Lessons, 47th Anniversary, YSA Halloween Dance 

We have a new set of YSA missionaries - Sisters!  And boy, oh boy, are they on fire!  Sister Draney (from Florida) is on her last transfer, and her goal is to work as hard as she can to finish up her mission.  Sister Snow (from Farmington, UT) is about half way on her mission, and is following Sister Draney's lead.  They make a good pair.  We had three opportunities to meet them for lessons this week.

    1. Anissa - we've known her pretty much since we arrived here.  She's been taught by the Elders for some time.  She finally set a baptism date for the first week of January (I think she did this just to please the Elders).  She's a fun girl, about 19 years old.  I feel that she likes a lot of things about the Church and doctrines, but she says she hasn't felt the confirmation to know for sure.  She goes to Mexico every weekend with her family, so she hasn't been to Church.  Today the missionaries told me that she's trying to decide between two churches!  

    2. Eli - this young man seems to be a golden contact.  He loves the Lord and prays everyday and throughout the day.  He reads the Bible faithfully, so hopefully we can help him to start reading the Book of Mormon.  I love bearing testimony of my love for the Book of Mormon.  I love the Spirit I feel when we're in lessons. The Sisters invited him to Church, but he had some commitments on Sunday morning with family, so wasn't sure if he would make it.  He didn't make it!

    3. Will - he met us at the Church.  Will was baptized earlier this year, came to Church for about a month and hasn't been back.  He's a fun guy - he loves shoes!  We read from 3 Nephi 11 with him, and had a good discussion. The Sister's invited him to Church, but didn't show up.  

I know the Sister's invited others to Church as well, but none of those they taught showed up.  I'm sure they are disappointed, but that's part of being a missionary.  I think of Christ when he  went around teaching people.  Not everyone accepted him and his teachings.  He experienced a lot of rejection.

We drove up to the La Jolla Institute on Wednesday to meet with the Stringham's, a Senior couple that works with the La Jolla YSA's.  Elder Stringham is really good at finding addresses and figuring out how to get in touch withe the YSA's that we can't find.  So while he taught Stan the tricks he's learned, Sister Stringham and I had a nice visit.  We found out this week that we are going to be working with them in feeding the missionaries at some of the training meetings they have at the San Diego Mission Valley Church building beginning in December.  The Senior couples that have been doing it are going home in a few weeks. 

We celebrated our anniversary this week.  Forty-seven years ago we were sealed by the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood in the Salt Lake Temple.  President Nelson says this date is more important than our birth or death dates.  Why?  "Because the very reason the earth was created was so families could be formed and sealed to each other.  Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter.  No one can be exalted alone."

In celebration of our 47th Anniversary, we went into San Diego to the Embarcadero where the USS Midway Museum is located.  We enjoyed a seafood dinner at the Seafood Market Restaurant next to the San Diego Harbor.  Our table was next to the water where we had a perfect view of the sailboats, Navy ships, and other watercraft in the area.  After dinner we walked over to the Midway, where we had tickets to attend a concert from the Candlelight concert series.  This is a series of concerts played by various  musicians  and genres of music at different venues in the San Diego area. They are all played by candlelight!   This particular concert was located in the USS Midway with a string quartet playing music composed by Hans Zimmer, who writes music for many of the famous movies like Lion King, Inception, and Pirates of the Caribbean and many more.  We really enjoyed the talent of the musicians (the cellist was amazing), being on the Midway, and the ambiance of the lighted candles with the lights turned low.

                                        

 

Friday evening we went to a Regional YSA Halloween Dinner and Dance.  We were trying to figure out what to do for costumes and what to dress up as - what do you think?  

Some of the young people had pretty creative costumes; the guy in the shower was pretty amazing!  There was a costume contest with $10 gift cards from In 'n Out; the Senior missionaries were the judges.  Here is a picture of some of them:

I'll end with a scripture that impressed me in my reading this week.  "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of sound mind.  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord..."  2 Timothy 1:7-8

Painted pumpkins, Angels, & departing Missionary testimonies

 Greetings from the land of gorgeous weather!  The weather here in Chula Vista has been continuously beautiful, typically with sunshine & in the 70's...... virtually every day - although we do usually get a little marine layer of clouds for an hour or two in the mornings - we have really enjoyed the mild climate. 😊😊😊.

Our FHE activity with the YSA's on Monday night (after a spiritual thought) was to paint pumpkins - I am always amazed & a little jealous of their creativity & artistry (I wasn't blessed with much!):

On Tuesday, we had the last district meeting with the young Missionaries before transfers, so we offered to take them all out to In n Out for lunch - they were excited!!  They were even more excited when we told them they could have anything on the menu, including shakes!!!  It is great to be considered their friends & they rewarded us with happy smiles:

Debbie prepared dinner for our institute class again - some baked herb chicken legs, mashed potatoes with gravy, and string beans with bacon.  One of the eager students piled about 6 chicken legs on his plate & another YSA student came after class was over, just to eat the dinner that was prepared!  I think Sister Hardy is spoiling the youngsters!

The lesson this week was on how the angels in Heaven assist & help us in our repentance process, & how this can happen in people's lives. In Elder Neil Andersen's book, " The Divine Gift of Forgiveness",  Chapter 17 discusses how Angels "office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance"  and that "Angels have been part of the Lord's work throughout the history of time..... and that [they will be] round about you, to bear you up".  "Many times those most interested in our welfare are those connected to us but are now beyond the veil."  Elder Andersen  reminded us of the touching story that President Nelson shared with us in the April 2016 General conference about two angel daughters who intervened to accelerate the repentance and bless the lives of their good father and brother!  

We had the opportunity on Thursday to go to the Mission devotional & departing Elders testimony meeting.  It was a choice experience to hear the strong testimonies of those Missionaries.  Some of the messages included:

1. One Elder during his Mission was prompted with this question, "Did you come on this Mission to serve or be served?  This helped him to re-dedicate his service.
2. Another Elder said that we need to "seek that Jesus".
3. Another said even though it might be a cliche, "This has been the BEST 2 years of my life."
4. Another was grateful for the life experiences that he has learned.
5. "The Lord was always with me & has not left my side."
6. "I have seen many miracles in people's lives as they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
7. "Jesus has saved me; He has redeemed me".

President Merritt, our Mission Leader reminded the Missionaries that "The Lord can't drive a parked car!"  The Spirit is strong in the Missionary meetings & I am convinced that there is nothing more edifying, testimony building, joyful, preparatory for life, marriage, and eternity than for a young man or young woman to serve that Lord for 2 or 1 1/2 years.  Many Missionaries come into the Mission field a little timid & shy, but leave with confidence, and a strong testimony & witness that God lives & He has a plan for each of us.

I am also amazed at how the Church can adapt many situations to help Seniors fulfill Missions.  One of the Senior Missionary couples in the Mission here is a "threesome"!  They have a twenty something handicap down syndrome child (Amy) that they care for, so the Lord called all THREE of them on a mission here together!  Amy proudly wears the Mission badge & is helpful with the Mission effort!

Amy & her parents are the 3 in the middle:

Friday night was another fun YSA volleyball activity.  They seem to like volleyball & soccer the best when it comes to sports:

Saturday gave another chance to do some "Seek & Finds" with the hundreds of names of YSA's that are "lost" - most of the addresses we go to are not current & the occupant can't or won't tell us where they are!  But sometimes we find one & invite them to the activities, institute and Church, so the Lord has blessed us.  

We are grateful to be here & hope to be able to make a difference in some young person's life.  We are trying to THINK CELESTIAL!!

Apartment Inspections, Inspire, Baptisms, Stake Conference, and Jail Part 2

This week has brought us a few new experiences.  I think a mission is like that - you never know from day to day what you might be asked to do or what comes along.  We're grateful for opportunities to serve and help out in many different ways.

The week before Transfers we have been asked to inspect the young missionaries apartments.  We were originally assigned six apartments to inspect in our area, but one of the Senior couples had to go home early, so we've been asked to inspect another six apartments in El Cajon, which is about a 30 minute drive north east of us. Stan calls and sets up appointments with the missionaries about a week before so they have us on their schedule, and (hopefully) we meet them with a clean apartment.  We are looking for general cleanliness, we check to see if they have any problems with plumbing, furnishings or  anything else, and basically check on their well being.  We have a check list we go through, and spend a few  minutes teaching them how to clean certain things if they aren't up to spec!  When we arrive, we have a prayer with them, and at the end, if there is time, we ask them to share something they've learned from their scripture study or something unique that's happened that week.  Before we leave, we give them a bag with some treats.  This time we also included the following handout for them to put on their door.  They all really liked it!

Think Celestial!

We were on our second day of inspections, about half way through the day, when we arrived at an apartment of Elders - 4 Elders plus an extra one (he's a traveling Elder who moves around to different apartments every three days or so to help them with their teaching).  Stan started talking with the Elders so I began my inspection of the apartment.  As I walked into the bathroom, this is what I found:

I was shocked, to say the least.  I called for the Elder's to come into the bathroom - they were all chuckling and laughing.  I realized the joke was on me!  Like I said, you never know what you'll find.  Here's a picture of the guilty Elders; don't you just love those smiles :)

Friday evening we attended an Inspire program of music and narration at the Mormon Battalion in Old Town San Diego.  This program is held every month and is put on by the missionaries.  They have a different theme every month.  This month it was "Peace in Jesus Christ".  This was the perfect theme following a week of declared war in Israel.  The titles of the music were "Where Can I Turn for Peace", "Shalom" (a Hebrew word meaning Peace), "Peace in Christ", "Peace, Peace Be Still", and "Let There Be Peace on Earth".  I was so moved by this theme.  I kept thinking about the people in Israel and Gaza and the turmoil they must be in with being suddenly thrown into war.  Even though the world is in chaos, we can have Peace, through Jesus Christ.  I'm grateful for the spirit that I felt that testified this truth to me that evening.

We were blessed to attend two baptisms on Saturday.  One was a man, Kim, that will attend the family ward that meets before us, and the other was a young man, Eric, that will be joining our YSA Ward.  Both men were so happy after they were baptized.  Kim exclaimed "that was great" and "thank you" after he rose out of the water.  Eric also rejoiced as he came up out of the water.  They were both glowing with the spirit.  Here is a picture of Eric with Elders Shelley & Johnson, who taught him, and Kale', who baptized him.  Kale' is a new member himself.  He was just baptized about 11 months ago!  It's so wonderful to see the progress and enthusiasm of these vibrant new members.

We attended Stake Conference this weekend.  It was so good I didn't even doze off!  Our Mission President and his wife both spoke this morning.  Sister Merritt spoke of seeking the riches of eternity and being rich toward God vs. seeking riches to build up our possessions.  Instead of building barns to store wealth like the rich man did in Luke 12, "he layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God", we should focus outward to bless others with the riches of eternity.  

President Merritt told us that he recently got out his Missionary Journal from when he was a young missionary serving in Uruguay.  He shared some of his journal entries, which were filled with the spirit of his missionary experiences.  I thought about my sons, my son-in-laws, and my grandsons who have served missions.  I invite each of you to dust off your Missionary Journal and read and remember the spiritual experiences you had on your missions.  I encourage you to read them to your children and share your testimony of missionary work with your families.

Okay, now the story you've been waiting for:  Jail Part 2:

Last Sunday when we weren't able to get into the prison (read the last Blog), we were told that visiting hours were every morning during the week.  So we drove back down to the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Tuesday morning to see if we could visit with Jose'.  Once again, we were turned away.  Even though we are considered Clergy, they said we had to talk with the prison Chaplain to get permission to come in - he wasn't on site.  So we drove back home, and over the next couple of days, Stan was able to get in touch with the Chaplain and found out that the only way we could get a visit would be for the prisoner to put us on his list of visitors.  In the meantime, Stan contacted the mission president and the Sister Missionaries who were in contact with the mother of the prisoner - she's the one who originally requested we visit her son.  He spoke with the Sisters and they put him in touch with the mother.  We arranged to meet her at the prison Sunday afternoon to see if we could get in.

We met her at the prison gates (not anything like the Pearly Gates, I'm sure!), and went through the two sets of electronically locked doors to get inside.  After giving them our Drivers Licenses and waiting about a half hour, we were given badges to wear.  We went through a security check, like at the airport, and walked up two flights of stairs through locked doors, and finally into the room (cinder block walls with no windows) for visiting.  After a few more minutes, Jose' entered the room dressed in his green prison clothing.  He and his Mom hugged, we shook hands and sat down to visit.

Jose' is about 26 years old.  He's been detained at this prison for three months.  He's been deported, kidnapped in Mexico, dealt with drugs, and is waiting for a court date.  His mom said he has ADHD and thinks he has some brain damage from drug use.  Because of this, he was a little hard to follow where his train of thought was going.  Stan told him that he is loved by God and Jesus Christ, even though he's made mistakes.  He tried to engage Jose' in a discussion, but it was not easy to follow his thought pattern.  He had a tattoo on his hand that he said symbolized Alpha & Omega, which seemed to help remind him of God.  He said he prays over his food, and seems to believe in God, although I don't think he has a very good understanding of who God is, and of His love for him.  

Our visit lasted about an hour.  We felt like Jose' was grateful that we came and shared some messages of peace and the love of God with him.  He was polite, even though he didn't necessarily agree with all we told him. I'm not sure what his future is - he has many challenges ahead of him.  We said a prayer with him, and I think he appreciated that.  

I'm grateful for the freedom I enjoy.  I can come and go as I please, I can look out the windows and see what the weather is like for the day and see the beautiful green trees and shrubs.  I will pray for Jose' and his mother.

I feel like I want to end with a little humor.  This is Preston.  This is what he wore to Stake Conference! He is one of our older Young Single Adults, and has quite the personality.  He's the master of games, and where ever he goes, he has friends.  We're so blessed to get to know each of the young adults, and their unique personalities.  We love them all!

 

Halloween cakes, seek & find, and Jail!

This week started with helping the Young Single Adults at their family home evening activity;  a Halloween cake decorating activity.  Debbie & I were assigned the role of the judges - it was strictly a visual judgement - no eating!  The YSA's were very proud of their creations and starting talking about bribes for the judges!  Ultimately, the black widow spider and the candy eating monster won dual 1st place!

Debbie cooked up a fabulous pasta al forno with some exquisite home make bread that was a big hit at the institute on Tuesday with both young and old - I think she is spoiling these YSA's!

The pickleball players we meet during the week at McKensie Creek Park are still a great place to have gospel conversations.  This week I was able to share a Book of Mormon via the app with one of the players that I got to play with - his name is Angel so I got to tell him about the several angels that appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith including John the Baptist & Peter, James, and John.  He asked about differences in our Church, so it led a discussion about the restoration of Christ's new testament Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, his first vision, angel Moroni, gold plates, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  Hopefully, I will get to follow up with him next week! 😄

Debbie & I had the opportunity to go on a "seek & find" expedition several times this last week, looking up some of the YSA's that are on our roles, but not coming to Church.  It seems that about half of the addresses don't exist, so we have some interesting conversations with the people that answer the doors.  One I remember was a Hispanic young man who answered the door so I asked in English if he was "William" to which he responded in perfect English, "I don't speak any English".  I immediately reverted to Spanish to ask him the questions - it turned out that he wasn't William & he didn't know who William was.  I think that he thought he could be rid of us if he didn't have to speak English!  I had similar experiences on my younger Mission tracting in Cuban neighborhoods in Miami, Florida.  Ladies would answer the door, look at these English looking boys & wag their finger at us saying "No espeake English" even though we were speaking Spanish to them on our door approach!!  

Saturday night was a Mission wide Senior Missionary activity that we attended at the Marine Corps Recruiting Center on Base in San Diego.  We rode with one of the Military relations senior couple & got on base to enjoy the bowling center & a potluck dinner - we have a great time getting together with the other Senior Missionary couples even though our bowling skills were quite rusty!!

Sunday (today) we got an assignment from the Mission President to drive down near the border & go visit a recently baptized member who was in jail (Otay Mesa Detention Center - US Department of Homeland Security).  We drove down and entered the locked down facility, not knowing what to expect & asked to visit "name - & prison id #".  Apparently, someone else was visiting him before we got there & the guard explained that they are only allowed 1 visit on Sunday - so we will have to come back during the week to visit by phone (only at the prison) or next Sunday to see him in person.  We suspect that it is our time to come face to face with the illegal immigrant dilemma down here!  More info later!

The gospel is for everyone, even those who have made serious mistakes!  Jesus Christ came to the world not to condemn the world, but that through Him humanity might be saved!!  I am grateful for the principles of faith in Jesus Christ & His atonement, plus repentance that gives all of us hope for the future!  Everyone think Celestial!

 Ultimate Frisbee, 30 second lesson, Car Inspections, Evening Walk, Zone Conference, Institute/General Conference

Here's a quick update for last week:

FHE - Ultimate Frisbee

Gas - $5.59 a gallon at Costco (around $6.20 + elsewhere), fill up was nearly $85!  Most of the time we             fill up twice a week!

Cooking - Chocolate/Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats for District Council,

         Chicken Noodle Soup and Homemade bread for Institute

         Texas Sheet cake for Break the Fast

        General Conference viewing at Institute - Applesauce muffins, Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip for Apples,         Taco Salad

At District Council we practiced answering a question in 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Oftentimes when a missionary has an opportunity to talk with someone, (at their door, at the park or on the street) they only have about a minute or less to get in a message about the restored Gospel.  To practice, we each chose a slip of paper out of a bag and then went around the room and answered our question.  

The amazing thing about practicing this on Tuesday was that Stan actually put it into practice on Friday at pickleball!  He had three different people ask him questions, and probably only had 30 seconds to a  minute to answer them in between games!  One guy asked Stan his age and how he was able to be so quick and active on the court.  Stan gave him a 30 second lesson on the Word of Wisdom.  Another guy, who told him he was Catholic, asked him what were the major differences between our two churches.  He shared with his friend about Joseph Smith's vision and how we learned from that that the Godhead is three separate beings.  The last friend asked Stan what he was going to be doing over the weekend, and he shared that we would be watching General Conference, so had the chance to quickly explain about having a Prophet and Apostles at the head of our Church.  So, you never know when you might need a 30 second lesson ready to go.

We have a young man in our ward, Chance, that is getting ready to go through the temple for the first time and then be sealed to his fiancé for time and all eternity.  The Bishop asked us to teach him a couple of Temple Preparation classes to prepare him for the temple.  We really enjoyed this blessing of being able to teach and talk about our love for the temple and the importance of the ordinances and covenants we make when we enter the temple.  

This week was Zone Conference.  We were asked to come Wednesday to help with car inspections.  The missionaries drive into the church parking lot and back their cars into a slot.  They raise the hood and the tail gate and leave their keys on the seat.  The idea is to come with a clean car, inside and out, and without clutter.  Our job was to inspect the cars for cleanliness, and make sure everything is in working order.  The Car Tsar told us that it should be absolutely perfect to get a score of 100. The top two scores get a golden license plate cover that announces them as the winners.  All the cars looked really good, but some definitely did a better job of vacuuming and cleaning their wheels.  One sister told us that when her Dad was a missionary, he often won the cleanest car award, so it was her goal to follow in her Dad's footsteps.  We didn't inspect her car, but I'm sure it was spotless!

We decided to take a break from the apartment Wednesday evening and go for a walk.  This area has lots of hills and canyons.  On our way to the church building there is a canyon we cross over and we've wondered if there were any trails.  It's called Rice Canyon, and there is a trail that's just under two miles one way.  We had a nice walk and enjoyed the colors of the sky as the sun went down.  At the trail head there is a cactus garden with some pretty unique and beautiful cactus plants.

Thursday we attended the Zone Conference for our zone.  They had invited a guest speaker, Gerritt Durkmaat from the BYU Church History department.  He has been working with the Joseph Smith Papers project for the last 20 years.  He taught us that Joseph learned how to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ line upon line.  He wasn't given all instruction during the First Vision in the Sacred Grove.  He received instruction as he was ready to receive more.  When we look at Joseph during the Nauvoo period, we see tremendous growth from the earlier years.  Of course, that's the way it is for all of us.  We are all at different stages of learning, and as we progress, we are given more.  His presentation was wonderful!  I love learning about the Prophet Joseph Smith.  

At the end of the Zone Conference, we all gathered into the Chapel to receive final instruction from Pres. Merritt and have opportunity for the missionaries to bear testimony.  The concluding song is a song that the words have been adapted specifically to our mission.  We stood and sang, and the Elders and Sisters were all arm in arm and swaying together.  The spirit is strong.  I love these moments.

We forgot to put it in our blog last week, but we had visitors!  Dixie and Mike (my sister and brother-in-law) came and visited.  We went for a drive to the Julian Pie store (they are pretty famous around here) near Ramona, CA.  We enjoyed seeing the countryside; some areas were kind of desert looking, and other places with green hills.  I had a piece of Apple Mountain Berry pia a la mode.  It was yummy!  Apparently some grocery stores carry their pies, so you don't really have to take the long drive to get a piece of pie.  We just enjoyed being together.  

The Bishop asked us if we would be willing to open up the Institute Building on Saturday and Sunday for General Conference.  He also suggested it we be nice to provide some food for the young adults in between sessions.  So we planned and prepared to feed the young adults, having no idea how many would show up.  We had as many as 13 and as few as 3 (counting ourselves) over the two days.  Here's a picture of some of us listening to conference.

The best part was enjoying the conference messages together.  We were blessed to have two of the Elder's friends, that they invited, show up this  morning.  One of them, Eric, has a baptism scheduled for October 14.  This was a first Conference experience for both of them and I think they had a good experience.

 I think one of my favorite talks was Elder Rasband's.  He spoke to seniors.  He spoke pretty strongly about the need for Senior Missionaries.  I think the reason I liked his talk so much was that I didn't feel guilty. Haha! Seriously, it made me feel gratitude for the opportunity and blessing of serving as a senior missionary.  It is a choice growing experience.  I love being with the younger missionaries the young adults and feeling of their spirits and their desire to serve the Lord.  

My most favorite talk was hearing from our prophet, President Nelson.  I was praying the whole two days in hopes that we would get to hear from him.  I love how he told us that we choose where we will live, the kind of body we will have, and who we will be with in the next life.  I am going to practice putting Jesus first and thinking Celestial.

  

Sister Missionary with a companion dog, Tracting, Airshow, and the Italian White Snail

This week I would like to focus the spotlight on a few inspirational stories, the first of which is a young sister missionary in our ward who was extended a mission call without submitting an application & has a missionary companion who is a dog!!  Yes, Sister Taylor Talbot in our YSA Ward was called as a service Missionary last November with a special Missionary assignment to help bring others to Christ through her example & public speaking.  She is nearly totally blind yet is training in the Chula Vista, California Olympic training center as a Paralympian sprinter.  Her blind service dog, Fargo, is her companion & trains & travels with her on the speaking engagements.  She is also a hopeful Paralympian for the Paris games in Paris, France scheduled for 2024.  She had been torn about continuing her Olympic training or going on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints & wrote a letter to the Church thanking the leaders for the messages they gave when they had come to southern California.  Her letter was forwarded to her Stake President who called her in to visit with her.  He then spoke to the Church leaders who issued her a special, unique Mission call so she could continue her training, but also serve a service Mission.

We have witnessed the fruits of her labors as the missionaries have been teaching a number of athletes training at the Olympic training center where she trains - she shares & invites all around her to consider the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Despite her blindness & adversity, she sees it as a blessing from the Lord when she says, “I am so grateful for that challenge God gave me that I am losing my sight so that I can help others see Christ and come unto Him."  “I have been able to reach more people and teach them about the gospel than I ever could have if I was fully sighted,” she said. “It’s opened my eyes to a lot of good things in the world. I have a completely different perspective on trials because of it. I’ve been able to be more grateful and become more aware of the miracles and tender mercies that God has put into my life. It’s just so much easier to see God’s hand when I can’t see physically.”

What an amazing attitude!!

For a complete story, click on this link:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/legally-blind-paralympian-sprinters-unique-mission-in-california

The young Missionaries out here in San Diego are doing an amazing work in sharing the gospel;  Recently a pair of Sister Missionaries were tracting and found a family of 11 to teach.  They knocked on their door & when the door opened, they introduced themselves & asked if they could come in and have a prayer with their family.  The family said ok, so they went in to have a prayer & suddenly, grandma, grandpa, Mom, Dad, and a bunch of kids all came out!!  So one of the sisters gave a sincere prayer & gave thanks for their many blessings, including the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Following the prayer, she explained to the family what she meant when she gave thanks about the restoration of the gospel proceeding to tell them about the restoration!  On their next lesson a few days later, they had a spirit felt discussion after which they asked the family if they would like to feel that spirit more often?  With an affirmative response, they put them on date for baptism and are now teaching them how they can have the gift of the Holy Ghost with them as they have faith, repent, get baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands!!

Recently, one of the Spanish Sister Missionaries completed her mission & was scheduled to go home, when she got covid, which delayed her departure.  After she could travel again, she got scheduled for a fight that got delayed, so she ended up on a different flight.  When she finally got on her flight, she sat next to a lady who was a refugee from Colombia relocating with her family to North Carolina, so this Missionary was able to talk to her in Spanish.  During the discussion, the Sister Missionary asked her if she was Christian to which she responded, "no, but I have been meaning to research how I can become Christian & be baptized."  The Sister Missionary explained that we have missionaries in North Carolina that can help her with that!!  After the flight, she forwarded her contact information to the Missionaries in North Carolina who are now teaching this lady!!  

The Lord will put people in our path when we have the faith to act & follow his promptings.  This Missionary was in tune with the Spirit & was able to help a family that the Lord was very aware of!!

On Friday, a number of the Senior Missionaries went to the airshow put on by the Marines at the base in Miramar, California.  We were fortunate to go and spend the afternoon seeing the Osprey vertical take off and landing planes, the F-22's and the f-35 5th generations aircraft doing some of there amazing maneuvers in the air.  The main event was the precision flying of the Blue Angels - always an enjoyable event!

On Saturday, we were able to join the younger Missionaries for a local "clean up" service project in one of the canyons, clearing out weeds & picking up trash. The Missionaries know how to have a good time giving service!  

I learned the lesson of the  "Italian White Snail" that is an invasive species in Chula Vista.  Apparently they must have ended up here from a ship and they have infested the area learning to adapt to the local surroundings by crawling up the stem of weeds & plants to get away from the dry heat on the ground & sealing themselves up until the rain comes when they crawl back down and enjoy the cooler moisture!! Perhaps we can learn a lesson from this snail to make sure we move away from Satan's territory & seal ourselves up & away from Satan's enticements - making sure we focus on the  nourishing moisture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ & His goodness.

We love you all!

Elder & Sister Hardy

 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!