Just a warning, this is going to be a long post, so take it in small doses, or stop reading whenever you get tired. I dare you to get to the end!!!
We had a great first Saturday of December as we started out the month with 20 baptisms that day. It was a great start to a white Christmas. We were able to attend a baptism of 7 members of one extended Hmong family. It was wonderful to see this family come together into the church and to see the joy on the faces of those who were already members of the church. This was Elder Seely's first weekend here. What a way to start your mission!
We started out the month with a whole bunch of new missionaries that landed here on Monday, December 3. Transfer week is a busy week, filled with lots of emotions. We are always so excited to get our new, enthusiastic missionaries here, and we are always sad to say goodbye to beloved missionaries. This transfer was no different, but it was a little more emotional than normal. I was busily preparing for the new missionary arrival Monday morning and we got a call from our son, who had unfortunately been witness to a very tragic event that really shook him, and us to the core. I just have to say how grateful I am for our family. Everyone of our kids reached out to him in such loving ways. Our daughter packed up her kids and drove to Provo to spend the afternoon with him, our son and daughter in law that live in Provo had him for dinner and then his brother gave him a blessing of comfort. All of our kids called and showed such love and concern, it made being away from him easier knowing he had siblings who were quick to step in and be there with him when we couldn't.
We got a wonderful group of missionaries that arrived here that afternoon. We had one group of 12 coming from the Provo MTC, and about an hour later, we had a group of 4 coming from the Mexico City MTC. Group one arrived and headed back to the mission office with Scott and the assistants to start the interview/entry process and I stayed at the airport to wait for the next arrival. I have so many favorite things, but welcoming new missionaries has to be at the very top of the list. I absolutely love waiting at the bottom of the escalator in the airport, waiting for those beautiful faces to appear.
Round 2
The next day we had training for the new missionaries, training for the new trainers, and transfers going on all at the same time. It's a day we wish we could clone ourselves, but as it is, we just jump from one thing to the next, trying to be where we need to be at the critical moments.
Here are our great new missionaries with their trainers:
Elders Kemp and Everett training Elder Swainston Elder Lee training Elder Thompson
Elder Obray training Elder Wyatt Elder Ozment training Elder Mercer
Elder Nilson training Elder Grover Elder Hansen training Elder Wood
Elder Babin training Elder Atkinson Elder Barr training Elder Seely
Elder Thompson training Elder Ratcliff Elder Holdaway training Elder Ficklin
Hermana Nielson training Hermana Speas Sister Gilbert training Sister Engle
Elder Salvador training Elder West Hermana Capillo-Montes training Hermana Udall
Hermanas Quizon and Keller training Hermana Lewis Hermana Melendez training Hermana Freeman
Sister Roberts (filling in for a sick Hermana Sutherland) who is training Hermana Quesenberry
Hermana Singer training Hermana Miller
Elder Thompson has been our assistant for about 6 months and he was really wanting to train his last transfer and so this was just before he took off with his new missionary. We have absolutely loved him and his energy and work ethic and love of this work that he instilled in everyone. We will miss him. But he is loving being out working a new area. His first full day of work after transfers he let us know that he and Elder Ratcliff had 23 unplanned contacts (he told me they got even more after he let us know that). Scott sent that in a text to our assistants and Elder Ricedorff replied: "President, you unleashed an animal out there, he isn't stuck in his cage anymore!"
We got the new group off to work and met our departing missionaries at the temple for a temple session prior to our departing dinner and testimony meeting.
Elder Larsen is our new assistant and it is a tradition that the assistants serve the departing dinner, and the new one always gets broken in by wearing one of my aprons. They are always such good sports.
The next morning it was off to the airport to send these great missionaries home to their families. It is always sad to say goodbye, but I couldn't help remembering when our son, Alex came home right before Christmas and it made me smile to think of the great Christmas gifts we were sending home to their families.
Hermana Musgrave, who went home to Alaska, had to leave earlier than the rest of them
Elder Payne Elder Madrigal
Hermana Penfold Sister Gunter
Hermana Smith Hermana Peterson
These two are the first missionaries we met in the MTC. We were all there together and they came in our very first group of missionaries to the mission. It was kind of weird and sad to send home the first missionaries we welcomed here.
Elder TiaTia Elder Chen
The Folsom Stake, where the temple is located, does a live Nativity every year at the temple. It is an amazing production and draws people of all faiths from all over Sacramento. Our missionaries get to be there to do temple tours, pass out hot chocolate and answer any questions afterwards. It is a highlight for them to be able to participate in this wonderful event.
This was a great way to end a pretty stressful day, and put everything in perspective. It is really because of Jesus Christ that we do what we do. But earlier in the day we had our final transfer meeting and our new leader meeting. It had been an incredibly busy week with transfers, and on top of that I had been planning and preparing for a Sister's P Day the following Monday. The morning of these meetings I realized that I usually do lunch for the new leaders following the new leader meeting. It had totally slipped by me until about 8:30 that morning. I figured I would just leave after my portion of the new leader meeting, run to Costco and pick up sandwiches and be back by the time the meeting ended. That would have worked if everything hadn't gone wrong. First I looked up a Costco close to the building we were meeting in and google said it was 6 miles away. I decided google must figure it by the way the crow flies because it actually ended up being 15 miles away, and I only had 22 miles of gas left. I got stuck by a train, and finally ended up at Costco, where I couldn't find anything I wanted because it was a totally different layout than my Costco. I finally got to the checkout, after waiting in a very long line and was told at checkout that my membership had expired. I got that taken care of and was heading to the car, which seemed like it was 10 miles away, the parking lot was so crowded, when Scott called and asked if I was almost there because the meeting was wrapping up. I was at least 20 minutes away, and I only had 5 miles of gas left so I had to stop and put gas in the car. The gas pump wouldn't take the mission gas card and so I just switched credit cards and put it on mine. I finally got on the road and arrived, with lunch about 15 minutes after the meeting ended. I almost cried when I saw two Elders waiting for me in the parking lot to help me in with the food. Luckily they are lovely and didn't mind the wait, but I was a little frazzled. Going the the nativity at the Temple helped me recenter. It was good to sit there and feel the peace that good music and thoughts of Christ always bring. And seeing our missionaries in action is always a good thing.
The next day, Friday, we started interviews for this transfer, starting with the largest zone, Sacramento, with 24 missionaries. On Sunday we spoke in the Stockton Stake Conference and decided to do that zone's interviews after conference, since we were already down there. One thing that I have found here is that they keep the church buildings quite cold. While Scott interviews the missionaries, I sit and talk to the companion who is not in with Scott. In Stockton they have me in the hall, just outside of the room where Scott is interviewing. The halls are really cold, and to add to it, there was a door not far away, and it was a cold day. By the end, I was chilled to my bones. I think I am getting wimpy, but it was cold. A sweet lady walked in and shook my hand and her hands were so warm. I asked her if I could just hold on to her hands for a minute because they were so warm, she smiled and pulled out a couple of hand warmers, handed them to me and said, these were her life savers. She was my lifesaver that afternoon.
On Monday I had a Sister's P day that I had been planning on and working on for a while. I have definitely found that the Lord compensates us out here. As I was in the middle of this, I was surprised at how much I could get done, not without the help of the Lord. First of all, was the help I received in the planning stages. I had talked to my friend, Ann Hewlett, who is serving in the Houston East Mission and she told me about a wonderful Sister's p day that she had done. I figured I would just do what she did, and I did use a few of her ideas, but I felt there was something I was missing. So I texted a good friend of mine to send me a program she had done at one point that I thought I could use. It was wonderful, but I couldn't feel settled about that either. I came up with another really cute theme, and even had my Amazon cart full of things to make a darling craft, but couldn't get myself to push the purchase button. I realized I wasn't really listening to what we needed. I was praying the whole time, but when I finally just said "what do you want me to focus on?" the answer came to Follow the Prophet. So I reread the talk by President Nelson at the women's session of conference. I studied his 4 challenges. We had done the 10 day social media fast, we are reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and will finish on Christmas Eve, we can't really have regular temple attendance, but all of the missionaries get to go twice a year, which I guess is regular for them. What we hadn't done is to focus on the blessings of Relief Society. So I decided the whole day needed to be based on the Relief Society Declaration. It was amazing that as soon as I had that thought, the entire day's agenda came together in about 10 minutes. I learned once again, that it is always better to do what the Lord wants, that to do what I want to do. President Nelson said; “I entreat you to savor the truths in the Relief Society Declaration. It describes who you are and who the Lord needs you to be at this precise time as you do your part to gather scattered Israel." Well, we are here to gather Israel, so that was a pretty good answer.
We have 72 Sister missionaries (6 of them are senior sisters). I took each of the bullet points in the Relief Society Declaration and tried to fit a training or an activity with each one. I started out with a training on the first part of the declaration and then moved to 'finding joy in womanhood' and talked about one of the great joys of being a woman for me are the friendships I have with other women, who inspire and uplift me. So for that one we moved to the cultural hall and did some 'speed friendshipping'. They sat across from each other and I gave them two minutes to find out 4 or 5 things about each other they didn't know, then I would yell time, and they would switch and do it again with the next person across from them. It was a blast.
Speed Friendshipping underway
Then I had three Sister Training Leaders, Sisters Rowley, Rose and Leavitt do a training on 'Seek strength through following the promptings of the Holy Ghost' followed by Sisters Gilbert, Hewitt and Searle doing a training on 'Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation'. They are remarkable and did an amazing job.
After that we broke for lunch, where I had arranged it to be catered by our members, Brother and Sister Ruiz, from the East Sacramento Stake. They used to own a catering business in San Francisco and their food is amazing. The Sisters felt very spoiled. It was a real treat for all of us.
In addition to the Speed Friendshipping, I had each of them take a number and that is the table they sat at. I wanted to mix them up so they had the chance to get to know as many new sisters as they could. I had one sister tell me today that she made so many new friends that she didn't know before. I was so happy to hear that.
After lunch we stayed at our tables and for the bullet point of 'Love life and learning', we did a 'favorite thing' gift exchange. Everyone brought a favorite thing and we learned more about the sister when they told why it was their favorite thing.
Our table was finished with our gift exchange and I was walking around to the other tables and Sister Clifford was waving me over to her table. As I walked up I saw Sister Speas holding a snow globe and I was about to say, Oh look at that cute snow globe, when I realized that President Hymas and I were IN the snow globe. I was laughing so hard I was doubled over and could hardly gain my composure. Every time I thought I had it under control I would look at it again and start laughing. We were making so many jokes about how creepy it was going to be to have President and I looking at them when they woke up in the morning. Sister Mitchell had found a snow globe and put our picture inside. It was hilarious.
Right after I took this picture, I thought it would be funny to send it to our family text group, so I sent the picture and immediately got a response back from my sister in law. I then realized that I had sent it to my entire extended family text group, which started the laughter all over again! We were dying laughing!
After the gift exchange it was time to focus on 'Delight in Service and Good Works' and we made 12 fleece blankets to be distributed to children in hospitals. It also fit well with this week's Light the World theme of 'Light your Community'.
The best part of the day was when we concluded with 'Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study'. I am known to say that just about any scripture I use is my favorite, so I had each sister prepare to share their favorite scripture that has brought them closer to Jesus Christ and how it has done that. We ended the day with sisters sharing their favorite scriptures of Christ and testifying of Him. It was an hour I will never forget and will cherish forever. My hope was that the day would help us draw closer to each other and to Jesus Christ and this hour did both. As you share spiritual experiences and testify of Christ, it draws people closer to Him and to each other. The spirit in that room was palpable and none of us wanted it to end. I finished with a video of pictures of Christ's life, from birth to resurrection, with the BYU Men's Chorus singing "Come, Lord Jesus, Come". Then President Hymas finished off as we 'Sustain the Priesthood as the authority of God on earth.'.
It was a wonderful day and I think the sisters loved being together, having fun and being spiritually filled. Here are a few more pictures from the day.
I call these our injured reserve sisters. Hermana Nielson got a dog bite, Hermana Bowen tore a hamstring, and Sister Schokker has a bad shoulder. It doesn't stop them from working or smiling though.
Our friend and photographer, Patrick Twomey had us do this cheesy pose, I told him it was going to make my blog, but I also caught him in action.
And finally, we got home from the Sister's p day and had to prepare for MLC, which was held today. Scott was more prepared than I was, but I had to get this over with first, before I could totally focus on MLC. It was just a very quick turn around. Another testament of how the Lord is qualifying us out here. I had an evening to prepare a 45 minute training, and somehow, through the spirit was able to do it. We had a wonderful MLC today. We are so blessed with great mission leaders. I don't think you could find any finer anywhere in the church. How we love them.
A huge shoutout and thanks to my friends in my ward who have done the MLC lunches for the past few months. Thanks to Carrie Crocket and Joy Wright, and Lisa Hull and Amy Child, who aren't in the picture. They prepared a delicious and special Christmas lunch for us.
We also had a special visit this past weekend, our dear Sister Wilding and her mom came to town to go through the temple with one of her recent converts. It was so fun to have her here and to visit just like old times. We sure love our missionaries, current and former, and will forever be changed and blessed because of our association with all of them. What a blessing they are to us!
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