The Worldwide Expansion of Missions!

We were just blown away with the Church's official announcement that 58 new missions were going to be created THIS YEAR!  Can you even believe it?  The number of missions is going from 347 to 405--all in one year!  The ramifications of that is just staggering--that many new mission presidents, office managers (like us)  the set up of the missions, etc.  There are 14 new missions in the United States, 8 in Mexico, 7 in Brazil, 5 in Africa, and on and on.  I can't believe what must be going on at Church Headquarters to organize all these new missions plus keep up with the existing ones.  It's so very exciting!  What an unbelievable  time to be on a mission!  But here's the ramifications  for us of so many  new missions being created--they are only going to have one full time couple in each mission  to work in the office!  The other senior missionaries are going to have to be local couples called to be service missionaries!  This will have a huge impact on who is going to replace us in July. 

   Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy, executive director of the Missionary Department said in the Church News that even though this is such a busy time,  " I'll tell you, this is going to be the most wonderful time," he exclaimed. "If you've ever had a missionary out, you know that there's nothing sweeter than a family gathering and praying for their son or daughter, or their brother or sister — or at times their parents or grandparents — for the Lord to please bless them while they serve their missions. Nothing, really, is more motivational for families than to have someone out serving and to have that be an opportunity to reflect upon our own commitment to helping others around us and bringing the blessings of the gospel into the lives of others."  We know that our children are praying for us and we feel it and it helps us so much.  

Then he also said, "I think the Spirit of the Lord is moving upon this generation in a way that we've never before seen happen as a result of a specific statement or announcement made by the President of the Church, at least not in my lifetime," he said.  What a miracle it is to see the youth respond to the call of a prophet!  It's incredible!  

And it's official--it was announced in yesterday's Church News who our new mission president is going to be:  his name is Michael B. Ahlander and he is from Orem. We were informed about it earlier in the week, and now we can't wait to see his picture and bio in the Church News.  

We had another busy week, as usual.  Here are some highlights:

On Sunday, our dear Relief Society president, Patricia Johnson, was released.  She had given her all in her calling, and everyone just loved her.  What a wonderful person she is.

We have been talking to the guard at our guardhouse about the Church for a few months.  We even gave him a Book of Mormon at Christmas and he seemed genuinely touched.  So we took the next step--we invited him over to our house to talk to the missionaries and then to have dinner with us.  He seemed to respond well to the missionaries and it was neat to be involved with the teaching.  His name is Sean and he's such a nice guy.  We've been praying for him a lot.

On Monday we took a load of furniture to Mesquite for a new area that will be opened up there.  It was quite an interesting place that the missionaries will be living in--it was an old dairy barn that has been remodeled.  I wish I would have taken a picture because it was quite the place!  But the funnest part of the day and the reason we went to Mesquite was to meet up with Vickie and Dell and Jeanette and Kevin.  It was so fun to see them and we had a great time together.

On Tuesday we were invited, along with the Blacks, to have dinner with Randy and Sharon Hale.  I graduated in the same class with Randy, and it's been fun here to renew contact with him.  They are the sweetest, most Christlike couple who go about doing so much good.  It was such a wonderful evening. 

Dear Sister Dillistone is going home on Tuesday.  What a marvelous missionary she is and I just grew to love her!  

Elder Lopez is also going home and we just loved him.  It's been so amazing since we've been here that we have gotten such huge numbers of missionaries coming in but very few leaving.  That's why we have to open up so many new apartments.

It happens pretty often that  missionaries will call Glen and tell him that their vacuum is broken and that they need a new one.  Glen will tell them to bring the vacuum in to the office to exchange it for a new one.  He does this so that he can look at it himself to see if it just needs to be repaired.  Nearly always, this is the case and it teaches the missionaries a good lesson!  This time Glen was out of the office when these elders came in, so Elder Dana and Elder Conder were trying to help them fix it.  The problem is usually that the vacuum is clogged, and it's awesome to have them try to unclog it, because they are so shocked at what's actually clogging it!  They tried for an hour to get the clog out and was finally successful, but Glen had to come to finish putting the final repairs on it to make it work again.

This is Glen's typical stack of bills that come to the office nearly every day.  He's getting so much faster at getting them paid!

Last week we went to Mesquite and spent the morning inspecting apartments with the awesome zone leaders, Elder Edwards and Elder Dowuona-Hammond, and then had lunch with them.  We had such a great time with them!  They sent us this awesome thank you card in the mail!  We just love them!  Elder Dowuona-Hammond is our missionary from Ghana, and he was just made our new assistant to the president!  He will do an awesome job, and I'm so excited for him--and it will be so fun to see him more often!

On Friday we had the craziest day. We were notified by the missionary department that two of our elders would not be coming on the transfer on Monday.  One was permanently not coming, and the other would be coming in two weeks.  That's really difficult after the housing assignments have already been made.  Then just two hours later we were notified that we were getting a new elder on this transfer!  I had to scramble to change the paperwork for the first two and then do all the paperwork for the next one--I was crazy busy all day long!  We just are amazed how things change in the mission nearly every hour.  We are always making adjustments.

On Saturday we went to dinner with our friends, the Wilhelmsens and the Joneses after stake conference.  It was so fun to be with them!  The Joneses will be running the Las Vegas Ragnar with us, and they are an awesome couple.

Tomorrow is transfers--ahhhhhhh!  We're praying that it will go well.  It's our 5 week transfer, so this is historic.  

The Work Goes On!

Our big transfer is just one week away, and guess what?  We are nearly ready for it!  Glen has gotten all of the housing needed for the new missionaries, and miracle upon miracle, this time more of the members here were able to house the missionaries. He only had to sign contracts for two apartments! It made it so much easier for Glen, but he still had to take care of the logistics of getting the mattresses and dressers and sometimes desks to the members' homes who were housing the missionaries.  But the thousands of dollars that it will save the Church will be awesome, plus the missionaries seem to do much better when they are staying with members than when they are in an apartment.  He should have all the areas ready by the end of the week, which is a very big deal since this was only a five week transfer.  And I was able to get all of my files and notebooks ready for them, so we're pretty excited!  We were also able to organize the shed a little better with all of our apartment supplies--there's still a lot of work to do out there, but at least we made quite a dent in it.  It was so cold at the beginning of the week that we couldn't work outside, but it warmed up enough by the end of the week that we could do a little work.

It was crazy because two different sisters in our ward told me this week that their nephews opened their calls and learned that they were both called to the Nevada Las Vegas West mission!  We haven't received their missionary recommendations here yet, but maybe we will this Tuesday.  Both of these sisters were pretty excited that their nephews were coming here.  We are too!

Once a month we have staff meeting at the office with our staff and Pres. and Sis. Black.  We went to dinner at the Olive Garden after our staff meeting and had fun with the Danas, the Conders, and the Blacks.

  

On Tuesday night I went to our ward's Relief Society meeting.  A sister from China who is a convert to the church and married an American, Sister Deng Jones, spoke first on how important the Relief Society sisterhood was to her conversion and her fellowship afterward.  The spirit was so strong as she bore such a powerful testimony of "We really are each other's sisters and we need each other."  Then there were several sisters who did a cooking demonstration of food from their native country--Japan, Argentina,  two from Mexico and one from Polynesia.  The food was so yummy and it was so fun to be together.  I stayed much later than I expected to because I was so tired, but it was so fun!

On Wednesday night we had another Girls' Night Out and this time it was held at our condo.  We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and laughed and chatted and then played chicken foot Dominos.  I love these sisters from the Employment Center!  They are so faithful and so much fun!  Seated clockwise are Sister Black, Sis. Young, Sis. Anderton (she is going home in a week and so this night was planned in her honor), Sis. Macdonald, Sis. Clark (a brand new sister who just arrived the day before our party--and she is so awesome) and Sis. Splain.   We had such a great time!

On Wednesday we also received in the mail these valentines from David and Juliann and Brandon and Lindsey.  We also got M&M's with peanuts and Almond Joy's from David and Juliann--our favorite treats!  We were SO excited to get these in the mail!  Thank you thank you, you guys! We loved it--it made our day!  We had a fun Valentine's Day.  I had put chocolate Valentine candy in our candy box at the office and all the missionaries scarfed them down.  

We also got these Valentine treats from the stake Relief Society presidency who was preparing the luncheon for the zone conference that was held.  Since I stayed at the office that day, the president sent these back with Elder Conder for Glen and I.  Is that so thoughtful?  I am so amazed at how sweet people are.

And can you believe this?  The Lone Mountain zone leaders, Elder Peacock and Elder Vieira (pictured on the very right) took this picture at their zone meeting and then had it framed and brought it to me for Valentine's Day!  They're so adorable!  It really meant a lot to me.

On Friday we were able to go to dinner with Tyler and Amy McMillan and their cute little son, Camden.  They were here in Las Vegas for some job training for Tyler and it was so fun to see them and get to spend some time with them!

Elder Lopez and Elder Butler, the Lakes zone leaders, invited us to one of the three baptisms that they held on Saturday.  We were able to go see Marcel be baptized and it was a wonderful service.  They sure are good missionaries!  Elder Lopez goes home at the next transfer--in a week!

After the baptism, we went up to Spring Mountain Ranch, which is a state park.  We took a nice hike and even found a small lake, which was quite pretty.  This place is known for its wild burros, so I was pretty excited when I was able to see two of them!  Glen was driving so he wasn't able to see them, but he saw them when we first got to Las Vegas.  It was so nice to be out in the open air!  We actually took a four mile run earlier in the day and it was quite glorious to be out in the sunshine.  

The Seven Month Mark

It's so hard to believe that we have been on our mission for seven months now.  We have learned so much and feel it a privilege to be here when so much excitement is focused on missionary work and we can see firsthand how prophecy is being unfolded.  Elder Holland spoke to the MTC on January 15 and told them, "There might have been a more exciting time to be a missionary in the Church but I do not know when that would be.  There is an enthusiasm, an excitement, a zeal right now that is unlike anything I know of in recent years. . . You have to be the best missionaries we've ever had, because no task has ever been put before a missionary like the one we're putting before you.  We expect you to be mature, powerful, bold, spiritual missionaries.  And you have to have an abiding conviction of this work in your heart."  How that is so true!  Glen and I are grateful for the abiding conviction of this work that we have in our hearts and we sure know that we are working our hardest!

Another speaker at the MTC, Elder David F. Evans, told newly called MTC presidents gathered at the MTC that a high school student told him that "When President Monson made this announcement, my whole class of seniors began to change.  Now we're focused in a way we've never been focused before.  We talk different, we think different, we date different, we're trying to be ready to serve missions."  Isn't that so exciting?  We got our first 18 year old elders at our last transfer, and they were so fired up to do missionary work and grateful to be here.  We're so excited to be on the front lines and be participants in this great unfolding!

As usual, we've had a very busy week.  Here are a few things of what has happened.

On Sunday, my dad and Bobbie were in Las Vegas and Glen picked them up and brought them over to our condo because they can't drive in the dark.  He will be 86 on his birthday in March and we're surprised that they travel around as much as they do.  It was a nice visit with them.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Conders were in Utah for the funeral of his sister-in-law, and since Elder Dana was also gone a lot, and Glen was gone sometimes, I was in the office alone some of the time.  That made it VERY busy for me to try to cover all of the different things that were going on.  I was also trying to prepare the folders of the incoming 30 missionaries--four folders for each missionary, with an average of about 15 pages per folder.  That's 120 different folders!  One set is my working folder, two sets are for the president (one for the office and one for his home) and one set for the vehicle coordinator (Elder Dana).  I also had to get the 60 transfer board cards done--30 for the office and 30 for the president's home.  There was a lot going on!

On Monday, we received three new visa waiters who didn't get their visas to go to Mexico.  I prepared their orientation materials and folders and just Glen and I oriented them, which took all morning.  With their arrival it means that (so far) we will receive 57 missionaries in a 5 week period.

On Thursday, the mission was audited again, and this time Glen had to teach the auditor some things that he wasn't aware of.  It took the entire day and the mission's finances are in great shape.  It's still so amazing to see how much money is spent  from this office.  Glen has to pay so many bills and keep track of so much--you would never believe!

Also on Thursday, Sister Dyer came to the office and gave me an announcement from Eston Humphrey (the former assistant), which was a "save the date" announcement that he was getting married on September 7.  I looked at it, and it was so cute--the girl was darling, and they made such a cute couple!  But I knew right off that it was a hoax--he is still trying to get me back from the cake joke that I played on him!  What was funny too was that he sent in another missionary to secretly videotape my reaction--and how sad that I knew it was a hoax and didn't give him the reaction that he was hoping for!  If I had known I was being videotaped, I would have faked a better response!

On Friday we were able to go to Zone Conference.  I love zone conferences!  I love hearing the missionaries speak and I love the role plays.  This is at the luncheon that I had to schedule with the Tule Springs Relief Society president.  Seated at the table from clockwise are us, Elder Dana, Sister Anderton, Sister Macdonald, and Elder and Sister Hodges, who serve on a welfare cattle ranch in our mission in Hiko.

The missionaries stand to sing, "And we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth--and thank you for the food!"  to the sisters who served us the lunch.  

It's a joy to see the missionaries visit with each other and be buoyed up by their association together.  Seated are Sisters Garcia and Hanson, Elders Weekes and Alford (the assistants), Elders Long and Bruce, and Elders Peacock and Vieira, the zone leaders. (and some of our favorites, for sure!)

The senior missionaries who were at this zone conference--the same ones who were sitting at our table, in addition to President and Sister Black.

On Saturday, we went to the office so that Glen could get four new areas taken care of with their furniture needs.  He has 13 new areas to open up (a record!!  And we thought the 9 new areas were hard!) so he met the high councilmen and some of the ward mission leaders to come and pick up the furniture that we had collected and they took it to move into the new areas--all of them being member homes.  Hurray--four member homes!  That is also a record for us since we've been here, to open up four new member homes at one transfer.  Nine new areas to go in just two weeks!  We also organized the pod full of mattresses and furniture so that we can find things easier.  We were at the office for about six hours.

For our p-day activity we decided to go to the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort.  This is located just north of the strip and is now a state park.  We had been wanting to go there for several months, and this was a good day to do it, except that it was so cold that we were freezing to death!  Brigham Young had sent the first settlers here in 1855 but they disbanded in 1857 because of contention between the leaders. 

This is a large piece of property surrounded by big buildings and it was so interesting to visit.  This is an original wagon!  The real growth of Las Vegas occurred after Hoover Dam was built though, and really boomed after the 1960's.  

I received the kindest surprise in the mail--it was a card from the sweetest missionary here--Sister Luamanu from Samoa.  On the inside she wrote, "You know, the person that is doing the hardest work in this mission, it's you!  I just want to say thank you so much. . . you are the best! Your kindness and loving support has helped me through a lot.  Your work might look simple, but it's not, it needs effort. . . Thank you so much.  Love always, Sister Luamanu."  I was so touched,  and was completely speechless, dumbfounded and grateful. What a tender mercy to lift my spirits!  What a sweet, sweet, missionary.  That is one of the sweetest rewards of missionary work that has happened here!

A Week of Hard Work and So Much Fun!

What a busy week we've had!  We worked so hard at the office with the many tasks we had to do-a missionary went home early, and a visa waiter left to go to Mexico, and we are getting three new visa waiters tomorrow, so I had a ton of paperwork to do to prepare for all of them. I'm also still preparing the paperwork for our huge transfer coming in three weeks, so I was a little brain dead from so many hours at the computer.  So we were pretty excited to have a little diversion this week--and it was a blast!

We had signed up to have the elders over for dinner on Sunday evening, and we were looking forward to having Elder Findlay and Elder West, who is a new zone leader and newly transferred in to our ward, with us.  Just a few hours earlier we got a text from Dave Longfellow telling us that they were here in Las Vegas!  We were excited to see them, so it worked out nicely that we could have dinner with them as well as with the elders.  We had a wonderful evening visiting with them.

And then after a hectic day at the office, we were rewarded by being able to meet up with our friends from the neighborhood--Doug and Shaunna McCleve, Dave and Vanessa Longfellow, Jack and Lonna Jeppesen, and Rand and Marilyn Meyerhofer (Lonna's brother and sister-in-law).  We ate dinner and then just talked and talked for a long time.  It was so so good to be able to hear what was going on in the neighborhood and  ward and to just be with them!  How we love them!  We had a wave of homesickness and really appreciated being able to see them.

 

And then after another busy day at the office we were rewarded by being able to go with Dave and Diane Lemmon to the UNLV basketball game and the Thomas & Mack Center.  We had been looking so forward to this!  Dave and Diane went all out for us and bought us this red UNLV jacket and red shirt that Glen and I are wearing.  She also got me a UNLV bracelet!  We were in matching attire and were STOKED to see the game!

They also bought us dinner which we ate in our seats (and our seats were so close--I've NEVER seen a college basketball game this close, and it was pretty sweet!) before the game started.

Just before the game started the lights went dim and as they introduced the team, they showed fireworks!  There was so much energy and fan support there we were just blown away.  The crowd was into the game the entire night. We had so much fun with the Lemmons, and it was just a magical night for us.

And then on Wednesday after a busy busy day, I was rewarded again by being invited along with Sister Black to go to Sister Macdonald and Sister Anderton's apartment for girls night out.  We had dinner there and then played games and it was SO MUCH FUN!  They serve at the employment center next door to us and they do such an amazing service there.  I loved and respected them the moment I met them six months ago, and it was so awesome to be with them.  We want to do it on a regular basis now!

Elder Fairbanks, one of the assistants, is going home next week, so this was probably the last time I would see him.  What a great missionary he is!  We'll really miss him.

Elder Vieira got a package from his sister in Portugal with two Milka chocolate bars, and he really wanted to give me one of them.  I protested and protested, but he would have none of it, so I finally had to accept it.  He is always so exceptionally warm and sweet to us when he comes into the office and always gives Glen a big hug--the only missionary to do that!  We just love him.

Left to right:  Elder West, Elder Peacock, Elder Vieira and Elder Findlay show us their abs routine that they do in the mornings.  Elder Findlay plays basketball for is university in Canada and he's pretty motivated to stay in shape.  They gave me a copy of their routine and I'm pretty excited to do it too.  They're all so awesome!

On Friday it was Elder Dana's birthday, so I made him this big cupcake.  He called in the morning and told us he was too sick to come in, so we thought we would just save it until Monday.  But some elders' car was towed and Elder Dana had to come in to the office to take care of it, but didn't put his white shirt and tie on, but we were still happy he came in, and then we surprised him with the birthday celebration!  He was touched and appreciative.  He's such a good man.

Then on Saturday Glen wanted to drive to Mesquite to inspect the missionary apartments of the missionaries who live there.  Boy, were we impressed!  These missionaries love serving in Mesquite and now we know why.  Their places were so roomy and nice compared to the apartments in the city, and they were all so clean and nice!  Here are Elder Edwards and Elder Dowuana-Hammond, the zone leaders.  We went to their place first and then they escorted us to the other three places that Glen wanted to inspect.

Elder Rumbach (from Germany--you can imagine how Glen loves to talk to him!) and Elder Giullian's place. They actually live in a member's home who is currently serving a mission and boy, was it beautiful!

Sister Garcia and Sister Hanson actually live in Bunkerville, just south of Mesquite.  They live in a casita and they just love it there.  It was so fun to see them!

Elder Lloyd and Elder Polanco also live in Bunkerville, but a few miles south of where the sisters live.  They live in the basement of this home and they take such good care of it.  We were so impressed!

After the four inspections, we were ready to eat lunch, so Elder Edwards and Elder Dowuana Hammond showed us this place to eat at the local golf course.  We had so much fun with them, hearing about their parents' conversions and what they want to do in the future.  Elder Edwards has already graduated from BYU and wants to go back to get his master's and pHd, and Elder Dowuana Hammond wants to go to medical school in the United States and then return to Ghana to practice medicine.  

After we finished lunch, we went to Vickie and Dell's house to visit and we had a great time with them.  What a fun and memorable day we had in Mesquite!  

Our Fifth Transfer

It's hard to believe that we have been involved in five transfers now--involving a total of 88 missionaries so far!  This transfer involved 24 missionaries, and we worked so so hard to prepare for them!  Glen started immediately after the December transfer to get ready for this one because it would involve opening nine new areas.  He had to go through the same process of opening apartments, providing gas/electricity, and furnishing them.  But we made it!  We are so glad that we have had experience now, because it gets harder and harder to open all these new apartments and we can do things so much more efficiently now.  It really helps that we know the wards and stakes better and we know the process that we have to go through.  Here's some of the transfer day that I wanted to record:

It took four vehicles in total to go to the airport to pick up the missionaries because there were so many.  Pres. Black took the truck, Sis. Black took her car, the assistants (pictured above--Elder Weekes and the brand new assistant, Elder Alford) took the van with the trailer full of their luggage, and Elder Fairbanks took the mini-van.  When there is a group this large, they do a "drive-by" the mission office to show the new missionaries where the office is.  We all come out of the office and wave and greet them.  The new missionaries always look so starstruck!  It's so fun to see them for the first time.

My portion of the orientation at the Alexander Building.  Glen has prepared a power point of his presentation, and it's so awesome!  He does a good job.  Sis. Conder also does a part of the orientation.

I order the pizzas and get all the things ready for the luncheon which is held after the morning portion of the orientation.  Sometimes Sister Conder helps me set it up.

I order several kinds of pizzas from Dominos and have fruit or salad and dessert.  The missionaries REALLY love the pizzas and they really need a break about now.  They get up at 4:00 a.m. at the MTC to go to the airport and fly here, and they're pretty tired.  It's so fun to talk to them when they're so brand new!

After transfers at the Alexander building, Glen and I had to go back to the office to get some supplies for some of the elders.  As we left the church to go, I said to Glen, "We need to come back to the church after we go to the office."  He said, "I was just planning on going home."  I said, "No, I just really feel that we need to go back to the church."  We were gone for 15-20 minutes at the office and then went back to the church where we found Pres. and Sister Black helping some missionaries with phones and other things.  They really needed our help, so I was so grateful for the prompting that we should come back.  No one else was there to help them clean up and lock up.  Then afterward we went to dinner with them. 

This is the transfer board, all completed after I had to redo every missionary's transfer card you see on the board.  The white cards are English speaking elders, the yellow are Spanish speaking elders, the pink are the sister missionaries, and the green are the visa waiters.The blue cards at the top are the zones, and a new zone was created this transfer, making a total of 10 zones.

It took me all week to finish the 140 letters that needed to be sent--the letters congratulating the missionaries on their new assignments (new assistant, new zone leaders, new district leaders, new trainers) and letters to the parents of those missionaries, plus letters to the parents of the new missionaries.  So much work!

I then give them to Mario, our wonderful mailman who I see usually twice a day.  He will deliver the mail, I then process it, and he will come back and pick it up so the missionaries don't lose time in getting their mail!  He's just so awesome.  When the new Ensigns come, (pictured on the counter ) I place them in piles for all of the 10 zones and then put them in bins where the zone leaders will pick them up and take them to their meetings to distribute to all of the companionships.

And we have already begun planning for the next transfer, which is the 5 week transfer--one week less than usual, (because of the shortening of the training at the MTC) and we will have 30 missionaries--a record--this time.  I sent an email to our stake members asking them for donations of dishes and other kitchen items and desks, tables and chairs, and couches.  Here is Bishop Larkin and his wife, Melanie, (who we just love) bringing lots of things to donate.  So sweet!

We need so many mattresses and furniture that Glen got permission to rent a huge pod--40 feet long--to store all the things in.  Some of the office staff thought we would never need one that big--but it was filled completely in about a week!  It's parked just west of the mission office in the back of the DI building complex.

It's so complicated to open it that Glen is the only one who knows how to do it!

Glen starts to put things into the pod.  We were able to get a few things from the school district donated--free!  When the mattresses were delivered and many other things put in ,including couches and tables, it completely filled it up.  I go to DI nearly every day looking for donations that have brought in that we can use.  And yes, we do actually pay for them with mission funds--something that the missionaries are so surprised with.  ("DI doesn't just GIVE that stuff to the missionaries. . ?"

More trips to Wal-Mart for supplies for new apartments!  

We worked 9-10 hours every day this week, but we were still able to go to the temple, and then Saturday night we were able to go to an opera called "Holodomor", which described the hunger killings in the Ukraine in 1932-33 by the Russians.  It was especially meaningful to us because Zena (pictured above) and also Valerie Chapman, who we have dinner with each month, both lived in the Ukraine.  It had many religious overtones and was so sad.  It was held on the UNLV campus.  We LOVE being able to go to these events here!  It really renews us for the next week.