Daily Archives: January 26, 2012

25 Jan 2012 – An Awesome Wednesday – First Part

Early today Sisters Hong and Holder called and asked if we could go with them to see a sister who has been investigating the Church for many months – they are the third set of missionaries to work with her. They said she had some questions and concerns that they thought we might be able to help with. We of course were thrilled to do this.

We went into the office and did what was needed there and then decided we would go out and drive by the house that we were going to go tonight. We are still feeling our way around the area and even with the GPS we sometimes get lost.

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The architecture of the chapel is perfect for the area as the main entrance shows. The man in the far right of the middle picture is the foreman who the Lord provided with a Spanish pass-along card. We looked for something that identified the chapel as being an LDS building and found it on one side. I just noticed that none of the pictures show the bright orange accent that is being used.

After doing that we had some lunch and then decided that since we were close we would visit the Weston/Pembroke Pines chapel that is under repair. When we got there a painting crew was working on the outside of the chapel. They were putting special waterproofing paint on to try and keep the insides drier.

I started talking to the crew chief and as we were getting ready to leave I gave him a pass-along card. He looked at it and said “I bet you can read this.” I thought he meant the small type on the bottom that says www.mormon.org. But he pointed out that the information was in Spanish – his native language. I was really surprised because I usually do not have any Spanish cards in my pocket and I had just chosen the first one in the stack. I realized that the Lord knew I would need one today and somehow got it into my pocket. I will never know if the card touches the man and his family but I do know that he got the one he needed.

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The picture on the left shows the Northern end of the site where the construction trailers and material storages will be. The one on the right shows the South end where there will be parking. It was not until I got home that I realized I did not take a picture of the Central section where the actual temple will be built. Maybe I will add this later after there is actually something to see.

From there we went to see the Fort Lauderdale mission site and there was some work going on. Brother Barry, who has been assigned to over see the construction came over and talked to us. He will be here until it is dedicated and then he hopes to be assigned another temple. He feels that working on temples is the highpoint of his professional life.

I mentioned to him that he will probably have a lot of local and general authorities stopping by to see how it is doing. He told me that would not happen. The only authorities who are authorized to visit the site are the First Presidency, the Twelve and the Presiding Bishopric.

The site is right next to a major freeway and the building itself will sit on the far West of the site so that it will be seen by thousands of people each day. I imagine it will become a popular place to visit by members and non-LDS alike.



25 Jan 2012 – Awesome Wednesday – Second Part

As we were on our way home from visiting the constructions sites, Mary got a call from Sister Collins saying that we needed to go in and do the mail. So we did that and then came home to have dinner and prepare to go out with the sisters. I had been thinking about what we might share with the investigator that would help with the concerns she had shared with the missionaries. But I decided that I would just have to trust that the Lord would help me say the right things.

When we got to the area the sister called and said they would like us to go to another appointment first because they had the opportunity to teach a lesson to a new convert that we knew but there would also be another woman there who had showed reluctance to have the missionaries teach her. While we were there the sisters did an awesome job teaching and while I added a few thoughts I spent about half my time trying to keep three young children from interrupting the lesson. I showed them pictures from Africa and that helped.

I think the lesson was a success in that the non-LDS young woman did read with us from the Book of Mormon and seemed to be interested in what was being taught.

We then walked through the block and went to the appointment that we had been asked to attend. It was an amazing time. While the sisters pretty much sat there, Mary and I were able to talk to her about how being members and being sealed in the temple helped us see our marriage from an Eternal perspective. Then I was able to share my own conversion experience and some other experiences from my own life and from the scriptures of how the Lord answered prayers when I or others were going through a ‘why is this happening to me’ situation. After bearing a strong testimony I felt that I should ask her if she received a witness to what she had been taught would she be baptized in two weeks. She said she would and I told her the sisters had a calendar that would help her reach that goal. The spirit was so strong in the room that it was hard to leave.

It was truly great to be able to be part of teaching a very talented woman who will not only receive much from joining the kingdom but will bring so much to it.

It was an Awesome Wednesday all day!