March 17, 2013  So much for trying to blog every week!  :)  I didn't realize it had been so long when John reminded me tonight that it was still my turn to blog.  We had gone to our mission president and asked for additional work and lo and behold, our wish was granted.  Here in our little Marshallese Branch of the church we can almost visit everyone in the branch within a 10-16 day period.  We are still holding our English classes, "Daily Dose", 2 times a week but our attendance has dwindled.  We read/teach English in 3 or 4 other members homes on a weekly basis as well.  We did finally find an inactive family, had a wonderful visit, and they promised to come to church.  Well, last week they didn't show and we were really disappointed.  But, today they came with their WHOLE family which consisted of about 6 grown children and their families!  The pews really filled up fast when they all came into the church!  We will be visiting them this week and hope to establish a relationship with them and nurture them along into activity.  The church has a new program called the Women's Auxiliary Specialist.  These are qualified single sisters who desire to consecrate their all to the Lord by serving a full-time mission.  It is very similar to our calling but they will be serving under the auspices of the mission president but work closely with the stake president, stake Relief Society president, and ward Relief Society presidents.  They will be living in our apartment complex so we will be happy to have fellow missionaries close by to fellowship with in our off hours.  John and I will be dividing our time between the Marshallese Branch and 2 other wards.  Our primary responsibility in the other wards will be to visit less-active single sisters.  It's still kind of "a work in progress" but we are excited about the possibilities to serve in different ways.  Our Sunday's are always pretty full so we are ready to collapse when we get home late in the afternoon.  John definitely had a full plate today.  He spoke in Sacrament meeting, taught the Missionary Preparation Class and then taught priesthood.   I just struggled along with my class of teenagers in trying to convince them that the Atonement is really, really important.  We then had a meeting with several folks from the Stake and D.I. about the employment struggles that members are having.  While we were in that meeting there was a knock on the door and one of the brethren asked if any of us had a white car.  I was very relieved to remember that ours was beige.  Evidently, two teenagers got hold of some car keys and decided to take the car for a little drive.  Unfortunately, the one behind the wheel had NEVER had his hands on a steering wheel before.  He accelerated, jumped the curb, turned the wheel to keep from hitting the church and crashed into another car.  No one was hurt, thank goodness, and we were so blessed that there were no children playing on the sidewalk.  John had been having a lot of trouble with one of his hips but our dear son-in-law, Dr. Alph, gave him a RX for physical therapy and it has really helped.  Still brings him a little distress at night but is much better.  John was at P.T. last week and a man and woman shuffled out of the therapy rooms with some difficulty.  When he went into the therapist he said he hoped he would not be that way when he was their age.  She smiled and quietly said, "You are older than they are!"  We feel so blessed to  have our health, with just the regular aches and pains, and are able to go about the Lord's work.  I am reading an excellent book on receiving personal revelation entitled "Hearing the Voice of the Lord" by Gerald N. Lund.  John and I often find ourselves in situations that we just don't know what to do or to say to motivate and uplift the saints that we serve.  We are trying to learn how to receive, recognize and then respond to the voice of the Lord.  Spencer W. Kimball said the following:  "The blessing of revelation is one that all should seek for.  Righteous men and women find that they have the spirit of revelation to direct their families and to aid them in their other responsibilities.  But...we must seek to qualify for such revelation by setting our lives in order."  So the challenge is on to us all.......to set our lives in order.  Not easy....but definitely possible!