Last Saturday we were able to attend a baptism in North Sacramento and then we went out working with the missionaries. I went with Sister Tatafu and Sister Gray who work in the Tongan ward, and Scott went with Hermana Vogt and Hermana Keller in the Spanish Ward. We both saw miracles and were so blessed to see first hand how hard our missionaries work at getting people to come unto Christ. The Hermanas were pretty impressed that President Hymas started running down the road after someone. It turns out he was interested and they are trying to set up a teaching appointment with him. As we met back up and the Hermanas were telling the Sisters about that, Sister Tatafu said "yeah, that's my mission President" and pumped the air. That's how I feel about him too.
These sisters have only been in the Tongan Ward for about 2 weeks, they were shotgunned in, and Sister Gray is brand new to the mission. They have been working so hard getting to know the ward members and they have big plans for the ward. They are now getting about 50 to church and their goal is to double Sacramento Meeting attendance by the end of the transfer and they were telling me their plans to do it. You have to love the FAITH and enthusiasm of missionaries. We had a funny thing happen. Actually, it wasn't really funny, it was a miracle. They had been trying to get with a less active member for the two weeks they had been there. They had stopped by his house numerous times and never found anyone there. We decided to stop by and there were a bunch of cars there. We knocked on the door and someone finally answered and they asked for this member. The lady that answered said he was in the backyard. I said "it looks like you are having a party" and she said they were getting food ready because her two nieces were getting baptized. They hadn't known any of these people and so I asked a logical question "which church are they getting baptized into?" Then she pointed towards the Stake Center and said "over at the North Stake Center". Turns out, the less active brother they had been looking for had a daughter getting baptized, as an 8 year old, and they got invited to the baptism and to the post baptism dinner. It was a miracle and better than they had anticipated.
On Sunday we had the blessing of speaking in The East Sacramento Stake Conference with Bishop Waddell from the presiding bishopric. We stared early at the Leadership meeting at 7 a.m. and then spoke in the 10 a.m. general session. I love Bishop Waddell and being with him was a real treat. He said something that has resonated with me. He said "It is good to have a testimony, but it is essential to maintain that testimony. It is good to make covenants, it is essential to keep those covenants and we keep those covenants as we do the things that point us to Jesus Christ."
We got home from that meeting around 1:30 and turned around and left at 3:00 to head to the Sacramento Stake Center for a Coordinating Council Meeting that lasted until about 8:30 that night. We were saved by meetings last Sunday for sure.
We headed down to Manteca on Monday night because we had the first of our three Zone Conferences there on Tuesday morning. The Assistants trained on Keeping your line in the Water and made three fun videos they called The Parable of the Three Fishermen.
Scott and I trained in the afternoon and talked about Strengthening our Personal Conversion through The Book of Mormon. Preach My Gospel states: "The Book of Mormon is powerful evidence of the divinity of Jesus Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith. An essential part of conversion is receiving a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. As a missionary you must first have a personal testimony that the book of Mormon is true. "
Scott talked about having a testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration and I talked about strengthening our testimonies about the Divinity of Jesus Christ, as evidenced in The Book of Mormon. We then kicked off our Book of Mormon read. We are beginning tomorrow and reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and we will finish on Christmas Eve. Here's our reading schedule. We invite all to join us and read along.
Day 1: Tuesday, August 21, Manteca, Stockton and Lodi Zones
Manteca Zone
Stockton Zone
Lodi Zone
Here are some pictures our dear friend Patrick Twomey took during lunch, as we were eating, socializing and singing to the wonderful members who provided us with a delicious lunch.
Singing to our Birthday boys
This is how we feel about Zone Conferences too!
Day 2: Wednesday August 22, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Cordova, and East Sacramento Zones
Sacramento Zone
Elk Grove Zone
East Sacramento Zone
Cordova Zone
These are by far our largest zones
I wish I could remember what President whispered to me that made us laugh like this
Happy Birthday to these Sisters and Elders!
While we were having lunch, Elder and Sister Goodwin went to the airport to pick up two new sisters that arrived in our mission from Temple Square. We are blessed to have Sister Crane and Sister Dossett with us in our mission for 2 transfers so they can get a taste of 'field work'. We are grateful to have these two darling sisters with us. I told them we aren't going to want to send them back when their two transfers are done.
Sister Dossett Sister Crane
Day 3: Thursday, August 23, Folsom, Carmichael, El Dorado and North Sacramento Zones
Folsom Zone
Carmichael Zone
El Dorado Zone
North Sacramento Zone
Great minds think alike: Twinning with Sister Skank
Hugs all around!
Lots of birthdays in these combined zones
In this picture we included our amazing office Elders, Elder Dunyon and Elder Dobson. Some have started calling them Double D!
By the end of the third day, we were exhilarated but exhausted. Being with the missionaries is always such a spiritual and emotional boost. We love them so much.
After Zone Conference on Thursday, we were thrilled to have a visit from the mother of one of our missionaries, Elder Mutchie. Jenifer Mutchie was in town for business and stopped by to meet us. She was delightful and we had such a great visit. Good thing Elder Mutchie is on the very farthest South zone, about as far away from us as he could be. She has way more self control than I could have had, being in the same mission as my son would have done me in!
Friday morning we had to say goodbye to Elder Newton. He was scheduled to leave at the end of the transfer in a few weeks, but had to leave a few weeks early to get into school. He's been a great missionary with a ready smile and we were sad to see him leave.
We went from the airport to the Wissemann building where we had our 15 new missionaries and their trainers come for the 3 week new missionary meeting. It's so fun to see the growth in these missionaries in just a few short weeks.
We had to get a sister's picture, even through a few of the companionships had already left before we thought of it.
Saturday was quite an international day for us. We started with a baptism that we went to of a man who grew up in Baghdad Iraq, he converted to Christianity 2 years ago and met some members at the convenience store where he works. They started talking to him about the church and he showed up at one of our churches one Sunday and asked when he could be baptized. Believe me, that doesn't happen often! Mo is going to do great things!
From there we went to a baptism in the Fijian ward of a mother and her two adult sons. We love when ever we can get to the Fijian ward. The members are the sweetest, kindest people and the spirit there is always so strong. And we get to see the elders in their Sulus. We're all just waiting until the day President will put one on.
Saturday evening we went to the North Sacramento Stake's Annual Cultural Event. The North Sacramento Stake is very diverse and I love how they embrace each culture. They had food and dancing from many regions of the world. We ate Tongan, Hmong, Filipino, Mexican and African Food. Along with some good old American Apple Pie. It was a fun night!
Aren't our two Senior Sister Missionaries, Sister Lewis and Sister Romney darling!!!
As I said in the beginning, it's been a week of meetings and today we were right back where we started last Sunday; speaking in church. We were invited to speak in the Elk Grove YSA ward and it brought back great memories of our YSA days, prior to our mission. We also just happened to run into Brother Twomey, who always has a camera on him and snapped this picture of us as we were leaving.
We can't believe it is almost September. The weather has been lovely, it is starting to feel a little bit like fall and we love it. We put together our calendar for September and it is filling right up.
When we get baptisms, going out with our missionaries, and Scott reading 170 letters each week, in addition to everything else that comes up each month, we think September will keep us busy. We love it and wouldn't have it any other way. We feel grateful to be serving here in Sacramento with the best missionaries we could have ever hoped for.
You both look great!!! Love ang
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