What a beautiful Sabbath day!  We started our day pretty early with a ward council meeting at the beautiful meeting house for Sacramento 1st and 2nd Wards.  This council meets every 2nd and 4th Sundays for about 90 minutes and is so beneficial to the ministering to the needs of the church members.  Each member of the council has different responsibilities so this is a time to coordinate activitities, address missionary needs and make sure that no one in the church "drops through the cracks" so to speak.  Both of these wards have dedicated bishops who give so much of their time and energy to serve the Lord with no pay, only blessings.  We are always in awe of the many services of love that are extended throughout these wards. It is such a privilege to serve with such good people!  We went to a Sacrament meeting (church) at 9:00 and then afterward jumped in the car and headed for the Marshallese Branch.  The young missionaries have been temporarily pulled from this branch for a while but the missionaries in the Tongan Ward are there to assist the branch if someone has a referrel or needs to be taught.  We have a new missionary in the Tongan Ward who was on a full ride scholarship at the University of Arizona, also playing football, and left the university to serve a mission.  What an outstanding young man he is!  Each member of my Sunday School class of teenagers has agreed to prepare a talk for Sacrament meeting.  Most of them have never spoken in public before so we have been spending time working with them on their talks.  A young sister gave an incredible talk this morning and I was so proud of her I thought I was going to pop my buttons.  Her mother was shocked.  She said she never thought her daughter could//would ever do such a good job.  Ahhh yes, the rising generation!  If we could clap and stomp our feet in church, John and I would have been doing so after Josie's talk. I had wall to wall teenagers in class today (visiting relatives) but the class was great. John had taken the Sacramental prayer and personalized it to the first person and when we read them together in class, substituting "I" for "we", etc., the whole class took it very seriously.  We always take the Sacrament to an elderly (85) couple each Sunday and then have a good visit.  He just found out he has cancer but was quite optimistic.  Yesterday we took a young couple to the temple for the first time to do baptisms.  This young man had converted to the gospel when he was 17 but had fallen away from the church.  He met and married a great gal who last November decided it was time she looked into the LDS Church.  Long story short....she was baptised last December and they are super strong in the church.  They are both excited about family history and took some of their family names for baptisms.  What a sweet spirit was there that day.  So blessed to be part of that experience.  We meet with them weekly for "new member' lessons and love their 4 and 6 year old kiddos.  Last Monday night John had a great experience in the Marshallese Branch.  A counselor in the Stake Presidency organized an evening of Family History and had all the senior missionaries and other members in the stake come with their laptops and they did a crash course in getting family names.  There were about 12-15 members from the branch there and they each got registered on Family Search and did several family names ready to do temple work for.  The next night they took their 47 family names and went to the temple and did a total of 100 baptisms.  Hopefully, this is just the "shot in the arm" that they needed to continue on with this great work in family history.  This is  a major step in the life of these branch members.  With the loss of our friend, Shela Reall, our hearts have been heavy this week.  She was an incredible woman and an example of righteousness to us all.  How privileged we were to have know her here on this earth and how grateful we are that we shall see her again.  I'm sure the Lord is keeping her so busy with all her knowledge and teaching experience to share.  What a comfort it is  to know the Plan of Salvation!  It doesn't take away the pain of losing a loved one but it certainly makes it bearable. Have a wonderful week full of opportunities to serve!!

Hello

      I've been trying to think of the best words to describe how we feel after having a long exciting, productive, spiritual day. Previously Sherrie mentioned that we are now serving in three units (or congregations) of our church here in Sacramento. Sometimes on a typical Sunday we can start meeting with church leaders and members in ward council meetings at 7 am and then continue on with attendance at other meetings and worship services in the three units until 6 pm in the evening. One description is to say "we have a euphoric feeling of spiritual contentment as we drop to our knees in prayer at the end of the day". I certainly don't mean that in a bragging way, but there is nothing more satisfying than to be able to help people along the roads of life. Some are strong and well established in their spiritual life, some are just beginning their walk with the Savior, while others are struggling to get back on the path after having gone astray for a while.We wouldn't want our mission to be any other way. It is very satisfying to us.
     Two of these congregations have a lot of "older members" like Sherrie and I, and the Bishop of one of these units asked Sherrie and I to speak last Sunday on the great rewards and benefits of serving the Lord as senior missionaries. It was so funny to look out over the congregation as we spoke to see the mixed reactions of the members. Some were smiling and nudging each other as if saying "that's what we need to do!", yet there were others who are not smiling, meaning they are not quite ready to leave their home comforts of life. We enjoyed speaking but the part we didn't like was the clip art description in the bulletin of an older couple serving a mission. Stooped over, with canes, shuffling along! We don't look that way! Yet! As we concluded speaking the Bishop in the other congregation which shares the same building stopped us in the hallway and asked if we do an encore in their service tomorrow and speak on the same subject. I wonder how their "older members" will respond?
    We took a break at the beginning of this week and drove to Independence Oregon to visit with dear friends, Rod and Carole Gabel, that used to live next to us in Chatham Illinois and who have shared  many of life's experiences with us. That was 30 years ago, but meeting with them this week was like we were never away from them. The four of us helped each other remember many of our past experiences in Illinois and new experiences of the present. Some of you reading this blog who lived in that Chatham and Springfield Illinois era can relate to such past experiences when I mention pizza projects, raising sweet onions and corn to sell, sorting electrical connectors, building a new chapel, Scout trips, Rod and Carole living in a barn, and many more good times. The four of us unitedly said that some of those experiences of the past were difficult, required a lot of hard work, but at the same time they brought of us all closer to each other and with the Lord.
    Well I'm ready to sign off. As Sherrie and I think of all the dear friends we have made over the years I can relate to a couple of quotes.

"A friend is a possession we earn, not a gift".  Marvin J. Ashton

"Be the kind of friend who makes it easier for others to obey the commandments when they are with you".  Robert D. Hales

Love ya,

Elder John

How time flies.....

Happy belated 4th of July!  How blessed we feel to be living in this great country.  We went to a little community parade on the fourth that has been going on for years.  Everyone is always so friendly here in our area.  I still get goose bumps when the flag bearers go by carrying our beautiful flag.  I remember when I was a little girl sitting on the curb with my family and when the flags would come by my dad would grab my elbow and say, "Stand up, that's our flag coming by."  It didn't matter if there were 50 flags in the parade, we stood up and put our hands over our hearts for each one.  I love to read in the Book of Mormon about Nephi's vision of the discovery and colonizing of America.  (1 Nephi, chapter 13).   It makes me appreciate even greater the role that God has played in giving us this promised land and all the blessings that go with living in this land.  We have just arrived home this evening and had a wonderful, and extremely busy day doing the Lord's work.  We are so happy with the additional responsibilities that we have been given to work with two other units of the church.  They are both English speaking wards so the communication barrier is not in existence.  After a person is baptized into the church, we visit with them and give them "new member" lessons.  This basically is a review of what they have learned from the younger missionaries but we present it a little differently.  When you are first learning about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it is often overwhelming.  That's where we come in. :)  It's so important to understand the doctrine of the faith that you have just been baptized into so we take this opportunity to clarify anything that they might not understand and do more in depth scripture study with them.  It has been a very spiritually satisfying week!  Today was Fast and Testimony Sunday when members have an opportunity to stand and bear their testimonies of the things of which they know are true in the gospel.  We have fasted for about 24 hours to try to become more spiritually  in tune and then those who want to bear testimony.  In my English classes we have been working with learning how to testify of the Savior and his teachings in English.  We had a very special experience this morning.  We have a 70 year old brother who really struggles with English and I reminded him this morning before church of my challenge to bear their testimony, even just 2 sentences, in English first and then switch to Marshallese.  I promised him that the Holy Ghost would give him the courage and the power to express himself in the English language if he so desired.  This good and noble man was filled with the spirit and expressed himself beautifully for several sentences in English of his great love for the Savior and for the Book of Mormon.  The spirit was so strong and John and I were so moved.  We visited with an American family tonight who the wife just joined the church in December and her husband had been a member since he was 17 years old but had never been very active in the church.  We had a wonderful visit with them this evening  and are taking them to the temple next Saturday to do the baptisms for their parents and other family members.  She listens to the Book of Mormon while she is getting ready for her day each day and is very knowledgeable about the gospel.  What a delight it was to be with her and her family.  I know the Lord has great blessings in store for this lovely family.  Melissa and her family were here last week for 2 days and we had a wonderful visit!  We had the 4 kids for a sleepover while Mom and Dad went out to celebrate their anniversary.  Little Owen, 15 months, is faster than the speed of light.  It was great to be with them.  We are so very blessed that several of our children have been able to come and visit.  I just finished an incredible article that I wanted to share with you.  Please go to www.lds.org/ensign/print/2012 /08/standing-together-for-the-cause-of-Christ?lang=eng&clang=eng. It is by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and was given to a group of national Christian leaders in 2011.  How important it is for those of us who love God to stand together for the cause of Christ and against the forces of sin!  We have a busy week ahead of us and we are glad!  Hope all is well with each of you who are special to us!!