A Mission of Miracles and Blessings

This past week was full of little tender mercies and miracles and blessings.  We always tell our missionaries to look for the small miracles that occur every day.  The happiest missionaries are those who look for and recognize those miracles because they are those who are seeing the hand of God in their lives and know who is directing not only them, but this work.  God can do his own work and we are blessed to be part of it.  

One of those miracles happened with Sister Clark and Sister Shaw.  (We actually took this picture at our 3 week new missionary meeting because this tree at the Wissemann building was spectacular.)

So, these sisters were out looking for a former friend and stopped by where they thought she lived.  The person they were looking for wasn't there but they started talking to another woman who was there. She had a little girl and, of course, these sisters are always prepared with stickers to give to children.  They gave the little girl some stickers and continued talking to her mom, who seemed pretty receptive.  Sister Shaw, who had only been here for about three weeks, noticed the little girl again and had the thought to give her some princess stickers, which she had.  She asked the little girl if she liked princesses and if she'd like a princess sticker and she lit up and was thrilled to get a princess sticker.  Her mom told them that they could come back and teach her another time and they left.  When they went to record the meeting in their area book they actually found that another set of missionaries had stopped by and talked to this woman once before, she was in their area book, and the note by her name said 'you can come by again if you bring princess stickers for her little girl'.  When they told me that story I got chills and it was a confirmation that God is in the details of our lives and he cares about each and every one of us, even a little girl who loves princess stickers.  It also made me grateful to know that the spirit is always working in us as we are trying to do God's will.  Sister Shaw didn't know she was being directed by the spirit when she bought princess stickers, she was just going about trying to do good, but God knew. 

With the addition of three new Stakes/Zones into our mission Scott has been trying to get down and meet with each of the Stake Presidents.  He had a meeting scheduled with President Anderson of the Lodi Stake for a Sunday morning two weeks ago and President Anderson had invited us to attend Sacrament meeting with him in his ward prior to the meeting.  Something came up in his schedule and he had to cancel and reschedule for last Sunday.  We drove down to meet him and to attend the Mokelumne River Ward.  As we walked in to Sacrament meeting we met our missionaries assigned to that ward, Elder Manley and Elder Yazzie and they introduced us to a recent convert, Jen Tovar.  We chatted with her for a few minutes and I asked her how she came to find the gospel.  She said it started 10 years ago and that it had been quite a journey and left it at that.  We then went to briefly meet President Anderson, with whom we felt an immediate connection.  We went with him into the chapel for Sacrament Meeting and he asked us to sit on the stand with him.  I was happy to see Jen sitting on the stand also and so we chatted again and she told me she was speaking in the meeting.  

As she started her talk she began telling her conversion story.  She said about 10 years ago she worked for a dentist who was a member of the church who was a great example to her and she had never forgotten his influence on her.  As she started telling her story I leaned over to Scott and said "I know this story, she is taking about Jared Danielson".  Jared is in our ward and about a month ago I was talking on the phone with his wife Julie.  We love the Danielsons and have become friends with them, but I think I have only talked to Julie on the phone once and it was this time.  She had called to tell me something great about our missionaries (I love those calls) and then she said she needed to tell me about a baptism they had just attended in Lodi.  She told me about a woman who had worked with Jared 10 years ago, but they had lost touch with her after they had stopped working together.  Out of the blue, a few months ago he got a call from her and she told him that she was getting baptized and she would love for them to come to her baptism.  She said for all of these years his example as a member of the church had stuck with her, and she had thought of his example time and time again over the years and it was because of his example that when she started dating a member of the church and he suggested she meet with the missionaries, she started taking lessons and eventually decided to be baptized.  As I was talking to Julie she told me that this took them completely by surprise, Jared had no idea he had made any impression on Jen at all.  They hadn't kept in touch and he was completely surprised to get her call.  

It was unbelievable to me that we were in that very meeting, in a ward we just got into our mission, on a day we weren't supposed to be there, and that I had even had the occasion to hear this story from Julie, because we don't talk often.  President Anderson asked Scott and I to say a few words and so we went to the pulpit together and Scott began by telling the members how valuable they are to missionary work and then said that I had the rest of Jen's story.  I looked back at her and said "I know this story, it was Dr Danielson wasn't it?"  She was completely shocked and then I was able to tell the story from Jared and Julie's perspective and the joy it brought them when they found out she was going to be baptized, and the power of example.  That as we just live the gospel the best we can, as we go about doing good, as we are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing the fact that we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we can be the catalyst for much good in the lives of people we may never even know about.  It was a tender mercy to be there, and I think it immediately drew us close to those ward members.  Another reminder that God is in the details of our lives.  

With President Anderson, Jen and Elders Manley and Yazzie

Last Saturday we attended several baptisms, one of which was for Doreen.  She has been learning for quite some time.  We first met her at another baptism a few weeks earlier and she said "you've probably heard about me. I'm difficult".  She definitely has gone through her fair share of Elders and Sisters, but when the Lord's timing was right for her, she received her answer that the gospel is true and she made the choice to get baptized. It was a wonderful baptism where the spirit was strong and the joy on the missionaries' faces says volumes about the joy you feel when you bring someone to Christ. 

Yesterday we were able to attend the baptism of the Knox family.  Elder Rodriguez and Elder Miller received a referral from a member for this family.  They went to visit them a few weeks ago and they were golden.  They just believed everything that they were taught and had a strong desire to get baptized.  Not often do we baptize a family of 5, with two more daughters who are hoping to get baptized this coming Saturday.  There was an amazing spirit at this baptism and what a joy it was to see a whole family brought into the church.  As we sang the closing song, 'Families can be Together Forever' it was hard to hold back the tears, knowing that the temple is the next goal of this beautiful family.  The River Park ward was amazing and the girls and the son have been welcomed in to the ward with open arms.  The girls are going to girl's camp this week.  The transformation of their lives was quick as they recognized the truth and the blessing it could be in their family.  These three experiences taught me that each individual has their own time table, for Jen it was 10 years in the making, for Doreen, a little less than a year, and the Knox family was about a month.  It is overwhelming to me that God knew each of these people and knew who and what they needed in their lives.  It makes me want to make sure I always live in a way that the Lord can use me to influence others in ways that will help them have a desire to come to the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter how long the process.  And even if we aren't as blessed as the Danielsons to see the end results.  

We are so grateful for the missionaries we are blessed to serve with and for the things they teach us.  Earlier this week we had a missionary who got some pretty devastating news from home.  We heard about it and called this missionary and told her to call home and then to call us back after she had talked to her family at home.  We went and picked her and her companion up and took them to dinner and we were able to process some things and share our love.  We then went back to their apartment and Scott gave her a blessing.  After the blessing we walked out to our car and we hadn't even backed out yet and we see these two faithful missionaries heading out to work for the night.  I burst into tears as I saw this example of faithful dedication.  If anyone would have had an excuse to just sit for a few minutes, to take a little break or to sit and feel sorry for herself for a bit, it would have been her.  But she was so full of faith that she followed us right out the door and went to work.  That is one of those images I will never, ever get out of my head, seeing these two faithful sisters, putting aside their own grief, in order to fulfill their missionary purpose.  As she said to me "Sister Hymas, I can do more for my family here than I could ever do for them at home".  Oh how we love and admire our faithful missionaries. 

We got a request from a set of zone leaders last night asking us to make a video to put on their zone messenger chat, encouraging them to work hard to the end of the transfer. They have one week left and the zone decided to hold a zone fast in order for them to find miracles this last week of the transfer.  In this zone three of the missionaries are going home, and many know they will be transferred, but they are still fasting and praying for the faith to work hard and find miracles, and to leave their areas better than they found them.  

We were also blessed yesterday to see more of the blessings of the gospel in the lives of our new members.  I put pictures of our friend Gerardo's baptism in my last post.  Last night Hermanas Alexander and Singer invited us to join them at the temple where Gerardo was going to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. As we walked into the waiting room, he was there in his white shirt and tie, looking over some literature on Family History.  He had researched and brought some of his family names and was going to be baptized for them.  This gospel blesses families. 

And we continue to be blessed by our missionaries, even after they have gone home.  We have the very great blessing of being close enough for many of our missionaries to come back to the mission and we LOVE seeing them when they do.  This week our dear Elder Yorgasen came back to visit the mission with his wonderful family and what a treat it was for us to meet them and spend some time getting to know them.  Elder Yorgasen always raved about his family and about how wonderful they are, and he didn't oversell them.  What a great family with so much love for each other and for the gospel.  We were definitely blessed to spend a little time with them.  And it was especially wonderful to see Elder Yorgasen again.  

This picture represents the remainder of our week.  We spent Tuesday through Friday in interviews and these are the cookies I made to take with us.  We spent Tuesday in Lodi and Stockton and stayed overnight in Manteca, where we had interviews on Wednesday. Thursday we were in North Sacramento and Friday in Elk Grove. In total we interviewed 74 missionaries over the course of 4 days.  It was a blessing to get to know our newest missionaries in our newest zones, and it's always a blessing to be with the ones we know a little bit better as well.  We are so blessed to feel such love from them.  It never fails, that we usually get out to our car and we have a few notes under our windshield wipers, we had two sisters bring us the most delicious tacos for lunch after their interviews because they know we don't really take lunch breaks, we had a bag of Riesen candy and a sweet note dropped off 'anonymously' at our front door just after we had gotten home from our 4th day of interviews because the sisters in our ward know they are my favorites.  What we give is miniscule in comparison to  what we receive from these wonderful Elders and Sisters.  How grateful we are to be in this mission of miracles and blessings.  

Congratulations, It's 30 new Elders and 10 New Sisters

This morning Scott and I were discussing D&C 7, where the Savior tells how Peter's desire to come speedily to the Kingdom to be with the Savior was a good desire, but John's desire to continue working among men was an even greater desire.  Scott said "do you think it is fair to say that Peter's desire was more about himself and John's desire was more about other people?"  Now, one thing you have to know about me is that I LOVE Peter and I will defend him always.  I thought about this for a minute and said "well, maybe He caught Peter on a day when he was just really, really tired and just needed a little rest".  This was right before we headed out the door to our third Zone Conference in 3 days, and we could both relate to being tired and wanting a little rest.  It's been a big few weeks, emotionally and physically. 

The biggest news of the past few weeks is that the addition to our mission of three zones from the Modesto Mission happened on July 1.  The event we have been planning and preparing for since January finally happened.  We have been so worried about this because we have had such empathy for the missionaries coming into our mission, whose mission was split in half and half of their friends were put into a different mission.  We have prayed hard for each of them, and have prayed hard about how we could best help them feel of our love for them and the love of all of the Sacramento Missionaries for them.  We have such a desire to help them adjust and to have them bring all of the good things they do, and combine them with the good things we do to help move the work forward.  

We didn't know the names of those who were coming into the mission until a few days before the change over happened.  We were finally able to call all of them on Sunday, July 1 and we were able to go down and meet them on July 5.  It's crazy, we were so nervous driving to Stockton and as we were preparing to walk in and meet the 40 missionaries who we knew were much more nervous than we were. Scott said, "we only have one chance to make a first impression".  

They were all lined up at the back of the chapel and we were able to shake each of their hands and talk to each one of them for a few minutes individually.  We instantly felt such love for them and had it confirmed again that this is the will of the Lord and that these missionaries are going to bless our lives and the lives of the other missionaries already serving in our mission.  

We took down 3 of our Sister Training Leaders and our 4 assistants and most of our office staff so they could get to know not only us, but also some of our missionaries.  We had about a 2 hour meeting, where we introduced ourselves and some of the tools we use in our mission and talked a little bit about our mission culture and then Scott and I taught about the bridge from trust to happiness that is described in 2 Nephi 4 and 5.  After the meeting we had lunch with the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders and tried to answer some of their questions.  I was so bugged that I forgot to snap a picture of the entire group, but I did think about it during the lunch and snapped a picture of the leadership group. 

We felt so grateful to finally meet these wonderful Elders and Sisters and to put faces to names, and even names to numbers.  Names and faces are always better than numbers.  We can't wait to get to know and love them even more.  

As we have gotten bigger and more blessed, we have also gotten busier.  Now we have 11 zones to interview and have added one more Zone Conference, so we have been busy interviewing as many zones as we could this transfer before the take over.  We love our one on one time with our missionaries.  One of the funniest things that happened was the night before we were going to interview the Sacramento Zone. Elder Holdaway, who serves with Elder Santillian in the Tongan ward called to ask us if we had ever eaten horse.  Seriously, horse???  I had heard them talk about eating horse with the Tongan members, but I told him I prefer riding horses to eating them.  He assured us that it was delicious and that they were going to bring us some horse to eat during their interview.  

That's horse meat in that container.  I can now say I have tried horse.  I will admit it was pretty tasty, it was really seasoned well and tasted a lot like beef, but I did have a hard time when I thought about it.  And I felt a little queasy after I had tasted it.  I know it was completely mind over matter, but I've just had too many experiences on the back of a horse to be completely ok with eating one.  But I loved that Elder Holdaway and Elder Santillian wanted to share their cultural experience with us. 

It has been pretty hot here, and on Saturday Scott went out on a bike blitz with the North Sacramento Zone.  The only sisters they have in that zone speak Spanish and so I wasn't much help on my own with them, so I got a pass that afternoon.  It was a good experience for him to go out in the middle of a hot day and I am grateful to Elder Shafer and Elder Lee for taking care of him and giving him water.  We had been at the temple earlier and he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and hadn't taken any water with him.  I was with the North Sac Elders today and they were amazed that he stuck with it with a long sleeve shirt on, and thankfully they had a water bottle he was able to use.  I love this picture they snapped.

While he was biking in the heat, I was eating cake with Ethan and Camee.  Our son Ethan is engaged to the most darling girl and we were blessed to have them come and visit us over the fourth of July and spent the weekend with us.  While Scott was biking, we were at the Midtown Farmer's Market and at Rick's Dessert Diner. Scott was able to join us at the Farmer's Market before he went biking to have a lunch of our very favorite empanadas.

Saturday afternoon we had the great blessing to go to Gerardo Montes' baptism.  Gerardo is the man that we had come to breakfast and a lesson a few weeks ago and were able to have an incredible lesson with he and his daughter.  He is the one who came to Stake Conference and was called on by Elder Carl Cook to bear a testimony, even before he was baptized.  He is golden.  On Thursday evening Hermana Alexander and Hermana Singer wanted to have one more lesson with him at our home prior to his baptism.  Ethan and Camee were here and were able to participate in the lesson with him.  It was a joy to see them contribute to the lesson, they both spoke Spanish on their missions and they absolutely loved being in the lesson.  Gerardo is really an amazing person, I was the only non Spanish speaker in the room and although I couldn't follow everything that was being said, the spirit was so incredibly strong and Gerardo's smile said it all.  After they left, Ethan and Camee were blown away at how solid he is and they couldn't get over how ready and prepared he was for baptism.  We love him and he will be special to us for the rest of our lives, it really makes me want to always have people taught in our home because we have an emotional investment in these friends.  And it was such a blessing that Ethan and Camee were able to be here for his baptism. 

 Gerardo said this is the first time he had ever worn a tie, it looks great on him!

Saturday morning we were able to go to the temple with Ethan and Camee and do sealings with them.  Scott won't be able to leave our mission in order to be at their wedding and so this was a very special experience for all of us.  As sad as it will be to not have him at their wedding, I think we all felt peace as we were in the temple together and know that we have been so blessed and will continue to be blessed as we serve the best we know how.  I'm so grateful for the temple and for eternal families and for the spirit that gives us peace. 

Fortunately we got called to serve in a place that is close enough to home to have our family visit us, and also that it is a place that has really, really good food.  Unfortunately, often we plan our visits around where we are going to eat and I have to fit in a dress for the wedding in just under a month.  But we had a great time eating our way through Sacramento. 

On the Fourth of July we went to the Sactomoto Food Truck round up in the Pocket for lunch.  Then we had a fun Fourth of July Bar b Que with Elder and Sister Gunnell at our home, only after stopping at Karen's bakery for way too many good desserts. 

Another one of our food highlights was dinner at the porch in Midtown.  It's a favorite.

Look at those portions, it's kind of disgusting, but so very delicious.  Also, look at this sky that we saw that evening.  I have been missing our Centerville sunsets, but this sky was incredible. 

We had a lot of fun playing games late at night and we also snuck away to Kayak on Lake Natoma one afternoon.  Camee and I were happy that Ethan is still walking for his wedding.  We had a filter that fell out of the ceiling in our closet.  Among all of their many, many talents, neither Ethan or Scott are super handy.  We walked in on them and their makeshift ladder (a stool perched on a ladder with Scott holding it firmly probably wasn't the smartest idea either of them have ever had, but it worked)

We hated to see them leave early Sunday morning, but were so grateful they could have come and we were able to celebrate their engagement and get a fair amount of wedding planning done as well.  We are so grateful for our family and the blessings we are receiving as a family.  

That was last week, this week we had our three Zone Conferences.  We are used to double headers, but this time we had a Zone Conference Trifecta.  Our first one was on Tuesday in Stockton.  Scott and I both talked about 'A Mission of Miracles and Blessings'.  It is a miracle to be involved in this work and we feel so blessed to be a part of the gathering of Israel and to witness miracles and blessings every day.  We teach that the happiest missionaries are those who recognize the small miracles that come to them each day as they #trustrevelation, #getoutoftheship, #reachforJesus, and #gototheedge.  

God is a God of miracles yesterday, today and forever and works not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. (2 Nephi 27:23)  As great as the miracles of yesterday as recorded in the scriptures are, the prophecy in Jeremiah 16:14-15, that the miracle of Moses parting the red sea will be forgotten in light of the miracle of the gathering of Israel, and this quote by President Nelson excites and inspires me.

"Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again.  We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this church in majesty and glory." 

What a blessing to be part of this army of miracle workers in the last days.

Zone Conference Day 1, Tuesday, July 10: Lodi, Stockton and Manteca Zones

Stockton Zone

Manteca Zone

Lodi Zone

Zone Conference Day 2: July 11: Sacramento, Elk Grove, East Sac and Cordova Zones

Sacramento Zone

Cordova Zone

Elk Grove Zone

East Sac Zone and Senior Couples

We ran home from Zone Conference in time to have Sister Leavitt and Sister Lund who serve in our ward for dinner.  We love when they come and the messages they share with us.  We always learn from them and love the spirit that they bring with them. 

Zone Conference Day 3: July 12: El Dorado, Folsom, Carmichael and North Sac Zones

 El Dorado Zone

 North Sacramento Zone

 Folsom Zone

Carmichael Zone

The El Dorado Sisters sang a beautiful musical number, Redeemer of Israel, and they all wore navy and pink.  I happened to wear navy and pink, and they told me I should sing with them.  I told them they had never heard me sing or they wouldn't have asked, but that we would get a picture together. 

Then we found a few more sisters who got the Navy, Pink and White memo

A little fun after a spirit packed day! When Elder Kearon was here he told us to 'look like the plan of happiness'.  This picture looks like we are following his counsel.

It was fun to get a picture together with many of the remarkable sisters that were at today's Zone Conference.  This is a powerful group of women who love the Lord and put Him first.  They are those who #gotoutoftheboat and they see miracles daily because of it. How I love them and am blessed by them and all of the other missionaries in our mission on a daily basis.