We held our Mission Leadership Council on July 9. We had just finished up our Miracles to the Brim and wanted another mission focus. What we as a mission council came up with was a focus on families and a focus on our faith. In order to increase our faith we are going to be studying one of the Christlike Attributes from Preach My Gospel each transfer. There are 9 Christlike Attributes and so it will take us 9 transfers to complete all of them. This transfer we are beginning with Faith in Jesus Christ. As we develop and exercise that faith in Him we know we will see miracles.
Also, for the next three months we are praying that through our Faith in Jesus Christ we can find families. The entire plan of our Heavenly Father is centered on families and we want to find the families that he has prepared for us. Our mission leaders have faith that we can bring 110 people, hopefully members of families, onto the covenant path between July and Mid October. We are calling it 'Faith For Families' and our Mission Leaders came up with 4 things that will help us as we focus on finding, teaching and baptizing families.
1. Pray to find and teach families. We began with a mission wide fast and are going to be praying every day and night and asking Heavenly Father to help us find families.
2. Enlist our families at home to pray for us to be able to find families. We know as we enlist our families at home, joining us in mighty prayer, our ability to find, teach and baptize families will increase.
3. Engage our members here in praying for us to find families, and to help them find families for us to teach.
4. Pray for help from the other side of the veil. President and Sister Nelson have powerfully taught that our loved ones on the other side of the veil can help us as we gather scattered Israel. Also that people have ancestors who need their saving ordinances who can lead us to their family members here, and we should pray for their help.
We have carried this over into our interviews this transfer as well. As we have interviewed each zone we have asked each of the missionaries to bring a picture of their family. We ask them to introduce us to their family, and we ask how their families have influenced them, what they have learned from each family member, and why they are who they are because of their families. It has been so much fun and tender to hear them talk about their families and listen to stories and feel of their love for their families.
We have done a lot of interview the past few weeks, and we had Zone Conferences last week. We carried on the theme of Faith in Jesus Christ and Faith For Families into Zone conference. I trained on the importance of Faith in Jesus Christ and how that Faith in Him can bring us joy, no matter what our circumstances. We really have two choices in life and they are clearly stated in 2 Nephi 2. We can choose happiness and joy through Jesus Christ, or we can choose sorrow and misery through Satan. We are meant to have joy. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." 2 Nephi 2:25. We have the joy that comes through Jesus Christ, Jesus is Joy and the world can't take that away. As we have faith in Jesus Christ, our joy can be contagious, and we can choose to look through the lens of Joy through our Faith in Jesus Christ.
Scott trained on the doctrine of the family, and the importance of the family in the Plan of Happiness. He also talked about the Doctrine of Christ and how that is critical to understand. We often think of the Doctrine of Christ as faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He focused them on the fact that the doctrine of Christ is not just faith, but faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. He also taught from 2 Nephi 4&5 on how to increase Faith by doing the small and simple things Nephi and his people did. Our Assistants trained on having Faith to find and did a great job with some very good ideas and advice on finding friends.
Day 1: July 23, 2019: Sacramento, Elk Grove, Cordova and East Sacramento Zones
East Sacramento Zone
Sacramento Zone
Cordova Zone
Elk Grove Zone
Sister's Picture
Elder's Picture
Celebrating the past few months of birthdays.
Every day of Zone Conference pictures, we have pictures of the Elders inspecting their birthday chapstick, it's as if they've never had a tube of chapstick, at least not one with birthday wishes from President and me.
This is Brother and Sister Astle. They make all of the arrangements for our Zone Conference lunches. They arrange with the Stakes, reserve the buildings and really make my life so easy and wonderful, so I can concentrate on teaching and being with the missionaries. I love this picture of them. It was Sister Astle's birthday, and more importantly, their 60th wedding anniversary, and they spent it serving the missionaries. They are dear and wonderful people and we all love them so much.
Singing our thanks to our wonderful members who provided us lunch
Breaks my heart to tell you these missionaries are all departing this transfer.
Day 2: July 24 2019; El Dorado, Folsom, Carmichael, and North Sacramento Zones
Folsom Zone
El Dorado Zone
Carmichael Zone
North Sacramento Zone
Sister's Picture
Elder's Picture
Clean Car Awards
Birthdays
Thank you!
Day 3: July 25, 2019: Lodi, Stockton, Manteca Zones
Lodi Zone
Stockton Zone
Manteca Zone
Sisters
Elders
Clean Cars
Birthdays
Brother Twomey has a goal to get a picture of me every Zone Conference with my little pink birthday bag. It has served me well for a year and a half since I started using it. I hope I can make it last another year. Ha Ha
Thank you!
Current and Former Assistants
Our dear friends, Hayden and Lauri Felt came to visit us for a few days and we took them to Zone Conference with us. The missionaries loved them.
We had such a fun weekend with Hayden and Lauri. Mostly they just followed us around doing missionary work. We did get to have a few really good dinners, played a few games, and we got out to Sloughhouse for some corn and watermelon, and our new favorite treat, their home grown and made corn nuts.
Mostly we just talked and talked and talked, and hated taking them back to the airport much too soon. They didn't stay nearly long enough.
We said way too many goodbyes to dear friends this month. Elder and Sister Gunnell finished serving their 18 months as the heart and soul of the Sacramento Mission office this month. From the first day they arrived, to the last, they have been our anchors. We have been friends for nearly 25 years and they have always had our backs. Elder Gunnell was President's executive secretary when he was a bishop and Sister Gunnell and I worked in Young Women's together for years. We have always said we could do anything with the Gunnells supporting us. This experience has been no different, only magnified. We are going to miss them dearly, but mostly we are just so grateful for the time we have been able to serve together in the most sacred and consecrated way. It's been like a dream serving with them.
Sister Gunnell didn't go anywhere without her recycling can.
We had to say goodbye to Elder Ozment. He had to go home a few weeks early to get into school. We have loved serving with him and wish him well at home.
These darling sisters, Sister Hunt, Sister Prettyman, Sister McCurdy and Sister Bodily brought me flowers during their interviews. It was such a lovely gesture and it made my day.
The next Monday we joined their zone for their zone activity and since they didn't want President to feel left out, they got him a gift as well. We all had a good laugh!
Last P day we had fun playing chair soccer with the Elk Grove Zone and then we went to President and Sister Bitnoff's home for lunch and we played Reverse Charades with the El Dorado Zone.
This past Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to see two recent converts that we helped teach about a year ago, go through the temple to receive their temple endowments. We also had the blessing the Saturday before to attend the temple sealing of Logan and Yuraima. With that, we had the blessing of having 5 of our dear Hermanas come back to Sacramento and we spent time in the temple, and a wonderful evening with them in our home.
How we love Hermanas Melendez, Alexander, Najera, Clark and Barrerra
We have also been blessed with visits from Kyle and Meggie Ravsten. It was so fun to see them post wedding. They are a darling couple and we love them so much.
We also had a wonderful visit from Sister Rose... Love her so much!
And finally, we were so happy to have Elder Ross, and Sister Barnes, who are now Mr and Mrs Ross stop by for a visit. Can't wait to meet their little one, coming soon.
That catches us up to today. We were able to have a fun p day lunch with Sister Maldonado and Sister Fifita.
I also had to end with pictures of things I love about where I live. The following pictures are from my morning and evening walks, and also our favorite fruit stand in Elk Grove. #lovewhereyoulive
It's been a great July. I can't believe we are almost into August. Time is flying and we are loving our time here. We love being with and serving with these wonderful missionaries, and living in this beautiful part of California.
No comments:
Post a Comment