Fairs and Temples

11 August 2014

It was the biggest group of arriving and departing missionaries I have dealt with so far....49 total.  It is quite exciting to see them come in and sad to say good-bye.  The arriving group, even though very large is more quiet, sit on the sofa, and feeling exhausted.  The departing group is laughing, playing the piano and up moving around.   Sadly within 3 days two of our new missionaries had gone home.  .  

 I feel I have gotten the hang of all there is to do.  Sometimes the Mission President will ask me to play detective and find out why something has or hasn't happened....i.e. why he received notice of a certain visa waiter to be transferred to Brazil....the mission he was called to.....but then so much time had passed and we had yet to receive his passport/visa or flight itinerary.  Usually our work is the same routine from transfer to transfer,

We went to the Iowa State Fair this past weekend.  This fair is geared toward farmers....mostly.  Lots of tractors....new and restored.  I found a small Ferguson tractor like my dad had and I used to drive on the farm.  We could never afford the big John-Deere tractors which is what you see in Iowa and the Case II.  Huge ones!  Also, they have all the animals and 4-H groups you could think of.  Big horses, miniature horses, sheep, pigs, cows, etc.  Pork is big in Iowa.  A lot of the food stands had some kind of pork to see.  Bacon was baked with  fries, chips, eggs, around the steak and pork chops.  We were there about 3 hours and then we got tired of walking so went home. 

This Idaho farmer never had a tractor like this!

Old restored Ferguson tractor like my dad had.  (to my brother, Myron....this was the kind of  tractor I was driving on "that"day!)

Cool sand sculpture at Iowa State Fair (you can see how important pigs, corn, soy and Mcdonalds are to Iowans)

17 August 2014

We are having a Mission Tour (with Elder Godoy of the Seventy) in September .  It's a big deal for the Mission....I hear.  He send us his agenda.  They have a couple of Zone Conferences to be able to meet with all the missionaries, he goes out with some of the missionaries doing their work (that would be awesome and scary at the same time).  He chooses 4 missionaries from each Zone Conference to interview.  The office staff and APs  meet with him for a short while.   His job is to encourage and uplift the missionaries.  Sounds good!

This mission is doing well in finding people who want to be baptized.  I think people really are looking for more in their life and seeking for truth. 

Elder Stringham and I visited the Winter Quarters Temple, visitors center there and also the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs.  It is very humbling to visit these places.  The temple has art work depicting the pioneers as they crossed the plains....on the walls as pictures and also in their stained glass windows.  There is such a reverent feeling there.  The temple grounds contains the cemetery where many pioneers were buried, having never reached the Salt Lake Valley.   Two names that stuck out were a 90 year old woman and a 1 day old baby boy.  Some buried there were never identified.

Outside Winter Quarters Temple

 

Reading names of those buried there.

A special tribute to the "unrecorded dead".  For some reason this choked me up a little.

This statue to me symbolizes the hardship and the sacrifice made by so many!

Here is a sweet story sent to me by the couple that we replaced in the Mission Home, Elder & Sister Gardner: (Sandee...you met them when they stopped in Colorado)

If You Think The Lord Isn't Aware Of His Children, You Gotta Read This!

"A member of our ward shared this amazing experience that he had this week. He was in an airport and was trying to find a kiosk that would allow him to charge his phone. He still had plenty of battery strength, but felt he should charge it nonetheless. He found several kiosks, but they were all full. He finally found a place and was sitting across the table from a young Chinese woman who seemed visibly upset. She was on the phone with an airport employee trying to explain her situation. The problem was that she spoke very little English. He heard her repeat the word 'Mongolian'. The employee did not speak Chinese Mongolian. My friend wanted to help, but did not speak Mongolian either; however, he had a friend who had served a mission where he had to learn the Chinese Mongolian language. My friend (Russ) called his friend (John) and explained the situation and asked if he would be willing to help translate so that this young woman could get her problem resolved. John agreed, so Russ gave his phone to the young lady (YL) & said "Mongolian" and pointed to his phone. The YL hesitantly took the phone and soon began chatting very rapidly while Russ just looked on. After a few minutes, the YL began crying almost hysterically. Russ was wondering what John could have said that made her cry, but just waited, knowing there was nothing he could do. The YL would stop crying and seemed to gain control over her emotions, only to start crying once again. Russ was totally bewildered! The conversation lasted about 15 min. & a smiling, teary-eyed YL handed back the phone to Russ. John was pretty emotional too as he explained to Russ that this YL was a girl he had taught while on his mission and he had baptized her and her whole family! She was on her way to the MTC in preparation for a mission!!! He had also helped her resolve her airport problem. "

Missionaries are noted for collecting special conversion stories .

We love you all!

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!!

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

26 May 2014 Mission Letter

26 May Mission Letter

It has been kind of quiet and relaxed the last 10 days or so.  Elder Stringham and I were able to take a “real” Pday.  That means on Saturday we had time to travel a little and see Iowa.  The first spot we went to see was Pella, Iowa.  It is known for its’ Tulip Festival, Dutch windmill, streets lined with tulips, Pella Windows Company and Wyatt Earps home.  The residents plant tulips between the sidewalk and the curb.  It is very pretty.  Here is a picture of the Windmill.  It is the biggest Dutch windmill in the United States.  The tour takes us to the top to see the actual vanes close up.    On the way down we stopped at different floors where they show how to grind different grains into flour.  On another floor we saw where the miller lives.  It is one room that includes the kitchen, a table, a chair and a bed that is 4 feet long and has doors.  We really enjoyed our visit there.

Dutch Windmill Pella Iowa

The grain mill

The miller's bed - just 4 feet long.

Miller's living quarters

Eating area

 

This past weekend we went to Living History Farms.  It is right close in Urbandale.  Our son and daughter-in- law, Jason & Jenn got us a gift certificate to this Museum for Christmas.  It consists of a 1700 Ioway Indian Farm, 1850 Pioneer Farm and a 1875 Town of Walnut Hills, complete with a Blacksmith, General Store, Print Shop, Chapel, Millenary, Lawyer, Doctor’s Office and Machine Shop.  It was fascinating.  Loved it all!

Nice-sized chapel in Walnut Hills

View of the street from the Chapel

The old farm machinery was fun for me.  Remember the disc from my dad's farm. We used both a team of horses and a tractor to pull the disc.

All the children there loved this...sow with 9 piglets,  There was a runt who kept being pushed away and he would keep climbing on top trying hard to find his dinner.  He didn't have much success so he will probably always be the runt. 

It is summer and therefore we are getting a more than usual number of missionaries assigned to our mission to come the end of July and middle of September.  If we get more than we send home, we need to open new areas.  That will keep Elder Stringham busy, because he needs to open new apartments, take care of the leases, see that they are decent enough for missionaries and then see that they are furnished. 

Last Sunday the missionaries serving in our ward had some converts visiting.  I seem to notice the reverence or lack thereof more when we have visitors.  There were at least 3 babies who were just having a hard time.  I said a quiet little prayer that they might be calmed and the visitors could enjoy the meeting.  Not to be!   So I prayed that the speakers would bring a spirit that could be felt even above the noise.  Yep!  That one got answered.  A sister talked about her family’s conversion.  The mother joined first.  Some of the older children were then baptized.  The dad was noted for being a real challenge for the missionaries.  For several years he teased and questioned almost everything.  He eventually was baptized.  The Sister speaking said when she was older she asked him why he joined.  His answer:  “I knew it would make your mom happy”.   She asked him when did he know it was true.  He answered, “I became converted by living the commandments!”  The speaker said soon after her mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and in time was unable to care for herself.  The dad became the caretaker of the children and his wife and continues to this day.  He tells his daughter that it is his love for his wife, the knowledge of the Gospel, knowing his purpose here on the earth and that families can be together forever that sustain him.   

Sorry I am a week behind.  I get started and then the computer decides to act up. 

Love you all very much!

12 May 2014 Mission Letter

12 May Mission Letter

 You probably think everything I do revolves around transfers or the weather and that is true. We just finished another transfer. This one was extra busy because the weekly and monthly reports came at the same time, plus we had a visa waiter to get to Brazil. We had a travel problems when the 4 elders who had finished their missions and were at the airport to go home. Because of severe stormy weather their flight was late getting there, the pilots needed sleep so the airlines needed to find others flights for them. The best they could do was send them to Minneapolis, then to Seattle, then to SLC. Their original flight was supposed to get them home at 1:00 pm or there abouts. The second flight got them home at 9:30 pm. Some of these elders had family celebrations awaiting them, appointments with their Stake President for their release interview and a lot of people waiting for them at the airport. They were so bummed! The Mission President’s wife said they were so quiet! But, then because they know how to handle disappointments, they snapped out of it and decided to just have fun.

 Here is a picture of them, with the 2 Assistants to the President, the night before at the Mission Home goofing off. They were such a great group!

Some of our best!

An interesting story. I received a phone call from a young man who said he had talked to some missionary and he thought he remembered that one of them was an Elder “so and so”. He said that he just brushed him off, but after thinking more about it, he thought he should listen to his message. I explained that I could not give out his number, but could reach him and have him call back. He said, that he did not have a phone, that he was traveling a lot, was from Nevada, but that he had a friend with a phone and the Elder could call that number. To make a long story short…..that person was actually from his hometown, someone he had worked with who wanted his phone #. Well, that’s a big “no, no”. And this elder is an obedient missionary so he let us know immediately what had happened. We may have to put a block on that number if they try phoning him again. But, I realize how easily I am tricked. Guess I need to be more suspicious! Mother’s Day was as good as it could be out here. Loved all the skyping, phone calls, etc

Best Lesson Ever

 Our Bishop taught our Relief Society lesson after the Bishopric fed us ice cream with every topping you could think of. YUM! He talked about his grandmother. She had been abused by her father. It was nothing for her to show up to school with a black eye, bruises broken arm, or a cut lip. As soon as she could, she left home and when the missionaries knocked on her door a few years later, she was touched and immediately joined. He remembers his grandmother never talking about her childhood, but always bearing her testimony about the love of God in her life, because He brought her the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of carrying on the tradition of abuse, she instead became the epitome of love and gentleness. The Bishop is on the right.

Mother’s Day ended with our very first ever tornado warnings …… in fact 2 of them…..with the sirens and everything. The sirens were a little far away and I couldn’t see anything. It was a stormy night with hail, rain, wind, lightning and the loudest thunder I had ever heard. It left my ears were ringing for a few minutes. However, the only close tornado that touched down was about 35 miles away. The storm kept me awake all night though wondering if I should sleep in my P day clothes and be ready to run down to the first floor….we are on the third floor. I had my purse in sight with my little flashlight and some shoes nearby. I was tired all the next day. Elder Stringham slept through it all. He said he thought he heard one thunder!!!! (Of course he sleeps with a CPAP on that muffles most noises)

Mother's Day Iowa Tornado - Far enough away we didn't worry!!

 Someone said I should include more photos. So here you go. Need to learn how to take better pictures I guess....not so blurry.

 Love to you all! Elder and Sister Stringham

28 April 2014 Mission Letter

Finally figured out how to post these to my blog.  Before I was trying to log in with an incorrect password.  So I have posted all the mission letters up to now.  This is one of my missionary journals.

28 April 2014 Mission Letter

There are wonderful things happening out here.  Attended 4 wonderful baptisms this weekend and 4 last weekend.  One of the touching things is to watch the work unfold.  I am aware of each areas and the elders’  progress.  I do reports every week which shows in each area how many investigator lessons, how many with members present, whether these come from members, from the missionaries’ own contact, from referrals, how many of their investigators come to Sacrament Meeting, and etc.  In our ward we have two sets of missionaries.  They come early and wait to see if any of their people show up for church.  My heart goes out to them, especially when no one shows.  But, I see the joy when investigators show and later become baptized.  This weekend, the man I talked about in a previous letter who had been in such pain and wanted to die….Sisters were walking the neighborhood, stopped by and ended up saying a prayer with him.  He and his 8 year old daughter were baptized.  He attends our Gospel  Essentials class and spoke of how he knew he wanted something more in his life and how “the pieces of the puzzle” just came together for him when he heard the gospel.  His enthusiasm and excitement is almost tangible.  His daughter is beautiful.  As this man was being confirmed today, he was told that the Lord was pleased with the love and care he has given his daughter.  He was visably touched.   As his daughter was being confirmed she was told that if she remains true to her covenants that she would influence many of her friends.   She asked me before her baptism if she would now be called “Sister Patterson” and her dad, “Brother Patterson”….because we are now members?  The work is moving forward here in Iowa and we are glad to be a small part of it. 

I took a referral this week from a mother whose daughter wants to go to BYU.  They researched it, loved the conservative atmosphere and she wanted to know if she could attend one of our Sabbath meetings and learn more of our beliefs.  She is Catholic and says she is very happy with her church, but wanted to make sure we weren’t teaching anything weird.    The elders set it up for her to come and to visit with her afterwards to answer any of her questions.

One of my responsibilities is to see that those missionaries who come from outside the United States keep their passports up to date.  I have a sweet elder who is what we call an “undocumented missionary” and if he were to go through airport security or do something that gets the attention of someone who doesn’t like him, he could be deported.  So the church got him a deferred  visa for two years to be safe.  His parents actually live in Minnesota, but they have green cards to work here.   Well his passport is due to expire this summer way before his release date.  My job is to get him to a Mexican Consulate for renewal.  Well, the two nearest consulates are in Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois.  So the Mission President has to give me some direction on how he wants that handled.  To leave his mission, even for a short time, requires approval from the Mission President, and the In-Field Representative.  The church knows where your sons and daughters are at all times and keeps them protected as well as they can.

Just got through a pretty exciting thunderstorm!  The members of our ward assured me that they rarely get a tornado in Des Moines!  But, then I looked at the weather forecast on my IPAD and there it was in big, bold red letters, “Tornado Watch”, Polk County, and Des Moines!  Well, it got pretty dark, heavy rain off and on, lots of noisy thunder/lightning but no tornado.  I think we are safe now for the near future.  

Here is a suggestion for those of you preparing your sons and daughters for missions.  Teach them how to care for a car.  The Church often gives them cars.  They are required to care for them.  We struggle with some getting them to get their oil changed at the standard mileages,  checking their oil and tire pressure each time they put gas in their car and keeping them clean.  Also, tell them that a new noise means there is a problem.  Each car is a little different so they need experience with more than one type of car.   And of course, remind them to SLOW DOWN! 

Love you all!   Elder and Sister Stringham

14 April 2014 Mission Letter

14 April 2014

This has been an unusual week.  First of all, it is between transfers so there is not the same busyness.  But, you have plenty to do, not just so rushed!   Second, I have the cruddy respiratory flu.  I am feeling much better today so I will go back to the office.  Missed 2 ½ half days last week.  I seem to get one really good cold/flu in the Spring and again in the Fall/Winter.  Thirdly, I had no big problems!

Two sweet stories:  The first is from our Mission President.  In talking to the missionaries, he shared how he was interviewed by Elder Quentin Cook to be a mission president.  Elder Cook asked how soon he could come to Utah.  They were making a trip in the next week so they made arrangements to meet with Elder Cook.  They told him he was being interviewed for a possible Mission President call.  After the interview Elder Cook said the Jensens would know in a few weeks if they were going to be called as one of the new Mission Presidents.  He had no idea where the mission might me.   It was quite a spiritual interview and President Jensen said he felt unworthy to even be called.  Elder Cook then said to him, Brother Jensen, the Lord knows that you would push a handcart across the plains if you were asked.   Little did President Jensen know he would be the next Mission President of the Iowa Des Moines Mission where you find a lot of church history spots and stories about the pioneers.    When I heard this my thought was the Lord knew I would gladly drive in a warm comfy car, live in a simple apartment , live in a ward  that is friendly, helpful , live in a time where technology keeps me close to my family and loved ones and surrounded by hard-working, cheerful (for the most part),  and the most helpful young missionaries around.  I have a very, almost too comfortable, life right now!

The second story is one Elder Stringham told me about yesterday.  I missed church, but it was Ward Conference.  One of our sets  of missionaries had an investigator family with him.  The one missionary is the missionary who had been in a terrible, life-threatening accident the day the President Jensen arrived (story from a previous letter).  He went home and came back several months later with a few casualties from that accident.  The ward loves him and his companion.  The investigator shared in the Elders/High Priest meeting during Priesthood that some time ago he had been in a lot of pain.  The doctors had given him heavy pain killers that didn’t seem to work.  He couldn’t stand the pain and just wanted to end it.   He contemplated suicide and had it planned out.  His daughter came to him and said there were two ladies at the door who wanted to talk to him.  They came in, talked to him, and offered a prayer.  There was no miraculously healing, but he gradually started feeling better.  For some reason, he did not know how to get in touch with them again.  He was quite emotional telling the brethren that he felt bad that these Sisters never knew what a difference they had made in his life that day. Now this man and his family are hearing the gospel that will forever change their lives in a very positive way.

We took one of our Sister Missionaries who is actually assigned to the Nauvoo Mission, but who spends 6 months of the year in our mission do proselytizing,  to a building to meet her ride back to the Nauvoo Mission.  She was one of those great Sister Missionaries.  She talked about how the internet missionary work and how much she loved chatting with people online.  I was surprised at how great it was going.  I guess a lot of people can be anonymous and really open up about their religious feelings and needs online.    Well, I’d better get to the office!  Love to you all! 

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!

 

 

17 March 2014 Mission Letter

17 March 2014

What a wonderful week!  What a great place to be!  All my feelings of inadequacy have been replaced with appreciation and gratitude for all those who remembered me in their prayers.   Believe me it really helped.  Sometimes I noticed better remembering on my part and other times I learned that it is OK to not be perfect and maybe I needed to have more humility! 

I am impressed with President and Sister Jensen!  I don’t know where they get their energy, but they are always going to another city to a Zone Conference, Specialized Training, Stake Coordination Meeting, Staff Meeting, calling concerned parents, putting out fires between missionaries and ward mission leaders/Bishops, calling and caring for sick missionaries and the list goes on and on.  He responds every week to 287 emails from his missionaries.  His wife is one of the most loving people I know!  The missionaries love her and I do too. 

This weekend we were privileged to go to Nauvoo for a Seniors Couple Temple Session.  Just coming around the bend and seeing the sign “Welcome to Historic Nauvoo” was touching.  The temple was beautiful, as are all the temples, but this one was so significant because of its history.  I thought so much about how the pioneers built the first Nauvoo Temple while in poverty.  I have a hard time understanding why the people of Nauvoo, not of our faith, felt so threatened by a people who just wanted to worship according to their beliefs.   They were constantly being threatened and run out of cities until they finally migrated to the west to the Salt Lake Valley.  The first Nauvoo temple was trashed, then finally sold for a meager price, then burned and finally torn down except for some stones.  I hope to express my gratitude someday to them for their sacrifices.

We were able to have President David M. McConkie of the General Sunday School Presidency speak to the missionaries in a special meeting about teaching.  It was very enjoyable!  Essentially, he taught that to be effective you need to believe and love what you are teaching and love those whom you teach.  If you feel inadequate you just open your mouth and do your best and the Lord will make up the difference!

We had a sweet Sister Missionary transferred to Iowa Des Moines Mission from El Salvador.  Apparently she had come down with Dengue Fever.  I guess there are several types and she had the most serious.  She had been in the hospital there for a month.  They said if she were to get it again it could be fatal.  So she is here with us.  Her parents are so delighted.  She seems to be okay and I hope she can adjust to a whole different mission.  She will be a Spanish Speaking Missionary and they are the ones who seem to be doing a lot of converting. 

Some interesting stories:  First some Sister Missionaries called and wanted to know if they could have someone baptized who wasn’t sure where he was born.  He thought he was born Kenya or Sudan but didn’t really know for sure.  He was orphaned as a boy and was brought to the United States as a refugee.  He had a passport that gave his date of birth as January 1, 1968, but even that was questionable because the Sudanese government would assign them a birth date if they didn’t know for sure.  He thought he lived in Kenya as a child, but the passport says he came here from Sudan.  Another member of the Church who had come from Africa said that most people have to go to Sudan first to become African refugees to the United States.  To complicate things a little more, he was deaf.  The Sisters had been teaching him with a little ASL that they knew.  He could read a little.  Apparently, he was familiar with some Christianity and had learned about Christ.  We assured them that someone could be baptized if they do not know or have a birth date or a birth city or country.   The Sisters knew they had to fill out a form for it to be recorded on the records of the Church, and they didn’t want to do anything wrong.   

Second, a man spoke in church a couple of weeks ago.  He was talking about teaching and loving our youth.  He told a story about his very young child who was learning to talk.  He was learning little phrases.  One that he said over and over again was “Go away”.  They had no idea where he learned it.  One time when they had called the grandparents, they called this little one to the phone to say “Hi” and listen to the grandma and grandpa.  He went right over to the phone and said, ”Go away”.  They tried telling him what to say, but he just said “Go away” over and over.  He compared our youth to this example.  Sometimes they are learning something new, but haven’t quite learned how to use their new-found skill appropriately!  We should not scold or get upset, but should just help them and teach them patiently how and when to use it correctly.

Third, we had the father of one of our missionaries call the office on the Friday that we were in Nauvoo all day at the temple and leave a message on the answering machine.  He was concerned because his daughter had been called to jury duty and unless they got the missionary call letter from the First Presidency or a letter from our Mission President on church letterhead she would need to be at the courthouse this Monday, March 17^th. They just wouldn’t budge on requiring her to be there.  This was now Saturday.   I sweated that one.  The parents thought she had her call letter with her, but could we reach her and get her to a post office to overnight it before it closed at noon.   The President was out of town, I could type a letter on church letterhead, but how to get him to sign it and get it overnighted to Arizona was going to take a miracle.  Well, I called the father back and a little miracle had happened.  They had prayed a lot about it and contacted the courthouse again and this time was able to talk to someone who knew about Mormon Missionaries.  He couldn’t dismiss it but was able to extend her time for jury duty until June.  Whew, that was wonderful!  Now there is time to get the call letter to the courthouse.

We are enjoying spring-like weather most days.   But then this morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow.  But, the forecast is for it to gradually warm up to the 60’s by the middle of the week.  One thing you can count on in Iowa is the wind…..it blows most days.  We spotted about 6-7 deer right next to our apartment complex a couple of days ago.  We stopped, so they stopped and just stared at us.  We live where there are lots of office-type buildings and other apartment buildings, but they didn’t seem too afraid of us.  Also, robins have been out for a couple of months or so even during the snow.  They sure are plump and I have no idea where they got their worms.  The ground has been frozen most of the time.  I had heard that it froze the ground down to 30 feet.  Some ponds and lakes are still mostly frozen, but you can now see a little thawing.

Thanks for all your prayers.  Love you all soooooo much!!

3 March 2014 Mission Letter

3 March 2014

Hi Everyone,

 

     Well, not my best week.  Made a few blunders.  First, I made travel arrangements for one of the couples and it wasn’t exactly where they wanted it.  They were polite, but I felt incompetent.   One day, I wondered why I hadn’t received very many calls the last few days.  I checked my phone and whoops!  I had turned off the volume for Church and forgot to turn it back on.  Quite a few calls not answered or returned including some from the President.  Well, the President actually just called Elder Stringhams phone and asked to talk to me.  I wondered why!!  The President puts out a weekly letter to the missionaries, but I start it for him with comments, etc from the office staff.  I had started it, but forgot to email it to him so I had to trek over to the office in the frigid weather last night and send it to him from the office.  I think I will be forwarding them to my home computer from now on.  There were a few others but don’t have time to list them all.  I have always known and worried about my memory issues, but now they are starting to catch up with me and it causes me a lot of anxiety and confuses others.  I think I need a little divine intervention!  Prayers on my behalf welcomed!

 

Zone Conferences are over and luckily we did not need to shut down the mission for weather.  Zone Conferences is where all the missionaries in a zone get together for instructions, counsel and training.  But, the office couples check all the cars for cleanliness (at least on the inside for now), proper maintenance, everything working as they should and no dings, scratches or hanging bumpers, etc.  Elder and Sister Shelley get to do that while Elder Stringham and I get to stay in the nice warm Mission Office.  We had 3 Zone Conferences…..Des Moines area, Iowa City area and Nauvoo, Illinois area.   So for 3 days we manned the office!  It is a little tricky to do a 4 person job with 2 people.  The mail is by far the biggest thing to handle while the Shelleys are gone.  All the missionary mail comes through the office because of frequent transfers!  Heavens….286 missionaries getting their mail forwarded.  The most confusing are the packages!  Only priority mail gets forwarded…..it is free.  The rest we put on a desk for the APs to take it by or wait until a Zone Conferences.  I think the instructions to the parents and their new missionaries is to only send their packages priority mail.  Some of these missionaries will not be getting their late Valentine’s packages until after St. Patrick’s Day when we have another round of Zone Conferences.  I love seeing the letters come through.  Some are decorated all over the letter!  It looks so cute and sweet and then I have to blackened most of the front of the letter to be able to forward it.  I mess it up terribly!

 

Being on a mission, you see lots of tender mercies!  Especially for the missionaries!  With all the snow and icy roads around you would think we would be having many, many accidents.  Mostly we have had just little fender benders because someone in front of them tried to slow down and swerved into them or they slipped off the road trying to take a curve.  Today, after it snowed last night,  it is supposed to get to a high of 1 degree with the low of -15….not counting the wind chill factor…..and wind is a given in Iowa.  Think of “Little House on the Prairie” scenes….snow and wind!  By the way, north of us is a place where Laura Ingalls Wilder and family lived for a short time.  I need to get there sometime this summer. 

 

Missionary work is humbling!  Just when you think you have everything down someone calls and wants to know why they didn’t receive a certain report or calendar.  What?  So I have to hunt down where I get the reports and just which calendars are appropriate for them to have.    Our Mission President is fairly new and when I ask him he just looks confused!   Someone called a couple of days ago asking for a lot of information.  I could only find part of what she needed.  Her comment was, “I’m sure there is still a lot of learning going on when you are so new!”  Yep, she got that right!!  On top of that, I have this memory problem.  I have taken to writing everything down that I need to do and check it off when it is done.  So now I have an ongoing ledger of everything I do!  Still seeing how it works out! 

 

In two weeks the Senior Couples all get to meet in Nauvoo for a Conference and Temple Session.  We will be having Brother Durrant, Susan Easton Black’s husband, speak to us.  I hear he is wonderful and she is an ordinance worker at the temple so we will see her at the conference, too!  I am so excited for this!  I have missed my weekly visits to the temple.  What a peaceful and glorious place to be.  Just thinking about the first Nauvoo Temple being burned down because of hatred towards the Mormons makes me so grateful to those pioneers and all they sacrificed on our behalf.  And now there is a new one…..replica of the first!  Can hardly wait!  Praying for good weather so it doesn’t get postponed!

 

Well, better get to the office!  As always, love hearing from you and love you all!!!

 

Love,

 

Elder and Sister Stringham