Women's Meetings, Mending, More Cookies, Space X, and Newport Beach Temple

About a week ago, our mission held a conference for all the sister missionaries.  We were asked to read President Nelson's talk "A Plea to My Sisters" from October Gen. Conf. 2015.  I highly recommend it.  He quoted from a talk given by President Kimball in 1979 saying, "Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world... will be drawn to the Church in large numbers.  This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different - in happy ways - from the women of the world." Then Pres. Nelson went on to say, "My dear sisters, you who are our vital associates during this winding-up scene....  You are the women he foresaw!  Your virtue, light, love, knowledge, courage, character, faith, and righteous lives will draw good women of the world, along with their families, to the Church in unprecedented numbers."

President Merritt talked about the difference between the "Devil's Discouragement", which stops us from progressing, and "Divine Discontent", which propels us forward to want to do and be better.  

Sister Merritt quoted Ernest Hemmingway "There is nothing in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility comes in being superior to your former self."  She counseled us to be noble - become better than my current self.  

I enjoyed being with the sisters and noble women, young and mature, in our mission.  It was an inspiring and motivating meeting.

This weekend we had the privilege of hearing from three women from the General RS, YW, and Primary organizations.  Friday evening was a Relief Society Devotional.  We heard from Sister Porter, the General Primary President, Sister Runia, a YW Counselor, and Sister Yee a Relief Society Counselor.  I felt like the main theme was "You are Known, You are Loved, and You are Needed."  Sister Runia said that life is like a Mystery Quilt; you don't know what's coming next.  But then she quoted D&C 122:7 ...all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

Today we attended a Regional YSA Sacrament Meeting.  We heard from the same three sisters, who shared hopeful messages for the young adults.  Sister Porter told us to remember this question from a Primary song "Heavenly Father are you really there?"  She encouraged us to "pray always", and as we pray, focus on faith in Jesus Christ, instead of the outcome that we desire.  Our Savior knows better what we need than we do; trust in Him.  A nice Taco Bar dinner was provided after the meeting.  You know, these YSA's have it figured out - they eat after every meeting!

We were able to give a ride to our friend, Ellie, for the YSA Sacrament Meeting.  The Elder's have been teaching her.  She's reading the Book of Mormon, and likes it.  She has a pretty good background with the Bible, and seems to enjoy reading from the scriptures.  

Monday night FHE was a volleyball night.  Elder Hardy sure gets excited about playing with the kids.  (I think he thinks he's one of them :)

I've been trying to put the word out that I have my sewing machine and am happy to help the missionaries with their mending.  I haven't had too much, yet.  I repaired hems on a couple of dresses this week.  I enjoy helping out the missionaries by  mending their clothes.  I'm thankful that my Mom took the time to teach me how to sew and to love sewing.  

My Mom also taught me how to cook and be comfortable in the kitchen.  Since this week was transfers, we decided to provide lunch for the missionaries in our District.  We had fun visiting with them while we were eating.  It was a great way to just "chill" and have fun with them.

 

I have to tell you about this picture.  It's my first ".5" photo.  When I was at the Women's Missionary Conference, when it was time to take group photos, the young missionaries kept hollering out to take a ".5" shot.  So I had to ask what that was.  Then it dawned on me that on my camera, one of the choices is a ".5".  So this is my first ".5" photo!  What do you think?  (I think I need some more practice.)

At Institute on Tuesday evening we continued our discussed of "Christ's Forgiveness"  There was a quote in this week's chapter from C.S. Lewis that I found very interesting.  "Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.  A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.  That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness - they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.  We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it:  and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full extent what temptation means."  

I made cookies again this week.  We decided that it would be a nice gesture to take cookies to the YSA's on their birthday or during the month of their birthday.  I made up a nice little birthday card and put the cookies in a cute bag.  Out of the four on our list, two of them didn't live at the address anymore, one wasn't home (so we talked to the Ring doorbell and left them on the doorstep), and one was temporarily living with his grandma (so we left the cookies for his Mom to give to him; we saw him at Church today and he loved the cookies, his Mom and sister each took one, too, and loved them).  We sure don't seem to have very good luck catching them home.  When I text them to see if we can visit, either I don't hear back or they aren't going to be home.  We will persist!  We realize this age group is very busy and very mobile.

On the way home we saw an amazing scene in the sky.  At first we couldn't figure out what it was.  It looked like the contrail of a plane, only much thicker and brighter,  As we watched the plane (soon to realize it was a rocket) soar higher, all of a sudden we saw what kind of looked like an explosion, and then it kept going.  I quickly Googled it, and found out it was a Space X launch.  I can just imagine how amazing it would have looked if we had been on the beach instead of in the car driving down the road.  Here is a picture of what it looked like that I pulled off a news website.

Yesterday we drove an hour and 45 minutes to the Newport Beach Temple.  It is a long drive, but so worth being able to go to the temple again.  I felt rejuvenated after our session.  I wish we were closer.  I keep thinking about when we return to St. George that our temple will be open and only 10 minutes away!

Why I Believe, Camp Wildwood, getting ghosted, and more!

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!

 Mt. Soledad, Beach Bonfire, Bike Ride, Baptism and Visiting YSA

Monday is our P-day.  After we finished doing the laundry and cleaning our apartment (which is way quicker than cleaning a whole house), we decided to drive up to La Jolla Beach.  We were planning on going to a Regional YSA Beach Bonfire/Volleyball Tournament that evening, so we thought we would go exploring before meeting up with the YSA.  Our friends, the Allen's from St. George (who had served a mission in San Diego), had told us to visit Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.  So we drove up the windy road to the top of the hill.  There is a big white cross at the top, along with a unique Memorial that honors veterans, living or deceased, from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terror.  Each plaque has a picture and a brief story of their accomplishment during their term.  

The view is incredible from this vantage point.  We could see downtown San Diego, Mexico to the South, and even had a pretty nice view of the San Diego Temple.  

After enjoying the view, we drove back down the hill, found a parking space at the beach, enjoyed a nice walk along the beach, picked up some great seafood tacos for dinner, and then met up with the YSA's.  

This activity was billed as a Beach Bonfire/Volleyball tournament.  Our ward had practiced the week before and were prepared to compete in the tournament.  People were arriving, along with wood for the bonfire.  We soon noticed a young lady walking from group to group asking if anyone had brought a volleyball net.  Well, it soon became apparent that someone had dropped the ball - no one had been assigned to bring a net.  In the meantime, the sun is getting lower and lower in the sky.  Then, we are assured that someone is going to purchase a net!  

Probably a half hour or more after the sun set, a net arrives and volleyball in the dark begins.  By this time, there were just a handful of people who were still interested in playing, considering it was hard to see the ball!  But, the YSA are adaptable, and everyone had fun listening to good music, making Smores, and just mingling with each other.

Tuesday evening for Institute, we enjoyed grilled hamburgers by Elder Hardy.  Once again, the YSA's enjoyed Sister Hardy's Sand Lake Inn cookies.  One of these times I will remember to take pictures at Institute!

We had another great lesson from Elder Anderson's book, "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness".  I highly recommend it.  We learned why it is so hard to change. It is necessary to have the desire to change, and without Jesus Christ, it is pretty tough.  Alma 24:8-10 tells us that His Spirit helps "to soften our hearts" and forgives us of our sins and takes the guilt from our hearts through Jesus Christ. The fastest way to change is to read His words - spend time in the scriptures - they will heal you.  

Wednesday morning at pickleball, we each had an opportunity to have a conversation about the gospel.  Stan has a friend named Loy.  He's a Filipino, and was raised Catholic.  As a young man, he was an alter boy and doesn't have a high regard for Priests.  Stan visited with him and was able to get his phone number.  He's still working on setting up a meeting with him.  This Holiday weekend has slowed things down.  I visited with my friend Terri.  She attended our Church for a short time with her Mom and sister when she was young.  She had a good experience.  I've invited her to attend our Church, but she says she's going to go to her sister's Church.  I enjoy talking with her about the things she remembers, and try to add a few more principles in our conversation.  

Our KIA needed a service done, so we took our bikes with us when we took it in for service so we didn't have to wait for hours.  After dropping off the car, we took off and road a few miles to the Silver Strand, a strip of land that connects the mainland with Coronado Island.  We enjoyed a beautiful ride, but were a bit saddle sore when we returned, just in time to pick up our car.  

    We attended our first Stake Young Single Adult Committee meeting with a member of the Stake Presidency, two YSA's who are the committee chairmen, and ideally one or two representatives from each ward.  Both of the committee chairmen were from our ward, so we know them.  I was so impressed with their leadership strength and how they conducted the meeting, took input from all in attendance, gave out assignments and made a plan of action.  The goal isn't to get all the YSA's in all the family wards to come to our ward, but to help them to "feel the love of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and follow Them".  We want to help all YSA's to know about our activities and Institute and what we have to offer, and know that they are invited and welcome.  

When we came out of the church, we could see the Super Blue Moon in the sky.  Earlier in the day I looked up to see where the best spot to view the moon in Chula Vista, so we drove to a park and took some pictures.  

We decided we should invite the Elder's for dinner, since they don't get dinner appointments with the YSA members.  We really enjoyed our visit with them.  It's nice to have a few moments to get to know them better.  One of the Elder's has a challenging family situation.  His parents are divorced, and sounds like his Mom has sacrificed to help him get on his mission.  These young missionaries are examples of a tremendous desire to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ.  They've sacrificed much to be serving our Lord.  I love being in their presence.  This is one of the great blessings of serving as a Senior Missionary, to get to rub shoulders and serve with these young people. 

On Friday we spent some time developing a handout that we could give out to the YSA's when we go visiting.  We put a picture on the front, a quote, and all our meeting and activity times and locations on the back.  We bought some chocolates at Costco and put them in a bag with the handout attached.  We will give these out when we go visiting.

On Saturday a set of sister missionaries had a baptism down in Imperial Beach.  We received a call from some Elders and asked us if we could give one of their Friends a ride to the baptism (the young missionaries aren't allowed to take other people in their cars).  So we picked up Michael, an army veteran from North Carolina.  We had a nice visit with him and learned a little bit about him. A baptism is a wonderful experience for people interested in the Church.  The spirit is strong, and testimonies are born of the Gospel and of the Holy Ghost.  I'm glad were were asked to take Michael so we could attend the baptism as well.  

After we dropped Michael off at his apartment, we began our adventure of driving around the area looking for  the addresses of the YSA's that the Bishop asked us to check on.  We went to probably about 6 addresses, talked to two Mom's, an Aunt, a man that said Andrea didn't live there, a couple addresses that it was impossible to know which apartment or door to knock on (or when we knocked no one answered).  But we did have one interesting contact.  We went to an address to find a young woman named Genesis.  When we arrived at the address, it was an obviously low income one story apartment complex.  There was a man playing with a boy in the courtyard, so we asked him if he new Genesis.  He did not, and waved the landlord over, who was outside as well, and he didn't know her either.  So we turned to leave and as we were walking away, I told Stan that we should go back and give our handout and bag of chocolates to the man we talked to.  So we turned around and went back.  I told him we felt like we should give bag to him, and opened the handout and read the quote to him, and shared a few thoughts.  When I showed him (on the back of the handout) the time for Church, he said he needs to come back to church.  We found out he's married and has kids, so we told him the family ward meeting time, and showed him the address on the handout.  Stan got his phone # so we could text him with a reminder.  He sounded like he would be interested in coming.  As we walked away, I heard him mutter "10 a.m.", the meeting time.  His name is Keyshawn.

So, this morning, we got ready and went to church in time for the 10 a.m. meeting, but no Keyshawn and family arrived.  We figured as such, but were still a little disappointed.  We will go with the Sister Missionaries that work with the family ward and visit him this week and see what we find out.  I'm grateful for the experience, and I know we were supposed to turn and go back to invite him.

We're feeling blessed to be able to serve in San Diego with the YSA's.  We still can't believe this is where the Lord sent us!  We're loving it!  We hope and pray that we will be able to make a difference.  

FHE Volleyball night, Miracle during Tropical Storm, Frisbee golf YSA activity, and More!

Miracle during Tropical Storm Hilary:

The young sister Missionaries in Chula Vista shared with us a miracle that happened during Tropical Storm Hilary:  Despite the rainy day, the Sisters attended their Sunday meetings & after the meetings were over, they met a lady who said she was drawn to our Church that day.  The sisters broke the news that the Sunday services had just ended, but that they would love to give her a tour of the building & teach her about the Church at 4PM that afternoon.  The lady said sure & that she would be back at 4PM.  So the sisters returned a little before 4PM & there wasn't any lady there; after waiting for 15 minutes, they were just about to leave & guess who shows up!  Yes, the lady.  She explained that she had been invited to the Jehovah Witness church but that she didn't feel quite right about it so she felt prompted to come to our church.  The sisters proceeded to give her a tour of the building and when they showed her the baptismal font explaining that this is where we make promises to Jesus Christ, she said that it was the most beautiful thing she had seen!  After teaching her about the restoration of Christ's church, she was excited to share this with her family so the sisters put her on "date" for baptism on September 16th!!  Even tropical storm Hilary couldn't stop the gathering of Israel from happening!!  Here is a picture of Sister Corno & Hull:

Some creative Missionaries put together a short video about the storm & what they did:

https://fb.watch/mHF2gW0sZ7/?mibextid=9R9pXO

Well, by Monday night, the tropical storm was over, so we had our regular YSA FHE night at the Church & played some fun volleyball with probably 30 YSA's that showed up - I think I love working with the YSA's.  Anyway, we had a great time mingling with the group and learning a little more about gravity & volleyball.  (Yes, gravity prevents me from jumping very high - ha, ha!)

On Tuesday we had an institute class with the YSA's and furnished Dinner for approximately 20 people - Debbie made Hawaiian haystacks and watermelon - it was a hit.  Sister Hardy is getting a reputation for making GOOD food - the YSA's love to eat free food!!!!  Brother McKay (the institute teacher) has a great rapport with the students & we had a spiritual lesson about forgiveness based on the new book by Elder Anderson called "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness".  A big take away was that it is harder to be forgiving until we try to see our "enemy" in the way that God sees him/her as a child of God.

On Friday, we sponsored a YSA frisbee golf activity for the YSA's.  We brought our homemade frisbee golf set from home and set it up at the Church - after buying a few more frisbee's, we ended up with a successful activity followed with Rice Krispie Treats - again the YSA's love food!

Finally, we experienced a minor miracle playing pickleball this past week.  Debbie & I decided that we needed to exercise more faith in striving to find people that we could share the gospel with, so before we left for pickleball, we knelt down and prayed that Terri (who said she liked our Church, but we hadn't seen for a couple weeks) would be there & that we might be able to share a message.  Soon after we arrived at the pickleball courts, Terri showed up and Debbie was able to invite her to come to Church.  Also, another man named Loy came up to me, examined my name tag & told me that he was Catholic, but that he didn't like the their Priests and wondered what our beliefs were.  I was able to share with him a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation for him to read!  Prayer works!!

Today, Debbie and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting in the YSA ward - We spoke about advice & counsel for YSA's and the power of covenants to bless their lives.  The Lord has blessed us with a love for the young people of the Church and we pray for their success!

 Beach Clean-up, Chicken Legs, Forgiveness, Zone Conference, Institute Party and Hurricane

We're learning more about San Diego and loving it!  The people are friendly, and the weather is amazing!  Except when a hurricane hits the west coast.  More about that later.

We met with the Stake President last Sunday.  There are a lot of YSA's that attend the family wards, and he would like to see them come to our activities and to Institute class.  There are also a few new YSA converts.  We will be working with them helping them to progress on the Covenant Path.  

Monday is our P-day so we decided to go for a bike ride and check out the bike paths.  (We brought our bikes back with us when we returned from Utah last week.) There are bike lanes on most of the major roads, but very few bike trails like what we have in St. George and the Springwater Trail in Portland.  There are some packed gravel paths next to some of the roads, but they don't connect very well, so it seems we were having to find a crossing or go up and down curbs and cutting across streets to get to the other side.  We need to look for other areas to ride that might be better.  We had a fun time and enjoyed getting on our bikes. 

For Family Home Evening, we met at Mission Beach for a service activity.  By the time we found the group, the sun was setting.  So we put on our latex gloves, grabbed a garbage bag and picked up as much trash as we could before it got too dark to see.  It is so amazing to us that a couple of old geezers like us get to hang out with these amazing youngsters.  

Tuesday night is Institute night.  I made Chicken Legs, Baked Beans and Sand Lake Inn cookies.  I had never cooked chicken legs before.  I found a recipe online, and it turned out to be delicious.  The students really liked them.  And, of course, they loved the Sand Lake Inn cookies - they are the best.  I  noticed that I'm starting to remember their names and can associate something with a lot of the students.  I've been wondering if that would ever happen.  

The teacher is starting a new course of study for this Fall.  He is teaching from the book written by Elder Anderson titled, "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness".  I'm excited to be able to participate in learning.  Here's a quote from Elder Anderson"  

"Repentance is the perfect spiritual remedy for sin.  Each sin we leave behind through our faith in the living Christ - both those of commission and those of omission- opens spiritual doors."

Wednesday and Thursday was Zone Conference.  The mission is in the process of trying to update all the apartment emergency back packs.  We helped empty and refill backpacks on Wednesday.  Each apartment should have a backpack and 6 gallons of water in case of emergency.  Little did we know that we would have a Tropical Storm arrive this weekend!  

On our drive home we decided to take a little scenic drive and drove over to Imperial Beach and the Silver Strand.  We have some YSA's that live in this area.  The beaches here are white sand beaches and are beautiful.  

Our District decided to have a District Family Home Evening on Wednesday nights.  So we drove over to the Church (about the time we might be thinking of putting on our PJ's) and had a spiritual thought and games with the missionaries.  It's always a good time when we get to hang out with the missionaries.

Thursday was our turn to attend Zone Conference with our Zone.  We were blessed to hear from our Mission Leaders, our AP's (the Assistants to the President), and the Sister Trainer Leaders.  After lunch we had some break out classes.  I came away with a desire to improve my personal study, Stan and I want to read Preach My Gospel together and practice role playing, and to improve on my personal prayers.  

President Merritt said that when he and his wife were attending the Mission Leader Training at the MTC before they began their service, President Nelson counseled them to pray in their closets often.  Prayer is such an important part of missionary work.  We can't do it without the Lord's help.

This is a picture of the missionaries singing our mission song.  They are so loving and supportive of each other.

On Thursday we saw in the news that Hurricane Hilary is on her way up Baja California and southern California.  We decided to make a Costco run and fill up with gas to be ready.  

Friday was the big back to school Fall Institute Party.  It was held at the San Diego State Univ. Institute building.  We went early and helped set-up and make cookies.  It was a really fun party with food, Karaoke, Axe Throwing, Corn Hole, Fried Twinkies (Yuk!), and other games.  There were about 40 students who attended and they all seemed to have a good time.  After clean up, we arrived home with our weary bodies about 10 pm.  It was a fun day!

The Hurricane was predicted to hit this area on Sunday, so we ran to Home Depot on Saturday to pick up a couple things.  While we were in line, we started talking to the couple in front of us.  I found their comment kind of funny; they said the people in San Diego are pampered with such perfect weather that they don't know what to do with a storm coming in!  I guess it's good to have a little adversity so they can learn!

We just had a couple sister missionaries come over.  One needed a repair job on a torn bag.  Glad I brought my sewing machine.  Missionaries have their own language.  They have an acronym or shortened saying for many words.  Here are a few examples:  Ghosting - this is when they have an initial contact with someone and get their phone #, but then can't get ahold of them later - it's like they are a ghost, never existed!  Sus - suspicious.  This is a person they meet, get their info, and find out all they want is some food or help.  Yellow Dot - kind of like 'ghosting', the missionaries can't get ahold of them.  They have various colors of dots that mean different stages of teaching.  Anyway, we're learning all kinds of things.  

The hurricane had turned into a tropical storm by the time it arrived in our area.  We've had wind and rain this afternoon, but nothing worse than a typical rain storm in Portland.  We are safe and appreciate all your prayers and concerns for our well being.  

Grandson Wedding, Pickleball clinic, Kyle & Kellie visit

 This week was eventful!!  We received a visit from our Son & daughter-in-law & family (6 kids!) coming from Oregon on a family reunion trip to San Diego - we knew that  we would get more visits on this Mission in San Diego versus our last Mission during COVID in New Jersey!! It was great to see them & get to visit on our "P" day.

We visited the Mormon Battalion historic site & learned of the valiant group of early Church pioneers who stepped up to serve their beloved country in the Mexican American War while crossing the plains leaving many women & children to bear the journey without their husbands.  This they did, despite been mistreated by their own country who rejected their pleas earlier for reparations for the persecutions and destruction of property by the lawless mobs & the murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith & brother Hyrum.

We found that my 2nd Great Grandfather, Silas Harris was one of those volunteers who served the entire time from 1846-1847, starting in Iowa and ending in Los Angeles, California, a virtual 2,000 mile march.  

The Mormon Battalion historic site is well worth visiting - cudos to Brad & Dantzelle Allen who served as Mission Leaders there for several years!!

The YSA Ward asked Debbie & I to conduct a pickleball clinic for them as a Family Home Evening activity on Monday night, so we were HAPPY to help - it turned out to be a successful activity with more than 30 coming to learn something about the game of Pickleball!!

After receiving permission from our Mission Leader, Debbie & I were able to take a few days to attend the marriage & sealing of our Grandson, Jamen Johnson & his bride Courtney in the Payson Temple - this was the highlight of our week to see the "capstone" ordinance & covenant step in the Temple of the Lord.  We invite others to come unto Christ, so that they can experience the greatest joy that God intends to bestow upon His children which is the opportunity of being sealed to your spouse for all eternity and to bind families together - this is the crown jewel of mortality & eternal life.  The Spirit was strong & the counsel was wonderful from the Sealer - Jamen & Courtney were beaming with joy and gratitude.  The Sealer reminded them that Marriage between a man and a woman is really a covenant of 3 people - Husband, Wife, and the Lord - when the Lord is part of this covenant, it can be binding forever because of His power & His atonement on our behalf, as we strive to let the Lord prevail in our lives & follow Him.

We are getting to know the YSA's a little better now & learning to love them.  They are such a fun group and have so much life in front of them during this "decade of important decisions".  We are grateful that the Lord in His mercy has led us here on this Mission & hope to be able to accomplish His purposes in the lives of these precious souls!

District Council, FHE Art Project, Cheri & Rob, Institute, Anissa, Breakfast, Dinner with Mission Leaders, Olympic Training Center, Glow in the dark Capture the Flag

We attended our first District Council Meeting on Monday.  We will meet once a week with this group of Sisters and Elders.  Each week, the District Leader selects a section from Preach My Gospel to give instruction and have a discussion.  We are so impressed with the maturity of these young missionaries.  The are mature, responsible and filled with the spirit.  When I see young people like these young missionaries, I feel like the future of the Church and the world is in good hands.  The meeting ended with everyone sharing their testimony of Jesus Christ.  I brought homemade chocolate chip cookies for a treat; they were well accepted!

Every Monday evening we have a Family Home Evening with the young adults.  Just before the opening prayer, Elder Hardy was asked to give a spiritual thought.  He didn't bat an eye, and shared a message with the young adults reminding them that they are each a child of God, and how God knows and loves each one individually.  Then, we were off to painting with Bob Ross, a PBS phenomena.  We each had a canvas, paints and brushes and used our creativity to paint trees with a bridge and a waterfall.  It was a successful activity as there was much interaction among everyone.  I loved that they weren't glued to their phones, but were talking and laughing and having fun together.

Tuesday morning we were doing our morning exercise at our apartment complex gym, when we got a text from Cheri & Rob (Stan's sister and brother-in-law).  They were in Coronado.  We cut short our exercise, went home and showered, and put together spaghetti sauce in the crock pot (for Institute dinner tonight) and headed over to Coronado Island.  We picked them up and enjoyed lunch together and then drove over to Point Loma.  This is the best location to get great photos of Coronado Island and the ocean.  

The most impressive part of the drive is the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.  There are over 120,000 white markers signifying Veterans who have been buried there.  It is a peaceful thought provoking location.  We certainly owe much to all those who've served and died so we can enjoy our freedoms.

Tuesday evening is Institute night for the young adults.  It is tradition that dinner is provided for them before the lesson begins.  So I prepared a spaghetti dinner for about 20 (they never know how many attend).  Some arrived in time to eat before the lesson, but most ate afterwards.  I forgot to count how many were there, but we bagged up and gave away any leftovers.  They have a CES (Church Education System) instructor, Brother Mackay.  He was excellent.  He talked about justification and the atonement.  It was a great lesson along with the discussion; the spirit was present.  

Before the meeting, Stan got a text from one of the young men - he needed a ride.  Stan took off to pick him up while I finished the food preparation and set-up.  Well, come to find out, he lives off of the last exit before going into Mexico!  Stan was grateful he didn't miss the exit!  After cleaning up and then taking the young man home, we didn't get home until going on 10 pm!  The life of YSA Senior Missionaries!

Wednesday afternoon we joined the Elders for a lesson with a young lady named Anissa.  We were all to meet her at a park.  We arrived at the same time as the Elders, and she walked up and said she had a surprise for us.  She had walked to In & Out Burger, bought 4 large drinks, 4 burgers, and 4 massive containers of frys, and then carried them all to the park.  What a sweetheart.  I loved the lesson.  The Elders did such a good job teaching about receiving the Holy Ghost.  Stan and I shared our testimonies and experiences that we've had with the Holy Ghost.  I really felt the spirit, and asked Anissa if she did, too.  I know that she's learning to recognize the Spirit.  She's a sweet girl.  She has set a date for baptism, January 4!.  The Elders are hoping that as she progresses, she'll want to move it sooner, but this is a start.

On Thursday morning we invited the missionaries that live in our apartment complex over for breakfast.  Transfers are this week, and two of them are being transferred out of our Zone.  I made Breakfast Burritos and fruit.  Afterwards, Stan on his cello and Elder Poulson on the piano (an accomplished pianist) played a few numbers; The Mission, and As Now We Take the Sacrament.  Music sure brings the spirit into the room.

Thursday evening we drove over to the Mission Home and had dinner with our mission leaders, President and Sister Merritt.  It was great getting to know them better.  Stan brought his cello along, as Sister Merritt has a degree in music and is an excellent pianist.  Once again music brings the spirit.  I am so blessed.

We live just off a main road called Olympic Parkway.  We've wondered why the title, and found out that at the end of the Parkway is an Olympic Training Center.  We didn't have much going on on Friday, so we drove a few miles down the road to the training center.  It is a 155 acre complex with multiple sport training venues; beach volleyball, rowing (Otay Lake borders the property), archery, rugby, track events, BMX bike courses and extensive weight and conditioning facilities.  There is a mile long walkway down the center of the property.  We were pretty impressed.  This must be the off season though, because we hardly saw anyone.

Friday evening is activity night.  Glow in the Dark Capture the Flag was the event.  Stan was a good sport and joined in;  Team Hardy won, of course!

We feel truly blessed to be serving with these young people. They are a fun loving group!  As different as they all are, they seem to really love each other and get along well.  As we continue learning their names and about them individually, our hope and prayer is that we can make a difference in their lives.  I know they have already blessed our lives.