The week that will not be forgotten

September 27, 2015

Some weeks are hard to describe.  We have just completed one of “those” weeks. 

It was a week with little joy – although when we would find something funny we would “over” laugh because we were “over” tired.  It was a week with many difficult interviews, short nights, and worry about missionaries.

The behavior that we found in a few was termed “out of the normal.”  Because we love each of these missionaries, we had to try and find out how many were “out of the normal.”  We then had to protect and re-direct their efforts.

We are just two.  We often have to rely on a few of our missionaries to do some “other than missionary” work.  Someone has to pay bills, arrange for VISA’s, gather referrals, and order supplies.  These missionaries split their time between both duties.  We have to rely on our Assistants to go with us to teach, make myriads of phone calls, and be examples of righteousness.  They do this along with missionary work.

This week was one that we taxed the strength of these missionaries.  Elders Olson, Orchard, Hixon, and Cuscagua – here is a shout out to you!  We love and appreciate all the time you stood by us this week.  In years to come, this week will always be one of those that we will remember!

Anniversary Dates

September 12, 2015

An Elder posed an interesting question to me yesterday.  Since our male missionaries (Elders) serve for 24 months, and mission presidents (us) serve for 36 months, he wondered how we felt at the 1 year mark.

At the 6 month mark, missionaries will sometimes “burn” a tie.  At a year, they will sometimes burn a white shirt (I refuse to tell you about the one who was wearing it when he lit the match….).  This is their way of marking their service.  Since we are serving for 36 months, the missionary that posed the question asked:  “At the one year mark, did you a President celebrate, or did the two of you just feel bad that you still had 2 years left?”

Wow – how to answer that?  I told him that we are fully aware of how much time we have left.  I even know by percentages of time (I know, it’s just me).  However, we can never dwell very long on that number or we become sad and start to miss home.  So we usually mention it and move on quickly.  Do we miss Oroville, family, and friends – you better believe it!  But with all things that are tough, we try to just keep pressing forward.  We will never burn a tie or a shirt, but we may kiss the ground we walk on when we return home!

Book of Mormon Challenge

September 12, 2015

We are doing a Book of Mormon challenge in the mission.  We have handed each missionary a new copy of the Book of Mormon (in their native language), a 90 day reading schedule, colored pencils and a pencil sharpener (no excuses allowed!).  We started the challenge a week ago.

With their colored pencils, they highlight the following:  Words of Christ-yellow, Doctrines and Principles –red, References to Jesus Christ – Blue, and Attributes of Christ – green.

It is fun to see everyone carrying around their Books of Mormon.  It is more fun to look inside and see how differently we all see the book.  Personally, I am using a lot of red.  I looked at Elder Shumway’s yesterday and he has used half of his yellow pencil.  Every page has numerous colors and it adds some fun to reading the Book of Mormon.  It certainly reteaches you about the breadth and depth of this wonderful book!

Try it – you might like it!