Thirty three new Missionaries

A letter from the Mission Nurse Speciality Committee in Salt Lake states:
      "It seems that Moses 7:62 is truly coming to pass. We are seeing the Lord’s hand in ‘sweeping the earth’ with missionaries prepared to “bear testimony of mine Only Begotten”. The missionaries who attend training at the Provo MTC every year is usually ~22,000. We are expecting an ADDITIONAL 25,000 this year. MTC capacity has been 2000 but will swell to 4800 by the end of April. Dr Woolley usually has about 10 – 15 international missionaries in the health class he teaches. But this month he had 75. All over the world, we have more elders, sisters and couples who are answering the call to serve. We will have many more qualified missionaries serving and 58 new missions in which to serve.
      We currently have 143 nurses serving in an advisory capacity to the mission president and his wife around the world. Some are full-time missionaries. Others are Church Service Volunteers (CSV’s) or Church Service Missionaries (CSM’s) who have been called and are serving from home. Returning Area Medical Advisers are pleading for more nurses to serve."
We have gone from 347missions to 405 missions around the world.

      On Dec. 27, 1832, in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord provided us with a message of peace, including these words to ponder: "Behold, and lo, I will take care of your flocks, and will raise up elders and send unto them. Behold, I will hasten my work in its time" (Doctrine and Covenants 88: 72-73)....We see His hand in providing for these elders and sisters.  Only one set of 2 elders slept on the floor. They had bunk beds but no mattresses.   We thought we had ordered mattresses for all the new places, but one set did not get them.  This is all an adventure for everyone.

And His work is hastening....
What does 33 new missionaries look like?  We had 140-160 missionaries and now have 191.  That means more places to live, more areas to work, more bikes, more cars, more of the Lord's message being delivered!!!

As we were waiting for the new missionaries to disembark the plane, Elder Walker was a great missionary.  He talked with the gentleman next to him and gave him a Mormon.org card. 

The President and his wife greeting each missionary as they come into the area.

33 missionaries waiting for their luggage.  Signal Hill in the background.

They kept coming and coming and coming.  Elder McOmber at the end of the line with the white shirt back by the Coke Machine.  There was one sister and 32 elders.  They must have taken up most of the plane. 

Elder McOmber bought bedding for all of them, the one sister's is on the couch.  She gets a prettier comforter.

The President and AP's have made new areasto accomadate all the new missionaries.  This is Sister Reynolds checking it out.

32 Elders and 1 sister.  The one sister wants to be a Labor and Delivery Nurse, we talked.   She is one semester away from finishing her RN at BYU.  I admire her for taking this time to be a missionary.  She is awesome.

The "Older" missionaries welcoming their new companions.  They spend 12 weeks training the new ones. 

We took the van and 8 people over to pick up our new mission cars. We have a good time laughing in the van.  This is the Reynolds and the Rothschilds. 

The mission got 7 new cars and we had to check them out before we could drive them off the lot.



I had the privilege of driving the President's new car..a 2013 Avalon.  It was very nice, but I was nervous driving it...what if I crashed or did something wrong?  I drive like a grandma, oh wait, I am a
 grandma X 32. 
 



Some Elders getting their new car. They love them of course! Elder McOmber showed them how to check the oil and transmission fluid.

We delivered a bike to the new sister and had her try it out. Elder McOmber helps get the new missionaries bikes and fix the broken ones.

Elder McOmber showing how nice a stocking shines up a shoe.  He is showing on Elder Rothschild's shoes.

After an eventful week, we "chilled out" on Saturday.  It was cool and cloudy off and on so I did sewing.  Lonnie was wonderful and did the laundry and organized our storage tent.  He played with his remote control helicopter that Elder Warburton gave to him.  In the first picture, the helicopter is the red in front of  the mirror.  We have 3 grandson's turning 7 this year.  Our grandchildren get a quilt when they turn 7.   I have finished one quilt and am finishing the second in this pic. 

Shhhh....Don't tell Daeden, but this is something on his quilt.  I think it came out cute.

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?” Yes, brethren, we will!

Guided by the Holy Spirit, we will learn from our mistakes. If we stumble, we will rise. If we falter, we will go on. We will never waver; we will never give up..”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf “The Why of Priesthood Service” May 2012

A Mission is Great!

Elder McOmber feeding the duck/geese/sea gulls and all other birds.  We had some stale bread so he decided to stop and feed them.  They were all anxious to have a hand out.

Here are a couple of quotes I came across this week that I really liked:

"God isn’t just proving us, he is improving us.

We are not paying our way into heaven, we are practicing for it."  Brad Wilcox

A mission is great because we get to meet many new people and make many new friends.  We also take time to study the scriptures and read more uplifting literature.  I have read the book, To the Rescue, the autobiography of Thomas S. Monson and I am reading the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.  I have read a bunch of other things, as well.  I love that I take the time (or manage my time differently) to read  things that help me understand the gospel and this life better.  We have already made many, many memorable friends, both in our ward and in the mission.  A mission is awesome!!!

"Missionaries return home with a love for the people they have served and taught. They are true ambassadors spreading goodwill for the peoples in whose countries they have lived and worked. They are not concerned with income levels and have no racial bias. They are not out to build any worldly kingdoms. They are, in the words of Mormon, 'the peaceable followers of Christ.'"

L. Tom Perry, "The Peaceable Followers of Christ",  Ensign, November 1989

Elder McOmber likes to communicate on the phone.  He does a much better job of staying in touch by phone.  He is always telling me, "quit texting and just call them, it's faster."

The clouds were beautiful this week.  We had a couple of days of rain.  It helps clear the sky, smells good(earthy), and in order to appreciate the good in life, we need to have a few clouds.

I love to listen to the rain on the roof.  It is relaxing.

There are these three blue herons that have spent all week by their nest.  I am not sure why there are 3, but the two always are hovering over the nest.  Anxious to see if we have any babies.

We will have to come up with names for them.

We are gearing up for 34 new missionaries this week.  Elder McOmber is shopping to open two new apartments.  Many of the missionaries are going into member's homes.  It saves a lot of sacred funds by having them in homes and we know from when we had missionaries living in our basement, the member's receive many blessings.  Elder Rothschild and Elder McOmber along with some of the Elders set up several member's homes and the apartments this week.  They have worked very hard!

Our elders are preparing for leadership and training.  Friday there was instruction to help our wonderful elders.

 

WoooHooo!

"In the service of the Lord, it is not so much where you serve, but how."  Pres. McKay

There are beautiful flowers all over.  I guess that means spring has sprung.  Chad, our oldest  son, makes fun of me because I love to take pictures of flowers.  This has my favorite colors/ yellow and orange.
 

Another busy week started with Elder Ulu having minor surgery on Monday.  He is a big guy (Samoan) and calls Elder McOmber his "Buddy".  We stayed with his companion through surgery and made sure he understood discharge instructions and got home safe and sound.  These experiences are all learning experiences for all involved.  Again, I was impressed with the Catholic hospital.

 

This is right outside the office door.  Flowers have been blooming year round!



Tuesday we took Elder George to the Airport (LAX). He served a great mission and is going home.
We spent the rest of Tuesday getting ready for Zone Conferences.
 

Our three zones.  The Relief Society provides lunch for us in these Zone Conferences. (We have 3 different ones in three different places.)  The Elders and Sisters all sing "As I have Loved You" to the sisters that serve lunch.  It is always yummy food!  We appreciate the Relief Society and they are touched by the Song the missionaries  sing.

Elders Sheanshang and Elder McIver (he is from New Zealand)  I made awards for having clean apartments.  The Elders and Sisters who had a 9.9-10/10 on cleanliness in their apartments got a certificate and special treats.  There were 25 companionship's (out of 75 companionship's) that got the awards this time around.  Woo Hoo!

See Elder Olson standing between the Twin Towers.





Some of our wonderful Elders and Sisters

 
 



Elder McOmber Checking cars at the Zone Conference.  There are 70+ cars in our mission as of this time.  The Office Elders all check the cars over.  Of course, Elder McOmber LOVES being under the hood of any vehicle!!!

Elder McOmber protecting his head in the 80+ degree weather as he checks the cars. He loves his new "Gangster" Hat!

 

I prepared a power point on "Stress" and it's signs, effects and the need to find a stress relief.  I feel that many of the 1500 minutes of phone calls and 350-700 texts that I get each month have to do with stress. My busiest times are right before transfers and after P day.  The new missionaries have a lot of stress.   I had some of the elders and sisters  tell me that they did "get something" from my presentation and I pray that it helps them for  all of their lives.  I wish I could do more interactive things, but I do try to get them to participate.  The rest of the Zone Conferences are presented by our wonderful Elders and Sisters.  They are wonderful!!!  I learn so much from them!
  WooHoo!

This week was Avri's 9th Birthday-WooHoo!  Kingston's 3rd birthday is next Monday WOOHoo!!. He was the grandchild that I delivered because the Dr did not show up in time.  I miss all our grandchildren!!!!!!!!!!
Today we spent time at 3 different missionary apartments trying to help them.  Luckily they were not too far from each other.  Saturday is usually a busy phone day also.


WooHoo,  We love that we are able to get onto the Internet.  As the President says, "Seniors  have a different kind of mission from the young Elders and Sisters.".  We were able to Stream our hometown Basketball team win the state 4A Championship for the second year. They came from 12 behind to win by 2 points. I love close games whether we win or loose, but it is a bonus to win!  It was neat to hear the names we know and the advertisements from Rigby, ID.    I am sure they could hear me scream from there.  Lonnie shut the motor home windows to muffle my sound. 
 We were able to see a couple of our grand kids in the stands also.   GO Rigby!! WoooHooo!
It has been a good week, "Thank you Heavenly Father!"

"When you take the path that climbs, that harder path of the Savior, there are rewards along the way. When you do something right, when you resist temptation, when you meet a goal, you will feel very good about it. It is a very different kind of feeling than you have when you violate commandments--an altogether different feeling. It brings a measure of peace and comfort and provides encouragement to press on."

Richard G. Scott, "Finding the Way Back",  Ensign, May 1990