April 20, 2014

April 20, 2014

Transfer week is done.  Hectic for me while doing my tasks of the week…..yes.  But, I got it done…yeah!  Now things will slow down to a better pace. 

Thoughts from last Sunday’s Outgoing Devotional/Fireside:

Monica Hernandez, a recent convert—Her parents didn’t approve her joining the church.  She had to wait 14 months to get baptized, but she waited and is so happy she is a member now. She said “Heavenly Father picks his strongest soldiers to fight his toughest battles”.  Neat quote, I thought.

Sister Craig said “before I came on my mission I knew OF the Savior. Now I KNOW the Savior.”

Funny statement by Elder D. Anderson---while he was with his trainer one evening, up in the sky an airplane went by.  His trainer asked him “how far is that airplane?  Elder Anderson said, I don’t know, then guessed a number in miles.  Then said to his trainer, how far do you think it is?  His trainer said, “6 weeks from me and 22 months from you!”  He was soon to go home!   Elder Anderson said that missions are the very best thing you will do in your life.  He had started once, hurt his back and had to go home to recover, then he came back after quite some time home.  He was glad he did.

Ruth Yang, a recent convert—She is from China.  She had been searching for God since she was a little girl.  She searched through lots of churches, reading lots of scriptures from various religions.  She got baptized in the Baptist church at one point.  Then, when a friend of hers committed suicide and the church said that the friend would go to hell, she doubted that church.  Then she started going to a Buddhist church….but, she believed in Jesus Christ, so that didn’t work out.  One evening, she drove to Death Valley and prayed.  She started studying the scriptures again, still searching for the church she felt was right.  Shortly after that prayer in Death Valley, she ran into Elder B. Anderson and Elder Woodbrey one day, and was totally shocked that they could speak Chinese!  And not only speak it, but speak it so well after only 6 months of doing so!  They gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon.  She started reading it----almost couldn’t stop!    She said “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find”.  That is how she felt.  Finally she was finding what she had been searching for.  She had a dream about getting baptized, woke up and sent a text message to the elders saying that she wanted to get baptized.  She said when talking to others about the church, state facts, not just a testimony.  She was looking for facts and found them.  She said people will see the change in you, the light in you, the life you live and know it is true.

Elder B. Anderson—Ruth’s baptism was the best experience on my mission.   I am a product of a mission and experiences.  I have become something different than that kid I was before my mission.

Sister Best—Two most prominent names on the missionary name tag……Family name and Jesus Christ.  Why I am on a mission…..I love my family and I love Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ keeps us on track.

Sister Billings—I am a child of converts and have seen how the Gospel blesses families.  We need to not only bring others to Christ, but to help them remain steadfast.

Elder Vance—Do not hesitate to make covenants with God….your life will change.  Mine has.

Elder Baldwin—originally from Preston, Idaho, but family has moved to St. George while he was on his mission.  Said he felt he had a near death experience sitting on the stand waiting to talk….saw his whole mission life flash before his eyes. [mission lingo---when you arrive, you are “born”.  When you leave, you “die”]    Had no idea when he entered the MTC what to expect.  What he learned on his mission—Joy.  He was happy at home, but didn’t understand true happiness.  Jesus is so willing to give to us—we just have to accept.

Sister Perez (recent convert…don’t know her first name).  Elder Alvarez and Elder James taught them.  She was so glad her teenage son Danny was learning something spiritual.  Missionaries had a profound  change on their family…..both the elders and sisters.  Dec. 2013, husband and wife baptized.  Danny just recently made the decision to join the church.  They now have peace and harmony in their home.  No shouting.  They try to behave as Heavenly Father would have them behave.  She said, “I know there will be challenges in our life, but we can pray and understand challenges and move forward”.  Her talk was all in Spanish, but President Watkins was translating for us.

Elder Giles—When I started my mission, I thought 2 years was a long time. Now I realize it was not long enough.  I learned a lot.  I thought I knew what service was, then I followed Jesus Christ.  I thought I knew what love was, and then I followed Jesus Christ.

Elder Alvarez—Most of his talk was in Spanish.  At the end he switched to English.  “It is our time to choose what jersey we are going to wear and what team we are going to play for”.  We are to be God’s disciples forever.

Sister Clayton:  Our way of giving back to Heavenly Father is in coming out of our comfort zone and going on a mission.  We serve our missionaries so they can serve you.

Elder Clayton:  How do you describe 18 months in 2 ½ minutes?

President Watkins:  These missionaries change from selfish teenagers to selfless young men and women of God. 

Back to more current…..yesterday was our 40^th anniversary.  I don’t know where the time has gone, it just has gone by so fast!  We decided to skip our usual Saturday activities and have a play day.  We went to Santa Cruz to see what it was like.  The freeway was full of people, stop and go for a while.  Got to Santa Cruz, and it was packed there!  We had a hard time finding a place to park first of all.  I had heard of the boardwalk there, but it was like walking in a fair or carnival.   Food joints with expensive food, carnival games, and rides.  We got us some lunch, then  we walked on the beach for awhile, got our feet wet.  When we were ready to leave the beach, we decided to drive farther down the coast and look for some beaches that we have heard were nice ones to visit, and then we will go another day to them.  We found them.  We drove past Monterey and Carmel to a place called Point Lobos which I have heard is a wonderful hiking area….very beautiful.  So now that we know where it is, we will also do it another time.  Then we headed home, went to get some groceries, and by then it was night time.  Today, we both had lessons to teach….Gary taught Sunday School, and I taught Relief Society.  Tonight we have a dinner invitation at the Crawford’s for Easter dinner.

All in all, it has been a good week!   See ya!