Sunday, June 22, 2014

22 June Mission Letter or "Foot in the Door"

22 June 2014 Mission Letter "Foot in the Door"

It has been awhile since I have written.  My laptop broke and the hard drive was gone.  It took awhile for us to get a new one ordered and all our information transferred over. 

We've had some sweet experiences.  We have more new missionaries.  This group is amazing.  All of these young men and one young sister seem to have real strong testimonies and I can see them working hard and being outstanding missionaries.   We only had one Sister returning home.  She was the only member of her family and in her town.  She has a family from her ward that has been her strength and encouragement the whole time.  She is black and the African community in Des Moines and in Iowa City have loved her dearly.  What impressed me is her cheerful attitude and her enthusiasm.

At Stake Conference we had a visiting general authority, Elder Michael Reall from the Seventy.  He gave the best talks.  At one point in one of his talks, he paused, then said if felt impressed that there was someone in the audience to needed to hear something.  Then he proceeded to tell the whole audience that there was not one person in this audience who couldn't qualify for the Celestial Kingdom if they continue on the road of repentance.....something we should all be doing every day.  Then he said that there was a person he could see in the audience who refused to look at him through that whole part of his talk and he repeated just for him/her that same message.  What a sweet feeling there was there. 

Our Mission President spoke at two meetings and spoke of his love for the missionaries and this work.  He shared an experience of a Sister Missionary who had heard Elder Holland,  an apostle, really give encouragement to the missionaries.  He admonished them to be bold and to "stick their foot in the door".  He was speaking figuratively.  This sweet Sister took it to heart and in her tracting door to door she found herself at a door of some people who did not want to hear her message.  They started to close the door in her face and she literally put her foot in the door.  That did not make the homeowners happy and they threatened to call the police.  She told them to go ahead.  When the police arrived she told them who they were and what they were doing.  She also said that if they hauled her off to prison that she would be in good company because they also stoned the prophets and put them in prison.  Well, the cop was kind and told them he was not going to haul them off the prison, but not to do that anymore.  When our Mission President heard of the incident, he was a little taken back.  So you can imagine that at the next Zone Conference they taught the missionaries how to be bold but, not overbearing and to not to infringe on other's freedoms.  I had met this Sister before she was released and she is such a sweetheart, but I could see her doing that.....she could be dramatic!   

This past week I submitted baptism records of a mother and son who are from Iraq.  They were raised as Muslims, but really didn't practice much in their country.  Before the missionaries can teach a Muslim, the Muslim investigator need to be interviewed by the Mission President.  This is mainly for their (the Muslim's) protection.  I only know that they gave us their legal names to put on the baptism form and then they gave us their "preferred names", the names by which they will be known in the church.  Often people will just shortened their name as their preferred name, but these Iraqi's gave us totally different names -- American names.  The Elders said that there are more in the family which are being taught!  The gospel  of Jesus Christ is for every nation and tongue!

We attend the Gospel Essentials class in Sunday School.  I am so impressed with the new converts.  They tell us how much the gospel has changed their lives and that life makes sense to them now.  Remember the convert, the man who was in so much pain he wanted to die?  He is a joy to have in the class.  Today he told us he loves being there and learns so much because can ask any question he likes.  The Bishop wanted to meet with him during the class and he asked if the Bishop could interview him at a different time because he didn't want to miss the class.  We have a convert who we only see from time to time because he is a truck driver and is on the road driving interstate so much.  He comes in his truck clothes,  talks like a truck driver and he makes me smile.  We have a young couple who love the church so much and get quite emotional about the joy it brings them and how much it has changed their lives.  They have a young daughter in YW and they see her making so many good decisions....something they feel they did not do when her age. 

Well next month at the end of July and the beginning of August we have 24 missionaries going home and 27 (so far) arriving.  I really don't know how we are going to get them all here and get them all home.  There is a of work involved.   We are at the beginning of the releases of a lot of the big waves of missionaries after the age change.  So for the next several transfers we will be so busy.  We will be losing so many of the outstanding leaders. 

Well, we love our missions.  It feels good to be serving.  It seems that when we are happy the feelings are so joyful it is hard to contain.  But, just as surely as we have ups we also have downs.  Satan doesn't want us to be successful and he finds our weaknesses and tries to discourages us.  Luckily, we have prayer and scriptures to keep us balanced and focused on the important things. 



Some Sister Missionaries visited us in the office.  When they left we found this on the inside of our restroom door......hearts and fun riddles!  



We needed to make a trip to Boone, Iowa to check out an apartment that was a concern for some Sister Missionaries.  Boone is the city that Mamie Eisenhower, late and former First Lady of the United States was born.  She was the wife of  President Dwight Eisenhower.  I remember him as President and as a General in the Army.  I liked him.  The house was quaint and fascinating.  She was born the same year as my Grandma Merrell and so many things in the house reminded me of my grandma.  The missionaries do a service project just before the Historical Site opens for the season.  They do cleaning and yard work for them. 

Can't close without a comment on the weather.  It has been beautiful!  There has been enough rain that the corn and soy farms are really growing well!  It looks beautiful on our occasional drives!  But, there are still some pretty exciting thunderstorms from time to time.  The last one that was kind of severe we heard the tornado sirens go off. .  So I got my flashlight, robe and good sturdy shoes by the side of the bed and waited.   I looked out the window and not a leaf on the tree was even moving.  I got out the Ipad and looked at my app for severe weather.  I guess there was wind somewhere that was between 70-80 mph and it was headed here so they turned on the sirens.  After about 5 minutes all heck broke loose.  Buckets of rain, howling wind and lots of thunder and lightning.  It was pretty impressive!  It lasted off and on for a few hours and then was gone.  Next morning there was blue skies and sunshine, but we saw trees that had fallen on roofs, branches all over, flooded roads and lots of roads closed!  Apparently there were some tornado touchdowns and this storm left quite a bit of devastation.  But no missionaries were affected!  Feeling blessed.  It has been very warm even with the storms...high 80's and occasional 90's.   I felt very warm and sticky at church today.  The home and office have air conditioning and I am so grateful for that!

Hope you all are having a great summer!  We love you all soooooo very much!

Elder and Sister Stringham