11 March 2012 – Sunday

I was surprised when I woke and the clock read 8:18 – it did not seem that I slept that late. But a little later Mary mentioned that all the clocks were wrong because it was the start of daylight savings time. However we found that except for the small clock and the atomic clock in the bedroom, all the clocks were correct. In fact the one on the kitchen stove which has always been an hour fast is now correct.

As I prayed this morning I felt that the spirit was telling me that I needed to read the scriptures and not the Book of Mormon – which I read for Sunday School – but the New Testament because I needed to study and ponder Christ’s teachings and life. So I read the first four chapters of Matthew stopping just after he has called his first 4 apostles to come follow him. I wonder if I would have left my nets and followed him. But maybe in a way we have as we have left our home and come to Florida.

I was reading an article in Church News about Elder and sister Oaks along with Elder and sister Hallstrom visiting Japan a year after the great tsunami. There was a picture of sister Hallstrom, who served a mission in Japan, giving a talk and I remembered her speaking to us in a conference in Indonesia. I could not remember what it was about only that I thought it was much better than Elder Hallstroms – at least I felt the spirit more. 

To find out what she spoke on – I thought it was her experiences in reading the Book of Mormon – I started looking through my blog posts from Indonesia. As I was reading,  I was surprised to find that March 11, 2007 was also a Sunday. It was interesting to read about our experiences of that day and what I felt to write about. I decided that I would copy the post and re-post it for today. This was the last paragraph from that post with accents added today.

“Looking back it was a good Sunday.  The highlight was the men choir that sang during sacrament in T2. I chickened out and did not join them but sat and enjoyed their singing. As I looked over that small group of humble PH holders standing shoulder to shoulder, the spirit touched me. These are the men – young and old – that will someday see Indonesia a fruitful place for missionary work. Some will live to see a temple built here. The strength of the Lord’s church is in the hearts and hands of these people. It is wonderful to be able to add even a little to the growth of the Kingdom through our missionary work.”

It will be interesting to see what I write today. However I did not find the post about the conference where Elder and Sister Hallstrom spoke. I will try again later.

As I was typing the above Mary called out to tell me that the New Guinea impatiens were drooping from a lack of water. This has happened a number of times and luckily they always recover. This time I remembered to take a before – while they were drooping – and will take an after to show how they recover – if they recover.

My bathroom reading for this morning was Elder Waddel’s conference talk on missionary work. As I read the paragraph below I thought of Adam George and felt that I should send it to him…not sure why but I did as the spirit suggested and hope Adam figures out why.

“A few years ago, while Sister Waddell and I presided over the Spain Barcelona Mission, I would extend one last assignment to each missionary during their final interview. As they returned home, they were asked to immediately take time to consider the lessons and gifts provided to them by a generous Father in Heaven. They were asked to prayerfully list and consider how to best apply those lessons in post-mission life—lessons that would impact every facet of their lives: education and career choice, marriage and children, future Church service, and most important, who they would continue to become and their continued development as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

I went back to looking for sister Hallstrom’s comments that she gave in Indonesia but before I started I gave a short prayer asking for help in choosing the right month. The very first month I opened had my journal thoughts in the second post down the page…prayer does work. Here is what I wrote:

“I was very impressed with sister Hallstrom’s talks – she gave one in the first half and one in the second. In both of them she used the scriptures to make her point. Now many speakers read the scriptures when giving a talk but she wove the scriptures into hers like a true artist would weave material. She used Jeremiah 20:7-9 and Alma 48:7-9 for her second talk. My favorite thought from her was “Do you have fire in your bones” for your mission.”

We went to Weston Ward’s missionary meeting and as usual they spent all the time as they should – talking about people and how they are doing. All the converts were covered, less actives were discussed and reports of visits were made. Also plans on what more could be done to help the less actives and new converts. 

For sacrament there were four talks on Chastity and I think the best ones were given by the young brother Bartholomew and brother Johnson and new move in to the ward. The young man semi-read his talk but it was very well written and he did not actually ‘read’ his talk. Brother Johnson was the last speaker and did not have a lot of time so he gave a very compact but spiritual talk.

He told a story about a large spiderweb outside his home that the spider rebuilt each time he took it down but in another place. He likened that to how Satan builds webs to trap us and if it does not work he tries another. 

Brother Packard taught a good SS lesson. While we were sitting in the chapel brother Draper – the second counselor in the bishopric – came and got Mary. She was official called as RS pianist. I pointed out to her that she was not really a member of the ward and that technically she probably could not be called but if they feel they want to do it that is OK also.

Mary had one more experience today. During the opening exercises of Sacrament brother Silva held up a watch and said that it had been found in the chapel a month ago and if anyone lost one to come see him. We were pretty sure it was Mary’s that she lost 6 weeks or so ago and sure enough it was. So now she has 2 watches.

Priesthood was a lot of fun and also spiritual. There were only 8 or 9 of us and so we pretty much sat around and talked to each other. Mainly about the temple and how it would be built. With about 15 minutes to go we started lesson 5 about the Priesthood and once again we pretty much just talked about the PH. The teacher suggested that perhaps we needed to make the receiving of the PH to be a more memorable thing and made some suggestions such as a plaque, a big party, etc. The rest of us thought that while a father should prepare his son and make sure they know how important it is, we did not think it should be come ceremonial at all. I pointed out that greatly appreciated the simplicity of gospel ordinances and yet how important and powerful they are.

It was a good block meeting for me.

The parable of the drooping impatiens…

    

As I mentioned above my beautiful New Guinea impatiens started drooping this morning. I am pretty sure they looked fine a couple of hours before the first picture was taken so in a short time they went from being a beautiful plant to a dying mess. But within and hour after I watered them well they were once again standing up right and looking wonderful. I thought how sometimes we look to everyone like we are in good shape but because we are lacking the water of life – the gospel – and burdened down with sin we suddenly visibly droop. However after repenting and again keeping the commandments we can take the sacrament and we are soon we are again a ‘new creature.’ This is the great blessing of the atonement for which I am so thankful.

As I have written a number of times, going to district meeting with the great young missionaries is often the highlight of our week. It gives us a spiritual boost and encourages us to be better missionaries ourselves. Today we learned a better door approach for harvesting, the need for being in harmony with our companion, and committed to only give a blessing on a house if the spirit was present.

  

 

On the upper left we have elders Kealamakia, Hanna – who was visiting on a split with elder K – and elder Beard. In the middle one are elders Hanna, Beard and Conger – the last two are our excellent zone leaders. The picture on the upper right has sister Hong, with elders K and Hanna…notice how in this one and the lower right picture the elders and sister are resting their very tired and now spiritually filled heads on their hands. The last picture just shows the fruit on one of the palms near our apartment.

After the meeting we went into the office where Mary worked on an excel program that elder Steimle asked her to make and I worked on another one that I thought he needed to make his and possibly in the future job as financial secretary easier. Mary is a whiz when it comes to excel and I am plodding my way through. I think I will get the Excel for Dummies book so I have some idea on what I am doing. I should have paid closer attention in the MTC to what Josh Ostler was trying to teach us.

As a  little side note, today was the first day that the Tiwi boxes I mentioned yesterday went into effect and of course Elder Beagley got calls all day from elders and sisters who had some problems with them. The main one seems to be with the logging in and out… but I am sure that most problems will work themselves out in the near future.

The Florida Fort Lauderdale mission has been among those chosen to be a pilot mission for a program to hopefully help keep missionaries safer by improving their driving. The mission cars have had small boxes installed which monitors how the car is driven. This includes seat-belts being fastened, too quick starts and stops, driving over bumps too fast, and of course going over the speed limit. If the box registers one of these infractions, it vocally warns the driver and if a correction is not made then the violation is recorded and a record gets sent to the mission president.

Today we went to Miami Lakes chapel for a conference where half of the mission learned about how the Tiwi boxes will work in their cars. Yesterday the Northern half of the mission had the same conference. The fact that the President took all of the missionaries out of their areas for at least half a day and in some cases a full day, shows how important this new program to improve driving safety is to this mission and in the future all the missions. 

The conference basically explained how the boxes worked, the reasons for them, and of course the consequences of not driving within the rules. Hopefully the missionaries will understand that it is their lives and the lives of others the Church is interested in and not in keeping the cars in good condition.

During the conference the President played the video of Sid Going who was so good in school that he would have been selected to play on New Zealand’s professional soccer team. However he chose instead to go on a mission and was sent to Canada. When he got off his mission he did get a chance to play professional soccer and was so good that they actually re-set dates for soccer games because he would not play on Sunday. Steve Young was not that good!

Each time I see this video I get teary eyed because I think of our grandsons who need to make or will need to make the decision to go or not to go on a mission. If they could just understand how important a mission is for their future, I am sure they would not hesitate regardless of what they think they will be giving up. But it their decision to make and we can just hope and pray they will make the right one.

While writing about missions, I remembered that I received a call from former Elder Adam George who has now been safely back in Washington for a couple of weeks. I think he called just to say hi to whoever was in the office and since I was the only one…how strange was that…we had a really good talk.He has been accepted to BYU Provo so in a year or so we will be able to get back together. We talked about adjusting to life after a mission and he seems to be doing fine in that area. What a strength RMs can be if they use their skills and spirits in building up the kingdom wherever they are.

We only know one person born today. He is our old friend Dave Berry who we got to know in Lennox ward. I served as his Executive Secretary and later Dave ordained me a High Priest. What is very interesting is that I first got to know him when I helped bring him back into activity. One of the funny things he shared with me is that the first time he and his wife Karen first came to church and saw me sitting with the deacons on the front row, he thought I was just an over-aged Aaronic PH holder. Actually I was the deacon’s quorum advisor.

Mary was not feeling very well this morning so she stayed home to rest up but she went to the office in the afternoon to take care of the mail – neither rain or…whatever.

Elder Plowman was called to be district leader when elder George went home on last Thursday. Today was his first district meeting as a DL and he did a great job. He did not try to be elder George, he was confidently himself. He taught well, set a few strong but reachable goals for blessings and baptismal dates and committed the district to achieve them. We got to be a part of the meeting and role playing from the zone leaders.

After not many changes last transfer, this time there were a number so I took pictures of the new companionships so we would have them to post here.

   

Elder Wilson joined elder Smoot, elder Conger became a zone leader with elder Beard and elder Grant, who is brand new in the mission, is now being trained by elder Plowman. We found out that elder Grant is from New Jersey and knew our friends elder and sister Taylor while they served there. I sent a copy of this picture to the Taylors who are now serving in Botswana and told them he was serving in our district. The Taylors wrote back that elder Grant was a very strong young man and that he would be a great missionary. Also I mentioned to sister Beagley in the office that we knew someone who had known elder Grant back in New Jersey and she mentioned that it was very much a tender mercy for him to be serving in the ward they attend because they are teaching an African American woman who thought all elders and members were white. She was surprised to be met first by another woman who was also black and then got to meet elder Grant. So the Lord does direct his missionaries to the right mission and areas.

As we were waiting for sacrament to start we had a pleasant surprise when a sister we had visited a few weeks ago came over and said hello. She is a lovely woman but due to some problems in her life she had not been coming to church. We dropped by to get acquainted and found her to be very open and happy to see us. We had heard from bishop that she had come out a couple of weeks ago but we did not see her but she was not at church last week. So to have her come this week and look for us was a great blessing. It is often the small things and successes that make being seniors missionaries a real blessing.

I have to mention that one of the high priests is a baker and most weeks he brings treats for priesthood. Today it was delicious soft brownies with a little touch of coconut and banana nut cupcakes. I mentioned that it reminded me of Primary…I never went to Primary when I was young, but I can remember our young children coming out of Primary with a treat in their hands.

While we were waiting to go to a meeting in Weston ward, we ran into brother Angel and took this picture. Angel was the first member we met when we came to church for the first time. He was very friendly and we were kind of surprised that he had been baptized just a couple of weeks before and had not yet received the priesthood. He acted like he had been a member forever. We found out later that the story of how he found the missionaries and was baptized was a golden one. He is another of God’s sons who are on the path to Eternal life.

This morning we took picked up Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt and went to Weston for an airboat ride.

  

We waited until it was our turn to board. The Sommerfeldts are good company. This was the mascot for one of the two boats we took out that broke down. When the second one stopped they had to send a third boat out to rescue us and so we had a mid-canal boat exchange – but the third time was charm.

    

Flashing through the water over the sawgrass at 35 mph was great fun. While we looking at an alligator, this friendly turtle showed up to see what the fuss was about. Elder Sommerfeldt taking pictures of a rather young gator that we saw.

   

This was a larger one that was deeper in the glades. Mary got to hold a young gator…notice that they tape the snout closed so visitors do not lose fingers or other important parts of their body. As we were leaving this peacock came out to say goodbye…he did not fan his tail no matter how often we asked him.

It was a nice P-day trip but nothing like a game park tour in Africa…but then not many things are that good.

  

I just wanted to post these three pictures that mean something special to us. First Jim and Kristy’s great family picture that shows three of our beautiful children. Then there is the beautiful wedding picture of our dear young friends from Indonesia Rudi and Femmy. Finally a picture that was posted on another blog of a beautiful African children using a humanitarian kit as a hat…or perhaps he is learning to carry things on his head. One of the joys of serving in Africa was seeing all the shining faces of the young children.

We had the great blessing of being able to take the 7 departing elders to the Orlando temple today. We were able to do this almost as soon as we got here and it was a wonderful experience. However we really did not know any of the elders and sister who were leaving. This time we knew four of them very well and one fairly well. The other two we knew only through forwarding mail and the mission board. However in the 15 hours we spent with them we came to know and love elders Farr and Chandler as much as the others.

  

The 7 stalwart Elders who have faithfully served the lord here in the Fort Lauderdale mission for two years. Elder Neeley who we worked closely with for the months we have been here and who saved me from driving for 7 hours. Later he confessed he was much more comfortable driving when going long distances than being a passenger. A view of the temple above the trees as we drive up the hill. The temple sits on the highest hill we have seen in Florida…the elders were all impress with the height which was probably 220 feet or so above sea level.

We were up at 4:00 am and at the Plantation chapel by 5:20. This group of elders were so obedient that all but one of them were already there and the last one drove up at 5:31. We took only enough time to take a couple of pictures and say a prayer before we were on our way. Elder Neeley, who was just released as an assistant wanted to drive and since had a lot more experience with the van than I did, I was happy to let him.

  

The seven in front of the temple. Next time I am going to take this from the other side like they suggested. Mary beside one of the twelve fountains on the grounds. The corner stone that was laid in 1984.

  

Mary beside the wall that looks like a door that faces the traffic that is streaming by what I think is the North side of the temple. Mary beside one of the beautiful colored glass windows. Finally a view of the temple with the dark clouds behind Moroni.

We got to the temple early enough to take a tour of the grounds and take pictures before going in for a session and then President Tilton of the temple presidency spent 30 or so minutes talking to us about the temple and answering any questions that the elders might have. Missionaries hold a special place in his heart because, like me, he and his wife are converts. He spoke about the special place the elders would have in the hearts of each person they brought unto Christ and were baptized.

After the temple session we all went to Firehouse Subs where all the missionaries love to eat. For some reason I forget to take pictures while we are there. Maybe it is that the food and company is so good that nothing else is worth thinking about. I did give a pass-along card to one of the servers who I chatted with for a short time.

Elder Neeley decided he would like to also drive home and was not about to take the pleasure away from him. One thing he kept spotting was alligators in the canal along the side of the expressway. No one else could see them but he swore that they were there.

We made it back to the mission home by 5:30 where we had a delicious dinner and good conversation. We found out that President Anderson was a swimmer and had swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco. Sister Anderson proudly showed us a picture of the President in his wet suit just after he had finished.

After dinner I clean-up while the elders first shared a special experience they had on their mission and then bore their testimonies. We were privileged to share in these experiences. We left after that and made it home by 8:30 – some 15 1/2 hours after we left this morning. Physically we were tired but spiritually we were fully charged.