A week in the life...

I have never been good at journaling, and I know why.  I let myself go too long in between entries and I get too overwhelmed to catch up and so I stop. I committed to keep this blog so I can have a record of this wonderful mission experience, and I am feeling a little like my old journaling self, I should never let myself go more than a week in between entries, especially on the mission.  There is so much happening every single day, that I am never going to remember or get everything recorded, but I will try to record as much as I can.  

It has been a really busy week and a half or so.  Last week we started our interview process. We scheduled interviews for 3 days, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  Scott wanted to schedule interviews for 15 minutes with each missionary so he could spend some good time with them and really get to know them.  While he was interviewing one in the companionship, I would just sit in a room and talk with the other companion, getting to know them as well.  It has been a blessing to be one on one with these wonderful missionaries.  On Tuesday we interviewed 22, Wednesday we went to two different churches, interviewing 2 different zones and we had 28, Friday we had a light day with only 14.  Today we interviewed 2 more zones with 28 and we finish up on Friday with 2 more zones.  On our full days we typically have left home at 8 to be at a church by 9, and we finish up around 4:30-5:00.  I have absolutely loved getting to know these consecrated missionaries.  I have heard some really sad, hard, heartbreaking things about their lives, and I have also heard their joys, their love of their families, and their accomplishments.  My heart has broken as I hear of some of their challenges, and I have rejoiced as they have told me of the many, many good things in their lives. I have asked many of them how they are different now than they were when they came to the mission, and it humbles and inspires me to hear their responses.  A few of them had great hurdles to overcome to get to the mission, but they are here and they all have such good hearts and desires to serve their Heavenly Father.  They are obedient and are trying their hardest to be the very best missionaries they can be.  I am constantly inspired by their stories and have felt the love that our Savior has for each of them.  It has been tiring, but exhilarating at the same time.  What a blessing they are to us.  We will never be the same. 

 This is Elder Or from Cambodia. What a story he has and he is such a joy and a wonderful missionary.  I didn't take any other pictures from interviews, but Elder Or knew my nephew who served his mission in Cambodia so I had to  send him a picture.  And, I wanted them to feel like they were able to talk to me like they would talk to their mom, and so, of course it helps to have homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Someone once told me that if you give someone something to eat, as they are opening their mouths, they open their hearts.  I found that to be true.  

We have had several opportunities to get out and speak a bit this past week.  On Thursday night we were the speakers at the Sacramento Stake Youth Conference.  That was when I realized how much I have changed since being here.  Scott and I talked briefly about what direction we were going to go, and I had a video I had the office elders get ready for me, but other than that I hadn't had time to do one thing for the talk until Thursday afternoon, and I had about 20 minutes to prepare.  If I had been the main speaker at a youth conference at home,  I would have had my talk prepared several weeks, if not a month in advance and would have gone over it numerous times.  We pretty much relied on the spirit and I think it went ok.  It was really fun to be at that stake, it is very diverse. They have a couple of Spanish branches, a Fijian ward, a Tongan ward, and a Marshallese branch.  It was so fun to see all of these faithful young people from so many diverse places all gathered together doing good things.  

On Sunday we had quite the experience.  Scott was asked to speak in the Sacramento 7th Spanish branch.  Ethan and Preston and I had planned to go with him and be his support system.  He was pretty nervous to speak in Spanish, it has been a long time since he has given a talk in Spanish, but we were all behind him.  On Friday night the branch president texted him and told him they would like me to speak as well.  I don't speak Spanish so that was a problem.  They told him they would have an interpreter for me.  I had Ethan help me with a few opening sentences and a few closing sentences in Spanish and I relied on the interpreter for the rest.  I had never used an interpreter before (when would I have ever needed to???)  I realized that a 10 minute talk with an interpreter would take 20 minutes, so I cut a lot and just bore a very simple testimony.  The branch president also called Ethan up to bear his testimony and then Scott spoke and did a great job.  There was such a sweet spirit there, it was a blessing to be there and to just feel the spirit, not understanding the language was kind of a blessing because I focused on the spirit I felt.  They are trying to strengthen the men in the branch and for the rest hymn they had all of the men in the congregation come up and sing "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning"  It brought me to tears to watch and hear these humble men sing that song.  I wanted to hear every one of their stories, where they were from and what brought them here.  It was a special meeting.  

After that meeting we had to take Ethan and Preston to the airport because they were flying home for the week.  Then we headed to our next speaking engagement, which was in the Fijian ward.  At both the Spanish branch and the Fijian ward, at the beginning of the meeting there were a smattering of people there, and the longer time went on, the chapel started filling up.  In the Fijian ward the pianist didn't come until just before the sacrament song and so there was no prelude music.  Even though there weren't a lot of people there to begin with, you could have heard a pin drop. They were so reverent, even without prelude music.  When we got there the bishop told us that the missionaries in that ward had been at his house for dinner on Wednesday and they told him we would come and speak.  He agreed, but apparently no one told the speakers that were assigned to speak that day.  He told us he would just tell the other speakers to wait until next week.  We didn't want to bump anyone and so we told him just to have the meeting as planned and we would just bear a short testimony.  He told us he would just have an extended sacrament meeting and we could take all the time we wanted.  I wish I had some of the laid back nature of the Fijian culture.  So, we got the program and there were four speakers scheduled.  He announced the program and it got going.  After the second speaker the bishop got up and announced that we would have a rest hymn and then he called on two of our former missionaries who left last transfer and were back visiting, to bear their testimonies, and then the rest of the meeting would be the Mission President and his wife. (He couldn't say our last name, but we couldn't say his either.) I don't know what happened to the other two speakers who got cut, but no one seemed to be bothered by it.  We stood to sing the rest hymn. We had just been at a Spanish ward singing the hymns in Spanish and now here we were singing the hymns in Fijian, after two speakers just possibly got bumped from the pulpit.  I thought, 'when in the world in my life would I ever have these experiences if we weren't on this mission?'  Scott and I just looked at each other and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.  He started singing this Fijian hymn with gusto and it struck me so funny, I had to really try hard to keep from laughing, and it didn't help that our missionaries were out there grinning from ear to ear at us.  It was a good day. 

Who would have ever thought I would see my name on the program of a meeting completely held in Spanish? And I had to snap a picture of one of our Fijian Hymns.  Boy does that congregation know how to sing the hymns of Zion. 

On Saturday Scott had some unexpected mission things that came up, and so Ethan and Preston and I had a free day so we went to the Folsom Farmer's market and found some amazing Argentine food.  Scott would have loved it so we will definitely be back.  Also, I realized I had never had a really good strawberry until I had one at the Farmer's Market that was locally grown.  My mouth is still watering over those strawberries.  

One blessing of being in a mission in the US is that it is easy for former missionaries to come back to visit their mission.  This is Elder Carroll, he went home two weeks ago to Hawaii and was able to come back with his family to visit the mission. We were lucky enough to see him on Friday at the mission office, and then he and his family came to our home for dinner on Monday night.  He is the most loving person I may have ever met.  We only knew him for 2 weeks but he completely took us into his heart and has shown so much love to us.  After meeting his wonderful parents, grandma and brothers I could see where he gets it from. What a blessing to have them in our home and to feel of their love and testimony of the gospel. It was a lovely evening.  And the bonus is, now he isn't a missionary any more I can hug him.  

We had mission leadership council on Tuesday morning.  MLC is a meeting of all of the mission leaders. The zone leaders, sister training leaders and assistants come to that meeting and we hold it at our home.  It is a great meeting, we love counseling with our missionaries who have wonderful and insightful ideas on how to continue the good work of this mission.  We talked about using time wisely and assessing every activity to see if it helps us improve our key indicators. We also talked about mission unity. We came into an incredibly loving and unified mission and we want to continue that.  We talked about strength in numbers and unity of purpose, when one baptizes we all baptize because we are all in this together. Scott talked about uniting in mighty prayer and as a council we decided that as a mission we will unite in mighty prayer each morning at 9:55, right before they go out the door.  As each of us drop to our knees at the same time, and petition our Heavenly Father for 6 specific things, that the council came up with, we feel we can access more heavenly power in our mission.  I love how excited they get about coming up with and sharing ideas and insights.  The church is in great hands with these young leaders.  

This has probably been the hardest week of our mission for me, as far as homesickness goes, because it is the week my entire extended family goes on our family reunion. We have been going to Sun Valley Idaho for a week, every year, almost of my entire life.  It is our happy place and where we gather with all of the people that I love.   I was a little sad on Monday, but I am great now and I am so happy to be where I am.  We have been surrounded by missionaries the past two days and it is hard to feel anything but joy when you are around missionaries.  This is an example of why I love them so much: When we did our meet the president meetings I showed them a slide show of our family and things about us.  I had a picture of our family at Sun Valley and told them about that tradition and told them, jokingly, that they needed to be extra nice to me the first week of August because I would be missing this trip for the first time, in probably 50 years.  I had also told them that the way to our hearts was Hot Tamales for me and Pretzels for Scott.  I had completely forgotten about saying that, but in the past two days, I have gotten 4 boxes of Hot Tamales, and Scott has gotten 2 bags of pretzels from missionaries who remembered the first week of August was going to be hard for me.  I was so touched, I couldn't believe they remembered that off handed comment a month ago and remembered enough to reach out to me in such a sweet way.  No wonder we love them so much.  

This is our stash from Elders Duncan and Ludlow, Sisters Moffett and Koller, and Elders Yazzie and Damon.  In addition I had several of them today ask me how I was doing because they knew it was the first of August and wanted to make sure I was doing Ok.  They are remarkable.  

And finally, I got a text this morning from Sisters Brown, Coombs and Cha wondering if we had dinner plans.  They were our last interviews today and we finished just at dinner time.  We told them we would take them to dinner after our interviews.  We went to Cafe Rio and they are so awesome. We finished dinner and, in the middle of Cafe Rio they asked us if they could leave us a message and they proceeded to give us a powerful message on faith.  I know I sound like a broken record, but we just love them so much and continue to be blessed by each one of them.  

Exploring Sac Town

After surviving transfers, we had a little time to breath this week.  We did have a great meeting with all of the missionaries who will be going home in August.  Scott talked to them about the importance of remaining strong once they get home and the challenges that will face them once they take off their name tags and integrate back into civilian life.  It is so critical that they continue to retain the habits they have formed in the mission field.  We emphasized that the most important convert they have on their mission is their own self.  He also encouraged them to seek for and ask for miracles during their last transfer.  They have been diligent and obedient and they are worthy to ask for and receive miracles and expect that God will bless them in this last transfer.  He told them to pray for the thing they most desired in their last transfer.  D&C 123:17  "Wherefore, dearly beloved brethren (and sisters) let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." We then all knelt in prayer and Scott called down the blessings of heaven on these faithful, last transfer missionaries. 

A funny, or not so funny, side note to this meeting.  The day after the meeting, one of the elders going home got two dog bites that required stitches, (I am sparing you pictures of that one) and one of the elders going home had a tree fall on his parked car.  We jokingly asked them if the thing they desired most was a good story to tell when they got home.  Because now they both do.  

 Elder Hoskin surveying the damage to his car

We also had a new leader training meeting for all those who were called this transfer to serve as new zone leaders, district leaders and sister training leaders.  As we see missionaries leave, and as we were with those who will be leaving in August, we wonder how we can replace those seasoned missionaries.  I can testify that the Lord prepares others to step right in without missing a beat. As we were training the new leaders, we felt confident that they will step up and fill those big shoes without any trouble. We are amazed at the depth and goodness of the missionaries here.  

On Friday, after 3 weeks, we finally had a chance to take a half p-day and explore a little of Sacramento.  We found a fun tour, we downloaded an app and took a scavenger hunt through the city, right from our phone. We had to find different landmarks, and figure out different clues.  It was really fun and got us out walking the city.  We only had time to get through half of it, but we are anxious to go back and finish the rest someday.  

First order of business was lunch, we found a delicious place called Broderick, this is a picture of my ham and cheese sandwich that had mac and cheese on it.  Completely unhealthy and fattening, and delicious.  

            The grounds around the State Capitol

                                               State Capitol Building, outside, and inside

                    The new Golden 1 Center 

We found they celebrate Pioneer Day outside of Utah.  Our Stake, The Folsom Stake, had a huge Pioneer Day Picnic and celebration.  There was food, entertainment, water games for kids, and it was a great party.  It was also a great event for the missionaries to invite investigators and potential investigators to attend.  Who doesn't love a good summer party? 

 Elders Miller and Young Yen with Preston

We were able to gain a little culture as we went with the Senior office couples to a production of "A Comedy of Errors" at the Sacramento Shakespeare in the Park event.  

We love being around the missionaries and so we invited the sisters in our area to come to dinner on Sunday.  I had a near miss, and I didn't realize I had bought cottage cheese with pineapple and almost used it for my lasagne.  That would have been interesting and disgusting and they most likely wouldn't have been anxious to rush back to our house for dinner any time soon.  Luckily I had bought an extra to eat with pretzels and we hadn't dug into it yet, so it all ended well.  

Sisters, Ekins, McDonald, me, Wong, and Davis

On a final note, I never get tired of these beautiful trees that line the road to our neighborhood.  

It looks to be another great week, we have interviews this week, Scott will be able to interview each missionary and I get to chat with each of them as their companions are in with Scott. We can't wait to get to know them better and to spend time with them.  

July 2017 Transfers Part 2

Whew, we survived our first transfer.  It was interesting, and spiritual, and exciting, and tiring, and a little bit stressful, but we made it, and we got 11 really great missionaries out of the process.  

A few thoughts about the spirit and it's role in transfers.  We can testify that the Lord is in charge of this work and is very involved in the lives of these missionaries, especially caring for his newest ones.  

1. As we were looking for trainers for these 11 new missionaries, one night Scott was staring at the transfer board.  He came out of his office and, with tears in his eyes told me that he had just had his first real mission revelation, when he knew immediately one of the trainers for one of the incoming missionaries.  On paper it didn't make sense, and we probably would never have thought of it, but it was definitely the right thing.  

2. About a week or so before the new missionaries came, I sent an email to their parents, asking them to tell us a few things about their missionary that might help us get to know them better, and that would help us help them be successful missionaries.  By the time I got most of the replies back, we had tentatively slotted each one with a trainer.  One of the letters talked about the missionaries fear of talking to people, and the parent said "I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do, but perhaps it would be good for the trainer to be someone who will work them hard, and also, someone who may have had the same fear of talking to people, who will understand and help them through this fear.  We had felt very strongly about one missionary to train that we didn't know well at all.  We had a new trainer meeting the Friday before the new missionaries came in, and Scott asked them how they had changed, and how they were different from the people they were when they first came to the mission.  This particular trainer, who we had slotted with the missionary that was afraid to talk to people, said "Now I can talk to people. When I first came, I was really afraid to talk to people, and now I'm not."  Scott and I just looked at each other in amazement.  When he put them together, we didn't know about either one of them, but the Lord did. And the Lord listens to and answers the prayers of parents.  

3.  The spirit also confirms the will of God to others.  As we brought the new missionaries back to the church, one of the trainers was there and saw them all.  I was talking to him, knowing who his new companion was going to be, and I asked him who he thought he would be training.  He told me he had looked at their pictures and he had a strong impression of who he would be training, and he was spot on.  Another sister told me as we walked the new missionaries into the Relief Society room, where the trainers were waiting, that she looked at all of the sisters and had a feeling for who her companion was going to be, and she was right as well.  It is really wonderful to be part of so many miracles, I have gained a greater appreciation for the workings of the spirit.  

Our first transfer, however, did not go off without a hitch, but all's well that ends well.  It started on Monday morning when Scott, Ethan, Preston and I headed to the airport for the first pick up.  We met the Assistants there, and were waiting for 9 missionaries coming from the Provo MTC.  Fun side note, our dear friend, neighbor and new bishop of our home ward, Alex Dushku was coming into town for business and happened to be on the same flight as our missionaries.  He had texted Scott that he was on that flight and it was so fun to be at the bottom of the escalator to greet him and welcome him to Sacramento.  

As we were waiting for our missionaries, it felt a little like the excitement of waiting for our children as they were coming home from their missions.  There is just an electric excitement waiting for a missionary, whether it is on the coming to the mission, or the coming home end.  We were so excited to see them all heading down the escalator, they looked so sharp, and happy and we already love them so much and had so much fun welcoming them to the mission. 

The luggage in this picture is a piece of art at the airport, one of them asked it that was their luggage and if they had to grab it from the top of that pile.  

We got acquainted, picked up their luggage and got this group to the mission office for some lunch, and interviews with Scott and a few other items of business that had to be taken care of.  We had one missionary whose parents had driven him to the mission and he was there waiting for us. We had another missionary coming from the Mexico MTC, who was getting in at 12:30. Scott was busy interviewing, and so Ethan, Preston and I made a quick turn around and headed back to pick him up.  We got to the airport in plenty of time, and waited for the flight from LAX to arrive.  We saw it had landed and took our spots, standing at the bottom of the escalator. We waited, and waited and waited.  30 minutes after the flight had landed, we were still standing and waiting for him.  We started worrying that perhaps we had the wrong flight and that he might have come into the other terminal. We didn't have a flight number, just where he was coming from and the time.  So, Preston and I stayed where we were and Ethan ran over to the other terminal.  No wandering missionary over there either.  We were asking people where they had just come from, and we couldn't find anyone from that flight.  At 1:15 they took the flight off the arrival board and we started really worrying.  We had him paged, no luck.  I couldn't get a hold of Scott, and everyone in the office was helping with transfers that were taking place outside at that same time.  I kept thinking "how am I going to call his parents and tell them that we lost their son?   He is somewhere between Mexico City and here, but we don't know where."  It was my first solo pick up and things had not gone as planned.  I was so grateful that Ethan and Preston were there with me. I finally got someone to answer in the office, and our sweet Sister Stohl got on the phone immediately with Salt Lake. They didn't know where he was.  They don't travel with phones, but if they miss their flight they are supposed to call the mission president.  Scott hadn't heard anything.  But, we are new and his church phone was in the car because he had used it for the GPS and didn't bring it in with him.  Elder Chase had borrowed a phone and sent him a text, he just didn't have his phone with him.  After about 10 minutes of panic, Preston walked to the baggage claim desk and told the women we were waiting for someone who didn't get off the plane he was supposed to be on, and did she have any information on him.  The miracle of the day was that she was a member of the church and said "I'm not supposed to give you any information, but I can tell you are LDS and are waiting for a missionary, and I am LDS too, so I will tell you.  He missed his flight in LA and will be on the next flight and will arrive here at 5:00."  I was so grateful to have my level headed, never flustered son with me and he got information that no one, even in Salt Lake could seem to find out.  We left the airport, headed back to the office, and continued with the activities.  Unfortunately, without Elder Chase.  

It was so much fun, however, matching up the new missionaries with their trainers.  We walked them down the hall and into the Relief Society Room, where all of their trainers, the members of the zone the church building is in, and the Sr Couples were all standing and singing "Called to Serve" as we walked in.  They had 10 chairs set up in front of the room, facing the room, and the trainers were all sitting on the chairs with an empty chair next to them.  Scott and I stood up front and called one missionary up at a time, and announced where they would be serving and with whom.  It was so fun to watch the trainers faces as they anxiously waited to see which of the missionaries was going to be theirs.  As we announced their area, they all got the biggest smiles on their faces and stood up and hugged their new trainee, and everyone in the room cheered and clapped.  It was so much fun.  We talked to them for a bit about our mission culture and welcomed them to the mission, and then they were off to start working.  We generally would leave there and go to the temple to take pictures, but we wanted to wait for Elder Chase and so we postponed that until this morning.  

Once they had all left, we headed back to the airport, for my third time that day, to pick up Elder Chase.  We took his companion, Elder Hoskin with us.  When his plane landed this time, it didn't take long for us to see him coming down the escalator.  I had been so worried about him, he probably didn't know if anyone would be there to pick him up or not.  We were very grateful to see him, and he was very grateful to see us.  

We finally got them dropped off and on their way by 7, and hurried back to El Dorado Hills to meet up with Bishop Dushku, Ethan and Preston for dinner.  It was so fun to spend a few hours with our dear friend.  He came up to our home for a little bit after dinner and was able to listen in to some of our miracle calls that night.  

Yesterday was P-day and that was nice for all of the new missionaries to get settled and get some rest.  It was a big day for them, and they had woken up at 3 a.m. to get here.  This morning we met them at the temple, took pictures and then headed to the mission office for a full day of training.  It was wonderful to be with them, and everyone involved did such a great job. The office couples provided a wonderful lunch for all of us, and it was fun to see the excitement of the new missionaries and their trainers.  

Sister's selfie at the Temple

             

Row 1: Trainer Hermana Clark with Hermana Smith, Trainer Hermana June with Hermana Peterson
Row2: Trainers Sister Turner and Sister Morris with Sister Pyatt, Trainer Sister Brown, Sister Coombs, and trainer Sister Cha
Row 3: Trainer Elder Duncan with Elder Ludlow, Trainer Elder Edgington with Elder Christensen
Row 4: Trainer Elder Hoskin with Elder Chase, Trainer Elder Haywood with Elder Nelson
Row 5: Trainer Sister Baird with Sister Rowley, Trainer Sister Brown with Sister Ellsworth
Row 6: Trainer Elder Miller with Elder Ricedorff

Our first new batch.  July 2017 transfer

We are grateful every day to see the hand of the Lord in this work. As I told the missionaries, quoting 2 Nephi 27:21 "I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work".  v. 23 "I am God; and am a God of Miracles".  And in D&C 35 it talks about how God will show miracles, signs and wonders to those who believe on His name. And that He will call upon the weak things of the world to do His work.  How grateful we are to be able to see God do his own work, working through these wonderful young missionaries who believe on His name and are seeing miracles, signs and wonders.