Questions, DC & Institute, Temple, & Camp Wildwood

Elder Hardy, Stan, had the opportunity to answer lots of questions this week.  When we walked into the Church for FHE on Monday evening, Marco, a young man that the missionaries are teaching, came up to Stan and told him that he had a bunch of questions.  So they sat down in the foyer and started talking.  Marco had read the first 12 chapters of the Book of Mormon (we found out from the missionaries, that he did this much reading in just a day!), and had several questions about his reading.  They talked for 20 minutes or so, answering questions.  It was great to see Marco's excitement for learning about the Book of Mormon.   

Two days later, the Elder's invited us to meet with them with a young lady named Jacklynn.  She was a referral from the Sister Missionaries.  The Elder's weren't sure what to expect.  We met at a park.  Apparently her Dad was going to come, but wasn't able to, so he called and was on speaker phone.  He basically took over telling us of his beliefs and asking questions geared towards what day of the week we practice the Sabbath, and if we believe in Christmas and Easter.  He basically took over the conversation and didn't allow for many comments.  The Elder's got pretty quiet so Stan tried to share some of our beliefs, which didn't go very far.  After he got off the phone, Jacklynn apologized  for her Dad.  I think she felt bad that he had taken over the conversation.  The missionaries didn't really get an opportunity to share a message.

Then, two days later, the Elder's called us again to meet with a young lady named Jean.  When we arrived at her home, I recognized her from a previous meeting.  She also had lots of questions.  You could tell she had come up with her questions from things she had read on the internet.  Her questions took the whole time, and the Elder's didn't have an opportunity to teach or share much of a message.

That night, I was thinking about these three experiences.  I felt like with the last two experiences, we should have talked about our purpose as missionaries.  We should have shared our personal testimonies of the Doctrine of Christ; at least this would have left them with something to think about.  I realized after talking with Stan and the missionaries, that it is not uncommon to have this type of experience in meeting with people.  Everyone has their right to their ideas and opinions and beliefs, but I felt that I should have opened my mouth and shared my testimony.  

Tuesday was a day of cooking and being fed by the Spirit.  We held District Council in our apartment; there were 8 of us; two of the Elder's were sick and not able to come.  We had our DC meeting first, including the bearing of testimony, since it was our last meeting for the Transfer.  I love to hear the testimonies of the missionaries.  It's a sweet experience.

I made a Sausage Egg Casserole and Pancakes and melon for our Brunch.  

We were in charge of Institute again so we decided to show the YSA Fireside with Elder and Sister Godoy.  We had our dinner of Lasagna, Salad, and homemade bread, then moved into the RS room for the video.  Elder & Sister Godoy did such a great job of sharing their experiences (when they were young adults) of Loneliness, Dating, Spirituality, Missions, and Marriage.  I prayed that each of our young people in attendance felt the Spirit prick their hearts with what they needed most.  

We were able to drive up to the Newport Beach Temple on Thursday and attend a session.  It's about an hour and forty-five minute drive, but so worth being able to attend the temple and be taught by the Spirit.

This weekend was a Regional YSA campout and Sacrament meeting.  Camp Wildwood is a Church owned camp, and has lots of fun activities to do.  Some of the young people went up Friday night for the evening activities, camped overnight, and spent the day Saturday.  We drove up Saturday morning and spent most of the day with them.  They enjoyed axe throwing, archery, volleyball, soccer, etc., and a couple of Devotionals.  And food, of course!  Those who attended had a great time, mingling with young people in their age group.

The Sacrament Meeting was held up in Poway, about a 45 minute drive for us.  They had a Linger Longer afterwards with refreshments.  It's so good for these young people to meet their peers and realize there are many their age in the area that have the same goals and desires.  They are blessed with lots of great leaders and missionaries to support them.  We are blessed to be a small part of this.

We enjoy all the spring colors and blooming plants.  These purple trees are just gorgeous!  

Spring Flowers and The Sower

 April Showers have brought May flowers here in Chula Vista.  On our morning walk, we encountered some beautiful scenes that I will share with you!

Missionary work in Chula Vista has its many ups and downs - in an amazing way, it is a living parable as taught by the Savior Himself in the Parable of the Sower:

Mark 4:3-8 "Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred."

The young Missionaries recently taught a very interested young lady that we were privileged to help teach.  She was "golden" & expressed genuine interest in being baptized.  A baptismal date was set & the Missionaries were elated.  After setting up another appointment to teach, they suddenly had a problem reaching her - in fact, they have not been able to contact her now for a couple weeks & she has "ghosted" them.  No explanation or reasons!!  It appears that the "seed" fell by the wayside where a heart was not really prepared!  It could have been "stony ground" with no root that suddenly withered away for some unknown affliction, persecution, or anti influence - we may never know!!

Another young lady being taught by the Missionaries for months now delayed indefinitely her baptismal date because she wasn't really ready for the commitment yet!  We believe that she really didn't have "root" because she seemed to be more converted to the missionaries rather than The Church of Jesus Christ.

Other "investigators" or "friends" seem to lose interest and stop progressing possibly because of the "cares of this world".  The commitment seems a little too daunting or some of the cares of the world are being put ahead of the things of God in our actions, priorities, or our thinking!

However, occasionally, one of their "friends" makes it through the gauntlet of opposition when their hearts are good ground & they bear the joyful fruit of the gospel.  One of these choice young converts is Eric Sadaka.  Eric listened to the gospel message back in September of 2023, saw & felt sweetness as the Spirit bore witness to him of its truthfulness.  He studied & prayed faithfully & accepted the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, getting baptized in October of 2023.  He is humble & exceptionally grateful to all who are helping him along the path.  He received the Aaronic Priesthood and started passing & blessing the sacrament soon after joining the Church - he went on a Temple baptism trip to the LA Temple with the Ward - little by little integrating himself with others along the covenant path.  He started dating an LDS girl from Ecuador, fell in love, and married her a couple weeks ago!  She is applying for US Citizenship.  Both of them have the desire to be sealed in the Temple as soon as Eric has been a Church member a year, and are preparing for this next step of discipleship.  They are so happy!!  Today was another milestone for Eric as I gratefully accepted his wish to confer upon him the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordain him an Elder.  It is such a joyful feeling to see someone accept the gospel of Jesus Christ & progress along the covenant path!!

 Missionaries & Mother's Day

On Monday we celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having a P-day activity with our Zone (each Zone includes several Districts, and each District has 8-12 missionaries).  We played Bingo, Basketball (Stan did his best to keep up with the Elder's), and Tortilla Slap Game!  In case you're wondering, two people stand opposite each other.  They fill their mouth with water, while holding a tortilla in one hand.  They do Rock, Paper, Scissors with the other hand.  Whoever wins this, they use their tortilla to slap the cheek of their opponent, hoping to get them to spit the water out of their mouth!  They keep going until one of them spits out the water!  It was hilarious to watch, but kind of gross when they spit out their water.

We were in charge of Institute on Tuesday, Brother Mackay was out of town.  So I told Stan since I was cooking, he could teach the lesson.  He agreed and did a great job.  The topic was Integrity.  

President Hinckley was right. “There is no substitute for personal integrity. It includes honor, … performance, … keeping one’s word, … doing what is right regardless of the circumstances” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 270).

“We can easily spot … someone with integrity. They’re honest. They do the right thing when nobody is watching. They keep their word and they keep our confidences. They repay their debts, and they clean up their own messes. They accept responsibility for their actions” (“The Wholeness of Integrity,” Church News, 26 June 1999, 16).

(It doesn't look like very many attended, but more came after I took this photo.)

Saturday morning I received a request from our Zone Leader wondering if I would be wiling to make some cookies or treats for him to give to a lady for Mother’s Day. (We found out later that she's a single mom with four kids.) I hadn’t made Sandlake Inn cookies for a while, so I decided to make a batch. We received a call from our YSA missionaries asking if we could join them for a lesson at the church at 4 pm. I was in the middle of making cookies and preparing dinner for a couple of our YSA sisters that we had invited to dinner, but I figured we would have time, so we went and met with the Elders. I brought them some cookies, too. They were teaching a young man named Matthew. It was a good lesson on the Restoration. As I do every time, I felt the Spirit again as they taught him about Joseph’s First Vision. Also, I felt the Spirit as I testified of a living prophet, and as Stan testified of the Book of Mormon. I hope Matthew recognized the Spirit, and will follow through with reading and praying. I'm grateful we made the decision to meet with them this afternoon. We got home in time to finish up dinner for Emma and Angelica. Emma is our Relief Society president, and Angelica is the secretary, and newly baptized member. We had a nice visit with each of them and enjoyed getting to know them better.

This morning we went on a Mother's Day walk - it ended up being over 3 1/2 miles!  My hip is healing well, and I feel so grateful to be without pain when I walk.  Our YSA Ward gave a long stem rose to all the mothers and women in the ward.  The Bishop bought a Tres Leche Cake for the Relief Society sisters.  I wish I had taken a photo; it was so pretty with peaches, strawberries and kiwi on top.  The greatest blessing in my life is to be a mother.  I'm so grateful for my Mom and her example of a righteous, faithful woman of God.

Camp Wildwood, Brad Wilcox, and teaching with the young Missionaries

We had the opportunity to meet with other wonderful Senior Missionaries and together go to a Church camp called Camp Wildwood in Ramona, California.  It turns out that many of the Stakes out here use this camp for their YM and YW groups as well as ward outdoor activity events.  It is located in the mountains (hills) of Ramona, and has some great facilities like an archery range, hatchet throwing venue, picnic grounds, and a long zip line!  Debbie showed she is getting around well on her new hip, and even surprised herself hitting the target with the bow & arrow!

Another memorable day was a special zone conference for the Missionaries featuring Brother Brad Wilcox tour of the Mission.  Brother Wilcox is a great speaker & we all loved listening to his stories & gospel insights about the power of Jesus Christ's atonement for us & His gift of grace as we have faith in Him & strive to repent daily!  

One of the special things that this Mission does at the conclusion of any zone conference is to sing the Mission song/The Spirit of God like a fire is burning - this really brings a spirit of love & gratitude to everyone there!

One of the most enjoyable things we get to do in our Mission is to help teach some of the friends of the young Missionaries.  This past week we helped to teach Nia, a new contact that the Missionaries received a referral for and invited her to the church for the YSA family home evening night.  She came & expressed her excitement & desire to be baptized - she had a close friend in high school who had shared many things about the Church that impressed her and had given her a Book of Mormon.  The good example of this friend helped her interest in the Church and planted a good seed that was now growing in her heart!

The Young Missionaries also received another self referral from a new friend called Jean who wanted to meet with them at a local park to ask some questions, so the Missionaries invited us to join them.  Jean was very curious & respectful and came with a marked up Book of Mormon that belonged to her father who had been investigating the Church.  She asked some great questions about the Godhead, and questions about heaven/hell.  She apparently visits several Churches and calls herself a Christian because she does believe in Jesus Christ.  We introduced to her the restored gospel of Jesus Christ along with the Godhead as 3 separate personages but unified in truth & purpose;  we also had a nice discussion about the different kingdoms in heaven.  She also wanted advice on how to approach her atheist friend about her belief in God.  We invited her to Church & to read more in the Book of Mormon. It will be interesting to see if she wants to continue learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We are grateful for the Lord's blessings in our lives & thankful for the restoration of His Church.