31 March 2014 Mission Letter

31 March 2014 Mission Letter

Transfer Week!!  It is so busy in the office the week before and the week after.  We had such an interesting group of missionaries come in this time.  There were only 6.  Two are what we call visa waiters.  They are actually assigned to go other missions – 1 to Brazil and 1 to Australia.  Their visas have not come through yet and sometimes can take awhile so they assign them to a mission statewide  until the visas come. 

In the past we have had visa waiters who have been some of our best missionaries.  They get trained very well in this mission.  It is definitely a “Preach My Gospel” Mission and it gets results.  They have success and learn to love the people and the other missionaries and then their visas come in and they have to leave.  One visa waiter was a little grumpy, I hear, when he first got here.  Then, he heard from home that his dad, who was not a member, had been taught and baptized by a visa waiter in another mission.  Now he is on fire and we will be so sad when he has to leave us. 

We had one Sister come this time.  She will be teaching to the Spanish Speaking.   She is from Hawaii and is the happiest young lady.  We had in this group one elder who is 6’ 11” tall.  We had to go find a mattress for him to sleep on in the mission home that was long enough for him.  That mattress may have to follow him around his mission.  He could just barely walk under the doorways in the mission home.  He was also a cheerful young man. 

One young man is older – 22 years old.  He said he really didn’t want to go on a mission at first.  But, once he decided he wanted to go right away.  Well, I felt he was still not really wanting to be here.  He hung his head through the whole testimony meeting, hardly talked to anyone sitting on the sofa a lot.  My heart went out to him.  How hard is that to be here, but wanting to jump on the first plane to go back home.  Elders sometimes go home.  We have had several go home for what we call “late confessions”, which is the saddest at all.  However, President Jensen says it is a very good thing.  They stop living a lie and they can turn their lives around and come back after 6 months.   It is next to impossible to be here, see the success and feel the enthusiasm  and know that there is something missing in your life.  You just can’t have the same peace and enthusiasm until things get cleared up.  President Jensen says some of those interviews are his most spiritual.  I haven’t been here long enough to see any return.   We have had medical leave missionaries return and that is always exciting!

The other missionaries from this group come from strong backgrounds, are very excited to be here, but are very nervous!  All 5 of the Elders were Eagle Scouts!  The President thinks they will be leaders in time.  Mission Presidents know how very important it is to give them the best trainers!  We have one missionary who was a trainer, District Leader,  and Zone Leader early on, but he was made a trainer the last  9 months of his mission, because he was the best trainer we had…..especially for iffy new missionaries.   He was obedient, hard-working and had the kindest heart.

We attended the sweetest baptism Saturday afternoon.  The man was 84 years old, from Liberia and was blind.  He did not understand English so his son and daughter-in-law translated for him.   Imagine having to descend the stairs to the baptismal font being blind, 84 years old and not able to walk very well.  His son helped him to the stairs and then the Elder took him by the hand and helped guide him down the stairs.  They had taken his walking stick from him and so it took the Elder awhile to help him down……very slowly!   That scene alone made me very emotional.  Imagine the faith he had to have just to get in the font.  Because he was so feeble they had a chair in the font for him to sit on after they had said the baptism prayer and then lowered him back into the water.  It didn’t work…..his forehead didn’t get immersed.  So they did it without the chair and were successful!  When he came back into the room he was fully dressed and had a heavy coat and hat on.  Remember these people are from Liberia where it is hot.  As talks were given and translated for him he would make a noise, nod his head and sometimes clap his hands.  The Bishop told him he had just had 84 years of sin washed away…..clapped his hands on that!!!  It was very touching!  His granddaughter is the reason he was taught and baptized.  He had been coming to church every week with the family but, understood very little, if anything.  She so wanted him to be baptized and so the missionaries found a way to teach him.  Now his son and daughter-in-law  could translate, but did not read.  So the granddaughter helped the most.  I would love to see him when he goes through the temple and is sealed to his son.  I’m sure he will clap sometime during that ordinance.  Hopefully after! 

Today in church a man bore his testimony and shared with us his experience in Richards Point, Iowa.   This is the place where the first pioneers died and were buried on the pioneers’ trek to Utah.  It was a 15 month old baby and also a granddaughter of Brigham Young.  The man who owned the property had made a little path from the main road back to the graves and had given that patch of ground to the Mormon Church and it was dedicated this weekend as a church historical site.

Weather-wise it got so warm today (Sunday)----71 degrees.  Our apartment is very warm and we needed to turn on the fan.  I’m not sure how we’ll handle it when it gets 90’s and 100’s here.

Thanks for all the letters and emails!   We love them and we love all of you!