November 16, 2013  I am either a great procrastinator or time goes by way too fast.  I shall choose the second option!  This past Sunday we had our first adult baptism in the Marshallese Branch in many, many months!!  We have had two young elders assigned to our little branch and they are wonderful.  They are very diligent as well as very in tune with the spirit.  It is so amazing to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change lives.  This man, early 30's, has made many bad choices in his life and never had responded to the pleadings of his family who are strong members of the church.  I don't know what exactly brought about his change of heart, but I know his heart has been softened and he was ready to make a commitment.  His 13 year old daughter is in my teenage Sunday School class and she is so happy. The brother that we have been working with on his English conducted the baptism service for the first time.  We were so proud of him.  He is very shy so it took a lot of courage to get up and conduct the meeting.  He will make a great bishop some day, I'm sure.   Next Saturday there will be 7 members of our tiny branch of the church to go to the temple for the first time.  One of the couples has asked us to be there with them to kind of be their escort or guide as they go through the temple.  This is a couple who would not even speak to us a year ago and were not coming to church at all.  They had gotten their feelings hurt and did not want to participate in church.  They now have learned that powerful principle of forgiveness and are now active in the church.  What a joy!!  They have 2 daughters and their families who are setting a goal to all go to the temple next year.  Lives are changed by learning to forgive others. How I wish we could all be perfect sometimes but then of course we would not have opportunities to grow in humility and understanding.  John told you about our new convert friend, Naomi, in his last blog.  Naomi is still going strong and has been baptized and confirmed a member of the church.  She is an incredible cook and loves to have us over and cook for us.  It's kind of a "eat and ask" meal.  We "eat" and she "asks" lots of gospel questions which we are delighted to answer.  I hope we will always remain in contact  with her after we leave Sacramento.  We have a new assignment of about 61 names of less active members from the Sacramento 1st Ward who we have been asked to try to contact and invite to church.  So far are batting average is about zip for folks not at home.  We started a new marriage class last week and had a great turnout.  We had the second class last night and had 4 people there.  We were trying to figure out if it was our breath, our body odor, or our personalities that might have driven them away.  We're thinking positively though and thinking it may of just been "one of those nights."  We look forward to see what will happen next week.  A Marshallese sister has just been called as my "assistant" in Sunday school so we will team teach for a while so that she will be ready to take over in February.  It doesn't seem possible that we will only be here another 3 months!  We are having 4 sister missionaries over for supper next week and celebrating Thanksgiving with them early.  We are blessed!  Take care!!!

October 27, 2013

         Hello again. Starting to wear long sleeves and sweaters now, but usually quite pleasant in the afternoon. This past Friday and Saturday night we went to two Chili cook-offs and Trunk or Treat events in two of the wards we are assigned to. We don't care to see anymore chili for quite a while! Sampling ten to fifteen different kinds each night is a little much.
        On Friday afternoon Amy and the twinners came up for a few hours and we went to Funderland, a miniature version of Six Flags ( a real, real miniature version). It was great to be with them. In a few days the plan is to meet Amy halfway a day or two before Thanksgiving and we will bring the twinners here for an overnight and then take them back with us to Walnut Creek the following day for Thanksgiving. They really want to do it, I think we do too. It will either be a nice night or a long night. But it should be fine.
        We also took in a little more area culture this weekend. First it was on later Friday night when we went to listen to the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra. The program consisted of movements from Handel's Opus 4, organ concerto in B Flat as well as two other choral numbers. A beautiful setting in a large Presbyterian church. Then on Saturday afternoon we went to a Harvest Moon Celebration in a little Chinese settlement town of Locke along the Sacramento River. Of the many Asian performers the most outstanding was the Bukkyo Taiko drummers (barrel drums of different sizes pounded by authentically dressed performers. Great experience.
        As we have mentioned before the responsibilities of Sherrie and I have mainly been working with recent converts from the past 12 months as well as with long time members, teaching English classes, budgeting classes, marriage classes, teaching members to become more self reliant, and a few other things thrown in. But another area that we love is to go with the younger missionaries when they are teaching someone who is investigating the church. They are not to be alone with single women so we provide the "proper supervision". One such person we have been working with is a woman a little younger than us who is what we call a self-referral. Rather than the missionaries finding her to teach, she contacted the church to say she was interested. She first started with the church's chat-line on which she can communicate with missionaries who are in the Mission Training Center in Provo Utah. Then she asked for missionaries to be sent to her home to continue discussions about the church. Naomi is an amazing person. In addition to going with the missionaries to teach her, we have also become good friends with her. She is what we call a "golden contact" and is someone who can't get enough information about the church. In the discussions whenever we bring up one of the Christian beliefs of our church she always says " I believe that, what's next!" She will be baptized soon, and we are happy we have been able to play a part in her conversion. Great experience!
      Well, Sherrie and I have started mailing boxes back home in anticipation that there won't be enough room in the car when we travel back home. At least that was until we found it cost $50 to send two boxes home! So it's back to the first plan of cramming it into the car tighter, or just not bringing some accumulations home. We'll see.
      One other experience, and then I have to quit. We visit regularly with some couples "older" than us. One of the husbands is in his 90's and is in the terminal stages of colon cancer. But the amazing part is that he has no pain and still has a very sharp and witty mind. He has lived a wonderful life, and has a great love for the Savior. He does not fear death, and even welcomes it so to speak, knowing that he will be completing another step in the plan of salvation that our Savior has provided for us. He looks forward to leaving this existence to be in Heavenly Father's presence again. As I said he still has a sharp and witty mind. His parting comments to us as we were leaving him the other day were "I'm glad the doctors chose not to perform surgery on me, because I didn't want to leave this life with just a "semi-colon"".

         Take care,
                John

Fall is indeed here in sunny California but we hear it is even lovelier in Missouri right now.  Not a lot of trees change color right in our area but we are hoping to travel to Napa for the day in 2 weeks and bask in the autumn colors there.  We usually wear our missionary "tags" when we go somewhere so even though it may be a "pleasure trip" we usually get some opportunities to share a little about the church and "why" we are "doing what we are doing".  John and I have recommitted ourselves to get back on the "health wagon" and abstain from as much sugar as possible.  It's really hard for me to challenge someone to live the "Word or Wisdom" when I need my daily fix of chocolate or ice cream.  Yes, yes, we know there is sugar in everything but we are just trying not to add to it. :)  The older you get it seems to become so much harder  to shed those extra pounds that have crept on your body from out of nowhere.  Now to share good news.....a  Marshallese family has just returned from living in Salt Lake City and have been joyously welcomed back to our tiny branch.  They speak very good English, are hard  workers and have strong, strong testimonies of the Savior.  We have very few Marshellese who understand the importance of service and hard work.  This family has changed their lives since joining the church 3 years ago and set a wonderful example to the other Marshallese people.  They still have plenty of problems, like all of us, but because they have committed their lives to the Lord, they handle their problems so much better. I'm hoping the wife might be able to take over my Sunday School class.  It would be great to team teach with her and help  her with this very unique class of teenagers.  I worry that no one will be prepared to take over in 4 months.  I have some students that I have some very big concerns about the direction they are going.  One of my biggest challenges is to try to teach my Marshallese friends how to cook and eat differently to lessen their diabetes.  Many of them are fully aware of the dangers of diabetes but due to lack of money, they eat the most filling things, i.e. rice, and candy that they can buy cheaply.   Those are the times when I wish I had an endless supply of money and could just go and fill their refrigerators full of yummy healthy food.  In one of our English Wards we are teaching a Hispanic woman the new member lessons.  We love her so much!  She was introduced to the church by the couple that she is a caregiver for and she has totally embraced the gospel.  The challenges that she faces within her own home are enormous.  She was sharing with us how hard it is for her living with an alcoholic husband, 4 children, a son-in-law, and a new baby in a very tiny home.  She said to us, "I don't think anyone has as many bodies in a little house as we do."  And "we" said....."Actually, we have Marshallese friends who have 23 people living in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house and 6 of those "bodies" are under the age of 6."  She replied, "Oh, thank you so much for telling me that.  I need to know that other people face just as great, if not greater, challenges than I have.  My "pity party" is now over!"  Everything is "relative" isn't it?  The couple she is a caregiver for have served missions before and are wonderful.
He is totally bedridden, has difficulty speaking, but has the sweetest countenance.  The caregiver came to work one night totally frustrated with her family at home and said to Sister Carter, "Would you like to adopt some children?"  And Sis. Carter said, "I probably should talk to my husband about that."  Thinking that Bro. Carter was sleeping they went about their chores.  Pretty soon Bro. Carter k calls out quite clearly, "Honey, I really don't think we should be adopting kids right now."  Hilarious!  The students in my "Daily Dose" class have started telling jokes in Marshallese after class.  The nerve!  I told them they couldn't come back to class if they didn't start telling their jokes in English! I can't remember if John or I mentioned this, but we are studying the most incredible book entitled "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad Callison.  It's a "must read" for anyone who loves the Savior and wants to understand his magnificent gift of the Atonement more deeply.  I am so grateful for this mission that has made us take time to study and ponder those important things of the gospel that we should have been doing more diligently before our mission.  Thank goodness for repentance!  To our wonderful children who have called faithfully, skyped, drawn pictures and visited us.....we love you and appreciate your support so much.  Love to all!!!

Humor in the life of the "old" missionary couple

September 30, 2013

Episode #1: Innocence of youth

We are dressed in our Sunday best and we are leaving the apartment to go do what missionaries do. As we are going out to the car, four young boys are playing as we walk by. The conversation goes something like this.

Mister, how old are you?
 I respond without breaking stride "a 100 years old".
"Wow!"
To Sherrie he says "Are you really both 100?"
"No, we are both just 68 years old."
"Wow! That's still old!
"Were you both born on the same day, too!"
Then he says "Where are you going?"
"We are helping Jesus".
Then he says "Is Jesus here on Greenhaven Dr. right now!!"
"Yes, He's everywhere."
"Oh, Okay", as one of them starts to sing a song about Jesus.
As we say good by to get into our car, the oldest is heard to say "Their married you know!"

Episode #2: Hearing problems

Today we went to Travis AFB for me to get fitted for my new fangled hearing enabler (hearing aid). Coming back to Sacramento I'm looking for the switch it has for me to use for "selective hearing" when I don't want to hear "certain conversations". At the same time Sherrie is asking me where the switch is to turn it up so she can make sure I can hear those "certain conversations". Hmmmm. I wonder how this is going to work out. Now Sherrie is saying "John, why are you talking so softly?", and I'm saying "Sherrie, you are talking too loud" and "Stop making so much noise with the candy wrappers!" Maybe we can take turns wearing the device.

Episode #3: Unfinished sentences

Sherrie and I take turns going to a Physical Therapist up the street for "old people" ailments. Today she went for treatment on an old reoccurring "war injury" called a Frozen Shoulder. Sherrie comes back to the apartment and is telling me about the treatment, how the therapist is doing in her life, etc. My hearing aid must still be in the "selective hearing" mode because I hear her talking about
"....had knee surgery, has to take medicine regularly, needs exercise, etc." I'm thinking the young therapist is in bad shape, and then I realize she is talking about Missy who is the therapist's English bull dog who is quite overweight, low to the ground, slobbers, ugly at best with it's protruding teeth and rules the office. The therapist says Missy's slobber is known to heal certain patients ailments!

      Such is the life of Sherrie and I here in Sacramento. Happy times, struggles and challenges, spiritual highs. Wouldn't want it any other way!
      We've just completed the last of the two 6 week marriage courses that we have been teaching. Now we are waiting to see if the two Bishops want us to start teaching another set of courses. We are in various stages of teaching "new member" lessons to about ten recent converts.
      Last Saturday night we went to one of our favorite outdoor theaters to watch a musical production called "Best of Broadway". Good performance. (This is the outdoor theatre that has chickens roosting in the trees around the neighborhood. It was getting dark when we got there so they were already asleep.)
     Looking forward to General Conference broadcasts from Salt Lake this coming weekend. Always a spiritual high.

Take care,
Elder John

                     "When you feel that there is only a thin thread of hope, it is really not a thread
                                    but a massive connecting link."    -- Richard G. Scott

Another busy Sabbath day which we love!  We have had a very low key week this past week as I have been diagnosed with a right "frozen shoulder" and have had to slow down a bit so I was ready to get up and go today.  I had this about 10 years ago in my other shoulder so had self diagnosed earlier and hoped it would go away with some self prescribed exercises but to no avail.  Had to go to the doctor last week and he confirmed my self diagnosis and is sending me for x-rays tomorrow.  I have to lie on my back to sleep because it is so uncomfortable to sleep on either side.  I asked the doctor if I got a discount on my visit since I had already diagnosed myself and he just confirmed it.  :)  All he said was, "My, aren't you a funny little lady."  At least he didn't say "funny old lady" and I was thrilled he thought I was "little".   Speaking of old, John and I had our 47th wedding anniversary on September 17th and we BOTH forgot it.  Part of the problem was that we didn't know what day it was.  I mean, we knew what day our anniversary was we just didn't know that the 17th was this past Tuesday.  Thank goodness Heather keeps track of special days and texted us a Happy Anniversary.  We had gone out to supper that night before so we both just pretended that we did that to celebrate our anniversary.  I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with this good man for this many years.  We love growing older together and count each day as a celebration and privilege to still be able to kneel together each day and thank God for his many blessings.  I must admit that it is getting harder and harder to get up from that kneeling prayer position. We spend a lot of time just laughing at ourselves these days.  We can often be seen "high fiving" each other when we are on an extremely busy highway and make the right exit and our GPS doesn't have to recalculate.  We have become very attached to our new GPS and really consider "her" one of the family.  We are so grateful that we were born in this era and not in the pioneer times.  I really think we should start to say please and thank you to our GPS more often.  We cannot imagine where we would end up in California without "her" guidance.  I only had 9 teenagers in Sunday School so I felt like I had been given some sort of reprieve this morning.  I actually think 2 of them may have been listening because they asked a question that had something to do with the lesson.  Be still my heart!!  I really do love those crazy kids and hope they are learning "something" in class.  I had sharing time in Primary this morning and we had a great game on service.  We have 2 other American couples who are serving as service missionaries in the Marshallese Branch.  Sister Turner has made remarkable progress in teaching the Marshallese children appropriate church behavior.  It was a delight to be with them this morning.  We are whittling away at the new member lessons that we teach each week.  We go into members homes who have joined the church in the last 12-15 months  and teach them lessons about our doctrines as well as to help them understand how we do things at church.  For example, in our church we call the bread and water the "Sacrament" and other faiths call it communion.  They usually have some really great questions that we help answer.  It's been quite interesting some of the things that their friends have told them about "the Mormons" and then they ask us about them.  We are grateful that they are comfortable enough with us to ask us these questions.  Tonight was our last "Strengthening Marriage and Family" class in one of the wards.  We love to facilitate that wonderful class!  We have seen remarkable changes take place in the marriages of those who come to this class.  Sadly, there are some who still don't realize that it really, really pays to invest lots of spiritual, emotional and physical energy into your marriage.  What a difference it makes when spouses apply gospel principles to their marriage.  John and I have a very good marriage but we have never taken each other for granted and constantly look for ways to improve our relationship.  This class is a real blessing to us because we have an opportunity to refocus on important things in our own marriage while we help others do the same in their marriage.  We do a lot of role playing in class and it really is a hoot.  Everyone laughs together because we see ourselves in these different role playing situations.   We did 6 sealings and 2 endowments last Thursday at the temple and have rededicated ourselves to doing better at family history work.  The temple is only 30 minutes away (depending on the time of day) and a large Family History Center is also very close to help us with obstacles in our searching for our ancestors.  I feel badly that I have not been more diligent in doing this very important work.  The new temple film has deeply touched us.  It has helped me look at the Fall of Adam in several different ways that I had not considered before.  How blessed we are! We feel extra blessed because it appears that our neighbors
no longer have their 2 dogs who serenaded us with their barking for long periods of time each day and evening. (LATE evening!)    Hope all is well with anyone who reads our blog. 

September 11, 2013

       Hello family and friends. Greetings from the California delta. It's amazing how it can get so hot here in the daytime and then suddenly in the evening the gentle (sometimes not so gentle) breezes come in off the delta and make it quite pleasant. As Sherrie mentioned last week we are teaching these three marriage classes. As with most teaching and speaking situations the one giving the presentation tends to learn as much as if not more than the recipient. It's amazing to watch how the Bishops of these congregations have felt inspired to determine which couples could gain the most from attending the classes. We have such a blend of young and old ages, newly weds and oldie weds and extreme differences of personalities all brought together for 1 1/2 hours once a week in this six week course. In one case this means an older couple recently married to each other after each has had several previously unsuccessful marriages themselves. Another example is a young newly wed couple who have "taken in" her Vietnamese family of 20+ while they themselves are finding time to take college courses. The matriarch and patriarch of this family who speak no English are in the process of opening up a Vietnamese restaurant here in Sacramento. Wow!
      Some of the couples haven't stuck with it and have dropped out for various reasons, while with the others we've seen some amazing changes occur within their marriage just because they are applying these wonderful principles in their relationships. And as Sherrie said there is always room for improvement in our own marriage of 47 years due to our class involvement. Another one of the many blessings that have occurred while serving on this mission.
     Well recently my old megaphone funnel that I put up to my ear to hear better gave out (son-in-law doctor says welcome to the old age realm of life). I was wondering how to go about getting tested and looking at the cost of hearing aid, when low and behold my 20 years of military service and retirement have paid off again. I "heard" about a "Hearing aids at Cost" program that is being offered to AF retirees and that Travis AFB, which is an hour away from us, is one of the few military bases that offers such a program. So I've been fitted and will pick it up in a few weeks at a mere fraction of the cost they normally are. So soon Sherrie can quit using sign language or holding up large posters to communicate with me.
     During our sojourn here we have done some family research and have been able to find, connect and study the names of more than fifty ancestors. It is such a satisfying pleasure to be able to do this research.
     In conclusion, Sherrie and I have just started reading the book entitled "Infinite Atonement" written by Tad R. Callister. This book talks about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and states "it is the central act of human history, the pivotal point in all time, the doctrine of doctrines". Bruce R. McConkie pays fitting tribute to this noblest of all deeds by saying: "Nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, that being the atoning sacrifice of the Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things". What a powerful statement. We both look forward to further reading of the book.  I want you to know of my love for our Savior and all that he has done for us. That testimony burns within my soul and always will.

Take care,

Elder John

Happy  Labor Day (one day late)!   Today was Fast and Testimony Sunday which I love.  In the Marshallese Branch, another sweet miracle happened......one of the members who participate in my "Daily Dose" English class stood and courageously bore her testimony all in English.  Many of the Marshallese speak much better English than they think they do because of their shyness.  What a  joy to see her standing there, head held high, expressing her love of the Savior in almost perfect English.  I love teaching those classes and try to make it as fun as possible.  They all have a delightful sense of humor once they lose some of their timidness.  "Refrigerator" has been a real challenge to learn to speak correctly.  So this week I lined everyone up and appointed them "cheerleaders".  We made the word refrigerator into a cheer/chant and put in little dance moves to go with it and laughed ourselves to hysteria.  As they were leaving the church building, I saw them swaggering down the hallway doing the "Refrigerator Cheer".  It's one of those things that you had to have been there to appreciate the experience, but it has brought me many a smile in the past few days.  John and I are really getting into "a groove" in teaching this "Strengthening Marriage and Family" course.  We teach each session 3 times a week to 3 different groups.  It's always a little challenging to team teach with anyone but initially it seemed a big challenge to teach with our spouse considering that we both have very different teaching styles. I'm happy to report that we are surviving this experience very well and are developing a true appreciation of each other's way of thinking and presenting material. We  had a wonderful weekend last week in Walnut Creek for our grandson Sam's priesthood ordination into the Aaronic Priesthood. He is developing into a very fine young man who has a wonderful, unique sense of humor and is so veeeeery smart!  What made it even more special was our surprise from Denver.  I was playing with Bea and Simon and Amy (my daughter) came in and said, "Mom, I have 2 friends I want you to meet."  I looked up and there stood Josh holding Booker (almost 3).  I, of course, starting yelling (not really yelling yelling) and crying with joy.  Booker kept gripping his Dad and trying to get as far from me as possible. :)  I haven't seen him for over a year so he was probably wondering who is this crazy old woman?  Then Jessica, Josh's wife, came around  the corner with sweet little Eloise, 5 weeks old!  What a joyous time it was!!!  Life is good and we are blessed!  How grateful I am for my membership in His church and the many opportunities to serve that we have had.  The next 6 months will probably go faster than the last 12 did.  Much more to write but out of space.  Sure love ya!!!