Blessings

23 November 2014   Blessings

It has been a great two weeks.  We've been busy.  It is hard to believe that I have already booked flights for those departing in February and have letters, asking for information updates, ready to send to those parents whose missionary departs in April.  I live in two worlds......the present and the future.  We are losing so many of our great leaders in December, January, February and April.  I have grown quite fond of them all.  Elder Stringham has been busy with the finances.  It seems like a lot of the bills come due around the same time.  He gets interruptions when someone needs help on their computer, missionaries have problems with their apartments or when the Elders want him to help go teach.  So often he stays late to catch up.  

When we arrived last December, we were just getting ready for a transfer.  We gained a new AP at that time....Elder Weiss.    He has been an AP as long as we have been on our mission.  He goes home in 12 days.  I  can't even imagine the Mission without him.  We  have all come to rely on him for answers, help and  for leadership and just plain loved by all the missionaries.  He is as steady as they come. 

Baptism Day for Ajeng.  The Elder with dark tie is Elder Weiss.  AP since we got here.

Two Sister Missionaries came to the office on their P-day and set up our little Christmas Tree and Creche.   They are excited for Christmas and look forward to their packages from family and friends.  We have  several who will not receive anything from home.  Their families are from other countries and usually just send a little extra money if they can even afford that.  The Senior Couples will be watching to see who needs them and will make up boxes.   And there is a group of Sisters in Ames who ask for names and suggestions  for whom to  make up Christmas Boxes .  One of our missionaries has no family support -- financially or emotionally.  Some parents are unemployed and have younger children at home.  It is amazing to me that two of our missionaries who have not received anything from their families ... not even a letter... the whole year they have been out are the most humble, hard working and dedicated young men we have.  They do not have driver licenses , they are companions right now and they walk or bike everywhere.  And they are having pretty good success.  The President says they are always upbeat and smiling.  I hope you all will be mindful of missionaries serving near you.  Ward family and friends can really make Christmas a little more special for them.   I remember being on my mission in France many years ago and not receiving my Christmas package until February.  And even then it looked like it had been opened and rummaged through.  But, I remember getting little items, goodies and carolers from the members and our landlord and that made a big difference. 

We just had a sweet man from Lebanon, who was raised Muslim, baptized.  Surprisingly, some of the Muslims we have taught and baptized seem to be drawn to Jesus Christ as the Savior.  It surprised me to learn that the name Jesus is mentioned 5 times more in the Quran than is the Prophet of Islam.   They always address Jesus with respect in their Book of God.  I wonder how hate for Christians and Jews got started.

Sweet story:  a 95 year old man ready to be baptized this next week has been attending the Gospel  Principles class.  He comes in with his walker and is not afraid to make comments. He has strong opinions.   Last week he told us a little more about himself.  He comes from a strong Methodist family.  We love Methodists.  They are good people.  When he was a young man trying to get a college education, his parents and grandparents at a great sacrifice,  gave him money to study in a religious school to be a Methodist Minister.  He loved it, but for some reason which he didn't explain, he failed and was not able to graduate.  He felt they were so disappointed in him and he never knew how to make it up to them.  His parents/grandparents were very good people.  They loved Jesus Christ.  He has been taught by the Elders for several months and even though he felt the spirit tell him this was the Lord's true church on earth, he couldn't bring himself to be baptized for a long time.  He felt it would be a slap in the face to his family whom he had already disappointed.  His parents and grandparents have all passed on of course, but he believes he will see them in the afterlife and worried how they would feel.    Finally,  he has accepted the invitation to be baptized and now feels that his family would probably accept the gospel in the next life because they were such good and honest people.    I am not sure how many more years this sweet man has here on earth, but it won't be long before he will meet them again and can teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ.....if they haven't already been taught.  Hearing him talk, I felt such gratitude for the Savior and his plan to give everyone a chance to hear the gospel and  give them the chance to have their baptism and other temple ordinances performed by proxies in the temples. 

Well, the weather has been mild the last few days!  Not  bad!  We hear about all the snow up north and are feeling blessed that we can still get out and do our missionary work.   It is mostly windy right now.

I just want to tell my grandchildren how much I love their letters!  I read them over and over.  Some of them seem to be growing up too fast.   Sweet Jennibelle sent me a stuffed pillow she had made and stapled together because she's too little to sew .   I will treasure it forever.   My daughter-in law, Jenn knows how much I love the bubble lights and sent me a bubble night light.  We love it!  We love getting pictures, videos shared on Facebook and Instagram and all your updates.  How blessed we are to have all this technology! 

We will celebrate Thanksgiving this year with at least 13 others.  I am not quite sure how I ended up being in charge of it.   It started out with just the 10 Senior Missionaries here (which included the President and his wife) and now we have added 5 other missionaries who have not been invited by their ward.  I know it will be enjoyable!  Feeling blessed! 

Happy Thanksgiving!  We love you all!  And we love our mission!  And we love our Heavenly Father and our Savior!  

Baptisms and Cute Little Trucks

Baptisms and Cute Little Trucks   26 October and 2 November 2014 Mission Letter

It has been  kind of busy just catching up on all the work we got behind on when Shelleys were on medical leave.  There is a timeline that gets repeated every 6 weeks....all around transfers.  When one part gets behind it has a domino effect and we push to catch up.  Unfortunately for me, when we work a little faster or a lot longer I find I make mistakes.  Our President and his wife returned from a Mission Presidents Seminar with Elder Tom Perry and several other general authorities.  We will get a full report at our next Staff Meeting, but the little we have heard is the numbers will be going down.....for us we could go down to 200 missionaries in a year and they possibly will be realigning mission boundaries.  When we first arrived last December there were  close to 300 missionaries.  We have been slowly going down and are now at 267.  We have about 13 missionaries who have been released early, and are eligible to return.....a lot of medical.  The wave which the Brethren intentionally created by making several age groups eligible at once will even out.  Senior Missionary numbers are lower too.  We have lost 6 couples and only received two couples since we arrived.

Yesterday we helped the Shelleys move mission cars.  The Church replaces the cars when they reach 50,000 - 70,000 miles (depending on the car)and we  got 11 new cars.  We go help them move them from the dealer to our Stake Center  or office parking lot until they can get them out to the missionaries.  The dealer was in Ames, about 45 minutes away.   It makes me a little nervous driving  brand new Nissan Frontier trucks off the lot and into the Des Moines area traffic.  On the other hand I think I like that cute little truck.   

 Elder Stringham has been busy moving furniture from apartments to storage which requires driving a big trailer in the busy traffic and narrow roads. 

Elder Stringham is asked from time to time to help the Elders with teaching appointments.  One sweet man from Sudan was one of his favorites.  He is 40 years old, and has been a refugee here in the United States for 7 years.  Someone, awhile back, had given him a Book of Mormon which he kept in his car, or house, or brief case, but never threw away.   He had told them he was too busy and that he had to work a lot.  Then Elder Weiss and Elder Cleverley found him and talked to him about the Book of Mormon.  He remembered the one he had, found it and showed it to them.  He felt this was maybe a sign that he should listen and he did and was baptized last weekend.  He is very bright.  His is studying to become a U.S. citizen.  He is also very enthusiastic about the Pathways program of the church.  He has quite the personality.  When they mentioned his name in Sacrament Meeting he immediately stands up, looks around at the audience and waves.  He chose Elder Stringham to baptize him and that was special.  His first name is Ajeng and his last name is Ajeng.   He is one of those refugees that never knew his birth date so the Sudanese government assigns him the birthdate of January 1st and whatever year they think is the closest to when he was really born...so they can issue him a passport.  He did not know his parents birth dates either.  The tribes in Africa  just didn't record such things.

I am not responsible for referrals, but I hear all about them.  Apparently there is a group that keep calling the church to send the missionaries over.  Sounds good, except these people are Satanists and once the missionaries are in the house they reveal who they really are.  Not good!  That won't happen again as long as the Shelleys are here.  

2 November 2014

Sweet story.  A member of our Bishopric told about one of the busiest Sundays he had had in a long time.  He had a lot of important meetings to attend.  One of those was supposed to be a meeting with a lady who had terminal cancer.  She had asked him to play the bagpipes, which she loved, at her funeral.  Her friends said, "Why wait till the funeral?"  So he made an appointment to play for her.  He ending up having Stake Choir Practice at the same time.  He chose to visit the lady with terminal cancer.  As he was playing for her he could tell how much she enjoyed it and he felt such a deep love for her and gratitude for this opportunity to serve her and the Spirit was strong in her home.  Later, as he thought of all the meetings he attended,  he said he felt that playing for her was the most important work he had done all day.    

It has been cold the last few days ... down at night to 24 degrees.  Daytime temps are still ok....40-60's.  All the corn fields have been harvested and cornstalks are being cut down ! 

Here in Iowa they celebrate Beggars Night on the 30th of October and Halloween on the 31st.  Didn't need to buy candy.  On Beggars Night, it was mostly over by the time we got home from the office and no one came to our door on Halloween.  In our apartment building you get a Halloween sign for your door if you want trick-or-treaters.  Not too many kids out in the freezing weather, but lots in the stores.

Love you all!