This Week...

This Saturday we had 7 baptisms in our mission and we were blessed to attend 3 of them.  The first was a man named Ali, who was taught by Sister Koller and Sister Wilding.  We asked if she was related to our friends, Tom and Mary but she didn't know them. These are two exceptional sisters.  My children, who have been on missions tell me that it isn't unusual for baptisms to start late in the mission field.  This was one of those cases.  Ali had gotten tied up and ended up getting to the church at 3:15 for a baptism that was scheduled for 2:00.  Sister Koller and Sister Wilding were so calm and collected. Their worries were for those who were attending the baptism, but they were confident that Ali would show up.  When he did the baptism was sweet and his testimony after he was baptized was so tender.  It is wonderful to see people enter the waters of baptism, and begin on the covenant path.  

Elder Worthin, their zone leader performed the baptism.  Ali has a Mid Eastern heritage and his last name is not an easy one to pronounce.  It has at least 24 letters in it, and it there is nothing familiar about it.  The genius of missionaries is that they can always find a solution to any problem.  They wrote his name out on a chalkboard at the back of room, directly opposite of the baptismal font and Elder Worthin used that as a sort of cue card, so he got his name right.  

 Sisters Koller and Wilding, waiting for their baptism to show up.  Look how calm and happy they are.  

Next we went to the baptism of a sweet Spanish Sister, Maria, who had been found and taught by Sister Paredes and Sister Scott.  Sister Paredes is going home this Saturday and she is a true example of working to the very end.  It was so special for her to be able to have a baptism the week before she left.  We have a large group going home on Saturday and so to save on some of Scott's work load President Jardine did most of the exit interviews before we got here.  Sister Paredes didn't want to have her exit interview until a few days before she went home because she didn't want to think about home and wanted to stay focused on the work.  What an amazing example of being a finisher.  

I realized how much God knows me as I sat at that baptism, not understanding one word that was being spoken.  The spirit was strong and I definitely felt it, but I was also incredibly grateful that I am in a place where I can speak and understand the language.  My thoughts went to so many of the wonderful women we met at the Mission President's Seminar who were heading off to countries where they didn't speak the language and most likely are feeling like I felt at the baptism, all the time.  Feeling the spirit and loving the people, but not being able to communicate.  That would have been very hard for me.  

We left that baptism and went to the baptism of Katrina, who was taught by Sister Barnes and Sister Cundick.  Katrina is amazing and I was so happy to meet her. She is on fire, she actually had gone to church with friends a few years ago and then stopped going.  The sisters met her mom and gave her a Book of Mormon, she wasn't interested but said her daughter would be because she used to go to that church, and she gave the sisters Katrina's phone number.   She gave the book to Katrina and Katrina waited for the missionaries to call her. She wanted to go to church but didn't dare go alone.  They didn't call that week, and so the next week she just went to church by herself and found the missionaries and told them she wanted to be taught and join the church.  It's usually not that easy, I'm told, but Katrina is Gold and is going to be an amazing member.  She was so excited and her enthusiasm it up the whole room.  

The work is moving forward and we are seeing miracles in Sacramento.  We are still enthused and excited to #gototheedge and we love the our time from 9-10 when the missionaries call the miracle line and tell us their miracles.  I am trying to keep track of them, and have a quarter of a notebook already filled.  Here is just a small sampling of the miracles that are being reported to us.  

A ‘random’ non member family who’s good friends with some members came to sacrament meeting to bless their baby. So, of course we went to the little barbecue they had after church and it turns out this ‘random’ family is pretty sure they are the only Chinese family in Wilton. And they just happened to come to church while there was a missionary who speaks Cantonese?  Coincidence?  I think not!  It’s all about the Lord’s timing. (The Elder serving in this ward grew up in Hong Kong and speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.  He told us he wondered, with his language skills, why he came to Sacramento, English speaking, and then this Chinese family shows up to the one ward where he is assigned.  God knows where we are needed and who needs us) 

We met with a recent convert to do family history and she ‘happened’ to have her 5th grade project with her and she had enough information on it to be able to print off her great grandma’s name to be baptized for her in the temple. She also sent us a text saying that one of her friends is interested in the gospel and is coming to church with her.  

We have been teaching a woman since last transfer but haven’t been able to meet with her for about a month, and she wasn’t really progressing.  We finally sat down with her tonight and had an amazing, spirit filled lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the end we had scheduled a church tour to help her feel more comfortable and we invited her to be baptized, which is something she feels open to. 

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and we were dragging, it was hot outside and we were tired but we asked what we could do to go to the edge and got the impression to get out of our car and onto our bikes.  The miracle is that we had the energy to ride our bikes in the heat, and we go some lessons with people we met while on our bikes.

We were contacting and decided to visit our ward mission leader’s mother who is Catholic. She usually dismisses us and we don’t get off the front porch, but this time she invited us in.  We shared the 4 principles President taught us, we let her know we loved her and we got a return date. 

We decided to drop off one of our new thank you notes to our bishop.  We left it on his car and saw a less active neighbor, who wasn’t very receptive.  But while we were talking to him, another neighbor came over and said his daughter wanted to learn about the church and we have an appointment with them on Saturday. Gratitude leads to miracles.

We placed 15 Book of Mormons at a sport/dodgeball night. We got 2 new investigators. (this zone is so innovative, they hold a sports night on Thursday nights and get a lot of non members to come)

We had a family come to a baptism today and they loved it and their kids now want to be baptized.  We also met with a less active who has never prayed in public.  At the end of the lesson he said a prayer.  

We went to an appointment we had scheduled and she wasn’t there.  It was so hot, we sat on the sidewalk for a minute and a lady asked us if we needed water.  We didn’t need water, but we took it anyway. We started talking to her and found out she had gone to an LDS church when she was younger and she gave us her phone number. 

We got a phone call from our investigator last night, she was crying and going through a really hard time.  We prayed with her and asked our zone to pray for her, she was praying this weekend to know if our church had the fulness of the Gospel.  We asked the zone to pray that she could get her answer from the spirit.  President and Sister Hymas also prayed for her.  Today we told her she was going through a trial of her faith, God was seeing if she really had faith.  She agreed that was the case and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. 

Aren't we just the luckiest?  I was also able to go teaching with Sister Turner and Sister Morris to the lady from Nigeria that we met my first night in the mission.  Agatha is a very spiritual woman and has been reading the Book of Mormon.  She had many questions and said she feels like it is full of light and that she had a revelation that someday she would be telling people about that book.  The sisters taught her The Plan of Salvation and when they asked her what she thought about God's plan, she looked at us and said "it's perfect!"  She has some questions and some things to work out, but it was wonderful to be there and see the light go on, especially concerning the Book of Mormon.  

On Monday I got to drive to Elk Grove and meet Sisters Kearl, Cundick, Thomas and Barnes to play a little p day tennis.  We had a great time and it was so much fun getting to know them all a little bit better.  I was glad they wanted to spend a little of their p day with me.  

Tuesday we spent most of the day doing the transfer board.  We have 17 missionaries leaving this Saturday, and 11 coming in next Monday.  We have met all of the missionaries, but Scott hasn't been able to interview many of them yet and so we relied heavily on our wonderful assistants.  It was a sacred experience to see the revelation that came to Scott as he prayerfully considered the transfer board. As he told Elder Pennington and Elder Watts his thoughts and impressions, almost every time, they would look at each other and say, 'that is exactly what we were thinking too, President'.  Revelation is real and this is God's work.  

We started a fast on Monday night and broke it Tuesday, after the transfers were finished.  It happened to be Elder Pennington's 20th birthday so we had a birthday dinner for him, complete with a chocolate/peanut butter cake.  Elder Watts informed me that is the kind of cake his mom makes for him for every birthday.  I have never made a chocolate/peanut butter cake, but thanks to A Bountiful Kitchen, I found a recipe and I think it passed the test.  

A few other random thoughts:

We are firm believers in the power of gratitude and so before we came out to the mission, we had these cards made up.  We gave a stack to each companionship, and asked them to look for people they are grateful for, and to tell them by leaving a thank you note behind.  Whether it is when a member does something nice for them, like giving them rides or feeding them, etc.  We want them to be the most gracious, well thought of missionaries around, which does a few things.  It makes them aware of the kindness of others, and helps them look for things to be grateful for in their lives.  It also endears them to the members and makes them want to help them more.  I have had several comments already from people who have received thank you notes from the missionaries and how impressed they are with them.  Gratitude brings miracles.  

And finally, if anyone is still reading, this is so long... A few picture from our house.  Ethan and Preston hung all of our paintings and our pictures and the best wall in the house is this one of our grandchildren smiling at me.  It makes my heart so happy to see them every day.  

 

The View from our backyard

Our front door, which we would be thrilled to see you all walk through

If you look very closely you can see our new mission pet.  We found a rattlesnake in our side yard.  Everyone told us Sacramento was so good, it was like we were getting sent to the Garden of Eden.  There was a snake in the Garden of Eden, so we should have realized the snakes would come along with it.  Luckily we have good people who run to help and the mission didn't have a pet for long.  

Keep looking for and recognizing the miracles in your life.  #gototheedge