Dear Sammy,
I hope you had a great first full week in the mission field in Sullana, and capped it off with a great experience, watching General Conference! Hopefully, you don’t do your emailing till later this afternoon, since I did not get my weekly email typed up on Sunday and am scrambling to put a note together this morning from work J.
I had a good time last week doing some “research” on Sullana, a summary of which I sent along to you earlier. Which ward(s) are you working in? I assume you watched conference at the stake center …
Kind of fun to meet Hermana R. and that the two of you will share the same trainer. How are things going with Sis. R.? Do you guys speak Spanish 100% of the time? (Does she even speak any English?). Opening a new area can be a challenge but I like your “hablar con todos” attitude! I am confident you will be a great blessing to the people in the area you serve, and in turn, that your life will be blessed by the people with whom you come in contact as well.
We are immensely curious to get a sense of the “mundane” routine of daily life in your area: where are you living? what does your apartment look like? What food are you eating? Do you have a pensionista? Do you have dinner appointments? How are the members? Have you had some funny experiences with the language? Where do you go to access the internet/send emails? Our appetite for such details is pretty much insatiable, but whatever you can share, we look forward to. Of course, photos are worth a thousand words, so if you can send a few along with your email, that would be great. Also, I had another thought that might save you some time at the computer screen. As you have always been a fantastic journal writer, I assume you have been recording your experiences daily. If appropriate, feel free to take a picture of your journal entry, describing an experience or two and just sent them along as pictures, so you don’t have to spend the time typing them out. Just a thought …
Anyway, our week here has been a good one.
Yesterday, after conference, we did the traditional family dinner at Grandmas – burgers/hot dogs and all the trimmings. The weather has been absolutely beautiful! We decided to combine the GC dinner with the annual Easter Egg hunt, even though Easter is still a couple of weeks away. So, everybody got their bucket full of eggs/candy, as well as cash/change in the amount of $6-8 dollars. After all of the egg hunting, etc., Mom and I sat out on the porch with the rest of the adults and just enjoyed the beautiful evening and conversation. It was a very enjoyable evening.
Amber, Kent, and Lindsay have AIMS testing this week. Lindsay, bless her heart, always gets so stressed about AIMS (she seems to live in mortal, albeit irrational, fear of “failing” AIMS and being held back). Of course, she will do fine. But, she asked me to give her a blessing, which I was more than happy to do (and pleased that she would think to recruit the priesthood to help her with this challenge). I ended up giving blessings to Amber and Kent as well. They all headed off to bed for a good night’s sleep, and Mom cooked them a breakfast of eggs and sausage this morning to get the testing week off on the right foot.
Ok, back to conference. In a historic development, I didn’t fall asleep in any of the sessions! Yay me!
Lindsay had her first soccer game on Saturday morning, so Mom and she missed the first session, but we enjoyed the rest of the sessions together. Prior to the sessions, Mom and I went out for a run. We ran the first two miles together over to the canal by the Riparian. Then I headed south while Mom ran around the Riparian. I ended up putting in 12 miles, which was the most I’ve done since the marathon. Mom put in 8. The Mayor was having a 2 mile run/race event there along the canal by the Riparian and Paige and Haley Overson were volunteering. I caught a little bit of the race, which started just as I was passing the canal on my way back home from my run. The weather in the morning was just beautiful, though I think it’s supposed to start hitting the 90’s this week. Speaking of heat, sounds like you are right at home there in Sullana, though I’m sure it seems hotter, as I assume there’s not much in the way of air conditioning …
During Saturday sessions, Paige and Haley O. were in the loft working on their Rube Goldberg project. Of course, that brought back memories of your project, and I went back and “re-lived” the candle-extinguishing triumph. Paige’s task was to turn on music. They did a great job, and borrowed a couple of elements from your project. They managed to get it to work on the 9th try. However, there is a requirement that the task take at least 10 seconds; theirs took only 8, so they may need to “beef it up” and retry. They are going to talk to their Physics teacher about it.
A couple of highlights from my conference experience:
· Loved a couple of shout-outs for the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration!!
· Thought a lot about you while listening to Elder Holland’s talk about having the courage to stand up and defend your faith, as he shared the experience of the sister missionaries were spit on with food, etc. Hope that doesn’t happen to you, but I know whatever challenges you face, you will face them well and with the courage Elder Holland spoke of.
· Holland: “Defend your beliefs with courtesy and compassion, but defend them!”
· Neil L. Andersen: Trees that grow in the wind grow physically stronger than those that do not have to deal with such challenges. “Don’t let the whirlwinds drag you down.” [Think Helaman 5:12—our trek scripture!]
· Pres. Eyring: “When you choose to keep a covenant, you choose to leave an inheritance of faith for those who follow you.”
· Russell M. Nelson: “Religion” literally means “to tie back to God”; Too many people look to their bank account as the only indicator of their faith; Truth is truth, whether it comes from the laboratory or from the pulpit.
· Dallin H. Oaks: When a YW is set apart as a full time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to act in the duties assigned to her.
· Donald L. Hallstrom: The purpose of the gospel is only fulfilled if we are willing to “change.” Who we are is not who we can become. The Atonement gives everyone the ability to change. When we accept that we can change, we give the Spirit full access to our heart.
· Randall L. Ridd: Owning a smart phone does not make you smart! (technology is made available to advance the Lord’s purposes, but we must use it wisely).
· Pres. Uchtdorf (priesthood): Are you sleeping through the restoration? (Rip Van Winkle analogy).
· Pres. Monson (priesthood): If you ever find yourself where you shouldn’t ought to be: Get out! Be the same person in the dark as you are in the light; Courage is not just about dying manfully, but about living decently. It’s hart o stand upright when one plants his roots in the soil of popular opinion.
· Pres. Uchtdorf: Be grateful “in” your circumstances; don’t wait to be thankful for the rain until after the rainbow appears.
· M. Russell Ballard: Great missionary talk about the importance of “follow up” and persistence. “No matter how good your message is, you may not have the chance to deliver it without consistent, persistent follow up.” Extending an invitation without following up is like buying a ticket but not using it.
· David A. Bednar: Analogy with the truck stuck in the snow, which was only able to get “unstuck” after filling the bed with a heavy load of wood: “Is the load I am carrying producing the necessary spiritual traction?” Throughout this talk, I was thinking of your reference to Alma 7:11-13. The atonement can help us with our load.
· Pres. Monson: Love is the very essence of the gospel. Kindness, patience, selflessness, forgiveness, etc. are all expressions of love. Each person has the ability to increase the sum total of happiness on the earth through expressions of love. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you speak today, but the recipient may remember and cherish them forever.
· William R. Walker: The more connected we feel to our righteous forefathers, the more likely we are to make wise and righteous choices.
· L. Tom Perry: Obedience is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power, and Gods’ unlimited wisdom and omnipotence.
· Michael John U. Teh: Calamity and tragedy have a way of refocusing us on what is most important.
All in all, it was a great conference with lots of messages, reminding me that I have room for improvement. My first general conference on my mission was when I was in the MTC. I remember being so much more focused on the messages at that time that I ever had been previously. It was a great experience. I hope you were able to understand the messages in Spanish and enjoy the experience.
Before conference on Sunday morning, Mom, Kent, and I took Rex on a walk through the horse properties to the south. Did I mention that the weather has been beautiful!
On Saturday night, after the priesthood session, I went out to our traditional post-session dinner at Village Inn with Richard and Dan and their two sons (Jacob and Kevin). We missed the rest of our crew. Next conference, Kent will be coming with us! Exciting.
Speaking of Kent’s 12th bday, I am finally getting around to pinning down a few details for his 12 bday trip. The plan is to drive to LA and go to Universal Studios, then head up to Yosemite Natl park, where we will camp for one night, then stay in the Yosemite Lodge campground (e.g., fancy tent camping); then we will head down to a hotel in Lone Pine, CA, near Mt. Whitney for our planned ascent to the highest point in the continental U.S. Should be fun trip…
On Friday, Mom and I got up early and did a session at the temple. It was great. Seeing the rising sun shine through the stained-glass windows in the Celestial Room is always quite an experience. We put your name on the temple roll, as we both felt impressed that you could use the support of the collective prayers of the temple patrons during this week of whirlwind change. Hope it helped.
That night, Mom and I went on a date to play racquetball at the Gilbert Rec Center and then went for a walk in the Riparian.
At work, we finally got a ruling on a big motion that we filed 6 months ago in my case in Atlanta. The judge ruled in our client’s favor, so it was more cause for celebration here at work. It’s always nice to get a good result for the client!
Well, I better get this sent off, so I can get back to work and make sure this gets to you before you log on to your email.
We continue to pray for you constantly, particularly at this time of transition to the mission field, where everything is “new” and no doubt, a bit overwhelming. I have complete faith that you will be able to handle any obstacle thrown in your path, and that you will be able to see the positive (and perhaps humor), even in the challenging experiences you face. Just remember: You are awesome!
With much love,
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment