Washington, D.C. South Mission

Dear Family, Mission News On Wednesday I went to the Gainesville district meeting and discussed of Conversion Stories. I also delivered the mail. I like being with the young Missionaries. I am conducting a little survey with the 9 high councilors in the 9 stakes that are responsible for missionary work in the stakes. I am just asking them: What’s working in your stake? What are you excited about? What can the Mission do to support you? It has been fun for me to look at missionary work from the stake organization side. Some of the stakes are doing innovative things to move the work forward. There is a lot that can be done by members to move the work forward. The expression in our mission is that Gathering Israel is member centered and missionary supported. The missionaries just assist the members. Le Grand Richards said, “Any calling above a bishop is all talk”. There is a lot of talk on the stake level but all of the work is done on the ward or family/member level. We went t...

Dear Family, Another week has gone by—a busy week, but uneventful. We did better at getting to the office a bit earlier—closer to 8 than 8:30. The one thing that seems to have made the difference is making our lunches the night before. This way we have a little more time for our Come Follow Me study. The office was a little quiet today because of the holiday. It kind of gives me a day to get things done without having more things coming in to do. That probably gives me a false sense of getting things done because double emails and requests come the next day, but at least for today it was good. A little after 5 we were getting ready to lock up and go home when President and Sister Caplin came in to get the missionary mail for interviews the next day and for President Caplin to sign papers. It was fun to visit with them and talk about some of the wonderful things we have seen with the missionaries. No one else was at the office, so it was a little more relaxed visit. I shared wit...

Dear Family, The weather this past week has been a bit different from last when we had 70-degree weather. This week we have had in the high 20’s and low 30’s. What really made it feel cool was the wind that went with the lower temperatures. After such a fun week end we had to settle in for a regular week. Dad took the missionaries to the grocery store at 7 and picked up some artisan bread so we could have some bread with the homemade split pea soup that one of the senior sisters made from the ham hock we gave her. That was nice because we didn’t have to fix lunch today and we like split pea soup. This soup, however, was a bit saltier than I like, so a small bowl was plenty. We were able to get to the office early so that we get an early start. We did some final planning for the Return and Report luncheon for tomorrow and some packing up of the supplies that we will need for the luncheon. We left by about 5:30 and went shopping for table cloths for the tables before going home. ...

Dear Family, Mission News Sunday Dinner with our Stake President Taylor McConkie, grandson of Bruce R. McConkie. Mom and I met him when he was 4 years old. We were considering moving to Colorado Springs and his father was the bishop. His father invited us over to his house to talk about the good places to live in Colorado Springs. Sunday’s visit was delightful and the food was very good too. Their older daughter is coming home from Australia – Chinese speaking mission on Feb 4. I would like her to help me with the “Inviting” training I have put together. Tuesday our Senior Council discussed and role played Come and Help inviting. It went well. Wednesday a fellow from the missionary department (Jeff Beck) came from Salt Lake to discuss a concept they are considering – a Digital Pass-along card. It is felt that paper pass-along cards are not effective with some people, because people, especially people of the younger generation are not used to business cards. Here’s how it works....

Good Afternoon, How I love our new schedule for Church—9 am. We seem to have so much more time to get things done than when we met at 11:30. Last Sunday evening (after I sent my letter so you are getting this now) about 9 pm we got a call from some sister missionaries who were stranded and needed a ride. When we got to the gas station where they were waiting, we asked them where their car was and then took them to get it. The towing place was dark and pretty dreary, and it was obvious by the precautions taken that they didn’t want us very close to the person collecting the payment. Even with these conditions, the missionaries carried on a conversation with the lady trying to get to know her a little better. At the end of the transaction, our missionary asked the lady what she did all night and the lady answered that she read a lot. The perfect answer. One of the sisters said “I have a book that I would like to give you.” It talks of Jesus and his teachings.” The woman answ...

Dear Family, Mission News Sunday Night at 9:15 we got a call from the Sisters missionaries that serve in our ward. They were stranded about 5 miles away. We picked them up at a gas station. When they got into our car I asked, “Sisters, why are you stranded? Did you get your car towed?” They had an 8:00 appointment and when they came out their car had been towed away. This happens a few times a month to missionaries. These towing companies contract with apartment managers to keep their parking lot free from unauthorized vehicles. Some senior missionaries have had their cars towed too. We drove the sisters to the towing company parking lot. While the sisters were paying their $185 fee, Sister Stout visited with the lady that was taking their money. They talked about working there, where she lived and how long the lived there. The transaction took several minutes. As the lady handed Sister Stout the receipt, Sister Stout asked if she was busy and what she was doing that night. The l...

Dear Family, Mission News The mission president asked me to write a letter for him encouraging the stake presidents to make sure the ward mission programs are well organized and functioning per the handbook. I did, but I added a bit of my own thoughts. The one addition was to include some of the good things the wards are doing. I will also call all of the stake high councilors and ask them what is working well for them. Then compile a document of “best practices” to send this document out also to the stake presidents. A brother that left the Church was re-baptized Monday evening. We know the family and it was fun to see the joy of the family. Afterwards the family invited us over dinner with the family. Tuesday we went to dinner at David’s place. He is supposed have his trial for his substance abuse on the 13th, go to jail for a week and then get baptized later in January. That will be great if he makes it. He has made a lot of changes in the last 6 or 7 months. Fun Stuff New Year...

Dear Family, This has been a fun week--In the office two days, out one, and back in for two. But it is hard to keep track of the day of the week when the schedule is so different. Monday was a day to try and get things caught up. With all of the extra activities and things that we have been doing in December, some of the monthly reports have been put on the back burner. I was supposed to listen to a webinar but could never get connected. Luckily we will get a printed copy which is a good thing because it is all about our upcoming audit. One more thing to deal with! At 4 we left for a baptism that was being held in Warrenton which is the far reaches of the mission. It was a baptism of a brother of an elder who we met in San Jose before we left on our mission. Did you follow that? We had met the family last spring when we went to meet up with Elder Seeley after he came home. It was Elder Seeley’s brother who was being baptized. He had left the church for some reason and was com...