Spring time in Chula Vista, hungry Missionaries, and Gender

 This week has proved to be a busy one!  The first picture is to show Debbie all dressed up for Church with her Missionary tag and all - it also shows the amazing 70 degree weather we are having with blue skies and of course the beautiful palm trees surrounding the Church!  This is how nice the weather has been to us!

The beautiful spring time flowers are starting to bloom everywhere, and the brown hills around San Diego are GREEN!

With the help of a few other Senior Missionaries, we had the privilege of serving the hungry Young Missionaries lunch on two different days this week - some 80-90 of them, so we fixed them a baked potato bar with a bunch of trimmings, fruit, tossed salad,  and cookies with ice cream.  They seemed to enjoy it!

I ended up speaking in Sacrament meeting & we taught our Missionary prep class to a growing number of High School Seniors.  We found that the youngsters like to role play, play Kahoots, eat refreshments and play table tennis & foosball after the class.  Unfortunately, we found out that the Church is selling the institute building, apparently because their aren't enough students utilizing it!  It is in escrow now and will most likely be gone within a month.  Kind of sad :(

We continue to enjoy the YSA's and their enthusiasm for life;  Each one has a unique personality & you just have to love them!  Our Institute teacher will be gone this week, so we have been asked to sub in for him on a sensitive topic - Gender.  Thankfully, the Proclamation on the Family, as well as guidance from our Apostles & Prophets helps to clarify that "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

It is a blessing that God knew well in advance that our world would be confused about this divine gift of our gender and gave us the Family Proclamation back in 1995 to help clarify this truth even before it became the issue that it is today.  The differences between genders  are complimentary & an integral part of God's plan of happiness & progression.

Debbie & I continue to be thankful for the experiences that we are having to help gather Israel; it gives us a sense of purpose & an opportunity to give back to the Lord for the many blessings we have!