When I last left off, we were going down to Stockton and Manteca for interviews. We were trying to get home early enough on Wednesday to attend the baptism of a boy in our ward. His foster mother and sister, and two of his older brothers got baptized about a year and a half ago, he was too young to get baptized then. Once he turned 8 there were a few complications but he really wanted to get baptized. Unfortunately they were moving from our ward the first weekend in August to be closer to his foster mom's work, but they have had so much love and support from the Silva Valley ward that they wanted him to get baptized here. I had dropped by their house earlier in July and Nancy told me they were moving, I told the elders and they got working to get Leland baptized here. So, it was a little unusual that his baptism was held on a Wednesday evening, but it was all working out perfectly. The morning of his baptism we had stayed overnight in Stockton. One of our former missionaries, Sister Emily Clark was coming to visit us that next Sunday. I didn't know when she was coming in to town with Sister Bustos and Elder Dobson, but we knew they would be here for the weekend. We had talked about their visit and President wondered if they would be at the baptism because Sister Clark was the missionary that taught and was here when Nancy got baptized. It's a really inspiring story. She had been teaching Nancy in the El Dorado Zone very early on in her mission. One night she called me, we had just worked the transfer board and President felt inspired to transfer her to our ward. She was calling to tell me that Nancy was moving in to our ward and asked if I would help fellowship her. She loved this family so much and was worried about them moving and wanted to make sure she would be well taken care of. Little did she know, that the Lord had already worked that out and was transferring her to the very ward where Nancy was moving.
Anyway, we had wondered if she knew about Leland's baptism and I had the direct impression to text her to see if she knew he was getting baptized and to see when she was coming in to town. This was our text conversation:
Me: Hey are you in town yet? Did you know Leland is getting baptized tonight?
Em: Hello!!! Oh my goodness, no way??? We are on our way and will be in Sacramento around 5:30, what time is the baptism?
Me: Oh my word, that's awesome. It's at 6:30 at Temple Hill
Em: We will be there!!! Oh my goodness, I am going to cry. God is so good.
Me: This is our miracle today. I'm so glad I had the thought to text you...
Em: Oh my heart is so full. I had no idea. I am crying, I can't believe how this is working out. I am so excited. I can't wait.
This was just another one of many instances that solidifies my testimony of a loving God who knows and loves each of his children and knows how to work things out. If they hadn't been moving, the baptism wouldn't have been on Wednesday. Wednesday night was the only time Sister Clark could have come to the baptism because they were going to Yosemite early the next morning. And for them to get in to town about 30 minutes before the baptism was not a coincidence. It was a tender mercy for Sister Clark, for Nancy, for her kids (I will never forget those kids sprinting to her and almost tackling her when they saw her, they didn't know she was going to be there), and for us. It was a beautiful thing. And I echo Sister Clark: God is so good.
Interview weeks are always super busy and I snapped these two pictures on our Lodi interview day. One is of our typical interview day lunch, and one is of a horse that was tied up in a parking lot in San Andreas. We had pulled in for something and the horse had the best parking spot in the lot. It made me smile.
We usually take our departing missionaries to the temple on their last day in the mission, right after transfers, but because the temple was closed during transfers this month, we got to take them early. It was nice to not be so rushed after transfers and to really appreciate the temple and also the goodness of the Elders we were blessed to be there with.
Due to a change by our area presidency last fall, the missionaries only eat with members on Saturdays and Sundays, which makes feeding the missionaries in our ward a little more difficult. I finally got the dinner calendar in Relief Society before it was completely filled up and we were blessed to have Elder Whiting and Elder Geng come for dinner. They left us with a wonderful message and a 21 day challenge to read certain scriptures every day and to pray for missionary opportunities with our neighbors. We have done the reading and the praying and are still looking for opportunities with our neighbors. But it was great to have them in our home. They are terrific missionaries. And I love visiting with Elder Geng who is from mainland China. His life experience and conversion story are really inspiring.
We had our last time working the transfer board with Elder Fischetti. I always ask the departing assistant what they want for their last transfer dinner, and I wasn't surprised that our Italian Elder from NYC asked for Chicken Parm. You know he's authentic when he says Chicken Parm, instead of Chicken Parmesan, the way us non Italians do. I know it wasn't as authentic or as good as he is now getting at home, but they seemed to like it.
During this week, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Sister Maldonado. She only had one transfer left and she dislocated her knee and was going to be out of commission for a couple of weeks and was in a lot of pain. Her recovery was going to be much better at home, but we were sad to see her leave. We also were sad to say goodbye a little early to Elder Hansen who also had to leave for some medical issues that needed to be taken care of at home. We sure love these good missionaries and wish them a speedy recovery.
We were able to attend a wonderful baptism in the Fijian ward. Afterwards they invited us and Elder and Sister Mair to stay for a 'little' lunch. This is their definition of a little lunch. They are such wonderful and hospitable people. We love when we get a chance to be with them.
That evening we had the privilege of attending a fireside in Manteca put on by Jack Welch, a BYU professor of ancient scripture on the Book of Mormon. He entitled it "A marvelous miracle and a miracle" which is a closer translation that 'a marvelous work and a wonder" . It was fascinating, I love learning and I love people who have spent their lives learning and are willing to share what they learn. It was really nice to be in the back of the chapel learning, instead of up front talking!
Monday came and with it came another 19 new missionaries arriving in our mission. Waiting to welcome new missionaries into the mission never gets old. We love when they arrive full of enthusiasm and hope, and I will say, a little bit of nervous energy.
Even with this large of a group, things went so smoothly, thanks to our fantastic senior office missionaries and our assistants. They pulled off dinner and the organization of interviews, etc. without a hitch. Tuesday morning we began our transfer/training process.
I don't know if I have ever gotten pictures of the organization that is in place for a seamless transfer. It's a sight to behold, outside and in.
Matching new missionaries with their trainers is always a favorite of mine. Followed by lunch with the new missionaries, their trainers and the departing missionaries.
It was off to the temple for pictures with the new missionaries and their trainers and then off to work they went.
Elder McLeod training Elder Johnson Elder Bradt training Elder Buckley
Elder Atkinson training Elder Maw Elder Rowland training Elder Blood
Elder Rodriguez training Elder Winmill Elder Mandisodza training Elder Norton
Elder Castelan training Elder Quintana Elder Burnett training Elder Ferrin
Elder Sasser training Elder Smith Elder Hart training Elder Staheli
Elder Clark training Elder Stratford Elder Steel training Elder Carter
Elder Lawrence training Elder Underhill Sister Weckesser training Sister Abraham
Sister McCurdy training Sister Rawlings Hermana Lewis training Sister Ferrin
Sister Hamilton training Sister Wallace Sister Graham training Sister Ballantyne
Sister Hummel training Sister Burgener
It was so hot that day. Funny story, I had been watching the weather and the week the new missionaries came in looked pretty mild when I had looked at it earlier. On the way back from the airport I was telling the new sisters in our car that they had arrived at a good time, that I thought the worst of the heat was past and it was going to be fairly moderate from here on out. Some time between the last time I checked the temperature, and the time they got to Sacramento, there was a big change and their first few days here were over 100 degrees and it was HOT. I had to laugh thinking about those poor sisters who thought those were moderate temperatures. I'll have to clarify next time I see them. They will definitely be dreading next summer if they think the week they got here was moderate.
After we got them off to work, it was home to prepare for our departing dinner. Since we had been to the temple earlier in the month, we sent the departing missionaries downtown to contact one last time on their missions. I think they had a great time doing that, and I was able to come home and help Gail get dinner ready. We both enjoyed that.
All too soon it was time to take these Elders to the airport and send them home to loving and excited families. It was surreal, these Elders were in our second group of arrivals when we first started our missions. We said we have all grown up together, it was weird and very very sad to send them home, and very sad to say goodbye to this group. They have been remarkable in every way. At our testimony meeting President told them that he could always trust everyone in this group and that is the highest compliment he could give. These are trustworthy missionaries and trustworthy men.
Elder Guadarama
Elder Allen
Elder Babin
Elder Higginbotham
Elder Osborne
Elder Wills
Elder Henry
Elder Woodward
Elder Organ
Elder Gubbins
Elder Steglich
Elder Gibbons
Elder Larsen
Elder Fischetti
As we talked about these good elders we recognized that there is a story behind each one of them. We have been blessed to see them change and grow from nervous young missionaries to powerful men of God. This is the miracle of a mission, the growth and change that comes to these young Elders (and Sisters) as they turn their lives over to God. We have been blessed to see this change from start to finish with this group and it has been such a blessing to us. We see miracles every day, and some of the biggest miracles are the missionaries themselves.
I don't think we have ever had a transfer where we have sent two of our assistants home at the same time. They had to get a picture with President in his matching blue suit, and they let me stand in as well.
We didn't have too long to be sad about these departures as we had MLC just two days later. We usually have it the Tuesday after transfers, but because our family was coming in to town we bumped it up to Friday. We also usually have it at our house, but this time we had an expanded MLC where we had the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders and District Leaders come as well so we held it at the Wissemann building in Rancho Cordova. It was great to have them all there. We have great mission leaders, the mission is in good hands.
As part of President's training he talked about how many people we have that come to church, but don't want to commit to being baptized. He compared that to someone coming to a buffet and not eating. So, as an object lesson, he had Elder Thacker and Elder Lilly sit in these chairs and watch everyone eat lunch. He did let them come to the buffet table after he had proven his point.
This is Sister Shaw and she is the Sister that told Elder Whiting that to her, the spirit felt like jumping in to a pool of glitter. We haven't let her forget that, and obviously her mom hasn't either. She sent us all these shirts and has been wanting to get a picture of all of us in our shirts together. As nice as this gesture was, President wasn't super comfortable wearing a shirt that a. has glitter on it, and b. says the word glitter on it. So he chose to hold his shirt, while Sister Shaw and I proudly modeled ours. Ha Ha.
Ethan, his wife Camee, and Preston all came in to town on Thursday night and so they were able to come to MLC with us. It is always so fun when our family members get to mingle with our missionaries and get a taste of what we are doing out here. It was also fun for them because it hasn't been that long since each of them were in their own mission MLC's.
Every year I die over the beautiful Crepe Myrtle trees, and this one in the courtyard of the Wissemann building is always especially lovely.
Over the past few weeks we have also been blessed with quite a few visits from former missionaries. I think they are all trying to get their trips to Sactown in before school starts in the fall and we love it. We have been blessed with visits from:
Sister Tenney
Sister Gunter
Sister Rowley
I won't stop saying how blessed we are to be close enough that we can continue to get visits from, and keep in touch with former missionaries who will be in our hearts and hopefully our in our lives forever. We absolutely love when they come back to see us.
On a personal note, but one that needs to be documented because it was an overlay over the past few weeks. About an hour before we left to pick up our new missionaries, our son Ethan called to tell us that his dear friend, Brock Jones, had passed away. To say we were devastated and heartbroken would be an understatement. In retrospect it might have been a blessing to find out then, because we had to pull ourselves together to make sure our new missionaries had a nice welcome to the mission. It kept us going and kept us focused.
Brock, Ethan and Talon Hatch all grew up in the same ward and have been friends since they were little boys in primary. As the boys grew, they added to their crew until there were 10 who came to be known as 'the adventure boys'. It has become a family. We love these boys and we love 'the adventure parents' as we call each other. We have grown together, followed these boys through jr high and high school, on their missions and through college. Many of them have lived together at BYU and we have attended many of their weddings. We have loved them like our own and were heartbroken to hear of his passing. It was hard not to be home during this really sad time, but it was such a tender mercy that Ethan had a trip planned out here just a few days after his passing. It was good to be with he and Camee and Preston and to reminisce about Brock and all of the fun and funny times we had with him. One of my favorites was when all of the adventure boys who weren't married at the time, came out here to spend some time with us our first summer in the mission.
They all wanted to go out with some missionaries and so we lined it up for each of them to go finding/teaching one night. It was hilarious to hear their stories when they came back, especially Brock, who served his mission in Norway. No one could tell a story like Brock and he had us in stitches as he told about a woman who stopped to talk to them, and the elder he was with got her number, but let her walk away. He was like, "Elder, she actually talked to you and you are letting her walk away. You need to follow her home, people just don't talk to you like that, and you are letting her get away". His experience in Norway was a bit different than his one night in Sacramento. He insisted more people talked to him in one night here than in his entire mission in Norway.
Brock is the tallest one, at the end of the table
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