Daily Archives: December 4, 2012

Last Lunch…

 When we first got to Richards Bay, South Africa, the Bartholomews and Hafens introduced us to the idea of a last supper for the zone – 2 districts – on the last Sunday before transfers. We continued the tradition all through our time there and picked it up again when we got to Fort Lauderdale. However we had to change it from a last supper to a last lunch so the missionaries could – with the permission of President Anderson – come on their last P-day. It is something we look forward to as it gives us a chance to get to know the missionaries better and it is a way to show our love for them and their amazing diligence in serving the Lord.

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Mary with Elder Hall – he came early with his companion elder Bloom so they could do their e-mail on our computers. It is elder Hall’s 4th and last, last lunch.

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Elder Rellaford has been training elder Taylor. They will be here for another 6 weeks.

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Elder Patino and elder Rondo have served together for this transfer. Elder Patino is being transferred.

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Elders Rellaford and Patino are enjoying their pizza on the couch while most of the missionaries were gathered around the table. Sisters Stegelmeier and Dye were special guests – sister Dye is heading home on Thursday.

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The Fort Lauderdale district has been very busy this transfer and it always difficult at transfer time when good friends leave for new assignments. But it is also an inspiring experience to see how the Lord through President Anderson and the assistants develop a transfer plan that will move the mission forward in the days to come. The zone leaders – Elders HoChing and Bishop join the district for a group picture. We are sad and yet happy to bid goodbye to elder HoChing ans Sister Dye as they leave the mission and move into the next period of their lives. They are both powerful missionaries and they will be leaders in the Kingdom throughout their lives. I do not usually post weird pictures of missionaries because they do not really reflect who they are but since elder Bishop took this picture of himself, I thought it was fair to share it with everyone.



Christmas Decorations at the Office…

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We came in to the office this morning and found a pair of elves decorating the Christmas tree. Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt did a wonderful job of decorating the tree and the entrance. I love this shot of the tree that was taken with the overhead lights off so the light from the tree is shown bouncing off the walls.

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This beautiful wreath now hangs on the door and of course true joy came to the earth with the birth of the Savior of the world. It is so important to keep Christ in Christmas.



A Wonderful Start for the Month

President Anderson shared this great missionary story in his weekly letter to the missionaries. To me it shows the power of the spirit in teaching and learning as described in D&C 50 – all were edified.

“A missionary departing this week shared an amazing experience of how he and his companion were able to “set the table” and become “instruments in the hands of God”:

 

“As we were harvesting on Sunday evening, we had a thought to follow up on some people …  No one else was home that we wanted to see except Marie, so we dropped in to see how they liked church.  They each explained what they liked and how they are excited to come back.  Then we dropped the bomb and said, ‘We are excited for your baptisms next week.’  The room got really quiet and we started feeling that awkward feeling that you get inside when people are uncomfortable.  One by one they all said that they were unprepared and that they needed more time.  My companion and I were a little unsure of what to do, so we testified about baptism and the blessings that they wanted/needed in their lives.  We extended the invitation again, and we got the same response, but this time the spirit was in the room.  We quickly pointed out the good feeling in the room and everyone recognized it.  We told them it meant that God wanted them to be baptized.  They were still skeptical.  A scripture popped into my mind from Acts 2, where Peter testified of Christ and everyone felt the spirit and asked Peter what they should do… one of the kids read the verse.  As soon as he finished, we explained the importance of repentance, and being baptized unto repentance.  We saw some mental cylinders fire as we testified of this principle.  By the expression on their faces, we could see that their hearts were opening.  They continued to express the same concerns about being baptized.  Then they asked, ‘Do we have to be baptized to go to heaven?’  We read John 3:5 and another wave of understand went through the room.  We testified again of Jesus Christ, of repentance and of the Holy Ghost.  All the questions and confusions left, and then they said, ‘We won’t get baptized until we see a baptismal service.  We will come next week and then get baptized in two more weeks.’  My companion and I were unsure of what to do for a moment, and then the spirit whispered to us, ‘The Preach My Gospel District 2 videos have baptisms recorded in them!’  We dashed over to the computer, pulled up the electronic missionary resources on lds.org and turned it to District 2 Episode 3 and skipped to the part with the baptisms.  Three people got baptized in the video and as each person went down in the water, Marie and her family got more and more excited.  We could feel that they all really wanted it but would not commit until someone else in the room did.  My companion and I saw this and we wanted them to say yes so badly!  As the video ended, Wisnof was in the corner of the room and he quietly said, ‘I’ll do it.’  Instantly following his commitment, Mildred said, ‘Me too.’  We were shocked, she had put up the biggest fight out of all of them.  Marie had the biggest grin on her face and she said, ‘I will be baptized.’  We all looked at Jimmy and Steve next.  The room was quiet.  They both looked deep in thought.  Jimmy said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ We testified of all the blessings that would come to them and of the happiness of Jesus Christ for them and they all smiled.  We turned to Steve finally and said, ‘You can pray about it and keep thinking on it and we will…‘  He stopped us mid-sentence and said, ‘I will do it too.’  We were both astonished.  The spirit flooded the room and everyone stood up from their chairs and shouted for joy!  We finished our visit by giving them a Book of Mormon, mormon.org cards, and testifying about everything that happened.  We all knelt down together and Wisnof offered the closing prayer.  It was a spiritual feast. As he said amen, we all laughed together and then set up appointments to come over every day.  It was the most spiritual experience I could ask for during these final weeks.  Christ lives!  He loves us and He wants us to repent!  If we repent we will be so much happier, so much greater and we will be truly prepared to meet Christ at the pleasing bar of God!  -Obedience brings power.  This experience could not have happened if we were disobedient even in the slightest degree.”

 

I loved how this companionship used all the tools we have been trying to teach to invite this family to Christ. Obedience, repentance, testimony, the Spirit, the scriptures, faith, prayer and even experiencing the ordinances were all used in a very short period of time to increase their interest, desires, and testimony to follow Christ and be baptized. The result of course was their desires were increased to follow Christ and to participate in this holy ordinance.”