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 answered, “Jesus is with me every day.” Our sweet missionary replied, “oh, then you will love this book, because it is about Jesus and how we can find great joy through coming to know Him and his teachings and they are taught in this book. Then she bore her testimony of the truthfulness of this book and “invited” the lady to “come and see or read” the book. Our missionary’s love for the Book of Mormon and her conviction its teachings were so evident that the woman said she would read the book. Even in this situation of being where they would rather not have been, paying money that they would rather not be paying, they saw an opportunity to share the gospel with one of God’s children and took it.
This has a busy week of catching up, but not too many exciting things. Monday Dad took the elders living in our complex to get their groceries at 7 am. While he was gone I got lunches ready. They leave early enough and don’t buy too much so it doesn’t make us late getting to the office. Today was Elizabeth’s 4th birthday. It just seems like yesterday when she was born. She seemed to have a happy day with all of her cousins and aunts and uncles calling to say Happy Birthday. What wonderful family we have.
In the evening we visited with the couple (Johnson) that will be replacing us. It was helpful for us to know what kinds of things were going to be supplied in the apartment and what things we should bring. Because the training is different for each of the office jobs, we suggested that they decide who is going to do which job.
I spent some time after that working on my talk for next Sunday.
Tuesday was the first of three zone conferences. Dad and I stayed in the office to hold down the fort and to try to get some projects done while it is a little quieter. It was a good day to get things done. By early afternoon it had started to snow, but not hard or very big flakes. But by about 2:30-3:00 the flakes were huge and just beautiful. We were getting a little concerned because it was sticking on the ground and it was cold enough for it to start freezing. They had already released all of the schools and they don’t have snow equipment. We packed up some work to do at home and drove home while it was still light and the roads got icy. We have never been home that early and I couldn’t believe how long the afternoon seemed. Usually we get home in time to eat dinner and do a few chores and it is time for bed. Tonight there was time for reading a book on my new kindle and working on my talk and make a lunch and still not have it bed time.
Wednesday was another zone conference. It was cold, but no more snow and most of it was gone from the ground. I could get used to these quieter days. Not only are there fewer distractions in the office but fewer interruptions from outside too.
I spent some time in the evening trying to refine my talk. It is only a 5-7 minute talk and those are harder for me to prepare than ones that are a little longer.
Thursday we went to zone conference and help with the car inspections before going in to listen to the training at zone conference. The temperature was down in the low 20’s and even I was grateful for my big coat and gloves. We were relieved to go inside and listed to the training. You would think that I would get used to how well these missionaries teach, but I was again impressed with their ability to teach. One of the AP’s taught how issue an invitation when giving a lesson. He demonstrated an invitation and then asked all of the missionaries how they thought it went. I thought he had done an ok job and was a little surprised when he got Sister Caplin to say it was a little weak. He agreed and demonstrated the way he thought it should be done. He commented how embarrassed he was to have even pretended to be doing an invitation that was done so poorly. As he asked the “friend” (another missionary) if they would read a particular part of the Book of Mormon he promised them that they would know if they would pray sincerely and then bore testimony that the knew it was true. The spirit came so strongly that I could feel physically. Anyway, I probably haven’t described it well, but this elder was able to bring the spirit into his teaching and inviting because of the faith he had Heavenly Father would answer the “friend’s” sincere prayer. No wonder this elder is such a powerful missionary. Again, we can see that Heavenly Father has saved his best for these latter days.
We went back to the office and worked until about 6, then went home and I worked on my talk a bit more, then finished my book and went to bed.
Friday was another day working at the office. I need to get rent ready for next month and it is missionary funding time. I really don’t like doing the missionary funding twice a month. I came home and worked a little on my talk. I’ll surely be glad when it is over.
Saturday we had a little slower start. We got laundry started and I worked on my talk trying to shorten it because I’m sure they have too many speakers scheduled for the amount of time available. We got ready for a baptism and went then did some grocery shopping on the way home. I need to make blond brownies for he Return and Report luncheon and needed to get the supplies. We were also out of fresh vegetables and fruit. Then we went home, had a quick dinner, and left for Washington D.C. to see My Fair Lady. We left early so that in case we took a scenic route we would still not have to rush. It did take us longer to get there than the GPS said, but we didn’t take any wrong turns getting there. The Kennedy Center was really big and impressive. We even had to ask directions to find the theater we needed. There are more theaters than just the one. Because we got there a little early we went out on the terrace and looked at the view of the Memorials in DC and the skyline in Arlington, VA as well as the Georgetown area of Washington DC. There was also an Asian group performing on one of the stages in the Kennedy Center, but I don’t know if they were Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. They sounded very Asian and not as melodic to my ear. And they were also very loud, but there were a group of people seated and listening to them and appeared to be enjoying the performance.
I was glad that the music we were going to listen to was much more enjoyable to listen to. It was finally time to go in and get our seats. We had good seats and enjoyed the performance a lot. The voices were wonderful and the staging of the play was ingenious. Dad was good and didn’t sing along with the singers. He had listened to the sound track last week and got the music stuck in his head and had been singing the songs a lot this past week. I promised that the other people at the play would enjoy the play more if they didn’t have an extra voice to listen to. The singers were wonderful singers and acted well. What a fun evening. We only had to take one detour getting out of Washington. If they had street signs it would make navigating in that city a LOT easier.
Sunday morning dawned early and I got up to put final touches on my talk and then run through it a time or two to get a more accurate feel for the time. I knew it would be tight with what had been planned.
I was right. They sang all 6 verses of the sacrament hymn instead of the four up in the music and our organist is a young woman who plays well, but a bit slower than some more experienced organist. By the time the first speaker and the musical number were over it was 1 minute before the time I was to be ending my talk. What I had cut earlier in the week wasn’t going to be enough. Mentally I began cutting much more. Although much of the talk went unheard, I learned some things so I guess that is good.
We had been invited to dinner by Sister McConkie, the stake president’s wife. They had invited another family with children who have similar ages as their children, and that made for a fun time for the children. The six adults had a wonderful visit, and it was kind of fun to hear the chatter of the children coming from the family room where they were playing games as we visited. There are certainly some very good people in this world.
Hope you had a wonderful week and that your upcoming one will be good.
Love you lots,
Mom
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 answered, “Jesus is with me every day.” Our sweet missionary replied, “oh, then you will love this book, because it is about Jesus and how we can find great joy through coming to know Him and his teachings and they are taught in this book. Then she bore her testimony of the truthfulness of this book and “invited” the lady to “come and see or read” the book. Our missionary’s love for the Book of Mormon and her conviction its teachings were so evident that the woman said she would read the book. Even in this situation of being where they would rather not have been, paying money that they would rather not be paying, they saw an opportunity to share the gospel with one of God’s children and took it.
This has a busy week of catching up, but not too many exciting things. Monday Dad took the elders living in our complex to get their groceries at 7 am. While he was gone I got lunches ready. They leave early enough and don’t buy too much so it doesn’t make us late getting to the office. Today was Elizabeth’s 4th birthday. It just seems like yesterday when she was born. She seemed to have a happy day with all of her cousins and aunts and uncles calling to say Happy Birthday. What wonderful family we have.
In the evening we visited with the couple (Johnson) that will be replacing us. It was helpful for us to know what kinds of things were going to be supplied in the apartment and what things we should bring. Because the training is different for each of the office jobs, we suggested that they decide who is going to do which job.
I spent some time after that working on my talk for next Sunday.
Tuesday was the first of three zone conferences. Dad and I stayed in the office to hold down the fort and to try to get some projects done while it is a little quieter. It was a good day to get things done. By early afternoon it had started to snow, but not hard or very big flakes. But by about 2:30-3:00 the flakes were huge and just beautiful. We were getting a little concerned because it was sticking on the ground and it was cold enough for it to start freezing. They had already released all of the schools and they don’t have snow equipment. We packed up some work to do at home and drove home while it was still light and the roads got icy. We have never been home that early and I couldn’t believe how long the afternoon seemed. Usually we get home in time to eat dinner and do a few chores and it is time for bed. Tonight there was time for reading a book on my new kindle and working on my talk and make a lunch and still not have it bed time.
Wednesday was another zone conference. It was cold, but no more snow and most of it was gone from the ground. I could get used to these quieter days. Not only are there fewer distractions in the office but fewer interruptions from outside too.
I spent some time in the evening trying to refine my talk. It is only a 5-7 minute talk and those are harder for me to prepare than ones that are a little longer.
Thursday we went to zone conference and help with the car inspections before going in to listen to the training at zone conference. The temperature was down in the low 20’s and even I was grateful for my big coat and gloves. We were relieved to go inside and listed to the training. You would think that I would get used to how well these missionaries teach, but I was again impressed with their ability to teach. One of the AP’s taught how issue an invitation when giving a lesson. He demonstrated an invitation and then asked all of the missionaries how they thought it went. I thought he had done an ok job and was a little surprised when he got Sister Caplin to say it was a little weak. He agreed and demonstrated the way he thought it should be done. He commented how embarrassed he was to have even pretended to be doing an invitation that was done so poorly. As he asked the “friend” (another missionary) if they would read a particular part of the Book of Mormon he promised them that they would know if they would pray sincerely and then bore testimony that the knew it was true. The spirit came so strongly that I could feel physically. Anyway, I probably haven’t described it well, but this elder was able to bring the spirit into his teaching and inviting because of the faith he had Heavenly Father would answer the “friend’s” sincere prayer. No wonder this elder is such a powerful missionary. Again, we can see that Heavenly Father has saved his best for these latter days.
We went back to the office and worked until about 6, then went home and I worked on my talk a bit more, then finished my book and went to bed.
Friday was another day working at the office. I need to get rent ready for next month and it is missionary funding time. I really don’t like doing the missionary funding twice a month. I came home and worked a little on my talk. I’ll surely be glad when it is over.
Saturday we had a little slower start. We got laundry started and I worked on my talk trying to shorten it because I’m sure they have too many speakers scheduled for the amount of time available. We got ready for a baptism and went then did some grocery shopping on the way home. I need to make blond brownies for he Return and Report luncheon and needed to get the supplies. We were also out of fresh vegetables and fruit. Then we went home, had a quick dinner, and left for Washington D.C. to see My Fair Lady. We left early so that in case we took a scenic route we would still not have to rush. It did take us longer to get there than the GPS said, but we didn’t take any wrong turns getting there. The Kennedy Center was really big and impressive. We even had to ask directions to find the theater we needed. There are more theaters than just the one. Because we got there a little early we went out on the terrace and looked at the view of the Memorials in DC and the skyline in Arlington, VA as well as the Georgetown area of Washington DC. There was also an Asian group performing on one of the stages in the Kennedy Center, but I don’t know if they were Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. They sounded very Asian and not as melodic to my ear. And they were also very loud, but there were a group of people seated and listening to them and appeared to be enjoying the performance.
I was glad that the music we were going to listen to was much more enjoyable to listen to. It was finally time to go in and get our seats. We had good seats and enjoyed the performance a lot. The voices were wonderful and the staging of the play was ingenious. Dad was good and didn’t sing along with the singers. He had listened to the sound track last week and got the music stuck in his head and had been singing the songs a lot this past week. I promised that the other people at the play would enjoy the play more if they didn’t have an extra voice to listen to. The singers were wonderful singers and acted well. What a fun evening. We only had to take one detour getting out of Washington. If they had street signs it would make navigating in that city a LOT easier.
Sunday morning dawned early and I got up to put final touches on my talk and then run through it a time or two to get a more accurate feel for the time. I knew it would be tight with what had been planned.
I was right. They sang all 6 verses of the sacrament hymn instead of the four up in the music and our organist is a young woman who plays well, but a bit slower than some more experienced organist. By the time the first speaker and the musical number were over it was 1 minute before the time I was to be ending my talk. What I had cut earlier in the week wasn’t going to be enough. Mentally I began cutting much more. Although much of the talk went unheard, I learned some things so I guess that is good.
We had been invited to dinner by Sister McConkie, the stake president’s wife. They had invited another family with children who have similar ages as their children, and that made for a fun time for the children. The six adults had a wonderful visit, and it was kind of fun to hear the chatter of the children coming from the family room where they were playing games as we visited. There are certainly some very good people in this world.
Hope you had a wonderful week and that your upcoming one will be good.
Love you lots,
Mom
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| Washington Monument from Kennedy Center |
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| Foggy view of city before performance |
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