We've had an eventful few weeks. We had to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Goodwin, and Elder and Sister Baker. Elder and Sister Baker have been serving as MLS missionaries in Murphys and have been awesome. It's pretty far removed from everywhere else out there, but they just dug in and got to work and have done great things for that ward. Elder Goodwin worked so hard on bikes, keeping our 72 hour kits in tip top shape, our mission safety plan, he has done the mission histories for the past two years, and been Sister Goodwin's right hand man. Sister Goodwin has been our mission nurse. I know some mission president's wives handle all of the medical issues in their missions, and I have no idea how they do that. With 170 missionaries, Sister Goodwin has run non stop for the past 18 months. There haven't been very many days that we haven't talked or texted her about something or other health related. I could never do all I do without her. They have been so incredible and we are going to miss them dearly.
We had a mission health council and got to meet the Goodwin's replacements right after they arrived. Elder and Sister Bartlett are on their second mission. They were in New Zealand until this past January. They got home and decided to head back out again. That is so impressive to me. They are truly consecrated missionaries and we love them already and are so very grateful they are here. Sister Bartlett hasn't missed a beat, having done this before is a real advantage.
Elder and Sister Bartlett
We had a farewell dinner for the Goodwins and the Bakers prior to their leaving. It is always good to get together with our Senior Missionaries. The only problem is that it is just a little too much fun and no one ever wants to leave. We had this the night before we worked the transfer board and we were up quite late that night preparing. But it was worth it to be with such good people and to have this shared experience with them. We love them all and are so grateful for their willingness to serve. They are remarkable.
Elder and Sister Goodwin Elder and Sister Baker
The rest of that week was filled with preparing for transfers. President called Elder Brown to fill the spot as one of our assistants as Elder Lilly went home. It is always fun to see the new assistant observe and work the transfer board for the first time. We come fasting and praying, but there is much thought, effort and consideration taken before, during and after to ensure each missionary is where the Lord would have them be.
We had such a great Friday night at the end of that week. We were able to attend a baptism in the Hmong branch in the Sacramento Stake. We got to hear two of our Hmong Elders, Elder Barr and Elder Seely give a missionary moment in Hmong. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but the spirit was so very strong. We left there and headed to another baptism in that Stake of a wonderful couple from Iran. I love this ward. We had an Iranian couple getting baptized, another Iranian convert gave the talk on baptism, the Bishop and the ward mission leader are both of Asian descent, and a wonderful older African American man bore one of the strongest testimonies I have heard. I just sat there and looked around that room and thought 'what else besides the gospel would bring this group of amazing people together?' It was a very special evening for us.
On Monday we were able to welcome 19 new missionaries into the California Sacramento Mission. We absolutely love waiting at the bottom of the escalators for our newest batch. It is such a fun and exciting moment for all of us.
These 15 arrived from the Provo MTC and we got them to the mission office where they were fed, interviewed, trained and sent out to work for a bit. We had 4 Spanish speaking Elders who came from the Mexico MTC a few hours later. We got them to the office and went through the same routine with them.
They had been up for about 18 hours by this point and were still so smiley and happy to be here.
The next day, as always was full of training new missionaries, training their trainers, transferring about half of the mission, matching up trainers and new missionaries, transfer lunch, temple for pictures with the new missionaries, a temple session with the departing missionaries, and the day ends with a departing dinner and testimony meeting at our home. I tell my kids that we live the most predictable, but unpredictable life. Our schedules every six weeks rarely change, we live life on a six week cycle, but what happens in that very predictable six week schedule is anyone's guess.
New missionaries nervously awaiting their fate
Trainers excited to receive their new missionaries
No better way to get acquainted than over food!
Elder Ficklin training Elder Olsen Elder Lee training Elder Simmons
Elder Moulton training Elder Rammell Elder Peterson training Elder Prentice
Elder McLeod training Elder Ruiz Elder Radford training Elder Blake
Elder Grover training Elder Robbins Elder Passey training Elder Vaughn
Elder Salvador training Elder Honey Elder Wells training Elder Kemney
Elder Wells training Elder Jex Elder Torres training Elder Hawkins
Elder Lybbert training Elder Denton Sister Saole training Sister Bingham
Sister Rew training Sister Vasas Sister Stewart training Sister Smith
Sister Shaw training Sister Taylor Sister Prettyman training Sister Peters
Sister Ball training Sister MacQueen
Sister Peters and Sister Prettyman are serving in our ward and we were all color coordinated. Must have been meant to be. Also, I love seeing what kind of selfies our assistants have for me on my phone after they have been taking pictures.
Our departing missionaries ready for their temple session
You couldn't ask for better servers, and of course, Elder Brown had to wear the initiatory apron for his first departing dinner.
Another group of all Elders going home. We are going to really miss these 12. They leave a hole that is hard to replace!
And they are off... We had to take Elder Pingle to the airport alone because his plane left earlier than the rest of them.
Elder Nilson
Elder Rowland
Elder Ferguson
Elder Anderson
Elder Frost
Elder Gove
Elder Kemp
Elder Whiting
Elder Carter
Elder Jauregui
Elder Lilly
It was pretty rough for these three to say goodbye
We sent home the three tallest Elders in the mission, all in the same transfer. President had to get a picture, a man among giants!
We also sadly had to say goodbye to Sister Schokker and Sister Guymon this transfer due to some health challenges.
These are the Zone, District and Sister Training leaders that attended our New Leadership Meeting the day after transfers
We had an awesome experience last Saturday. Our dear Hermana Freeman's mom, Emily Freeman, is a speaker at Time Out For Women. They were coming to Sacramento last weekend and she reached out to me to see if we would like to let some sisters go and bring some of the people they are teaching. They were going to give us the tickets for free. We just couldn't see how that was going to work since it was on a Saturday, which is a day of baptisms, zone blitzes, and the best day of the week to find people home. It was such a generous offer and so I asked her if the Senior Sister missionaries could use the tickets and bring friends with us. She graciously said that would be great. So, we got busy trying to invite people to come. We got a feel for what the young missionaries go through when people commit and then have a few fall off. We were able to bring a few people with us, and it was wonderful for them to be there, and also for us. We loved getting our buckets filled, we are usually the bucket fillers. We were so grateful for the opportunity she gave to us.
Sister Mair and I with our new friend Tammy, who just got baptized last Saturday. We made sure the next week she felt 'all in'. She was so touched by the spirit that she cried several times. She said afterwards ' I think I was crying because I felt the spirit'.
That evening we were able to attend the Chinese Group's Mid Autumn Moon Festival. Elder and Sister Chenn, who work with the Chinese groups, along with the group members did so much work decorating and making sure everything was perfect. It was a fun night of delicious Chinese food and entertainment.
Sister Chenn made this amazing backdrop!
They even had clothes for us to dress up in. Sister Peters, Sister Prettyman and I decided to participate. President did not, ha ha.
This is our friend Oliver
And we were so thrilled to see Elder and Sister Mu who served here in our first year. They came back for the festival and it was such a fun surprise to see them there and to catch up with them.
We had our Mission Leadership Council today. I love MLC, it is always such a great day meeting with and counseling with our mission leaders. It is flu shot season, and we always have flu shot clinics at our October Zone Conferences. It always takes a while to get all of our missionaries through in time for zone conference to start on time. President had a genius idea to have them come to MLC and we could get 40 of our missionaries done to ease the load at zone conference. We were all brave soldiers and got our shots before the meeting started and I'm happy to announce that we didn't lose even one!
President started with some announcements and a teaching on counsels. I taught on the Christlike attribute of Charity that we are studying as a mission this transfer. For part of my training I broke them up into zones to counsel on 1 Corinthians 13 when Paul (also found in Moroni) talks about what charity is. Some of the words he uses aren't typically used today and so I broke them up to determine what each of those words meant, and how, as mission leaders we could apply them into our stewardship.
I wish I would have recorded the happy chatter going on as they were counseling together. They had such great insights and things to share.
Once again, Elder and Sister Mair, and our friend Gail put on a fabulous lunch. They didn't realize that with serving a mission, came feeding the masses.
After lunch the assistants did a great training on the importance of a powerful morning schedule and President finished up with an inspiring training on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. That was followed by more counseling by each zone to determine how to best get the messages from MLC back to their individual zones. I loved wandering around and listening to them truly counsel on what they thought their zones needed. I was also touched as they all started to gather as zone leaderships, even though we had just said a closing prayer, they all gathered in their little groups and began with a prayer, petitioning Heavenly Father to help them know what their zones needed. I am in constant awe of these wonderful Elders and Sisters. What a blessing to serve with them.
We did have one visitor a few weeks ago. Sister Bustos, Ali, came back for a day to see a concert at the Golden 1 Center. It happened to be her birthday, and we were able to meet up with her and take her to Rick's Dessert Diner for a piece of birthday cake before her concert. It was great to see her, and I think it was a very happy birthday for her.
And, that about covers the highlights of the past two weeks. We did interview the Sacramento zone last Friday, but now interviews begin in earnest for the next few weeks. We love interviewing each and every missionary, it helps us connect with them in a more personal way than we can get in the larger meetings. And since it is officially fall, I brought back an old favorite and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for interviews this round. The missionaries in the Sacramento zone were very pleased, it is always their favorite.
We are getting so excited for General Conference this weekend. What a blessing to be able to hear from our prophet and church leaders, I am more than ready to soak up everything they have to tell us. Definitely one of my favorite 2 weekends of the year.
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