26 January 2014
It has been a quiet week.
We have transfers coming up in 2 weeks and this is the calm before the
storm. It seems though that when it is
calmer I make more mistakes. Elder
Stringham on the other hand has had his hands full with bedbugs in the apartments,
missionaries needing new apartments and an audit coming up. Sunday night we went up to the office so he
could catch up. Then we had some elders
living with members when suddenly the father was arrested, put in jail and the
missionaries had to find an apartment that day.
That was next to impossible so they were camping out on another
companionship’s floor.
We have been assigned to another ward. President Jensen felt that the Des Moines
Ward didn’t need 3 Senior couples and 6 elders.
The ward initially was baptizing a lot and the couples helped give rides
to church. Now the ward has taken on
that responsibility. So we are going to
the West Des Moines Ward. It is totally
a different ward. It is more established
and members more seasoned. However, it
is very small. I immediately liked this
ward. They were so friendly and so
excited to have a Senior Couple. The
Bishop is already hinting about using us to visit certain families and to speak
in church. I joined the choir because it was so
small. There were 12 members 6 of us
were full-time missionaries. Our choir
director is very enthusiastic and watching her conduct you would think she was
directing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra….very large in her
movements and an expressive face. She’s
obviously trained well in music.
Two sweet stories…..first, we had a missionary who is
autistic and so wanted to serve a mission.
He is from Iowa and he was put in our mission on a trial basis. They gave him the best and most compassionate
senior companion and those two did such awesome work together. The elder who is autistic was the sweetest
young man and the other elders and members of his ward absolutely loved
him. He did such a good job and was just
assigned to serve in the St. George Utah Mission. He was so proud. The Mission President got teary-eyed when he
told us about their good-bye at the airport.
Second, we have a missionary who was in a massive car accident and was
in a coma for a couple of weeks. He
obviously had a lot of head trauma. It
was the Mission President’s first day on the job and he and/or his wife sat by
this Elder’s bed day and night until the parents/relatives arrived….several
days. Well, he is back and even though
he hesitates a little in his speech he is a miracle. He is so grateful for his recovery and works
as hard as any missionary out there.
I find it very easy to get attached to these young men and
young women. They are so good! They love all the Senior Couples and come
over a lot on their P-day and just talk and goof around. Of
course, it helps that we feed them often.
It is a privilege to be a part of the work of spreading the
gospel throughout the state of Iowa. I
mostly do a lot of reports, help with the training materials for new missionaries,
keep the calendar up to date, make travel arrangements for departing
missionaries, hotel arrangements for the President and his wife as they travel
around and help the visa waiters get FBI clearance to Brazil.
Well, the weather
goes from the mid-50’s to the -17 degrees in just a few hours. The wind howls and sounds a little
scary. Schools close when they think it
is dangerously cold. It is impossible to
keep your car clean.
We think of you all and try to sneak in some facebook time
just to feel a part of the world back home.
Looking forward to hearing all about the Super Bowl!
3 February 2014
It has been a crazy week.
Elder Stringham has been busy with housing. We had an intruder walk into the Sisters
apartment in Boone, IA in the middle of the night. Someone screamed and he ran away. But, they have been shaken up some. They had forgotten to lock their door that
night! Bedbugs were again found in
another apartment. That requires a special heat machine and when that doesn’t
work they use chemicals. I was busy
doing what they call the “B” report. It
is an end of the month report, but I realized I needed to convert it over to
the new year 2014. In the process I had
sooooo many problems. Uusually Elder
Stringham can resolve such things. But
not this time. So I call Darla, our
Mission computer specialist and she stops by and lo and behold she finds that
the formulas were messed up royally.
That explains why the 2013 end of the year report was wrong! That was my first report to send to all the
Church Leaders. Whew! Glad to know it wasn’t me causing the
problems. So after spending all day
Saturday cleaning it up we are no ready to do the “B” report for January! It was a tender mercy that Darla was even
able to come in. I sent her email on
Saturday after spending about 5 hours trying to make it work. She and her daughter were out shopping near
the Mission Office. She called me from
our parking lot and said she had a few minutes!
This next week was going to be so busy for her…..she owns her own
computer business. So now we are ready
to go!!!
I love the sweet missionaries. We have an Elder who is waiting for his visa
to Brazil where he was called. Brazil
requires that the passport photos be taken within the last 6 months. So he looked all over for a place out in the
middle of nowhere in Iowa. They have
rules that don’t allow you out of your zone without special permission. The only place that do the special passport
photos he needed were outside his zone.
He called and I gave him permission to go to Davenport. He called his Zone Leader who told him he
couldn’t so he was obedient and didn’t go.
Later when I heard about it, I told him anytime we gave him permission
to leave and his Zone Leader didn’t agree to call us and we would talk to them. I love how obedient they are! It builds the Mission President’s trust in
them and these young men usually become the leaders. It is kind of fun that I can give the
missionaries permission to break a rule!
We have had bad weather off and on.
When it snows…..because it is rarely above freezing and always windy….we
ground the cars and missionaries for safety reasons. That is when we get a lot of phone calls at
the mission office. They call us out of
boredom! They perk us up when their cute
stories and their funny jokes!
Our new ward will be assigning Mark and I several families
to either track down or/and fellowship.
Yesterday, a sister bore her testimony in Sacrament Meeting whose
personality reminded me of my Aunt Jessie.
I immediately felt close to her.
She had not been active for many, many years. The missionaries found her and invited her
back. She got very emotional just
telling us how much she missed the feeling of being at church.
My daughter Rebecca used this quote on the family calendar
she made for us. I really like it. “You don’t know how important a moment is
until it becomes a memory!” Don’t know who
to give credit to…..no name with it.
We love our mission.
They make us feel so needed and welcomed. I also get to see little miracles each day
that strengthen my testimony that this is Heavenly Father’s work! I am still in awe that the Lord trusts his
missionary work to 18+ year old youth and 65+ seniors. I guess He uses whatever He has
available.
Love to you all!!!
Elder and Sister Stringham
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