Our most eternally significant arrival, one we have anticipated almost since we arrived in the mission, was the arrival of our 8th grandchild. Our precious granddaughter, Caroline Georgia Rasmussen, arrived on Wednesday, March 28 at 8:10 a.m. We are so thrilled to have Caroline join our family. She evened us up. We now have 4 granddaughters and 4 grandsons.
I'm not going to lie, it was a VERY hard morning for me, not being there to be with Stacie and Bennett, and to hold and snuggle this new angel sent straight from heaven. However, we know we and our family have been blessed because of our service, and I know Heavenly Father helped take away some of the sting of not being there. It was one of those days where I definitely would have liked to have been in two places at once. But, we love her as much as if we were right there with her and can't wait to meet her in person.
Although my daughter Andrea, who lives in Richmond VA, and I were feeling a little sorry for ourselves that we weren't there for this special time, I was SO grateful for the support our Utah family gave to them. I am so grateful for a loving, supportive family. It's my greatest gift.
We had plenty of other arrivals in the last few weeks. We welcomed Elder and Sister Goodwin to the mission. They are our new missionary couple that will help in the office, and Sister Goodwin is our new mission nurse. They are from Oregon and will be a great asset to our mission. We are grateful to have them join the California Sacramento Mission family.
Welcoming the Goodwins meant we had to say goodbye to our dear Elder and Sister Gunn. They saved our lives as we got to the mission and they had such a handle on all of the medical and emotional issues in the mission. They were so loving and patient with us as we learned the ins and outs of the missionary medical issues. Not only that, but Sister Gunn has been my right hand when it comes to feeding the masses. How we love and will miss them, but know we will be friends forever.
I had to capture this very common sight of Elder Gunn taking a medical call, and President standing by to act. Also, the Goodwins were initiated by fire. The very first day they were on their own, after the Gunns had left, we had an elder who needed to go to the emergency room. President and I sat with him the first night, thought all was well, and he was back the next day with the same issue. And the Goodwins were there with him that entire day. We told them since we have been here we have only had 2 other missionaries have to go to the hospital. We didn't want them packing their bags and sneaking out of town. We couldn't have them just have a nice calm welcome. How fun would that be? (parent's don't worry, if you didn't hear from us, it wasn't your son. And we believe all is well with this elder)
On Monday, March 24 we welcomed 4 new arrivals from the MTC. We picked them up at the airport, brought them to our home for dinner and their interview with Scott, did a little bit of training and then got them to bed.
I love picking our new missionaries up at the airport. It is such an exciting time, and they are energetic and ready to begin their missionary adventures.
We take these pictures that evening and text them to their parents to let them know they have arrived safely and are being well loved and well taken care of.
Sister Maldonado and Elder Thacker
Elder Ingram and Elder Miller
The next day we met with them and the two Hmong Elders who came in last week for more training, we introduced the four newest to their trainers, fed them lunch and went to the temple to take pictures with their trainers and then they are off to their areas, doing the missionary work they are so anxious to begin.
Elder Kemp training Elder Betzsold Elder Thomas training Elder Raza
Elder Anderson training Elder Thacker Elder Moeller training Elder Ingram
And I do really love finding these selfies on my phone after the assistants have taken pictures for me.
After we got the new missionaries off and working, we met up with our four departing missionaries. We had a nice little meeting with them talking about the temple, and then went to the temple with them.
After the temple session we came back to our home for dinner and for a departing testimony meeting. We always have our assistants serve dinner to the departing missionaries. We have changed the organization of the mission a bit. In July we will be adding half of the Modesto mission, which will be closing. We will be welcoming in 50 new missionaries and be gaining 3 new zones. In addition, by August 1 we will only have 20 missionaries in the mission who have been here longer than we have. We are getting really young really fast, so we need some very seasoned missionaries to mentor our new, young leaders and help with this transition. In order to do that, Scott felt inspired to call 2 more assistants to help with all of the work. He called Elder Ravston and Elder Nelson to be assistants working in the East Sacramento Stake, and he also called Elder Forte to replace Elder Murphy when he goes home next transfer. Elder Yorgasen will go home the transfer after Elder Murphy so they are in a trio in order for Elder Forte to be able to 'hold down the fort' (bad pun) when he is on his own. That was a long explanation for the following picture. The tradition has been that each new assistant that comes in, when he serves the departing dinner, has to wear one of my aprons. Good thing I have 3 aprons. I think they are wearing them well.
We were so happy that Scott's brother, Rob, had work in Oakland and was able to drive to our home to join us for the dinner and testimony meeting. He and his wife Kathy have been called to serve as Mission President and Companion in Bahia Blanca Argentina, starting in July. This will be the last time we will see him for three years (unless we can get ourselves to Argentina after we finish) so it was a treasured few hours for these two brothers.
Saying goodbye to Elder Hallmark
Goodbye to Elder Brown
Elder Young Yen's parents picked him up at the office, but we took him to the airport for the goodbyes
Watching them say goodbye to each other is pretty emotional too, we feel to shout Hurrah for Israel as they walk away.
Elder Young Yen's parents came from New Zealand to pick him up
After a very emotional day, it was nice to have the arrival of our friends, Phil and Mary Walter, who were here on business. We were able to meet up with them for dinner and it was just what we needed after the emotions of transfers, let alone the emotion of our new baby that morning. We felt blessed to spend a few great hours with them.
On Thursday we celebrated the arrival of several new mission leaders at our New Leaders Training Meeting. As I mentioned before, our mission is going to be pretty young pretty soon. We called several new District Leaders, Zone Leaders and a few new Sister Training Leaders. Scott told them that now is their time. The great missionaries who were leading the mission when they and we got here are either gone, or will be going home and now is their time to pick up the baton and keep the great mission culture that we have going. I have no worries about this group. The Lord always provides new leaders to take the former leader's places and whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. I am excited to see the great things these new leaders are going to do. They are all remarkable!
This picture is just because Sister Coombs and I were kind of twinning, and mostly just because I love Sister Coombs and Sister Rowley so much!!!
Last weekend we also got to go to the wedding of Nancy, one of our recent converts, I'm sure I posted a picture of her at her baptism. It was a miracle and we could definitely see God's hand in her conversion, and in the part these two sisters played in bringing her into the gospel. It was only fitting that Sister Roberts and Sister Clark should also play the role of wedding planners. These young Elders and Sisters never cease to amaze me with their capacity to do anything that is needed. They aren't afraid to just take things on. These Sisters pulled off an incredibly beautiful wedding for Nancy, down to every detail. I just can't quit saying how remarkable they all are. This was a great night for everyone, thanks to these angels. I also did a lot of baking and now my freezer is full of cookies just waiting to be taken to our interviews this transfer. #cookwhenyoucan
I had some unexpected arrivals this past Friday. It happened to be my birthday, and I was kind of excited because we had a clear calendar. Everyone was asking me what we were going to do for my birthday and my answer was, nothing and I was pretty excited about that prospect. Things got much better though at 10:00 a.m. when our doorbell rang, I opened it and saw our two sons, Ethan and Preston and Ethan's girlfriend Camee standing on my front porch holding a box of donuts. They had driven to Reno on Thursday night and then drove from Reno to our home on Friday morning to surprise me for my birthday. It was the best surprise ever and I couldn't get over the fact that they were actually standing right there. They all pulled it off well, along with help from Scott. They were all texting me telling me happy birthday and that they would call me after their classes. I had spent time on the phone during the week trying to make sure they had somewhere to go and things to do for conference weekend. All of my kids were in on it and they all did a great job of keeping the secret. It was so much fun to have them here for the weekend, for my birthday, for conference, and for Easter. I love the fact that we are close enough for them to come for a weekend, although I know it is a long drive for them. They are the best and I feel so blessed to have felt so much love this weekend.
I've also decided if you want to feel like a rock star on your birthday and to feel incredibly loved, you should go on a mission. I was blown away and overwhelmed at the kindness and love that our missionaries showered on me. I didn't know they knew it was my birthday, but being a facebook mission probably didn't help keep it on the downlow. But I had calls, texts, videos sent, my garage was decorated, gifts and cards dropped off, many renditions of the happy birthday song, and the list goes on. I can't even express how much I love them and how grateful I am to be serving with them. I also heard from family and friends as well, and for that I am very grateful too. I had just never experienced a mission field birthday and it was really, really great.
Finally I have to express my gratitude to our Heavenly Father for our new prophet, President Nelson and for the spiritual feast that was General Conference. From the very beginning as we were blessed to participate in the Solemn Assembly, to the very end, where 7 new temples were announced, and many times in between, I couldn't keep the tears from flowing. The spirit was so strong and I felt a very powerful confirmation that we are being led by a true prophet of God and that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church. I felt overwhelming gratitude for being a member of the church and for the blessing of serving this mission and helping in this great work, in my very small way. As the closing song of "Let us All Press On" was being sung so beautifully and powerfully I could hardly contain my emotions and the love and appreciation I felt for our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ for allowing us to all press on in His work, wherever that work may take us. It was a conference not soon to be forgotten. It was a wonderful Easter Weekend.
In closing, this beautiful painting entitled The Risen Hope hangs in the Salt Lake Temple, and it was in front of this painting that President Nelson chose to hold his first news conference.
Of it, the artist Joseph Brickey said "The light reinforces the idea of overcoming death and darkness, of rising above despair, of finding hope. Not only is Christ risen, but Mary's hope rises when she hears her name from His lips. She represents each of us- this very personal interaction typifies Christ's role in our lives. He knows us. He watches over us when we weep. His voice overcomes darkness and brings resplendent hope." How grateful I am that I know my redeemer lives and for the hope that gives me everyday of my life. I hope, and commit to follow His example and to try to become a little more like Him. Of Him I am grateful to testify each and every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment