December 17, 2012
Hello everyone. Merry Christmas from rainy Sacramento. Last night was our Christmas Devotional that we had worked so hard on with the Marshallese and Fijian members. It went well. To see our laid back, somewhat timid members get up in front and recite in English "The Christmas Guest" by Helen Stiener Rice was a beautiful site. Sister Downs loving way of cracking the wipe over the past few weeks paid off. Now this week we are taking our gifts of the Savior (different framed pictures of the Savior) to all those we have been working with. Today for the first time we were able to locate and get in to see a family that has been less active for several years due to hurt feelings. They have invited us back for a Family Home Evening night, which they say they have missed very much. So hopefully in our return visits we can help rejuvinate the spirit of the Lord in their home again.
Recently we were challenged by Elder Porter of the Seventy, who came to our mission, to think about some very spiritual thoughts and directions in our lives. 1. What are we doing now in our lives that is spiritually different than what we were doing before our mission? 2. Where does our commitment lie for this period of time that we are on our mission? 3. Are we assisting the Lord or is He assisting us? 4. What kind of Christlike attributes do we have in our lives?
Powerful questions that will take all the rest of our mission to think on and put into action. One of the best scriptures that seems to relate to these questions is found in D & C 84:88 "And whoso recieveth you, there will I be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up".
Here in the Sacramento Mission our Mission President Lewis had projected a goal of the mission having a little over 700 baptisms of people who would come unto Christ through the restored gospel in 2012. Presently the mission is at 670 baptisms and counting! What a truely wonderful White Christmas it has become for these people who have found the gift of eternal life through the Savior.
May we all reflect on that gift that He has given us and in some small way determine what we can give Him in return.
Elder John
Monday, December 17, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
December 11, 2012 I couldn't get into our blogsite for some reason on Sunday and here it is now Tuesday, almost Wednesday! The month of December seems to run much faster than the other months of the year, don't you think? I received a special package in the mail today from a dear friend sharing memories of a fun, girls only, road trip taken some years ago and it filled my heart with joy and sweet reminising. Thanks for the memories dear friends. As you can tell by our writings, John and I are entirely different in our approach to blogging so hopefully one or the other of us will inform, educate, uplift or just say something to brighten your day, or night, depending when you are reading our blog. Because both of our memories seem to be dimishing at times, we have decided that we will split the week up and each take a day to be "the one" with good memory recall for the day. The problem with that is that I know everyone's names and addresses, which he doesn't, but he knows how to get to everyone's homes, which I don't. Goodness,what a pair we are!! The most confusing thing is that many of the saints have the same last name and MANY of them look very much alike, so it is very easy to put the wrong name on the right person and vice versa. Our branch president's name is Naga. The "g" is "almost" silent but it is said VERY softly with a very loose tongue. So it sounds like Naa'na but I think it is Nanaa'. Needless to say, he really would like his name said correctly so we have reverted to addressing him as simply, president. We have learned that in the islands there is definitely a 'pecking order" or a class system. The Fijians are at the top, the Polanesians second, and the Marshallese third. Our people are used to being "on the bottom" so to speak and it's so hard to help them realize that with lots of work they can become the "top dogs" in island culture. I cannot imagine coming from a culture that you either walked or rode your bike anywhere you needed go and never had to deal with the complications that getting and driving a car can bring you. Now they are in a world that you have to be able to understand bus and light rail schedules, sometimes with several transfers and find the money to take pubic transit. John and I are trying to help several families learn how to read bus and train schedules and take them on their first public transit trip to give them the confidence to do it on their own. It was kind of like that saying, "the blind leading the blind"! :) Boy, we both have college educations and we looked at those schedules and just scratched our heads. So we have appointments with other families who need to develop the confidence to use public transit so that they can get to and from their jobs. We gave lots of "high fives" when we got back to the right bus station. We were really feelilng smug and smart like we had just aced an exam! The work goes slower than we like. We go to homes and give them Family Home Evening manuals and then offer to come to their house and do the first one for them (to do some modeling here), treats and all. Two have turned out great and the other two did not keep
their appointments. We were really excited after we visited with this one family and they seemed excited to have us back for an evening. We planned a really cool interactive lesson and of course, made some yummy treats. Well, we go to their door and no one was home!! In our state of
despair :) we ate over half the treat by ourselves! So now we have a new policy.....just FHE but no treats. I think we both looked at each other and said, "Hmmm, the devil made me do it." Got to have someone to blame. We are having our first missionary Christmas fireside this Sunday. Our Daily Dose (English class) students are reading Helen Steiner Rice's "The Christmas Guest". We are all pumped about it. I'm not printing a program to hand out because I imagine there will be lots of last minute changes. So I probably have to have Plan B through J ready to roll. I had to make sure that I had offered parts equally to the Fijians, Marshallese, Americans, and Samoans so everyone would feel validated. We have 2 very young, inexperienced Elders in our branch who need lots of guidance so John and I have been assigned to do a little bit of coaching/mentoring with them Always opportunities to grow here! We went to the stake nativity display and it was a bittersweet experience for me. It was simply incredible. It was what I had always hoped and prayed ours would become. It was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-9:00 p.m. They had enormous crowds from other churches who came on Sunday after their own services. The Stake RS president gave a tour of 25 Catholics who asked if they could go sit in a room with her and ask her questions about the church when they were done. She said the spirit was so strong in their conversation. Every room plus the cultural hall had nativities in them. We have made some headway with some folks in our little branch here and they are good people who are struggling to learn the gospel and how to apply to it their lives. All the while learning how to survive in a culture that is so different from their island culture. For example, in the islands if your bicycle did not work, you helped yourself to your neighbor's bike and this was not a problem. Here, if you take your neighbor's bike without asking, we call it stealing. When teaching a church lesson we often need to explain words like "honesty" or "compassion". We must constantly remind ourselves that many of these folks have been members of the church for less than 2 years! Well to close now....I love this Christmas season and the opportunity it gives me to testify of the divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How deeply indebted I am to Him who was willing to die for all of our sins. How grateful I am to have found his restored church and to have learned about his great plan of salvation. Just a closing thought.....what do you plan to give the Savior for his birthday? Sure love ya!
their appointments. We were really excited after we visited with this one family and they seemed excited to have us back for an evening. We planned a really cool interactive lesson and of course, made some yummy treats. Well, we go to their door and no one was home!! In our state of
despair :) we ate over half the treat by ourselves! So now we have a new policy.....just FHE but no treats. I think we both looked at each other and said, "Hmmm, the devil made me do it." Got to have someone to blame. We are having our first missionary Christmas fireside this Sunday. Our Daily Dose (English class) students are reading Helen Steiner Rice's "The Christmas Guest". We are all pumped about it. I'm not printing a program to hand out because I imagine there will be lots of last minute changes. So I probably have to have Plan B through J ready to roll. I had to make sure that I had offered parts equally to the Fijians, Marshallese, Americans, and Samoans so everyone would feel validated. We have 2 very young, inexperienced Elders in our branch who need lots of guidance so John and I have been assigned to do a little bit of coaching/mentoring with them Always opportunities to grow here! We went to the stake nativity display and it was a bittersweet experience for me. It was simply incredible. It was what I had always hoped and prayed ours would become. It was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-9:00 p.m. They had enormous crowds from other churches who came on Sunday after their own services. The Stake RS president gave a tour of 25 Catholics who asked if they could go sit in a room with her and ask her questions about the church when they were done. She said the spirit was so strong in their conversation. Every room plus the cultural hall had nativities in them. We have made some headway with some folks in our little branch here and they are good people who are struggling to learn the gospel and how to apply to it their lives. All the while learning how to survive in a culture that is so different from their island culture. For example, in the islands if your bicycle did not work, you helped yourself to your neighbor's bike and this was not a problem. Here, if you take your neighbor's bike without asking, we call it stealing. When teaching a church lesson we often need to explain words like "honesty" or "compassion". We must constantly remind ourselves that many of these folks have been members of the church for less than 2 years! Well to close now....I love this Christmas season and the opportunity it gives me to testify of the divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How deeply indebted I am to Him who was willing to die for all of our sins. How grateful I am to have found his restored church and to have learned about his great plan of salvation. Just a closing thought.....what do you plan to give the Savior for his birthday? Sure love ya!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Good evening. Yesterday began the Christmas season and as always it brings feelings of excitment and joy from all ages in and outside of our family. We've just received a wonderful package from our grandchildren that has 12 small gifts in it representing the twelve days of Christmas. We can't wait for December 13th when we can open our first gift! Tonight we put up our 3 foot Christmas tree that was given to us by another departing missionary couple. We also opened our first gift to each other which is a beautiful Nativity set from Willow Tree that somehow survived our jam packed car on the trip here in August.
When I think of that jam packed car and that there was not room for one more item, I think of my life and contemplate how much room do I have inside of me for the Savior. Do I have space left for Him? Our "simplistic" missionary life tends to allow us to reflect more on "what can I give the Savior" rather than the traditional thought of "I wonder what I am getting for Christmas"? I think my best gift I can give Him is to move out a lot of stuff inside of me and make more room for Him to the point that I am able to share Him with other people.
An analogy of this might be of a perfectly round beautiful piece of pottery. It was completely enclosed such that no light could get in. If one would gently shake it something could be heard rolling around inside. But sadly other than to put it on a shelf and admire it, it didn't have much use. Then one day it was jostled off the shelf onto the floor and cracked enough that light was allowed inside. The pottery was about to be thrown out until the seed inside start to receive light and from the broken pottery came a new form of beauty, a new form of life.
Maybe that's what our lives are like. If we clean out, make more room for Him, something new will grow out from us and our growth will flourish. As it says in the scriptures "ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God, and for all men. If we press forward feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, we shall have eternal life".
Elder John
When I think of that jam packed car and that there was not room for one more item, I think of my life and contemplate how much room do I have inside of me for the Savior. Do I have space left for Him? Our "simplistic" missionary life tends to allow us to reflect more on "what can I give the Savior" rather than the traditional thought of "I wonder what I am getting for Christmas"? I think my best gift I can give Him is to move out a lot of stuff inside of me and make more room for Him to the point that I am able to share Him with other people.
An analogy of this might be of a perfectly round beautiful piece of pottery. It was completely enclosed such that no light could get in. If one would gently shake it something could be heard rolling around inside. But sadly other than to put it on a shelf and admire it, it didn't have much use. Then one day it was jostled off the shelf onto the floor and cracked enough that light was allowed inside. The pottery was about to be thrown out until the seed inside start to receive light and from the broken pottery came a new form of beauty, a new form of life.
Maybe that's what our lives are like. If we clean out, make more room for Him, something new will grow out from us and our growth will flourish. As it says in the scriptures "ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God, and for all men. If we press forward feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, we shall have eternal life".
Elder John
Thursday, November 29, 2012
November 28, 2012
Where, oh where,does the time go? This was the first time that we didn't meet our goal to blog every Sunday night. I should say, "me instead of we" since it was my turn (as in Sister Downs) to blog. It is always a little challenging to think back over the week and pick one or two experiences to share in a blog. We try to take a different couple each week for a "temple walk" around the outside of the Sacramento Temple and talk with them about the blessings of going to the temple. I love this special time! I don't know who benefits more from our "temple walk", our guests or ourselves. We hope that by this March there will be 5-6 members who will be going to the temple for the first time. This past Sunday we had 22 "gradulates" from our first,large, "Daily Dose" class. 7 or those 22 had missed only 2 or less of the 24 classes. In this course, we recognize any effort made to grow and improve but for those 7 we made special little seals that showed that they were outstanding in their dedication to attend "Daily Dose". They were all so proud! To come consistently to class for 3 months is a really big deal because it is very difficult for islanders to make AND keep long term commitments. Most of our "students" have had some type of training in English speaking but theystruggle the most with the pronunciaton of words and being able to take their thoughts and put them into English that makes sense. We hope we are going to be able to start an additonal class on Wednesday evenings right after Daily Dose that uses the scriptures as the foundation for learning English. It is a truely inspired program called "Teach Ye My Words" that the church has written. I think this course, in addition to Daily Dose, will raise the bar for them so that they will be able to converse confidently in English to meet their daily needs and learn to read, pronounce and then learn how to write how they feel about what they have read. If you can't understand what you are reading in the scriptues plus not being able to apply to your life, it certainly kills your motivation to do so. I have always been a "Plan B" person in realizing that Plan A seldom works out so in order not to go stark, raving mad, one has to be willing to roll with a Plan B and do so graciously and with a good spirit. Well,, this missionary couple has now learned to roll with not only B but often times C through G. We used to spend hours planning out our day and who we were going to see and what we would share with them. Most of our fellow members do not have phones or computers to email and confirm appointments. They also seem to forget things easily so between their forgetfulness and OUR increasing senior moments of forgetfulness, we all just wing it and hope the Spirit will guide and direct us to whomever or wherever He needs us to be. We have all the members divided into geographical areas and so we start out in a cerain area and just scour the area until we find someone home. We are never at loss for things of the gospel to share so we have little checklists as we visit to see what topics of the gospel we have or have not shared with them. When we have days that all our plans go bellyup, we look at each other and say "I need a beer"! I am happy to say A&W frosted root beer mugs are alive and well here in Sacramento. Great to uplift the spirits, awful to put on pounds. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday with Amy and her family in Walnut Creek. We also got to spend some time with our son-in-laws family who we think are wonderful!! We were playing a game with Sam (10) and Oliver (7) and it was one of those strategy games that you have to think really hard which John and I do not do very well anymore. Sam was having pity on us and was helping us with our strategic moves and Oliver says, "Hey Sam, how come you're not helping me?" Sam, not missing a beat, says, "Oh Ollie, I only help the elderly." Wow, that was one, humbling moment. YOU know you're getting older but when your grandson puts you into the "elderly" catagory, you really feel old! All of our other children had a family reunion at our jeff City home and we got to skype and see them all! We were so pleased that they all made sacrifices to be together. We have a strong testimony of the work we are doing in sharing the restored gospel. Sure love ya!
Where, oh where,does the time go? This was the first time that we didn't meet our goal to blog every Sunday night. I should say, "me instead of we" since it was my turn (as in Sister Downs) to blog. It is always a little challenging to think back over the week and pick one or two experiences to share in a blog. We try to take a different couple each week for a "temple walk" around the outside of the Sacramento Temple and talk with them about the blessings of going to the temple. I love this special time! I don't know who benefits more from our "temple walk", our guests or ourselves. We hope that by this March there will be 5-6 members who will be going to the temple for the first time. This past Sunday we had 22 "gradulates" from our first,large, "Daily Dose" class. 7 or those 22 had missed only 2 or less of the 24 classes. In this course, we recognize any effort made to grow and improve but for those 7 we made special little seals that showed that they were outstanding in their dedication to attend "Daily Dose". They were all so proud! To come consistently to class for 3 months is a really big deal because it is very difficult for islanders to make AND keep long term commitments. Most of our "students" have had some type of training in English speaking but theystruggle the most with the pronunciaton of words and being able to take their thoughts and put them into English that makes sense. We hope we are going to be able to start an additonal class on Wednesday evenings right after Daily Dose that uses the scriptures as the foundation for learning English. It is a truely inspired program called "Teach Ye My Words" that the church has written. I think this course, in addition to Daily Dose, will raise the bar for them so that they will be able to converse confidently in English to meet their daily needs and learn to read, pronounce and then learn how to write how they feel about what they have read. If you can't understand what you are reading in the scriptues plus not being able to apply to your life, it certainly kills your motivation to do so. I have always been a "Plan B" person in realizing that Plan A seldom works out so in order not to go stark, raving mad, one has to be willing to roll with a Plan B and do so graciously and with a good spirit. Well,, this missionary couple has now learned to roll with not only B but often times C through G. We used to spend hours planning out our day and who we were going to see and what we would share with them. Most of our fellow members do not have phones or computers to email and confirm appointments. They also seem to forget things easily so between their forgetfulness and OUR increasing senior moments of forgetfulness, we all just wing it and hope the Spirit will guide and direct us to whomever or wherever He needs us to be. We have all the members divided into geographical areas and so we start out in a cerain area and just scour the area until we find someone home. We are never at loss for things of the gospel to share so we have little checklists as we visit to see what topics of the gospel we have or have not shared with them. When we have days that all our plans go bellyup, we look at each other and say "I need a beer"! I am happy to say A&W frosted root beer mugs are alive and well here in Sacramento. Great to uplift the spirits, awful to put on pounds. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday with Amy and her family in Walnut Creek. We also got to spend some time with our son-in-laws family who we think are wonderful!! We were playing a game with Sam (10) and Oliver (7) and it was one of those strategy games that you have to think really hard which John and I do not do very well anymore. Sam was having pity on us and was helping us with our strategic moves and Oliver says, "Hey Sam, how come you're not helping me?" Sam, not missing a beat, says, "Oh Ollie, I only help the elderly." Wow, that was one, humbling moment. YOU know you're getting older but when your grandson puts you into the "elderly" catagory, you really feel old! All of our other children had a family reunion at our jeff City home and we got to skype and see them all! We were so pleased that they all made sacrifices to be together. We have a strong testimony of the work we are doing in sharing the restored gospel. Sure love ya!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
November 18, 2012
Good evening. It's my turn tonight. Months and years from now I will always be able to say that through this mission experience Sherrie and I are the ones who have probably grown the most and been taught immensely by the Lord during this time. If we have played a small part in helping someone else grow or become closer to the Lord that will be an added bonus to us. I think I can safely say that all of us in our various faiths at some time or another seek answers, personal revelation, and direction from God, Jesus Christ, a higher being. We always wish that those answers would come to us immediately, in a strong "rush of wind", or in some way that would leave no doubt in our mind it was from the Lord. But I have found at least for me that isn't the way He works in our lives. I have found that His way of answering will usually come in small subtle ways, such as through the scriptures, through the words or actions of others around us or in other moments we would least expect it. Neal A. Maxwell said this unexpected direction or answers given is called "incremental revelation". Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. The Lord is our tender tutor, measuring and giving what we are ready for.
Which brings me to another point that I have learned. The Lord doesn't answer all of our prayers. That's because he expects us to sometimes use our free agency, our common sense, our experiences that we have learned thus far in our lives to make some decisions on our own without waiting for His answers or revelation to come. That doesn't mean we should be independent of Him, nor that we should not ask Him for direction, and guidance. It just means that He wants us to in some ways gain our own spiritual self-reliance rather than becoming "spiritual robots" to Him.
As our mission continues and I have some "aha" moments, I know that I am gaining more confidence to make the right decisions, I am learning more how to help someone in some small way, and how to listen to what The Lord has to say.
Have a good week.
Elder John
Good evening. It's my turn tonight. Months and years from now I will always be able to say that through this mission experience Sherrie and I are the ones who have probably grown the most and been taught immensely by the Lord during this time. If we have played a small part in helping someone else grow or become closer to the Lord that will be an added bonus to us. I think I can safely say that all of us in our various faiths at some time or another seek answers, personal revelation, and direction from God, Jesus Christ, a higher being. We always wish that those answers would come to us immediately, in a strong "rush of wind", or in some way that would leave no doubt in our mind it was from the Lord. But I have found at least for me that isn't the way He works in our lives. I have found that His way of answering will usually come in small subtle ways, such as through the scriptures, through the words or actions of others around us or in other moments we would least expect it. Neal A. Maxwell said this unexpected direction or answers given is called "incremental revelation". Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. The Lord is our tender tutor, measuring and giving what we are ready for.
Which brings me to another point that I have learned. The Lord doesn't answer all of our prayers. That's because he expects us to sometimes use our free agency, our common sense, our experiences that we have learned thus far in our lives to make some decisions on our own without waiting for His answers or revelation to come. That doesn't mean we should be independent of Him, nor that we should not ask Him for direction, and guidance. It just means that He wants us to in some ways gain our own spiritual self-reliance rather than becoming "spiritual robots" to Him.
As our mission continues and I have some "aha" moments, I know that I am gaining more confidence to make the right decisions, I am learning more how to help someone in some small way, and how to listen to what The Lord has to say.
Have a good week.
Elder John
Monday, November 12, 2012
November 11, 2012
Once a year, the children within the church present the program during Sacrament meeting, which is our main church service. This morning was that special time. The children are between 3-12 years of age. The theme this year was, "Being a good missionary" so the theme was near and dear to our hearts. It is so amazing to see these normally very active children sitting so reverently (except of course when they are waving to their family in the congregation) and singing out with fervor all the songs that they love. Each child has one or more speaking parts and they get up in front of lots of adults and speak their parts with such a sweet spirit. There couldn't have been more than 25 children but they sounded like a choir of 60! One of our main goals while on our mission is to help strengthen members who have not yet been to the temple to be sealed together as a family for all eternity if they remain worthy We took 2 different families to the Sacramento Temple this week and did what we call a "temple walk about". The main purpose is to have them see the temple and feel of the special spirit that abides on that sacred, holy ground. Although they can't yet enter into the temple itself yet, this little "walk about" helps motivate and inspire them to set higher goals of spirituality so that they can return and enter the temple. It is hard to describe the special spirit that we all felt when we were with these folks talking and teaching about the importance of the temple. What a blessing it is to have a temple 30 minutes away!! We usually attend the temple once a week now and feel so very fortunate to do so. We have FINALLY, after many years of inconsistency, gotten where we can't go to sleep without reading the scriptures and truly enjoy studying them. We reflect back on the many years that we read the scriptures because we had been commanded to do so. What a delight to do something now that brings so much joy and knowledge instead of reading the scriptures because it was on our "checklist" of good things to do. Boy, it takes some of us a long time to grow up and see the 'big picture"! :) So glad I know God is a patient God. We had a little celebration party this week. Our first "Daily Dose" participant "graduated" to the next level of lessons. We made a certificate for her and had punch and brownies for her family. She was just beaming! It was a sweet, sweet time! In one week we will have about 15 more Level 1 "graduates". Exciting times! Some, of course, have dropped out due to lack of commitment. BUT, we concentrate on those who want to change their lives and continually pray for a change of heart and desire for those who do not want to grow. Many of the trees are changing color here and remind us of Missouri. We joined a group of Asians doing "Confu" and "Tia Chi" in the park last week. Their leader's name should have been "killer" because I could hardly move the next day! I'm sure I saw a little smirky smile on his face when he saw we couldn't keep up with him. They would be chattering back and forth in Chinese and then to us and speak perfect English! Unfortunately, we were not able to chat bilingually. I did throw out a "Yuckway" to them (that's hello in Marshallese) but they just looked at me and smiled politely. Wish I could have read their minds. Well, back to a week of trying to understand the Marhallese culture! Friday brings our Heather and Kate and Allie to us from Missouri. We can't wait! Up and grateful here in California! Press forward with faith!!
Once a year, the children within the church present the program during Sacrament meeting, which is our main church service. This morning was that special time. The children are between 3-12 years of age. The theme this year was, "Being a good missionary" so the theme was near and dear to our hearts. It is so amazing to see these normally very active children sitting so reverently (except of course when they are waving to their family in the congregation) and singing out with fervor all the songs that they love. Each child has one or more speaking parts and they get up in front of lots of adults and speak their parts with such a sweet spirit. There couldn't have been more than 25 children but they sounded like a choir of 60! One of our main goals while on our mission is to help strengthen members who have not yet been to the temple to be sealed together as a family for all eternity if they remain worthy We took 2 different families to the Sacramento Temple this week and did what we call a "temple walk about". The main purpose is to have them see the temple and feel of the special spirit that abides on that sacred, holy ground. Although they can't yet enter into the temple itself yet, this little "walk about" helps motivate and inspire them to set higher goals of spirituality so that they can return and enter the temple. It is hard to describe the special spirit that we all felt when we were with these folks talking and teaching about the importance of the temple. What a blessing it is to have a temple 30 minutes away!! We usually attend the temple once a week now and feel so very fortunate to do so. We have FINALLY, after many years of inconsistency, gotten where we can't go to sleep without reading the scriptures and truly enjoy studying them. We reflect back on the many years that we read the scriptures because we had been commanded to do so. What a delight to do something now that brings so much joy and knowledge instead of reading the scriptures because it was on our "checklist" of good things to do. Boy, it takes some of us a long time to grow up and see the 'big picture"! :) So glad I know God is a patient God. We had a little celebration party this week. Our first "Daily Dose" participant "graduated" to the next level of lessons. We made a certificate for her and had punch and brownies for her family. She was just beaming! It was a sweet, sweet time! In one week we will have about 15 more Level 1 "graduates". Exciting times! Some, of course, have dropped out due to lack of commitment. BUT, we concentrate on those who want to change their lives and continually pray for a change of heart and desire for those who do not want to grow. Many of the trees are changing color here and remind us of Missouri. We joined a group of Asians doing "Confu" and "Tia Chi" in the park last week. Their leader's name should have been "killer" because I could hardly move the next day! I'm sure I saw a little smirky smile on his face when he saw we couldn't keep up with him. They would be chattering back and forth in Chinese and then to us and speak perfect English! Unfortunately, we were not able to chat bilingually. I did throw out a "Yuckway" to them (that's hello in Marshallese) but they just looked at me and smiled politely. Wish I could have read their minds. Well, back to a week of trying to understand the Marhallese culture! Friday brings our Heather and Kate and Allie to us from Missouri. We can't wait! Up and grateful here in California! Press forward with faith!!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Hello from Sacramento. Time to adjust to the time change again. The clock may have said I was to get an extra hour of sleep this morning but my body was still up at the normal time, and now tonight it's later that usual and my body is saying let's go to bed right now. Oh well, life goes on. Today there was the proverbial group that arrived at church early because they forgot to change their clocks last night, and for Marshallese people who are almost always late, that was a blessing. Maybe they won't change their clocks before next Sunday either or the next Sunday after that or . . . . you get my drift.
As each week of experiences go by for us I have more and more respect for the single missionaries (young and old) who have either previously served or are serving missions now. I've watched some of the young missionaries here in our mission be faced with many challenges and life changing experiences, but one of their most difficult they have faced at times has been learning how to work and live with a "difficult" companion 24/7. For Sherrie and I it's a little easier because our "companion" is the one we have known for many years and we get along well and have worked out the kinks. But I've been watching how the Lord has been blessing those that try the hardest. The more spiritual they are or try to be, the more the issues of the "difficult" companion tend to disappear and are no longer a problem.
I think another growing point about missions is how to face and deal with issues of contention and disagreement that we are faced with at times. That has occured often already with Sherrie and I. A week ago we had a situation occur in a leadership meeting that has bothered us for the last seven days. It probably affected our activities and accomplishments for the entire week. And we were even dreading going back to that meeting today, for fear that the same situation would occur again. However, we had prayed and pondered over it all week long, had emersed ourselves in the scriptures, and had talked it over with our wonderful mission president, and amazingly enough, the atmosphere in the meeting today was completely different, and the spirit of the Lord definately was in that meeting. Elder Russell M. Ballard once said to avoid confrontations "We must show compassionate concern for others. We must control the tongue, the pen, and the word processor. We must remember as in Proverbs 11:12 and 17:28 where it says He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour; but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. Through the love of God, the pain caused by the fiery canker of contention will be extinguished from the soul". I certainly saw that change occur in our meeting today. I'll always be greatful for what the Lord gives us if we are willing to receive.
Have a good week,
John (Elder) Downs
As each week of experiences go by for us I have more and more respect for the single missionaries (young and old) who have either previously served or are serving missions now. I've watched some of the young missionaries here in our mission be faced with many challenges and life changing experiences, but one of their most difficult they have faced at times has been learning how to work and live with a "difficult" companion 24/7. For Sherrie and I it's a little easier because our "companion" is the one we have known for many years and we get along well and have worked out the kinks. But I've been watching how the Lord has been blessing those that try the hardest. The more spiritual they are or try to be, the more the issues of the "difficult" companion tend to disappear and are no longer a problem.
I think another growing point about missions is how to face and deal with issues of contention and disagreement that we are faced with at times. That has occured often already with Sherrie and I. A week ago we had a situation occur in a leadership meeting that has bothered us for the last seven days. It probably affected our activities and accomplishments for the entire week. And we were even dreading going back to that meeting today, for fear that the same situation would occur again. However, we had prayed and pondered over it all week long, had emersed ourselves in the scriptures, and had talked it over with our wonderful mission president, and amazingly enough, the atmosphere in the meeting today was completely different, and the spirit of the Lord definately was in that meeting. Elder Russell M. Ballard once said to avoid confrontations "We must show compassionate concern for others. We must control the tongue, the pen, and the word processor. We must remember as in Proverbs 11:12 and 17:28 where it says He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour; but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. Through the love of God, the pain caused by the fiery canker of contention will be extinguished from the soul". I certainly saw that change occur in our meeting today. I'll always be greatful for what the Lord gives us if we are willing to receive.
Have a good week,
John (Elder) Downs
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Oct. 28 2012 Fall is in the mornings and evenings and then Mother Nature thinks it's summer again in the afternoons. Each week, Thursday mornings, we meet with 3 other companionships in a district meeting or once a month we meet with our entire "zone" which consists of a total of 7 or 8 companionships. We are the only "seniors" in this zone and everyone else is between 19 and 21 years old and all are males. We have sister missionaries serving in other parts of our Sacramento Mission but not here. How we admire these young men! In the past, we have always admired the sacrifice of these young folks, particularly our own children, but we really had not totally appreciated the unique lifestyle that they chose to embrace for 2 years. I just read that missionary applications have gone from 700 per week up to 4000! Wow, the work of the Lord should be on fire soon! We continue to do our "Daily Dose" classes and just this week went to 3 public libraries to offer to teach this wonderful English course in the libraries. We have not gotten their approval yet but are praying for a positive response. We, of course, will not be able to include anything religious like we do in our church classes, but know the Lord will bless us with his Spirit to be there and that hopefully will lead to missionary contacts outside the library itself. Our class today at church was entitled "Being Punctual". Because most of the folks we work with are from the islands, punctuality never has been a priority. We talk about it a lot though because it is so critical to maintaining a job and fulfilling church responsibilities. A very special family is moving to Utah this week and will be sorely missed. They are such an incredible example to all the Marshallese. We had a "farewell"/Halloween party last night. It was quite an evening! The Marshallese and the Figians both sang songs in their native tongue and then a group of young Marshallese did a native folk dance. The place was really rocking especially since there were dozens of children on a massive sugar high running about. It was really quite emotional as well since this family is so loved by all.
Yesterday we went to Amy's home for the day. Many of you will remember our telling you of Amy's dear friend who died of a heart attack a few months back at the age of 41. He had been trying to work on his back yard before his death. My son-in-law, Alph, organized a gigantic service project that John had the privilege of helping with. A large group totally landscaped the back yard, shrubs, trees, sod, irrigation system, gardening boxes, etc. Eleanor was gone for the week-end and when she arrives home tonight she will be so surprised! Wish I were a little mouse and could see her expression! Isn't it wonderful to serve one another!! I wasn't at the service project but I was on the Wise homefront doing grandmother service! The older Wise children have matured so and the twinners keep everyone hopping! This grandma is definitely getting older! :) Being close to them helps us (a little bit)not miss our other kiddos quite so much!
:) Have a wonderful week full of happy service!
Yesterday we went to Amy's home for the day. Many of you will remember our telling you of Amy's dear friend who died of a heart attack a few months back at the age of 41. He had been trying to work on his back yard before his death. My son-in-law, Alph, organized a gigantic service project that John had the privilege of helping with. A large group totally landscaped the back yard, shrubs, trees, sod, irrigation system, gardening boxes, etc. Eleanor was gone for the week-end and when she arrives home tonight she will be so surprised! Wish I were a little mouse and could see her expression! Isn't it wonderful to serve one another!! I wasn't at the service project but I was on the Wise homefront doing grandmother service! The older Wise children have matured so and the twinners keep everyone hopping! This grandma is definitely getting older! :) Being close to them helps us (a little bit)not miss our other kiddos quite so much!
:) Have a wonderful week full of happy service!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
October 21, 2012
Hello again. Time goes so fast when working for the Lord. We continue to marvel at the changes in those that are attending our Daily Dose classes. Those that were once reserve, shy and even non-committal to us are now very friendly, supportive and eager to learn more. Recently in one of the classes that we teach in someone's home there were five people in attendance and they were all non-members of our faith. We were teaching the subject on how to give a prayer. Again, we are talking about people who speak limited English and haven't been very religious in their lives. At the conclusion we asked if anyone would give the closing prayer, and one fellow said he would, and in his simple prayer he stated how grateful he was for us to teach him English. A simple prayer but very much from the heart. Today that man and his wife and children showed up at church today and attended all the meetings! What a joy to see how much he has changed. Then earlier this week we met in another person's home for an evening meal. He had invited some non-member friends over to fellowship with and talk about having The Lord in all of our lives. One of those individuals showed up at church today also! The Spanish, Chinese and Mien groups we helped set up in Daily Dose are going well now also.
Last Friday night Sherrie and I needed a little more culture in our lives so we attended the Sacramento Ballet Company's performance of Romeo and Juliet. It even brought tears to old John's eyes, or was that from me imagining the pain in my toes if I was standing on them in ballet shoes!! Tonight the Fall rainy season is starting. It hasn't rained here since last February, but then that's why everything is connected to a sprinkler system!
We have several friends back in Jefferson City who are recovering from painful surgeries or have other trials in their lives right now. Our hearts in prayers go out to them all.
Until next time,
Elder (John) Downs
Hello again. Time goes so fast when working for the Lord. We continue to marvel at the changes in those that are attending our Daily Dose classes. Those that were once reserve, shy and even non-committal to us are now very friendly, supportive and eager to learn more. Recently in one of the classes that we teach in someone's home there were five people in attendance and they were all non-members of our faith. We were teaching the subject on how to give a prayer. Again, we are talking about people who speak limited English and haven't been very religious in their lives. At the conclusion we asked if anyone would give the closing prayer, and one fellow said he would, and in his simple prayer he stated how grateful he was for us to teach him English. A simple prayer but very much from the heart. Today that man and his wife and children showed up at church today and attended all the meetings! What a joy to see how much he has changed. Then earlier this week we met in another person's home for an evening meal. He had invited some non-member friends over to fellowship with and talk about having The Lord in all of our lives. One of those individuals showed up at church today also! The Spanish, Chinese and Mien groups we helped set up in Daily Dose are going well now also.
Last Friday night Sherrie and I needed a little more culture in our lives so we attended the Sacramento Ballet Company's performance of Romeo and Juliet. It even brought tears to old John's eyes, or was that from me imagining the pain in my toes if I was standing on them in ballet shoes!! Tonight the Fall rainy season is starting. It hasn't rained here since last February, but then that's why everything is connected to a sprinkler system!
We have several friends back in Jefferson City who are recovering from painful surgeries or have other trials in their lives right now. Our hearts in prayers go out to them all.
Until next time,
Elder (John) Downs
Sunday, October 14, 2012
October 14, 2012
Sunday night has come again! Time to share just a few thoughts from this week's experiences! The highlight of the week was undoubtedly our visit yesterday from our oldest daughter Amy and her 5 kiddos. They live in Walnut Creek, CA, about an hour + from Sacramento. As Senior Missionaries, we can have visits from our children upon occasion as long as we do not neglect our work here. Our only negative in being on a mission is our distance from our children and grandkids. Hopefully, they miss us (which we hear that they do:), but they also realize that sometimes in life you need to stretch and serve outside of your comfort zone if you want to grow in your faith and service. Friday night we went to a large ward (unit within the church) that has a small group of Chinese within that unit. Most of the younger Chinese know English quite well but as is usually the case, the older ones (like us!) do not know how to speak English. The church had badminton games set up in the cultural hall and there were quite a few folks there. They had us do a quick overview of "Daily Dose" and soon hope to have regular classes going. This morning we went at 10:30 and met a small group of people who are Mien (I think!) and had come from the foothills within Viet Nam. This group, and probably some of their grandparents, were instrumental in assisting the United States during the Viet Nam War. The majority of them have immigrated to the states because if they had remained in their country, they would have been destroyed for helping the U.S. Right after we met with the Miens we met with the Spanish Ward's Council and introduced them to Daily Dose. Many of them speak both languages but often need pronunciation help as well as conversation skills. Soooo, this Tuesday evening we will be presenting the first Daily Dose classes to Spanish, as well as Mien, speaking people. We will teach this first class, then a couple who have just returned from a mission in Mexico have been called to teach Daily Dose in that ward. Then, today, we came back to our little Marshallese LDS Church and watched the Elder's Quorum president substitute for us in teaching the Marshallese. He did a fine job!We have had a very busy week-end and week!! We get a weekly newsletter from our mission president, Pres. Lewis, and this is a quote that I thought worthy of passing along as possibly your "thought for the week": Obedience is the price, Faith is the power, Love is the motive, the Spirit is the key and Christ is the reason." (Unknown author.)
Have a great week! We are praying for those of you who are having some extra health challenges right now!!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Good morning from the City of Trees as they call Sacramento. Darn it's only going to get up to 78 degrees this week! Ow, that was a dig for our friends outside of California wasn't it! I will repent later. But nice weather doesn't make me immune from getting a cold. All stuffed up sitting here today. I've been enjoying riding my bike in the early morning hours before we get started for the day of visiting people. I've steadily been building up my distances one trip at a time. From 20 miles, to 35, then 52, and then last week 65 miles round trip. There is this beautiful American River Bikeway that meanders over and along the winding river. From our apartment to the end and back will be about 80 miles so I hope to accomplish that on one of our P-days (Personal Days) during the next few months.
This past month my eternal companion and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. I don't know of a better place to do so than where we are and what we are doing right now. We will likewise be here for our 47th and when we arrive home in 2014 we will be 69 years old! Now that is scarey, but I feel the hands of time are only going backwards while we are here instead of forward. Sherrie/Mom and I have always gotten along well in our marriage, and that's not to say that we haven't had disagreements along the way, but we've always worked on resolving them as we go. I've still got my checklist that I need to improve on. As a flawed and imperfect man I have been blessed to marry a wonderful woman who has less imperfections than me, but together we are striving to be a perfectly smooth rolling stone one revolution at a time.
The three of us (John, Sherrie and the Lord) are together 24-7 now and the spiritual change is a marvelous change to describe. It is such a peaceful and united feeling that we share. Speaking for myself, little spousal irritants that might have bugged me before don't even surface now. More than ever now I see the wonderful qualities and capabilities that Sherrie has especially in working with people. She can make any "grumpy" or downhearted person smile and feel the Spirit of the Lord. Together we have been able to see not what people are today but what they will become yet in this life or the next. As was said recently we've learned to "first observe, then serve" when working with people here.
In closing, I've been reflecting more and more on what it means to me to be a Christian, and how I am doing in my quest to follow Jesus Christ. I feel that is an ongoing process and as my testimony of the Savior increases through service to others my testimony of Him grows more each day. As was recently said by David A. Bednar "Our testimony of the Savior is a point of departure not our destination".
Take care,
Elder/Dad Downs
This past month my eternal companion and I celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. I don't know of a better place to do so than where we are and what we are doing right now. We will likewise be here for our 47th and when we arrive home in 2014 we will be 69 years old! Now that is scarey, but I feel the hands of time are only going backwards while we are here instead of forward. Sherrie/Mom and I have always gotten along well in our marriage, and that's not to say that we haven't had disagreements along the way, but we've always worked on resolving them as we go. I've still got my checklist that I need to improve on. As a flawed and imperfect man I have been blessed to marry a wonderful woman who has less imperfections than me, but together we are striving to be a perfectly smooth rolling stone one revolution at a time.
The three of us (John, Sherrie and the Lord) are together 24-7 now and the spiritual change is a marvelous change to describe. It is such a peaceful and united feeling that we share. Speaking for myself, little spousal irritants that might have bugged me before don't even surface now. More than ever now I see the wonderful qualities and capabilities that Sherrie has especially in working with people. She can make any "grumpy" or downhearted person smile and feel the Spirit of the Lord. Together we have been able to see not what people are today but what they will become yet in this life or the next. As was said recently we've learned to "first observe, then serve" when working with people here.
In closing, I've been reflecting more and more on what it means to me to be a Christian, and how I am doing in my quest to follow Jesus Christ. I feel that is an ongoing process and as my testimony of the Savior increases through service to others my testimony of Him grows more each day. As was recently said by David A. Bednar "Our testimony of the Savior is a point of departure not our destination".
Take care,
Elder/Dad Downs
Sunday, October 7, 2012
October 7, 2012 Every 6 months we have a satellite broadcast from Salt Like City where the leaders of our church speak to us. Two of our favorite times of the year!! I love the hymn "Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice" because it makes me think of General Conference and hearing such incredible words of love and faith coming to us directly from our prophet and other leaders mouths. What a blessing it is to be born in this time of advanced technology! How exciting it was to learn that our young missionaries can now leave a year earlier on their missions if they so choose. Our "Daily Dose" (English) classes are going well. We had a sweet experience early this week that really boosted our morale. We were teaching a group of 5 Marshallese and the topic was "Learning to Pray in English". We were teaching them how to address Heavenly Father, express thanks, ask for additional blessings then close in the name of Jesus Christ. We ask each person to think of one thing that they could express thanks for. Everyone said the usual "family", "food", etc. but our lone man participant said, "I am thankful that you come and teach us better English." We all had tears in our eyes and the Spirit was very strong. Some days we go along and wonder if we are making a difference in anyone's lives and then Heavenly Father drops down some rays of sunshine such as that sweet experience and we feel blessed to be here. We have also been praying to find one or two brethren within the Marshallese Branch who would be good leaders if they could develop stronger testimonies and build their commitment to the Lord. We think we have found such a young man! He committed to go to the Priesthood session tonight at church with John and he did!! It is very difficult for the Marshallese to grasp the importance of keeping commitments so this was a major deal. It's just one meeting but everything starts with a little step in the right direction! He left many friends and other more "fun" activities to attend this important meeting so we are very pleased and are praying that this is the first step among many to bring him into activity in the gospel. Life is good and we are blessed!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
September 30, 2012
Obviously, I did not add to my post from last week and so I will finish up my thoughts tonight. (This is Sister Downs writing again) :) I love Sundays and even though they are a day of "rest", they are filled with doing good things that bless your life and help make the coming week better. This has been a really great week-end period! We are getting to go to the Sacramento Temple once a week and it is such a privilege. It takes us only 30 minutes to get there so we started our Saturday off by going to a session at the temple. We love to be there and partake of the sweet spirit that exists only in
a temple of the Lord. We went last Saturday with 20 members of our little branch of the church. We admire them so much for their diligence in going to the temple monthly when many of them do not understand English well and the temple sessions have not been translated into Marshallieese yet. But yesterday we went by ourselves (lots of others were there but we of course didn't know them) and then we headed to downtown Sacramento to observe the celebration ommemorating 150 years since Pres. Lincoln created the original Union Pacific. It was very interesting! It was also exciting for us when members of the LDS Church would greet us and stop and visit. We meet a Bro. Beemun who knew our next door neighbor Courtney Carron when she served a mission in Santa Rosa. Such a small and wonderful world. Last night we had the Relief Society Broadcast from Salt Lake City and it was incredible. What a spiritual feast! AND we had 10 sisters from our little branch there!! We have done a lot ot visiting active and inactive members this week. We have also held several "Daily Dose" (our English class we teach) classes this week and are so grateful with the turnout for them.We have 4 different classes going on right now and they meet twice a week. It is so exciting to see their improvements in the English language! We hope this increases their gospel understanding as well as their chances for employment. We will be expanding the Daily Dose to the Spanish and Chinese congregations soon. The young members are fluent in English but the older members are struggling. I can relate to that when we are at church and hear mostly Marshallieese. We are well and happy but we still miss our family and friends. We do so miss singing in Cantourm and Showboaters! On Sundays we kind of belt out the hymns because we make up for the singing we used to do at home. We have prayed for patience and humility and are slowly developing a little more of each. We are blessed in our work and are so grateful for those blessings!
Obviously, I did not add to my post from last week and so I will finish up my thoughts tonight. (This is Sister Downs writing again) :) I love Sundays and even though they are a day of "rest", they are filled with doing good things that bless your life and help make the coming week better. This has been a really great week-end period! We are getting to go to the Sacramento Temple once a week and it is such a privilege. It takes us only 30 minutes to get there so we started our Saturday off by going to a session at the temple. We love to be there and partake of the sweet spirit that exists only in
a temple of the Lord. We went last Saturday with 20 members of our little branch of the church. We admire them so much for their diligence in going to the temple monthly when many of them do not understand English well and the temple sessions have not been translated into Marshallieese yet. But yesterday we went by ourselves (lots of others were there but we of course didn't know them) and then we headed to downtown Sacramento to observe the celebration ommemorating 150 years since Pres. Lincoln created the original Union Pacific. It was very interesting! It was also exciting for us when members of the LDS Church would greet us and stop and visit. We meet a Bro. Beemun who knew our next door neighbor Courtney Carron when she served a mission in Santa Rosa. Such a small and wonderful world. Last night we had the Relief Society Broadcast from Salt Lake City and it was incredible. What a spiritual feast! AND we had 10 sisters from our little branch there!! We have done a lot ot visiting active and inactive members this week. We have also held several "Daily Dose" (our English class we teach) classes this week and are so grateful with the turnout for them.We have 4 different classes going on right now and they meet twice a week. It is so exciting to see their improvements in the English language! We hope this increases their gospel understanding as well as their chances for employment. We will be expanding the Daily Dose to the Spanish and Chinese congregations soon. The young members are fluent in English but the older members are struggling. I can relate to that when we are at church and hear mostly Marshallieese. We are well and happy but we still miss our family and friends. We do so miss singing in Cantourm and Showboaters! On Sundays we kind of belt out the hymns because we make up for the singing we used to do at home. We have prayed for patience and humility and are slowly developing a little more of each. We are blessed in our work and are so grateful for those blessings!
Sept. 23 - Sherrie (or Sister Downs) input for the week. :)
As always, I'll share some things from our "temporal world" then share some of our "spiritual activities."
Local folks are saying this is an unusual late summer. It still gets around 90 degrees or more but just doesn't seem all that bad with hardly any humidity. We are continuing our early morning walks in a lovely park very close to our apartment. This is a habit that we always "wanted" to do when in Missouri, but always found an excuse not to do. You know, humidity, too many hills, too tired or old, etc. etc. John rides his bike earlier than I get up because I am still a night person and he a morning person. I just wanted to clear that up because I did not want to infer that I was lazy in any way. :) We almost feel like we have a new set of friends who walk when we walk but we don't even know their names. As we approach them we hear them speaking in another language to one another but then we hear a cheery shout out hello or good morning. Californians seem to be very friendly. I even stopped one woman merely because she appeared to be Asian and asked if she knew of any good acupuncturist in the area. She didn't miss a beat and cheerfully told me of 2 possibilities that her daughter had been to see and liked. On an afterthought, I realized how silly it was that just because someone looked Chinese that they would know a good acupuncturist! That is similar to someone finding out that I am from Missouri and asking me if I know someone who lives somewhere in Missouri. They are often genuinely surprised that I do not know such a person. All of us human beings have such funny perceptions of others!! My biggest adjustment here has been to be out of my own kitchen!! I go to make something and I don't have the staples on hand or don't have the right utensil to cook it with or cook it in. I got ready to make a batch of Annette Rule's incredible bran muffins and realized I didn't have any vanilla in the cupboard. We feel like we go to the grocery store every day (we don't but it sure feels like it) because I'm always needing something that I don't have in the cupboards. I expect the cashiers to soon be saying, "Ah Elder and Sister Downs, 5 days in a row. Wish we had more customers like you!" They really do act like they know us well since we go so often. I will never take vanilla, measuring spoons or good cooking pans for granted again!! I found out that the temperature in my oven is definitely off several degrees. I attempted to bake a turkey breast and it was so dry and tough that I had to grind it up and make turkey salad. The salad turned out great but goodness, a big turkey breast makes a lot of turkey salad. Just more food to give to the young, starving missionaries we work with! By the way, I did go to one of the acupuncturists my new Asian friend suggested and really like her. She doesn't speak much English and has difficulty understanding me with my Midwest accent but hopefully she understands my body. I am feeling better except for the bruises on my back which are the result of the Chinese "cupping" method to improve circulation. So, I am feeling better and thank goodness I do not wear immodest clothing or someone might accuse Elder Downs of abusing me. I a
As always, I'll share some things from our "temporal world" then share some of our "spiritual activities."
Local folks are saying this is an unusual late summer. It still gets around 90 degrees or more but just doesn't seem all that bad with hardly any humidity. We are continuing our early morning walks in a lovely park very close to our apartment. This is a habit that we always "wanted" to do when in Missouri, but always found an excuse not to do. You know, humidity, too many hills, too tired or old, etc. etc. John rides his bike earlier than I get up because I am still a night person and he a morning person. I just wanted to clear that up because I did not want to infer that I was lazy in any way. :) We almost feel like we have a new set of friends who walk when we walk but we don't even know their names. As we approach them we hear them speaking in another language to one another but then we hear a cheery shout out hello or good morning. Californians seem to be very friendly. I even stopped one woman merely because she appeared to be Asian and asked if she knew of any good acupuncturist in the area. She didn't miss a beat and cheerfully told me of 2 possibilities that her daughter had been to see and liked. On an afterthought, I realized how silly it was that just because someone looked Chinese that they would know a good acupuncturist! That is similar to someone finding out that I am from Missouri and asking me if I know someone who lives somewhere in Missouri. They are often genuinely surprised that I do not know such a person. All of us human beings have such funny perceptions of others!! My biggest adjustment here has been to be out of my own kitchen!! I go to make something and I don't have the staples on hand or don't have the right utensil to cook it with or cook it in. I got ready to make a batch of Annette Rule's incredible bran muffins and realized I didn't have any vanilla in the cupboard. We feel like we go to the grocery store every day (we don't but it sure feels like it) because I'm always needing something that I don't have in the cupboards. I expect the cashiers to soon be saying, "Ah Elder and Sister Downs, 5 days in a row. Wish we had more customers like you!" They really do act like they know us well since we go so often. I will never take vanilla, measuring spoons or good cooking pans for granted again!! I found out that the temperature in my oven is definitely off several degrees. I attempted to bake a turkey breast and it was so dry and tough that I had to grind it up and make turkey salad. The salad turned out great but goodness, a big turkey breast makes a lot of turkey salad. Just more food to give to the young, starving missionaries we work with! By the way, I did go to one of the acupuncturists my new Asian friend suggested and really like her. She doesn't speak much English and has difficulty understanding me with my Midwest accent but hopefully she understands my body. I am feeling better except for the bruises on my back which are the result of the Chinese "cupping" method to improve circulation. So, I am feeling better and thank goodness I do not wear immodest clothing or someone might accuse Elder Downs of abusing me. I a
Friday, September 21, 2012
September 21, 2012
Hello to our friends and family. Let me tell you about my friend Billy Reed. Fifteen years ago I was involved with prison ministries at the Jefferson City Corrections prison. This was the prison where men were sent who had committed some pretty serious crimes, and many of these men wouldn't be getting out for a long time if ever. I would go in on Sunday nights and meet in a small room in the basement of the prison chapel. Anywhere from three to ten men would usually attend, some who sincerely wanted to be there and others who just wanted to get out of their cells. Three men, who I remember well, who became my friends, came each and every time. T.J. aka Terrill Jennings, aka Porter Rockwell (because that described him better), Richard Beckham, now deceased, and Billy Reed. These men always came with a contrite heart and wanted to worship the Savior. I always felt the Spirit within those walls and always felt safe with these three men around me. As with all of us at some time in our lives we wish we could rewind an event that had occured where something went wrong, where someone was hurt, or a car was damaged, or a crime was committed. But we can't do that and have to go on with our lives whatever that might be. In these men, I never saw anger against the system, "woe is me", or "I've been wronged", just sincere men wanting to make the best of it. I was not allowed to baptize them or give the sacred elements of the Sacrament but the Spirit of the Lord was there none the less. After about seven years these three men were transferred to other prisons and I was called to serve in other responsibilities. We kept up correspondence and I never forgot what those men taught me.
Fast forward to 2012. I received a phone call from Billy Reed. He had been released from prison, was in a half way house in Kansas City, had a job and had a car. The system had felt he had served his time and now he was out in the world to survive on his own. Billy always said if he got out he would dedicate his life to the Lord. Well he was baptized recently into the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-Day Saints and last week attended the Kansas City temple to do baptisms. He is one excited and pumped man. I am so happy for him and glad I could play a small part in his life. I look forward to seeing him in 2014 when we come home.
May we always remember Matthew 25: 35-36 "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me".
May we always emulate in some small way what the Savior did for mankind.
John
Hello to our friends and family. Let me tell you about my friend Billy Reed. Fifteen years ago I was involved with prison ministries at the Jefferson City Corrections prison. This was the prison where men were sent who had committed some pretty serious crimes, and many of these men wouldn't be getting out for a long time if ever. I would go in on Sunday nights and meet in a small room in the basement of the prison chapel. Anywhere from three to ten men would usually attend, some who sincerely wanted to be there and others who just wanted to get out of their cells. Three men, who I remember well, who became my friends, came each and every time. T.J. aka Terrill Jennings, aka Porter Rockwell (because that described him better), Richard Beckham, now deceased, and Billy Reed. These men always came with a contrite heart and wanted to worship the Savior. I always felt the Spirit within those walls and always felt safe with these three men around me. As with all of us at some time in our lives we wish we could rewind an event that had occured where something went wrong, where someone was hurt, or a car was damaged, or a crime was committed. But we can't do that and have to go on with our lives whatever that might be. In these men, I never saw anger against the system, "woe is me", or "I've been wronged", just sincere men wanting to make the best of it. I was not allowed to baptize them or give the sacred elements of the Sacrament but the Spirit of the Lord was there none the less. After about seven years these three men were transferred to other prisons and I was called to serve in other responsibilities. We kept up correspondence and I never forgot what those men taught me.
Fast forward to 2012. I received a phone call from Billy Reed. He had been released from prison, was in a half way house in Kansas City, had a job and had a car. The system had felt he had served his time and now he was out in the world to survive on his own. Billy always said if he got out he would dedicate his life to the Lord. Well he was baptized recently into the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-Day Saints and last week attended the Kansas City temple to do baptisms. He is one excited and pumped man. I am so happy for him and glad I could play a small part in his life. I look forward to seeing him in 2014 when we come home.
May we always remember Matthew 25: 35-36 "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me".
May we always emulate in some small way what the Savior did for mankind.
John
Sunday, September 16, 2012
September 15, 2012
Somehow we have lost 2 blog entries to the cloud in the sky or wherever things go on computers instead of where they are suppose to go. :) So here goes another try!! It is such a privilege to be on a mission close to family members! We got to go to Amy's home in Walnut Creek last week-end for a special Stake Conference. Our granddaughter, Sophie, sang a beautiful duet to almost 1500 people at their Stake Conference. I don't think I have ever sung in front of that many people and she sang with a smile on her face and with such grace and joy. They did an arrangement of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and there were very few dry eyes in the congregation. We also wanted to be there to hear Eleanor Lyons speak. Eleanor and her late husband, Matt, are very dear friends of Amy and Alph's. As I learned of the many different times that Alph and Amy have been there for Eleanor, my mother's heart has been "righteously pleased" to know what wonderful, supportive people they each are. Matt died 2 months ago as he was hiking up a mountain to meet the ward's scout troop who had been on a 30 mile wilderness hike. He was only 41 years old and was a bishop and father of 4 young children. It is difficult to put into words the spirit that was in that meeting. Several speakers spoke of their experiences during Matt's passing that testified of the Lord's tender mercies and comforting love. Eleanor said many things but I want to share a few of her remarks with you that touched me deeply. She said, "It is not in strength that we survive and even triumph, it is in meekness. Meekness is not weakness, but a humble awareness of our weaknesses." She shared a quote from Elder Neil A. Maxwell that said "Meekness is not tentativeness, but thoughtfulness and patience Meekness does not rest on insecurity and fear but on trust and courage. Meekness is being teachable. Meekness permits us to be confident, as was Nephi, of that which we do know--even when we do not know the meaning of all things. (1 Nephi 11:17) Eleanor was using her newfound understanding of meekness to find peace and joy in a situation that would normally bring nothing but grief and pain. She went on to say, " It is not easy to be meek. It requires us, when our life does not got as planned, when our circumstances become unbearable, to sit still, zoom out on the location of our tragedy, adjust the focus of our heart and mind, and see the entire landscape. In my case, in the space between Matt's death and my response to it, I was able to sit still long enough to choose faith, then witness something special: the grace of the Lord at work."
We all have those "aha" moments in life when we feel something deeply and we say to ourselves, "I want to be like that. I want to be meek and feel that incredible love that can only come from the Lord when we truly choose faith and put our whole trust in Him." How wonderful it is to know that that is possible for each of us if we only put forth the effort to understand the incredible power of the Atonement.
I am sure that of the many things that John and I need to learn to serve well on this mission is indeed meekness. We will drive and drive some days and feel that we have accomplished nothing. Then other days, we will return and say, "What sweet experiences we have had today.' We just want to "move mountains" every day and build testimonies and bring people closer to the Savior. Our day goes so quickly it seems. By the time we eat, exercise, study and get our "travels" organized for the day, it is 1:00 and we try to leave the apartment between 1:00 and 1:30. Then we are out visiting until 5 or 6:00 p.m. We taught our first "Daily Dose" English speaking classes last week in a members home and felt really good about it. This Wednesday evening we start our classes at the church. We have had quite an interest so I am most anxious to see how many remember to come. We often joke about Mormons operating on "Mormon time" (that is being late to meetings, but here they operate on "Island Time". We were thinking about having a volleyball game or Rugby game an hour before our class time and then everyone would be there. I am on the laptop and am making so many mistakes I will close for now and let John add more tomorrow.
Somehow we have lost 2 blog entries to the cloud in the sky or wherever things go on computers instead of where they are suppose to go. :) So here goes another try!! It is such a privilege to be on a mission close to family members! We got to go to Amy's home in Walnut Creek last week-end for a special Stake Conference. Our granddaughter, Sophie, sang a beautiful duet to almost 1500 people at their Stake Conference. I don't think I have ever sung in front of that many people and she sang with a smile on her face and with such grace and joy. They did an arrangement of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and there were very few dry eyes in the congregation. We also wanted to be there to hear Eleanor Lyons speak. Eleanor and her late husband, Matt, are very dear friends of Amy and Alph's. As I learned of the many different times that Alph and Amy have been there for Eleanor, my mother's heart has been "righteously pleased" to know what wonderful, supportive people they each are. Matt died 2 months ago as he was hiking up a mountain to meet the ward's scout troop who had been on a 30 mile wilderness hike. He was only 41 years old and was a bishop and father of 4 young children. It is difficult to put into words the spirit that was in that meeting. Several speakers spoke of their experiences during Matt's passing that testified of the Lord's tender mercies and comforting love. Eleanor said many things but I want to share a few of her remarks with you that touched me deeply. She said, "It is not in strength that we survive and even triumph, it is in meekness. Meekness is not weakness, but a humble awareness of our weaknesses." She shared a quote from Elder Neil A. Maxwell that said "Meekness is not tentativeness, but thoughtfulness and patience Meekness does not rest on insecurity and fear but on trust and courage. Meekness is being teachable. Meekness permits us to be confident, as was Nephi, of that which we do know--even when we do not know the meaning of all things. (1 Nephi 11:17) Eleanor was using her newfound understanding of meekness to find peace and joy in a situation that would normally bring nothing but grief and pain. She went on to say, " It is not easy to be meek. It requires us, when our life does not got as planned, when our circumstances become unbearable, to sit still, zoom out on the location of our tragedy, adjust the focus of our heart and mind, and see the entire landscape. In my case, in the space between Matt's death and my response to it, I was able to sit still long enough to choose faith, then witness something special: the grace of the Lord at work."
We all have those "aha" moments in life when we feel something deeply and we say to ourselves, "I want to be like that. I want to be meek and feel that incredible love that can only come from the Lord when we truly choose faith and put our whole trust in Him." How wonderful it is to know that that is possible for each of us if we only put forth the effort to understand the incredible power of the Atonement.
I am sure that of the many things that John and I need to learn to serve well on this mission is indeed meekness. We will drive and drive some days and feel that we have accomplished nothing. Then other days, we will return and say, "What sweet experiences we have had today.' We just want to "move mountains" every day and build testimonies and bring people closer to the Savior. Our day goes so quickly it seems. By the time we eat, exercise, study and get our "travels" organized for the day, it is 1:00 and we try to leave the apartment between 1:00 and 1:30. Then we are out visiting until 5 or 6:00 p.m. We taught our first "Daily Dose" English speaking classes last week in a members home and felt really good about it. This Wednesday evening we start our classes at the church. We have had quite an interest so I am most anxious to see how many remember to come. We often joke about Mormons operating on "Mormon time" (that is being late to meetings, but here they operate on "Island Time". We were thinking about having a volleyball game or Rugby game an hour before our class time and then everyone would be there. I am on the laptop and am making so many mistakes I will close for now and let John add more tomorrow.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Sunday, September 9, 2012
One of the perks that senior missionaries have is being able to have family come see us or if they are close by we can go see them. On Saturday morning we went to a session at the beautiful Sacramento Temple and then we went onto Amy and Alph's house in Walnut Creek which is about 80 minutes away from us. It was their Stake Conference and Sophie sang a duet with another young lady in the Sunday morning session. She did a wonderful job! This past week we got to know more people in the branch here. We visited with some of the missionaries and workers at Deseret Industries which is similar to Goodwill but different in that it is operated by our church and the employees are trained in many job skills so they can go out into the job market and find better employment. We have some classes set up this coming week to teach Daily Dose english classes. We also hope to teach some classes at Deseret Industries during the month.
I found some photos that we have taken since we began our journey in the middle of August. Enjoy!
Our Journey began with no room left in the car for us!!
How can two old people have so much stuff!!
In Wyoming, some of the original trails where the wagon trains and handcarts went through.
In Wyoming where people from the Oregon Trail wagons carved their initials in the limestone bluffs. Many were dated early 1800's.
Statutes at Willy's Handcart crossing in Wyoming depicting the rescue of those caught in the winter storms with so little to exist on.
At the MTC trying to decide where we are going on the big map.
"Graduation Day" at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). Sherrie and I were two of the 50 senior missionaries that week.
One of the perks that senior missionaries have is being able to have family come see us or if they are close by we can go see them. On Saturday morning we went to a session at the beautiful Sacramento Temple and then we went onto Amy and Alph's house in Walnut Creek which is about 80 minutes away from us. It was their Stake Conference and Sophie sang a duet with another young lady in the Sunday morning session. She did a wonderful job! This past week we got to know more people in the branch here. We visited with some of the missionaries and workers at Deseret Industries which is similar to Goodwill but different in that it is operated by our church and the employees are trained in many job skills so they can go out into the job market and find better employment. We have some classes set up this coming week to teach Daily Dose english classes. We also hope to teach some classes at Deseret Industries during the month.
I found some photos that we have taken since we began our journey in the middle of August. Enjoy!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Daily Dose
One of the programs that the Mission President has asked us to implement and teach is the Daily Dose which is an inspired program that teaches people how to learn the basics of the English language. We meet in huddles of 10 - 15 people and put up a poster which shows the basics of our language. There are a total of 48 lessons that can be taught over several weeks, each taking only 30 minutes twice a week. The success rate of those learning English in this program is very high as well as a high success of people joining the church also. Today we introduced the program in church and several members showed a lot of enthusiasum and want to be involved. We will start teaching the program on Sundays after the meetings are concluded as well as on Wednesday nights when many of the members are there. As the program expands we can go into people's homes and teach it to families and neighbors. People from different nationalities speaking different languages can be in the same group because everyone will be learning how to speak English. The Branch President is so enthusiastic for this program because he knows that the members can succeed and survive better in the American culture and work environment if they understand and can speak English.
We are excited about getting this program started.
We are excited about getting this program started.
Second entry
Welcome to our second entry on our new blogsite. John and I have decided that we will take turns writing first and then the other one will add to it with things they thought were important. So here goes Sister Downs' perception! :) First of all I'll tell you about some "temoral things" and wind up with "spiritual things." Our apartment is much nicer than we expected. There are over 100 apartments in our complex! Thank goodness there are only 4 apartments to a building though. Our neighbors in the building seem to be quiet folks which we count as a huge blessing. We have a 2 bedroom apartment so one room can be used as an office. We even have a desk and a bookcase!! We are trying to use the Wi-Fi hotspot on John's phone as our internet system and so far so good except for being VERY slow at times. The apartment is very clean and very safe. We are triple blessed to have a washer and dryer right in our apartment!! We are in an area called "The Pocket". The areas surrounding us are not as nice as our area and a few of them we probably will not be going into after dark. Part of our goals while serving this mission is to become more physically fit. I don't want to brag so I'll say I'm righteously pleased to state that we have walked for 30 minutes every day since last Wednesday. It is very flat here and very lovely where folks have been able to water their lawns. There are parks and riding paths galore. We walk to a park about 5 minutes from here and then walk through the park for about 25 minutes and then return home. We go early in the morning before it gets too hot and before scripture study time and it is a wonderful time. Although my muscles initially did not agree, they are beginning to cooperate more and we think we can tell a difference already. I will have John tell you about his bicycle travels. We are having the young couple across from us over for popcorn tonight and friendshipping. Grocery stores are close by but, alas, no farmer's markets! They are all a distance from us but we hope to get downtown Sacramento next week and check out one or two down there. We were very surprised not to have a lot of farmer's market close by. The gas and food are definitely more expensive. Gas runs about $4.19and up. We
do a lot of driving when we visit members in this area so we are praying that the Lord will bless our gas supply! :) The weather is everything that we were told it was going to be......beautiful. The days are hot (but NO humidity) and the night become cool.
Onto more spiritual things.......we have become friends with another missionary couple from Tennesee who live a few building over, Elder and Sister Wolf. This is there second mission and we have been so impressed with them. They are serving in the Hmong Branch which is made up of saints from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Several years ago they served a mission in Malaysia. They are several years older than we are and have many health problems but have served so diligently to the Hmong Branch. They don't speak Hmong but have a translater with them most of the time if they are teaching a lesson. Such wonderful examples to us!!
This past week we started visiting families in the church. We will primarily be working with less active members and new converts. We enjoyed meeting with those that we could catch at home and hope to visit with eveyone on the church roster before too long. The members are pretty spread out and it will be better for us as soon as we know the lay of the land better and can "group" folks geographically to save time and gas.
This morning was our first church service. It was fast Sunday so we had the privilege of hearing the members bear their testimonies of the Savior,, His Atonement and their gratitude for the Restored Church. Some spoke only Marshallese, other only English, and others a mixture of both languages. We often could not understand the words but we felt the Spirit and were touched. The opening hymn was sung in English and closing hymn in Marshallese. The first part of the Sacrament prayer was Marshallese and the second part English. We received a very warm welcome and gave the opening and closing prayers, in English of course. They did not have an accompanist so that was an interesting experience. The chorister started off a little off key but by the time we got to the second verse we were all singing the same tune. They had a Community Choir Festival last Sunday and had several, maybe four or five, other church choirs to participate. I wish we could have been here. Everyone said it was a spiritual feast and there was an excellent spirit among the church choirs. Stake Conference is coming on Sept. 18th and we will be singing in the branch choir. They are singing 3 different hymns in 3 different languages, I will post this and start another.
do a lot of driving when we visit members in this area so we are praying that the Lord will bless our gas supply! :) The weather is everything that we were told it was going to be......beautiful. The days are hot (but NO humidity) and the night become cool.
Onto more spiritual things.......we have become friends with another missionary couple from Tennesee who live a few building over, Elder and Sister Wolf. This is there second mission and we have been so impressed with them. They are serving in the Hmong Branch which is made up of saints from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Several years ago they served a mission in Malaysia. They are several years older than we are and have many health problems but have served so diligently to the Hmong Branch. They don't speak Hmong but have a translater with them most of the time if they are teaching a lesson. Such wonderful examples to us!!
This past week we started visiting families in the church. We will primarily be working with less active members and new converts. We enjoyed meeting with those that we could catch at home and hope to visit with eveyone on the church roster before too long. The members are pretty spread out and it will be better for us as soon as we know the lay of the land better and can "group" folks geographically to save time and gas.
This morning was our first church service. It was fast Sunday so we had the privilege of hearing the members bear their testimonies of the Savior,, His Atonement and their gratitude for the Restored Church. Some spoke only Marshallese, other only English, and others a mixture of both languages. We often could not understand the words but we felt the Spirit and were touched. The opening hymn was sung in English and closing hymn in Marshallese. The first part of the Sacrament prayer was Marshallese and the second part English. We received a very warm welcome and gave the opening and closing prayers, in English of course. They did not have an accompanist so that was an interesting experience. The chorister started off a little off key but by the time we got to the second verse we were all singing the same tune. They had a Community Choir Festival last Sunday and had several, maybe four or five, other church choirs to participate. I wish we could have been here. Everyone said it was a spiritual feast and there was an excellent spirit among the church choirs. Stake Conference is coming on Sept. 18th and we will be singing in the branch choir. They are singing 3 different hymns in 3 different languages, I will post this and start another.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
A week to remember at the Missionary Training Center
It is hard to describe arriving on a beautiful campus environment and be amongst 2,900 other missionaries from 19 years of age to some even older than us. The Spirit of the Lord was so strong and the food was amazing. The instructors were so spiritual yet we had fun also. The Tuesday night devotional speaker was Elder Neil L. Anderson from the quorum of the twelve apostles. As in Biblical times when the Savior appointed men to be his apostles, likewise today we have a Prophet and twelve apostles called by the Lord to serve in His church. We met senior couple missionaries who were going to serve in a large variety of missions. Our leaders broke us down into groups called districts. There were four couples in our district and each couple were heading to a different area. One couple, Elder and Sister Gunther, we're going to the east coast to serve a temple mission. The Muensings were headed to New Mexico and the Baumans were going to Berlin, Germany. Although we were not required to learn Marshalleise since we are working with Saints from the Marshall Islands, we had a wonderful opportunity to get four hours of instruction in that language from a return missionary who served in the Marshall Islands. We learned the basic greetings and how to bear our testimony of the Savior and his restored church. We've got the basics down but need a "cheat sheet" to get through our testimonies. Most of the folks in the branch of the church we are serving in Sacramento do speak English on some level. We are most anxious to start meeting with the members and building a close relationship with them. We will be arriving in Sacramento on Tuesday a.m. And will be settling into our apartment. It has been many years since we have lived in an apartment so this will be like we did some odd 45 years ago. The brother in charge of housing for the missionaries called Saturday and said we would be getting a new mattress and two new chairs and a love seat. Yeaaaaaaa! It's always nice to know that we will have a good nights sleep which is often rare between the two of us. So now it is off to see the other part of our family in Walnut Creek, CA and enjoy spending a few days with them. Amy's home is always a delightful, busy place to be but we look forward to sharing our MTC experiences with them and encouraging their children to look forward to the day that they can enter the MTC and prepare to serve the Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)