday as we drove home from the mission office, it was dark and we could see runners with vests on and running lights on their heads--and it dawned on us--it was the Las Vegas RAGNAR!!  Adam and Lisa and Brandon and Lindsey had done this RAGNAR the year before!!  The course went right by our condo on Vegas Drive!!

On Saturday evening it was our adult meeting for the Redrock Stake conference.  I thought it was an awesome meeting.  One sister spoke and said that one of  the stake presidency spoke several years ago and she put into practice what he taught that night and she was so grateful.  He said that as he was growing up his mother would say individual prayers with her children each morning as they left for school (they all left at different times) and ask the Lord to bless and help them and give them strength to withstand temptation.  He would think about his mother's prayer all day and it really helped him.  This sister has been doing this for years now and feels strongly that it has really helped her kids.  I just loved that.  There were so many other good things said at this meeting--I really love Saturday night meetings for stake conference!  After the meeting we went over to some friends  house to watch the BYU football game and chat.  It was at Blair and Diane Christensen's house (pictured on the right) and Travis and Teresa Wilhelmsen and Nathan and Bethany Jones were also there.  It was just so much fun!

We were asked a few months ago to speak in a Logandale ward, which is about one and a half hours from Las Vegas by Bishop EVANS (our current bishop in Layton is Bishop Evans!) who is pictured in the middle.  He asked us to speak on missionary work and we were happy to do that.  We drove to Logandale, which is located in Moapa Valley in a beautiful and peaceful location.  The church building is new and beautiful, as you can see, and we had such a wonderful experience there.  The members were so sweet and friendly and this bishop is just amazing.  He told us that there are 10 priests on the rolls and all 10 are fully active!  The pride of living in this area (good pride) was evident in everyone we met.  Bishop Evans told the congregation that after he met us at the mission office he could feel our enthusiasm and hard work and he was impressed to ask us to speak.  So sweet!  Pictured here are also Elder Steenstra and Elder Dowdle who serve in the area.  We just loved going there and meeting with these good people.  And that's how Glen found the quote that I quoted above--while preparing for his talk.  And who said those magnificent words?   Drumroll. . . . 

Brigham Young in 1852!  Pretty amazing, huh?  We are all active participants of seeing the Lord hastening his work and it is incredible!

Our third transfer week!

 Time, in the mission, is measured by transfers.  If we ask a missionary how long she/he has been here, they will say, "This is my 4th transfer", or "This is my 8th transfer."  Senior missionaries don't always arrive on the "transfer" day, and that was true for us.  The first transfer for us happened two weeks after we got here, just a few days after our orientation was over.  That was the historic arrival of the 28 missionaries.  The next transfer was the arrival of the 22 missionaries, and this, the third transfer was the arrival of only 8 missionaries.  Eight!  It was manageable!  It was relatively calm!  Instead of having to use the Relief Society room at the nearby church, we were able to orient them at the employment center next door to us in the DI complex.  I love to see the arriving missionaries from the MTC--I have been working on their arrival documents and preparing their guidebooks for about 12 weeks and seen their pictures many many times, and to be able to match their faces with their pictures is really fun.  We received six new elders and two new sisters, making a total of 17 sisters now serving in this mission.  The arriving missionaries always make me feel renewed enthusiasm!

I'm giving my section of the orientation.  

Glen is giving his section.  He prepared a power point presentation this time to orient them!  After this section of the orientation, I am responsible to prepare lunch for them.  We have a yummy salad (the recipe from Sis. Zobell), pizza, and eclairs.  We found out again that one of the sisters is gluten intolerant, so we ordered her a gluten free pizza.  We had another celiac disease sister with the first transfer we had--can you believe it?  This is our 2nd missionary now that needs a gluten free meal.  I'm so glad I was prepared for this because of Lindsey!  

After their several hour long orientation, we go over to the church for the actual transfers to take place.  I have to hold all the mail from the Thursday before transfers because the missionaries of course change addresses and they wouldn't get their mail.  So I bring all of the mail that has been held and give it out there.  These missionaries were so helpful to get it set up and anxious to see what they got! They are  Elder Richards, Elder Johnson, Elder Barlow, and Elder Reyes.

Glen loves chatting with the elders, Elder Tews and Elder Torgerson.  

This picture doesn't quite capture the feeling of transfers, but it was all I had.  The missionaries are in the cultural hall, and as the new missionaries are announced one by one, they come out and meet their trainer for the first time.  I just love to see this!  It gets more exciting for us with each transfer because we are getting to know the missionaries better.

And guess what?  I got all my letters done and in the mail, and boy, does that give me a feeling of accomplishment!

On Tuesday, I had an awesome experience with the postman.  He comes to our office generally twice a day, once to drop off the new mail and then again to pick it up after I have processed it.  He does an awesome job and is the nicest man.  On this day, he started asking about what our office is, what we do, and why we forward all this mail. I explained to him that we have 150 young men and young women who have come here from many different countries to teach people about our church and its teachings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or also known as the Mormons.  He said, "I am a Catholic.  How does your church's teachings differ from ours?" Can you believe it?  I explained to him the role of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and that he has a body as evidenced from his ministry and his resurrection.  (and many other things about this.)  He said, "I thought Mormons were only from Utah and they could only be white."  He is from the Phillipines.  We talked about that for awhile and the Spirit was really strong.  It was such a neat experience!  I hope we can have more discussions about it.

Later that evening, we were asked by Elder Alford and Elder Vieira to go with them as they taught two eight year old twins to prepare them for baptism.  Their mother is inactive and their grandmother, who is from Brazil, wants them to be taught.  The elders received this referral and when they got to their apartment, they found that the grandmother could not understand a word of English--and Elder Vieira is the only Portugese speaking missionary in our mission, and he was the one assigned to this area to teach them!  It was so amazing!  It was so fun to be their and offer our comments--it's a joy for us.

On Wednesday, Halloween, Sis. Black had planned and organized a mission wide talent show and dinner.  She had decorated the cultural hall so cute and festive, and everyone was so excited for the activity.  It was the first time that ALL the missionaries were ever together for as long as the Blacks have been here.  It was so much fun to see the missionaries perform their talents--and there was a vast array of talents!  One elder juggled, and it was AMAZING!  Another one did the yo yo, and we've never seen anything like it.  Several sang or played the piano, or violin.  Some did skits.  Elder Fairbanks (pictured above) and Elder Weekes, the assistants, were the emcees and did a great job.

Elder Koncurat and Elder Wrathall did the drums on these buckets, and we just couldn't believe it--they were like professionals.  

Elder Peacock (pictured on the left and a zone leader of the Lone Mountain zone) asked me to be in their skit for a very small part.  They did a spoof on American Idol with people from "The District"--videos of actual elders and sisters teaching real investigators.  I was playing "Jynx", one of the investigators.  Their skit was hilarious and so well written and performed.  We laughed so hard!!  Pictured here also are Elder Steenstra, Elder Kaelberer, and Elder Lee.

The missionaries just love being all together!  It was a great evening.  We got home at about 7:00 and didn't have a singe trick or treater--maybe they had come earlier.  I was so sad, because I LOVE to see little trick or treaters!  We really missed seeing the grandkids this Halloween and having fun with them, and loved getting the pictures of them in their cute costumes.

We went to dinner with our friends, the Yochams.  They are such great people.  We had a wonderful time.  

I took a very interesting phone call this week.  It was from a lady who was irate, swearing, and rude.  She said that Romney was a despicable liar and cheat and she felt all Mormons were the same and that's why she wasn't a Mormon, but her adult children were.  She didn't want them to be.  Oh boy!  It was crazy, but I just had to tell her that the Church is politically neutral and that she was entitled to her own political opinions.  

On Saturday morning, we went to inspect a missionary apartment that was in need of new paint and new carpet.  Four elders live in this apartment, and it was only my second time seeing the inside of a missionary apartment.  Pictured here is also the high councilman over missionary work, Brother Papa, and he is an example of how a high councilman should be doing his job.  He was amazing.  We had a great time with the missionaries here, Elders Markle, Hymas, Packard, Deppe, Ringer, and Larson!  

Saturday evening we went to the baptism of an Iranian man.  His wife had been converted to the gospel as a young single adult in Italy and they had three children, who have been baptized.  The baptism was incredible and the spirit was very strong. The sister missionary who was involved in her converson 30 years before was there and spoke, and it was so touching.  How I love to go to baptisms!  They are the fruits of the efforts of the missionaries and many others. Pictured here are Elder Richards, Elder Godfrey, Elder Wrathall, and Elder Millar.  That same evening, a Christian Jew was baptized, and she said, "I always knew there was another piece to the puzzle."  Isn't that the coolest description ever?  The field really is white and all ready to be harvested here!