This transfer we are doing another round of Zone P day activities. I have gotten smarter since we did them last September and recruited our wonderful office missionaries to help me with the food, and we had some games we wanted to play that our house wouldn't accommodate, so we have been holding it at one of our churches. It has made it much easier. Last time I made sloppy joes and everything else that goes with it. This time I found an idea on pintrest for food for large groups. I'm making chili dogs that I just put the buns in foil pans, put the hot dogs in the buns and chili and cheese on top and cook them in the oven. They are SO easy and really pretty tasty. And our Senior missionaries are doing all the rest of the food. It has been a lot of fun the past two weeks. Two Mondays ago we had the Folsom and North Sacramento Zones.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and a giant game of Rock, Paper Scissors, and of course, lunch pictures
Twinning with Sister Tenney and Sister Hunter
This past Monday we had round two with the Sacramento and Carmichael Zones.
I realize I didn't get as many pictures this week, because I jumped in and started playing instead of taking pictures.
On Monday night, after the zone activity, we had dinner at our home for our Senior Missionaries. We have a dinner when any of them are going to be going home before our next FHE. This month we honored Elder and Sister Gunn who are our medical missionaries and will be leaving at the end of the month. We LOVE the Gunns and are going to miss them terribly. We talk to them almost daily and Sister Gunn has been invaluable helping me with food for everything. They will be going home to Arizona and we have been trying to convince them to extend until their new home is built down there.
We also have to say goodbye to Sister Withrow and Sister Alfonso. They are the sisters who have been serving in the Sacramento Zone working with the Spanish and Marshallese Branches. They have made such a difference working with the people there, and we love when we get to be with them. Sweet Sister Withrow doesn't speak Spanish or Marshallese, but that hasn't stopped her. As she bore her testimony Monday night she spoke of how she has been in meetings where she hasn't understood one work, but the spirit has spoken to her, confirming to her that the spirit is the true teacher and can communicate to us, no matter what language is being spoken. They are women of faith and have served valiantly and they will also be sorely missed.
We also realized we hadn't gotten a picture of our most recent Senior Sisters. Sister Lewis and Sister Romney are here serving in North Sacramento, doing the same great work that Sister Withrow and Sister Alfonzo did in Sacramento. We are thrilled to have them here.
Last week we also had interviews with the Cordova and Sacramento Zones. They are fairly large zones and so it takes most of the day. We started in Sacramento on Wednesday at 10:00 and were scheduled to finish around 3:30, with no breaks. Leave it to darling Sister Koller and Sister Sherman (pictured above in the matching cammo shirts) to call me and tell me they are bringing us lunch, and what would we like them to pick up for us. Normally I would have firmly refused, but we were starving and they were so happy and willing to serve us. It made our day!
I couldn't take a full body selfie, so you can't tell, but Hermana Barrerra and Hermana Najera and I were all twinning in black and pink the day of their interviews. Any time I can twin with these cute missionaries has to be documented.
We also had a fun and unique missionary opportunity this week. In his pre-mission life, Scott worked for a furniture company, R.C. Willey, and they were building a new store in the boundaries of our mission. The new store is completed and they held the grand opening last week. We were able to go and it was a good experience for Scott to be able to see many former business associates and explain again the reasons we are here, and the reason he was willing to walk away from his job for 3 years. He recently got the nicest letter from someone in the industry who let him know how much he admires him for his willingness to do something like this. Another bonus was that two of my brothers, Curtis and Jeff, and their wives, Jackie and Mary Jayne, my parents, and my Sister Amy and her husband Mike, all came into town for the grand opening and so we were able to go to dinner with them one night and see them at the grand opening.
My sister was able to stay on for a few days and it was so much fun having her here with me. We ate a lot of good food, and were able to go to the temple with our El Dorado Zone. It has been really wonderful over the past two weeks that each of our zones has been able to attend the temple. We have had one zone go each day to the 10:00 session and we have been blessed to attend with a few of the zones. Scott had things scheduled on Friday morning, but Amy and I went and it was fun just showing up and surprising the El Dorado Zone. They thought Amy and I were twins.
Eat dessert first, especially at Karen's Bakery where everything, including the homemade Almond Joys, are heavenly!
Friday night our boys, Alex, Ethan and Preston came into town for a quick trip. They came to watch a Kings/Jazz basketball game. Scott has a friend in the Jazz organization that hooked them up with tickets and they figured it was a good excuse to head into town. They were here less than 48 hours, but we did have a nice dinner on Friday night.
Saturday was a day our mission has been preparing for and looking forward to. We had a mission wide YSA rescue blitz. Each companionship prepared by asking their ward clerks for a list of any YSA who were less active on their rolls and for their addresses. On Saturday morning each zone met together at a church and invited YSA ward members to join in the blitz with us. We went to kick it off with the Carmichael Zone at the church where our mission office is located. We used technology to gather the entire mission together at the same time. We had a large TV set up and as each zone gathered and joined the online meeting, we saw them pop up on our screen. I wish I had snapped a picture of everyone together at the same time, at least electronically. Scott gave them a little pep talk, we said a prayer and they were off. It has been inspiring hearing about the miracles from the YSA blitz. One of the miracles was that it had been raining for most of the week and rain was forecast all day on Saturday. We had all been praying that the rain might be held off from 10-1 while the blitz was going on, so we could all participate in the rescue efforts, and the first miracle of the blitz is that it didn't rain during that time and the missionaries and members were able to go and visit and find the YSA. One of the ward clerks said one of the miracles was that we helped them clean up their records. The missionaries reported back about those who had moved or had gotten married, or whatever the case was. He said what our missionaries did in 3 hours would have never gotten done, and if it had, it would have taken months, or longer. We had some other miracles, of people coming back to church on Sunday that hadn't been in years, one even bore her testimony. It was a unifying experience for all of us because we were truly united in purpose on Saturday.
After that, we went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday afternoon for Argentine Empanadas. Alex and Scott were in heaven, actually, they are so delicious that we were all in heaven. And the oranges that are out right now are to die for.
I had to say goodbye to Amy on Saturday, it was wonderful having her here. As we said, on both of our accounts, 'sometimes a girl just needs her sister.' I ran her to the airport and the boys went to the Jazz game.
We were able to have the boys come to church with us, and then we ran them to the airport. Have I mentioned that we know our way to the airport??? Scott jokes that we may be on someone's watch list. We are probably there more than anyone in Sacramento, and we never get on a plane to fly anywhere!
When did my little boys turn into three handsome men? I sure love them.
On Sunday night we had a wonderful evening. Preston was blessed to serve his mission in Little Rock Arkansas under the direction of President and Sister Wakolo. President Wakolo was called in April as the first Fijian General Authority as he was called into the First Quorum of the Seventy. We were disappointed that we didn't ever get to meet them, but they were finishing their mission as we were beginning ours. On Sunday night they came and did a fireside for the Fijian ward in the Sacramento Stake. It is the first Fijian ward outside of Fiji. When we found out he was coming, we were so excited it was going to be the same weekend that Preston was here, but they left a few hours before the Wakolos got here. The good news is that they ran into them at the airport in Salt Lake on Friday, as they were coming out here and Elder Wakolo was going to L.A. for a Stake Conference assignment before he came here. That was a tender mercy.
We were blessed to attend a dinner in their honor and the fireside they spoke at. Preston has always spoken so highly of President Wakolo that he has become quite a legend at our house. We were happy to report that he and Sister Wakolo lived up to our every expectation. What a remarkable story of faith and conversion they have, and the spirit is so strong with them that it is tangible. It was also a pretty great night for us to hear them sing our son's praises as a missionary. We think he is awesome, and it was a joy to hear them confirm that they feel the same way about him. Also, I told Scott, if we ever go on another mission, I want to go to Fiji simply to hear the Fijians sing (and because they are warm and wonderful people). The choir was incredible and even though I couldn't understand what they were singing, it brought tears to my eyes. The spirit was so strong and they were so sincere in singing praises to our Heavenly Father. It was a wonderful opportunity to be there.
Finally, we had MLC at our home yesterday. I LOVE MLC! The spirit is always strong and we always learn so much from our mission leaders. By the way, I didn't really speak 'mission' until a year or so ago, so for those who don't know MLC stands for Mission Leadership Council. It is where our Zone Leaders and Sister Training leaders gather and Scott and I and our assistants conduct trainings and counsel with them concerning the mission and our missionaries. I gave a training on Hope and I learn more from them than they learn from me as we counsel together. I love to get their insights and thoughts as we learn together and are taught by the spirit the things we need to know. Scott trained on Praying with Faith and Hope. We also had great counsels together about Safeguards for Technology. We are getting smart phones in our mission next week and so we rolled them out to the MLC yesterday. Every time I am a little worried or skeptical about something (like giving everyone a smart phone) I just have to spend a little time with our missionaries to ease my fears. They definitely have the safeguards written in their hearts and had wonderful insight and ideas on how to help all of the missionaries under their stewardship to have them written on their hearts as well.
As we were singing the closing song, "Hope of Israel", I could barely choke the words out as I looked out over these faithful Elders and Sisters who truly are the Hope of Israel, and Israel couldn't be in better hands. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity we have to serve at this time with some of the greatest missionaries in the church. It is an honor to know, love and work with them. We are very blessed.
Sacramento Mission Leadership Council. March 2018
There is much power in these Sisters and Elders
Counseling on Safeguards for Technology and setting up their new smart phones. I don't think any of them are sad to get rid of their old brick phones.
A successful meeting is largely dependent on the success of the lunch, and this one was a smashing success, thanks to the Gunns and the Gunnells. We love our Senior missionaries.
Come July we will be adding another 50 to our ranks as we will be gaining three zones from the Modesto Mission that will be dissolved. As soon as MLC was over, Scott and I drove down to Modesto to meet with President and Sister Palmer, and President and Sister Mackey from the Fresno Mission who will be getting the other half of Modesto. We are grateful for the wonderful work the Palmers have done and are looking forward to increasing the size of our mission family. We can't wait to meet those who will be joining us. We love them already.
The rest of this week will be spent interviewing our last three zones and preparing for our Zone Conferences next week. Never a dull moment in the mission field, but how grateful we are to be serving at this time.
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