27 July 2014 Pageants and Corn Fields

It's been a great two weeks.  We were able to attend a zone conference in Nauvoo and see the Nauvoo pageant and the British pageant.  They were both excellent.  I think I enjoyed the British pageant the most because some of the personal stories were new to me.  The Nauvoo Pageant tells of what a great city Nauvoo had become after the Mormons settled there.  Because they were so industrious and so willing to sacrifice they even were building a temple.  Nauvoo was the second biggest city in Illinois next to Chicago.  It breaks my heart to hear how hard they worked to build the temple and were only able to use it for a very short time before they left Illinois to go West.  If they stayed in Nauvoo they would have had to fight a war with those who felt threatened by our religion.  Even though Nauvoo isn't very prosperous now it is considered sacred ground to us.  The British Pageant tells of the missionary work  and the difficulties the converts in Britain had joining the Church and then emigrating to America and on to Nauvoo.  At the end of the British Pageant, the theme being "Truth Will Prevail", they had all the full time missionaries attending come from both sides of the stage and from the back and fill in with the cast members.  When I heard that we would be singing "Called to Serve", I thought that we had just about worn that song out on our mission.  However, it was very powerful and I was moved to tears.  Here I was standing with 100+ other missionaries, standing next to my husband and the Mission President and his wife and trying to sing and not sob.  At the end of that song, they transitioned into "Redeemer of Israel" and that did it for me....at that point I was just lip syncing.  It is amazing how much we can feel a part of this work even though we spend the majority of our time paying bills, managing apartments, doing reports, communicating with worried parents, submitting baptisms records to Church Headquarters, preparing training manuals, submitting travel plans, etc.  

This is a little before they had all the missionaries file up to the stage and sing.

Also we traveled to Carthage and saw Carthage Jail and the visitors center.  Another sacred historical spot.  The statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith is touching and remind us how to truly love your brother.  It was the most beautiful grounds and structure in the whole city.  There were lots of people.  One lady of another faith, asked how could they afford to keep up the grounds, pay for the guides and have such a beautiful center.  It didn't take long before one of the Couple Missionaries there explained about what service missionaries do, our volunteer services and how the church accomplishes so much worldwide.

One sweet story.  A couple of Elders were teaching a family.  The 9/10 year old girl was afraid of water.  The day of the baptism she backed out, the others were baptized.  She was feeling pretty sad about the whole thing.  So the next week the missionaries thought of how they could help her get used to getting her head in the water.  They brought a bucket, filled it with water, and each of them took turns putting their head in the bucket of water until the young girl was comfortable enough to be immersed in the water.  That weekend she was baptized and it was a total success.    The Mission President commented that these are two Elders who followed the spirit and found a simple solution.

Iowa is beautiful this time of year.  The farms go on and on.  You see mostly corn fields, then a lot of soy fields and also some hay fields.  The corn is very tall, but not quite ripe.  Luckily for us the weather has been almost perfect.  The temperatures are mostly in the mid-80's with an occasional 90.  It is more humid here, but not unbearably so. 

We love all the mail we get and the emails.  We try to get on facebook to keep up with you all!  We're happy to be here and are working hard and doing our best!

Lots of love to everyone!! 

13 July 2014 "Oh Dear, Bedbugs and New Phones"

Wow...does time go by fast!  We have been out now 7+ months.  It feels like I keep learning new things about my job each week.  It may only be July, but I am living part of my office life in October already!  Just submitted travel requests for those leaving in October.  Church Travel wants the travel requests 3 months in advance.  Monday, I start working on gathering information on those leaving in December!!!  Doesn't sound too hard, but you have to find out from the parents if they want their missionary to fly home or if they are picking him up, into which airport do they want him to fly, have they had any Bishop/Stake President change, have the parents moved, separated/divorced, or passed away, print out certificates of release,  send letters with itineraries to parents and their local leaders, etc.  We have already had two parents pass away while their missionary was here.  We've have several grandparents pass away.  Most of the parents are great about replying with all the info right away, but there are a few who forget so I get to play phone tag with them for a few days.  I am always a little nervous to hit the "submit" button.  I have nightmares of sending a missionary to the wrong airport.

Office couples get a bird's eye view of all that goes on in the mission.  I am amazed at how well everything comes together and how much missionary work actually gets done.  Elder Stringham has had his hands full!  First, we are starting to get more bedbugs in the apartments!  Our heat machine broke, so until it is fixed we use exterminators.  Some apartments want to use their own exterminators and some don't care, but just want them gone soon before they spread.  One thing I am learning is that too many missionaries don't clean well.  They can be quite messy....things not put away.  They haven't cleaned their refridgerators or stoves in a long time.  Some have used the same old, ragged  dish cloth to the point that it is dark and sour.  I didn't even want to ask about their bathrooms.  Trust me when I tell you that it doesn't take long for individual missionaries to get a reputation of being messy.....to the point of being almost intolerable.  And there is an unseen line of communication between all the missionaries.  Sometimes they know stuff before office staff hears about it.  Elder Stringham  found out that there were 5 missionaries living in a 2 bedroom apartment where the lease only allows 2 unrelated people living there.  Whoops!  I'm sure these missionaries enjoyed all the company....but Mission Presidents have learned that the work suffers when too many missionaries live together.  Second, our phone company has upgraded our phones and we received 100 new phones that need to have all their numbers and info switched over. More new phones will come when it is their time to upgrade.   New phones always cause some problems....just getting used to them.   I haven't set mine up yet.  Makes me nervous learning new technology things.  My brain cells still can't remember all of my usernames and passwords for all my online accounts.

Part of my job is to collect photos for a DVD video that is created for the missionaries just before they go home.  Some of their pictures make me chuckle.  This is from one of my favorite Elders.  He was an Assistant to the President and we often saw him in the office.  We shared computers.

"Go ye into all the world,  and preach the gospel unto every creatures!"

Two more of the family from Iraq were baptized yesterday....the father and daughter.  I heard a little more of how they found the church.  They were looking for a Christian religion and saw the Des Moines Stake building while driving around.  So they showed up one Sunday and were noticed by one of the friendliest women in our ward.   The family was just standing outside on the sidewalk looking lost.  Sister Knight talked to them and they said they were looking for a church to go to.  I must say, I think her fellowshipping them, getting them to the missionaries and taking such an interest in them helped this sweet family feel right at home and prepared them to hear the Gospel.  They actually live in the boundaries of a different ward so I really don't get to see them!

Went to the Des Moines, Iowa Farmer's Market in downtown Des Moines.  It is huge....many, many blocks long and then all of the side streets crossing over were filled with tables and booths. So many different vegetables, some fruits from down south, pork and beef cooked many different ways, lots of different kinds of cheese, eggs, dozens of salsa recipes (many tasting tables, too), and of course booths and booths of craft items. Parking was a breeze because there is a huge parking garage right there on one of the blocks.  However, leaving the garage took close to 30 minutes....mainly because we thought we were smart and parked on the top floor. 

Farmer's Market ...one of the largest in the country.

Today, I learned about a very wealthy member of the church who was concerned because one section of his ward had to travel so far to the building for activities.  Attendance was sparse.  So he built a big, huge beautiful home on a lot of acreage closer to those who had little or no transportation and set it up so all the YM/YW, Primary, Ward Socials, Seminary, etc. could be held at his home.  Needless to say attendance at all the meetings greatly improved.

Still fascinated with the weather in Iowa.  It is cooler than usual for July, we hear.  Next week it is predicted to break records for the coolest weather for July.  I looked at the Seattle weather and noticed they were having a heat wave!   The weather can change from cool and stormy to hot and humid in just a few hours! 

The Bishop gave us some names of less active persons to track down and see if we can offer any help.  No one answers the door, the phone or answers emails.  We did learn  that one family had just moved and now we have their parent's address and phone numbers.  

A few hours after a big storm!  

We love it here!  Happy to be of part of the missionary work!

Love you all as always!!