More Service, Good-byes, Changes, a Temple Trip, and Fun

We started the week out great with all the missionaries going fishing on a member's private land.  Br. Roberts and Elder Quincy went out in the boat.  All the young missionaries had to fish from the shore.  Br. Roberts caught a couple from the shore before we got there.  None of the missionaries caught anything, except for Elder Quincy got 5!  I had to run to the office and turn in the baptism records to be recorded, so that the new members could get their temple recommends to go to the temple and do baptisms on Thursday.  I rushed back to pick up the Sisters and dropped them at home.  We hurried and ate lunch and went to help move in another new family!  They came from Mississippi!  We had to leave there and rush to the church to chaperone the missionaries so they can play games together.  Elder Quincy went home and showered, then replaced me so I could go change and get the ham ready to take to our dinner and lesson that night.  We picked up the Elders at 6:00.  Not a minute to relax on our "day off".  The lesson with the Allens was great though.  Sonya bore testimony to them of how the Book of Mormon has changed her life.  5 year old Jamison has had back pains and asked for a blessing!  So sweet!  Tammy cried when Elder Kent said it might be his last Monday with them.
Tuesday Elder Quincy fixed Br. Sneed's truck they've been trying to fix for months!!  We had fun driving the Sisters to a couple of lessons, and then with the Spanish Elders to teach a great guy; Ramon.  Wednesday we had success meeting with a couple of inactive members then had a fish fry/goodbye lunch at Br. Roberts and a last Missionary Coordination Meeting with this District.  Sister Tomason goes home Tuesday and Elders Kent and Burdsol are being transferred on Monday.  Transfers are sad, but exciting at the same time.  We always get great new missionaries.  We had a smaller group to our Book of Mormon class on Wednesday, but 3 of our new members had interviews and got their limited use recommends! 
Preschool on Thursday was fun as usual.  Elder Quincy was picking up materials for his next service project, but the kids in the class we teach had made special art projects for us that were really sweet.  We had our Youth/New Member temple trip that evening.  There were 30 of us there from our ward!  Sandy was baptized for her mom and grandma.  Glenda was baptized for her mom and grandma!  Brandon was baptized for the Bishop's family.  Sonya and Jaycie got their recommends, but didn't make it this time because of a mandatory play practice.  We'll get to go with them soon!  It was really fun to be there to hand them towels.  It felt like being a temple worker for an hour or so.  Elder Quincy was able to be a witness and to perform confirmations.  It was a really great night!
Friday we had Zone Meeting and learned about how the new schedule is being implemented in our mission and how to do the new Key Indicators.  All stuff that isn't really for us, so I was fine with Elder Quincy spending the day working on Shannon's stairs.  He was gone from 7:00 am to 6:30 pm.  After Zone Meeting I got to go with the Sisters to teach a couple of lessons.  Saturday Elder Quincy was back at the job site.  I came and taught Shannon and her nonmember mother-in-law about temples and death and eternal families.  I left to get the Sisters and spent all afternoon driving them to a lesson and a couple of great visits with less actives.  Then Elder Quincy joined us for a delicious dinner of fried catfish at a member's home.  He's the only member and the Sisters taught his family a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation after dinner.  Yup, 2 fish fries this week! 
Sunday was Super!  There were more people bearing testimony than there was time for!  Shannon Watson fasted for her first time!  Diane Gonzales stayed for the whole block for the first time!  We took the sacrament to 3 homes and showed them "The Blessings of the Temple" video.  One is an endowed sister who has health issues, one is a sister dying of cancer, and the other is a recent convert recovering from a diabetes related infection in his leg who is trying to get healthy enough to get to the temple.  The same message that was so different for each of them.  Br. Tucker, who just lost his son to cancer last month bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting today and said that he was so thankful that the Lord set things in motion so that his son could be endowed in December while he was healthy enough to do it.  Its been a temple kind of week!  First for the week is sending our first missionary home!  First letters from one of our kids!  The Chapmans all wrote to us and colored us pictures!  We feel loved! 

Fun with bunnies at the home of a less active member.

Moving in the Roberts.

The Sisters posing with Br. Robert's fish.

Preschool art projects.

These sweet ladies preparing to go into the temple for their first time!

Brandon after doing baptisms.

Glenda and friends after baptisms.

Sandy after baptisms.

Sister about to be parted.  Sister Pace (yellow skirt) and Sister Tomason (red skirt) are going home!

The platform raised.

Fearless 3 year old grabs the chicken to show us.

top stairs about in.

Beautiful Sabbath day drive to take the sacrament to the sick and afflicted.

Service, a Funeral,a Party, and a Confirmation

We had another great lesson at the Allen's Monday night.  This time they fed us dinner.  We showed them Brad Wilcox's "His Grace is Sufficient" and the spirit was so strong you could have cut it with a knife!  Tuesday morning we moved a new family into the ward!  They are awesome!  I'm guessing he'll be our new bishop.  We went to see a new member who's struggling that night and Elder Quincy told her we'd bring dinner on Thursday night.  I was kind of upset that he just said that without consulting me, because there really isn't much time to fix meals in our schedule, but he was very inspired, because her nonmember mother-in-law joined us and watched President Nelson's "Joy Cometh in the Morning" conference talk with us and it went very well. 
Wednesday morning we had the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast, which lasted until our Missionary Coordination meeting time, so I ordered pizza and we fed the missionaries during our meeting.  That night we had our biggest turn out for the Book of Mormon class yet!  4 investigators, 3 less active members and 3 active members, besides we 6 missionaries! After we went to the Preschool class on Thursday, we visited an investigator at her home and found her working on lots of big projects.  So we took the Elders and worked with her trimming trees and bushes for a couple of hours.  We were blessed because Luke, another investigator showed up to work on her porch and invited us to dinner the next night.  Friday Elder Quincy helped Br. Roberts fix a member's well pump and took Br. Sneed to measure and make a material list for the new stairs they plan to start this week.  I had lots of time to prepare handouts for the English class, Preschool next week, and the questions for the activity at the ward party. The dinner with Luke and Ashley, turned into a FHE that went really well.  The kids loved the games so much it was hard to leave.
Saturday we spent almost the whole day at the church; leaving my food cooking in the kitchen, setting up for the funeral luncheon, attending the funeral, serving the luncheon and eating, cleaning up after the luncheon, then after taking the Sisters to a lesson and a couple of failed attempts at visits, we fixed the rolls and headed back to the church to set up for the Ward Pot Luck dinner.  Br. Roberts wasn't feeling well enough to come, which was unheard of.  Its hard to have a party without him.  We had 11 investigators to the party and I was thrilled to see our new members fellowshipping each other!  They also all brought delicious food!  So we fed everyone, including ourselves, tried to talk to all the investigators, start the table get to know you activity we'd brought and then cleaned up, packed up and headed back home.  Sunday we got to church at 7:30 as usual and found out there was no meeting because it was a 5th Sunday.  I was able to get everything set up for my Sharing Time; with a game, pictures and a video!  I've never had prep time doing Sharing Time here before. Usually its a request as I sit in Sunday School class, but this time the Primary President told me she'd be out of town and asked for my help the day before.  It turned out to be a great week to be in Primary; an investigator was there for the first time, and 3 kids of less active families were there for the first time, besides the cute Ailene, who was baptized a couple of weeks ago.  I really missed being in the Gospel Principles class with the investigators that were there, though.  We took the Sacrament to a couple of sweet ladies; one, Sister Rigli, asked for a blessing, the other is weaker each week we see her, sweet Sister Jernigen is failing.  Her spirit is amazing though!  We took the Sacrament down to the ICON hospital in Humble to Br. Patterson, who said he'll be released today!! 
It was super fun to go home and fix dinner for Ashley, Luke and kids AND  the Kendalls! We got to play games with the kids again and it was fun to see how well the kids all enjoyed each other.  Jenny gave Ashley lots of good advice for pregnancy and depression.  It was good and fun to involve my daughter in our missionary work.  As Luke and Ashley prepare to get married its great to have them see a great model of how marriage should be. We got to Skype with Jack's family last night.  Fun stuff!  And I think that we have been to 250 homes now. 

Last District Meeting with this district.

Unloading the truck for the Palmers.

Most of the Book of Mormon group.

Trimming the last tree.

Sister Tomason's great demonstration of how not to listen to your investigator.

Sister Weitzel is with her husband who passed in October now.

Funeral luncheon.

Out in the boonies taking the Sisters to teach.

Most of the people at the Pot Luck dinner!

My grandson and a Cleveland member play together!

Jenny is talking with Ashley, I just didn't get a good picture.

A Whirlwind of a Week

We had such a great week!  At the Allen's on Monday, Luke was back and asking to be taught again!!  Tammy had been able to go 2 days without smoking!  Cheyenne's boyfriend, Tanner came to a lesson for the first time!  It was awesome!!  We read the Proclamation to the World on the Family.  It felt like a marriage prep class since Ashley and Cheyenne were there with their boyfriends.  I LOVE that family!  Oh and before that group we had a Family Home Evening with the Ungers!! We've been trying to do that since we got here 5 months ago! 
We've met with a sister who's struggling with the Word of Wisdom.  Her husband died of a drug overdose shortly after she was baptized last year and she is really hurting.  Its been great to help her understand how the atonement can help her with her pain. 
We took the Elders to dinner at an investigator's on Tuesday and then we took the Sisters there for dinner on Friday.  Mildred's son is a member.  She and her daughter-in-law have been widows for about a year.  She is such a sweetie and an amazing cook!  She's starting to get it.  She has good questions and really wants to understand where her son and husband are and how she can see them again.
Our Book of Mormon class is going really well!  Its been great for new members, reactivated members and investigators to study together.  An inspired idea of Sister Fisher's.  While we were at Book of Mormon class Sister Weitzel died.  That's 3 ward members in one week! 
Thursday we had the blessing of taking Br. Sneed to the temple for the first time in over 20 years.  As we walked through the front door he was already tearing up.  We also took Sister Unger.  One wheelchair is much better than 2 at a time.  Oh, how I miss going to the temple more often! 
Friday we challenged Luke to pray about it and to set a new baptism date.  Elder Quincy gave him a blessing to help him stop chewing tobacco.  There was a strong spirit there!
Saturday Elder Quincy went fishing with Br. Roberts and Br. Hill.  He outfished them all!  He was back in time to go with me and the Sisters to teach a couple of lessons before Jaycie's baptism.  It was the best baptism; Sonya gave the baptism talk. Luke came.  Tammy came with her boyfriend.  Sonya's husband came, and Tammy and Sonya's parents came, so it was really cool for her to be able to bear her testimony in front of so many of her family members. The Spanish Elders brought a couple of investigators, so that was cool, too!  The family invited us to dinner at El Burrito after to celebrate.  That was great, because we got to know Lloyd, Sonya's husband, better.
Sunday has been crazy busy!  We had 7:30 PEC meeting.  There were 8 investigators there to take care of.  3 of them came with Sandy for her baptism, which was right after church.  Elder Quincy confirmed Jaycie.  Br. Sneed spoke in church; his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson came to listen!! He told how repenting has blessed his life.  He told the whole story of his comeback and it was really powerful and touching!  A less active family we've been working with were there for the 3rd week in a row!!  Sister Lee even came to Relief Society for the first time!!  Sandy's baptism was great!  Her best friend's son baptized her.  I'm guessing he is where the referral came from to get the missionaries to her door.  His mom must have been touched to see her son baptize her best friend.  We hope she starts taking the lessons!
Elder Quincy gave lots of blessings this week, well some he had the young Elders give, and some Br. Roberts gave, but he participated in all of them.  Glenda decided that her husband is ready to be taught.  She's been worried because he has some dementia.  We think he's ready. 
We had a couple from the ward over for dinner Sunday night.  He's the ward clerk and is really awesome.  She's never been to church in this ward.  We  had a lot of fun teaching them  how to play speed Scrabble and Tenzies.  We had some good talks about her conversion and her background.  She kind of committed to come to the ward party Saturday night. 
We've had more rain this week than any time so far.  No more cold like we had a few weeks ago though.  The Spanish Elders got stuck in a ditch and Elder Quincy showed all the Elders how to hook up a tow chain.  Some good and some bad firsts this week. 

Book of Mormon Class

 Our new district.  For 2 more weeks.

Yup, Elder Quincy caught the big one and the most. 

Death and rebirth

We had an interesting week. Tammy said she isn't going to buy any more cigarettes.  The Brights were taking their son to Rexburg for school and got stuck in a blizzard without a motel room available.  They called and we were able to talk to my sweet niece, Heidi, who put them up for the night.  Its cool when two sets of cool people meet!  Our sweet granddaughter Tessa was baptized in Denver on Saturday.  We really wanted to be there, but just felt like we needed to stay here. 

Elder Kent in the back showing Tammy where to read the Word of Wisdom, while Jamison poses in Elder Taylors' name badge.

These steep steps need to be rebuilt.  They may be Elder Quincy's next project.

Elder Kent's birthday lunch at the Robert's.

Br. Tucker sitting to eat at the funeral luncheon.

Ailene with her mom, grandpa and cousin.

Clouds on our way to Jenny's today.

Cousins ready for dinner

Jenny's awesome table can seat us all!

Robbie Tucker died on Wednesday night.  Joyce Moore died Saturday afternoon.  Elder Quincy not only got to dress his third body for a funeral here, but he was a pallbearer for Robbie's funeral. We got a call late Thursday from Joyce's sister saying that we should get to the hospital because she was failing fast.  Elder Quincy and Br. Moore, no relation, gave her a blessing. She was pretty much released to die peacefully.  We made it to 2 other hospitals, and 3 nursing homes this week, then back to the same one for a blessing to Sister Ingold today.
The Spanish Elders had a baptism!  Elder Riches got to come back and baptize Ailene! His first baptism!  Ailene's grandpa was less active.  The Elders reactivated him and started teaching his daughter and granddaughter.  His daughter, Iris will be baptized soon. 
We are visiting new people all the time, I think we have been to 250 home now.  We had 14 people to our Book of Mormon study class at church this week!  2 investigators, 2 less actives and the rest active members and missionaries. Its coming along nicely!
Sonya's niece, Jaycie was surprised to see a friend from school at our church the first time she came.  He was ordained a priest today.  She's getting baptized Saturday and she may have him perform the baptism!  Pretty awesome for a brand new priest!  Sandy is getting baptized on Sunday! 
We have had to start the air conditioning back up.  We only went a few days without it.  Its gorgeous in the mornings when we walk though; about 65 degrees! 
We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday.  President and Sister Drake's friends were visiting and spoke to us. After the conference we were talking to them and discovered that Br. Condie is an old Kennedy Jr. High alumni.  He remembered my brother Bob.  Such a small world!
We are sleeping over at the Kendalls again, since the grandkids are out of school tomorrow.  Jenny cooked us an awesome meal.  Jason's family came, too.  Sydney slept over too.  More fun tomorrow!