Good morning. Where has the last 12 months gone! I truly feel we are a part of the "stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands, and is rolling forth until it has filled the whole earth". (Daniel 2 and D & C 65: 2). The speed at which Sherrie and I are going forth in our responsibilities is amazing to us (as two "old people"). We are but a small granulated portion of that rolling stone but the exhilaration of being part of that movement brings much satisfaction to us. Six months ago I was saying that maybe we would only serve 12 months rather than the 18 months. We felt stymied in our efforts because in our perception we weren't doing much good. Lack of progress and response from the Marshallese people was our biggest frustration. But then we requested from the mission president that we be given more to do, he responded by giving us two additional wards or congregations to work with. Goodness, now we are busy and we love it! This past Tuesday night we held the first session of two different "Strengthening Marriage" classes that we will be teaching. The other class with the other group will be taught on Friday nights. This is something we really enjoy teaching and look forward to sharing our many years experience.
    We are also teaching several New Member lessons to people who have been baptized into the church in the last 12 months or so. Very enjoyable. They all come from such different walks of life and it is exciting to seem them grow in the gospel. Some of these new members bring on good challenges for us as they ask thought provoking questions about the gospel that cause us to search deep into the scriptures. One women is still holding onto her Pentecostal believes which provides for some interesting discussion. As we were visiting and teaching another young couple, we were so surprised to hear that the somewhat laidback and mild mannered wife is a fast pitch softball coach for young women. Ashley has been a semi-professional pitcher for several years. Back when she was pitching regularly her husband-to-be James was the only one who had the ability (and courage) to catch for her!! Thus the reason they began dating which eventually led to marriage.
    Last night the full time missionaries had asked Sherrie and I to go with them as they were having discussions with a single lady who is interested in the church. The evening progressed well and Sherrie and I felt we had contributed to the discussion. The woman said "You know I was ready to say to you tonight, to not come back anymore, but after tonight's discussion I've decided I want you to keep coming back". Then she asked us to step into her other room that like the rest of the house was somewhat cluttered with her entanglements of life, and there was a beautiful mahogany baby grand piano. The piano glistened like a diamond amongst the cobwebs and dust. She asked one of the Elders that she previously knew was an accomplished pianist, play a arousing number from the theme of the movie "Polar Express", and then the lady played a beautiful number of her own. The evening was magical and we hope it will continue with her in wanting to know more about the church.
   Well, today we finished two days of inspecting missionary apartments! 14 to be exact! Phew! Time for a rest. Some Elders or Sisters in some cases live in apartments while others live in members homes. From a low score of 0 to a high of 10, we gave evaluations from 0 to 9. Some have not been taught well by their moms! It is interesting also with the ones that live in member's homes, however good or not so good the homeowner keeps their home clean is exactly how the missionaries respond to keeping their bedroom and bathroom clean. But they are all great Elders and Sister missionaries.
    To close off this post, I give a couple of amusements! As I bike the greenways around here almost every early morning I have to use my horn almost all the time because the great abundance of Asian and Japanese decent citizens that take up the whole pathway as they chitter chatter away in their language. Then when I tweak my horn they scatter like a flock of ducklings until I get by. When I ride by a particular field each time there is a solitary Asian woman standing out in the middle of the field doing her Tai Chi. A refreshing sight.
    And finally, every time we have a Zone meeting where there are 15 to 60 young Elders around I challenge them all to doing my "Russian pushup" (lying flat on the floor, on my stomach, arms extended forward, and then proceed to do pushups from this position). They are so stymied as to why a 68 year old man can do something that they can't! It's a challenge they can' let go. Recently, I watched a West Point cadet/missionary and a big Tongan missionary finally do it.
    Got to go, love you all, John

                                       "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured"
                                                                              (Gordon B. Hinckley)

   

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

Hello

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

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

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

Love ya,

Elder John

How time flies.....

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

 

Sherrie's busy at the moment so I will blog even though it is her turn. We just had one of our daughters (Heather, and her daughters Katie and Allie) come visit us for a few days. We spent time with her and the girls as well as with Amy and family who are in Walnut Creek, 80 minutes away. We road tripped to the beach and the aquarium at Monterey Bay. Great fun.

Special quotes we heard from the grandkids include: From 3 year old Bea as we were trying to wipe her dirty hands "That's da-gusting" she said as she was trying to describe how disgusting it is. To watch Katie age 4 as she tells a story with all of the grandiose ways that a typical 4 year old talks with hands, arms, eyes and emotions. To hear Simon tell a complete story with a binkie still in his mouth. In about ten days Melissa and her family will be coming to visit a few days. We are so grateful that mission rules for us "older missionaries" are more flexible in allowing family to come visit.

Today we started with some new assignments. In addition to still working with the Marshallese branch on Sundays from 11 am - 3 pm as well as Wednesday nights, we will now also be working with the Sacramento 1st and 2nd wards. One of these wards starts at 9 am in the morning so we will attend there until we leave to go over to the Marshallese branch. Then we will be making visits to these two wards members during the week and evenings. In the one ward there are older members that live in 15 different retirement centers. I think I've already seen Sherrie digging out her old "Activity Director" hat because she will love going into the retirement centers to visit. In this  particular ward the Bishop has asked younger families to "adopt a grandparent" that lives in the retirement centers that can't get around or may need a ride to church. It works out well for everyone.

I mentioned previously that we now have two sets of senior sister missionaries living in the same apartment complex as us. I am the district leader over them and Sherrie. That's five women against one man. Oh well, some guys are just lucky. At least I get in the last word all the time (Yes, Sisters, whatever you say!!).

Another effort I'm doing is genealogy when I have time. As I was using  familysearch.org  (this is a free website for anyone to go to) to do some research, I clicked on my family tree to see what research has been completed whether by me or by unknown or distant relatives. I found a line branching off from one of my immediate lines that someone else has done. The line goes all the way back to 400 AD and includes Kings, Queens, Counts and Countesses, Dukes, Earls, etc. How exciting! I'm checking to see if any money or crown jewels are being held back for the right descendent (ME!!) to come forth and claim. Ha!!

"When fleeing a scene of temptation, do not leave a forwarding address." (Jeffrey R. Holland)

Take care,

John

Hello from 100 degree Sacramento

Where did the nice spring weather go. But our hearts go out to those in Missouri, Oklahoma and other places where the severe storms have been occurring. Here in our apartment it is rather humorous to see two "old" missionaries going back and forth about what the temperature should be in our apartment. We take turns sneaking up to the thermostat and adjusting it to our liking.  Oh well, after 47 years we are used to the give and take I guess.

 Part of our assignments include going to another stake in north Sacramento to seek out the lost sheep there. Yesterday we had a list fifteen names to find. The results were quite varied. Some people have been gone for over two years. Others live in gated communities or secured building so we can't see anyone there. At one household the gentlemen of the house spoke only Modovi? (Indian) language and our hand signs and his limited English didn't mesh too well. Rather humorous I'd say. At another apartment complex the woman buzzed us in but as soon as we identified herself she covered her ears and ran away while yelling "You made me cry and I don't want it anymore!". The last visit of the day was quite the menagerie of mixed marriages, different adults, children, and pets but they said they held their Family Home Evenings on a regular basis and loved contact from the church members. We went away from there shaking our heads.

I think we mentioned previously that I'm a District Leader for "Senior" missionaries. The President just informed us that we will have two more sister missionaries coming in this weekend, and they are literally sisters to each other. The one has never married and taught for 30 years at BYU and the other is a widow. They have always dreamed of serving a mission together, so now there will be six of us seniors and we all live here in the same apartment complex. That will be fun. In these next few weeks we have various children and grandchildren coming to see us so that will be exciting. We are on the downside of our mission now and have so much more to do, so I guess I'll sign off and get to work.

My quote of the week: "We don't pray because we're worthy. We pray because we need help. We don't take the sacrament because we are perfect, but because we are willing to be perfected. We don't go to the temple because we made it, but because God is make us better there. We are not earning treasure in heaven, but learning to treasure heavenly things." (Brad Wilsox)

Love you all,

John

Long time since posting......

I had a lovely blog written last week to make up for the 2 weeks missed and when I "published" it, it simply disappeared!  I truly believe that computers hate me.  This seldom happens to John!  This is major celebration week...we had supper twice with American families!  We have a missionary couple who are serving a service mission for the church.  They still work, live in their own homes, but are called to assist a struggling unit of the church.  Bro. Wade is the clerk, asst. scout master, and "whatever' else if needed.  Sis. Wade is the Young Women's president and is outstanding.  They are two of the finest folks we have ever met.  They shared their family with us today in celebrating her 58th birthday.  Ahhhh, so long ago....58. :)  The other couple, the Ramsdens had us over Friday evening.  He has just been called to our branch to assist with some long term goal setting for members of our branch.  We work short term goals and he works long term goals.  Since "goals" is a relatively unknown word in the world we currently live in this will be a very interesting journey in teaching the art of setting goals.  I am confident that The Lord wants this done so he has promised to help us find a way to do this and He always keeps his part of the bargain.  Now we just have to spend some time on our knees finding out how he wants us to accomplish this daunting task.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day and it seems strange not to be in our ward's Memorial Day picnic.  We have not missed it for years and have always enjoyed the good food and great fellowship.  We will probably visit a nearby cemetery and pay our respects to those who have done so much for us.  Last night we had the privilege of going to a concert by the Salvation Army New York Staff Band.  It was not only  a musical feast but a spiritual one as well.  It was all brass and percussion instruments and their skill and talent were incredible.  Their testimony of the Savior through word and music was an inspiration to us.  How blessed we were last night to meet many others who, although our doctrines differ, feel the need to witness of the Savior's great Atonement and invite others to come unto Him.  When good Christians unite, there is nothing that can stop goodness from prevailing.  The only thing missing was Cantorum singing along with this marvelous band!  Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to be with our good friends Carol and Greg Abbott who were in CA visiting their son.  What a joy it was to be with them!!  Good friends are hard to come by and we cherish those that we have. It was a little hard to wave them good by. We don't have much "new" news about our mission.  We are hanging in there and have days that we feel like we have accomplished alot and other days when no one keeps their appointments or comes to their doors that we go,  "Mmmmmm, this is an interesting experience."  :)  I'm getting ready to teach a class in Relief Society (the women's organization) on how to cook beans.  Everyone here eats LOTS of meat and have never cooked beans before.  Anyone wanting to send a case or two of Beano?  We have been to several farmer's markets that we LOVE!  The asparagus season is almost over and we are so sad.  Melissa, our daughter, found a really interesting story that really tells a lot about the Marshallese in the U.S. which I would encourage you to check out.  www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/US/for-marshall-islanders-hopes-and-troubles-in-arkansas.html.  We get a new quote every day from an app called LDS Quotes that we really enjoy.  Just wanted to share a good one with you by Brad Wilcox from his book "Continuous Conversion".  "We don't pray because we're worthy.  We pray because we need help.  We don't take the sacrament because we are perfect, but because we are willing to be perfected.  We don't go to the temple  because we've made it, but because God is making us better there.  We are not earning a treasure in heaven, but learning to treasure heavenly things."    Have a wonderful week and remember those who gave their lives so that we might have freedom.