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!