Greetings to family & friends!!
This week started out similar to other weeks with a "P" (preparation) day to clean our apartment, do laundry, get supplies from Costco & other grocery stores, etc; at the end, we also had a family home evening with the other Senior Missionaries up at the Church's camp called camp Wildwood. It is about 40 miles Northeast of us in a small mountain range with some great amenities - a 100 yard zip line, climbing wall, sand volleyball court, archery range, hatchet throwing venue, kitchen, pool, etc. We had enough time to do the archery, hatchet throw, and zip line. Debbie boasted a bullseye in the archery, an "almost" in the hatchet throwing, and FIRST down the zip line! It was fun to get to know some of the other senior Missionaries - what a pleasure it was to get to know the Phippin's, who are 86 & now serving their 6th Senior Mission!!! Wow!
One of the hardest things for me is to try to remember all of the NAMES of the YSA's - it seems to help when I can associate their name with something like "Baja Breanna", and "Athena the warrior". I am gradually getting better! We supplied the Institute class with dinner doing a "Tortilla Dump Dinner", salad, & ice-cream bars for dessert on Tuesday. Brother McKay, the institute instructor is doing a magnificent job teaching the class using Elder Neil L Andersen's book entitled "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness" We talked about the gift of repentance this past week with one of his memorable quotes: "Repentance is not our backup plan: it is the only plan"!! Without our efforts to repent, or the Saviors merciful atonement for us, we would remain unclean & unable to live with God & His Son, Jesus Christ again.
As we gradually introduce Pickleball to the Young Missionaries, they seem to have a great time playing the game!!
Wednesday & Thursday were our Young Missionary apartment inspections. We started to call ourselves their apartment MENTORS. Inspectors sounded a little harsh. We found apartment cleanliness to run across a broad spectrum - some were sparkling with cleanliness & delightful, while others were...... well... not so good! We had to play "Good cop & bad cop" I got to be the good cop, while Debbie tried to get them to "toe the line"! We still gave them treats & make it good experience for them😄😄😄
On Thursday, we had an inspiring experience with the younger Missionaries. They invited us on a Zoom teaching appointment with a hearing impaired "friend" or investigator. They had an ASL (American Sign Language) Missionary also on the call to help interpret what we & the other Missionaries were teaching her. She really appreciated having the ASL Missionary signing what was being taught & how modern day inventions (like the internet & zoom) have facilitated the preaching of the gospel to the world!!
Now for a little humor - We had found a "family" last week while searching for some "lost" YSA's on the records - and set up an appointment with "Keyshawn" and his family for Thursday night - needless to say, Debbie & I were excited to teach him & possibly his family - so I had texted him on Wednesday night asking him if we could come over Thursday night at 7PM to share a message about Jesus Christ & eternal families. He texted back, "Yes, you can come visit tomorrow" - so, we were excited. In fact, I had trouble sleeping Wednesday night and as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep & in a state of semi consciousness, I started to dream of us going to the appointment, having keyshawn & his family SO excited about our message, that they would be overpowered by the spirit (like King Lamoni & Ammon in the Book of Mormon), fall to the ground, be enlightened by the Spirit, wake up in joyous excitement & convert the whole apartment complex - yes a new branch overnight!! Well, needless to say, we had high expectations going into this appointment. Now for what really happened - We arrived there about ten minutes early & waited in the parking lot, when a lady with a car full of kids drove up & got out of the car. I asked her if she knew Keyshawn to which she replied, " Yes, he is going to marry my sister, but he is not home and is at work tonight" As it turns out, he isn't yet married, & the young boy (Caleb) was not his son, but his future sister in laws son!! It looked like we just got "ghosted" as the young Missionaries would say. When Keyshawn texted that we could come Thursday night, he "forgot" to tell us that he wouldn't be there! So now we have gained a little experience with what the younger Missionaries go through on a regular basis!! 😢😢😢 Well, we have decided to give Keyshawn one more chance.
Saturday was a day of service in honor of those who we lost on 9/11, so we had an opportunity to pack lunches for the homeless, write messages of gratitude to our servicemen, and tie quilts for the needy - it felt good to do something to help others!
On Friday night, we say the "Inspire" night at the Mormon Battalion monument site that featured Missionaries performing & speaking messages of hope & inspiration. It turned out to be a delightful evening.
During a YSA family home evening, we were able to participate with the YSA's in a "Minute to Win it" game. The YSA's are great fun & quite creative on a budget!
Probably our highlight of the week was the "Why I Believe" fireside on Sunday night. The participants had been preparing for weeks for this 1 1/2 hour musical & spoken word feast. They had string instruments made up of Young Missionaries performing along with a choir made up of at least 75 people including local LDS singers & many Missionaries from our Mission. The songs were sacred renditions of faith promoting genre music that were nicely done. Speakers included a recently converted member, a returning member, & Mission Leaders recently returning from the Michigan Mission. The spirit was so strong & the messages were highlighting God's love for us & the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Have an awesome week!
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