Week 1 from Grandma
Dear Kids, Grandkids and friends who are brave enough to read this!
What a week this has been!! We spent 4 long days on the road battling weather, road construction and rough roads. We are getting used to our tiny living space which is actually quite comfortable. Grandad is telling your about our being watched over as we came. I feel that we were truly in the hands of the Lord as we traveled!! Heavenly Father promises that He will go before our face and be on our right hand and on our left!! One thing that came on Thursday really strengthened me again. It was three quotes that were read to us by our shift coordinator in our preparation meeting on the Friday just after Great Grandma had her strokes. I knew that the Lord wanted us to go on this mission but I was missing my mother so much and wondering if we really were supposed to go on our mission at this time. I am including them here.
I am called of God.
My authority is above that of the kings of the earth.
By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is my Master and He has chosen me to represent Him.
To stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me.
My voice is His voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are His words and my doctrine is His doctrine.
My commission is to do what He wants done.
To say what He wants said.
To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work.
--Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“I have the conviction that the Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temple. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs. We will be eligible to have the Lord take an interest in our affairs both spiritual and temporal.”
--Elder Boyd K. Packer
“The Blessings of the Temple are priceless.”
--President Thomas S. Monson
How grateful I am for inspired leaders!
We arrived late Friday night....too dark to see much and too tired to do much. We slept well and on Saturday took these pictures of where we are staying: Zion's Camp at the base of the Hill Cumorah.
This is home, sweet, home for the next six months. As you can tell by the trees, spring has just barely come to this northern place. It has been cold!! Down to freezing and in the fifties during the day! Sooooo glad we brought winter coats!!
The grounds are beautiful. This little gazebo is right in front of our home. We have free laundry facilities at the camp as well as showers although our RV has a comparatively nice shower so we will use it.
For the rest of Saturday, we met all the other RV missionaries and they are wonderful people. I think we will become good friends. We also hiked to the top of the Hill Cumorah around the back way...a little hard on the knees coming down but a good walk. After shopping and cleaning our house we went up to the temple for a session and met with the temple President. Such a lovely day!!
Today has been so wonderful!! We went to church in the Palmyra and they were so welcoming! Every time we turned around we were being greeted as the "new temple missionaries". The sister who gave the opening prayer in Relief Society even prayed for us. It was so touching. This actually will be our only time going there because we will be assigned to branches to support them while we are here. I'm excited about that. This afternoon several couples decided to go to the Sacred Grove. What a fitting way to begin our service here. The Spirit was so strong there. The sweet Sister missionary bore powerful testimonies as she took us around. We told her how sweet her testimony was and how it uplifted us and she looked really surprised....she told us how we had strengthened hers. I am constantly amazed at how the Spirit works..."all are edified". The Grove was as peaceful and sacred as it always is. How can I be so blessed to serve here and look over the Sacred Grove every day as I walk into the temple!!
Tomorrow we begin our "MTC" experience, most of which will be in the temple. .....but.....I'll tell you about that next week. I love you all so much!!! I know the Lord will bless each of you as we serve.
Mom/Grandma
What a week this has been!! We spent 4 long days on the road battling weather, road construction and rough roads. We are getting used to our tiny living space which is actually quite comfortable. Grandad is telling your about our being watched over as we came. I feel that we were truly in the hands of the Lord as we traveled!! Heavenly Father promises that He will go before our face and be on our right hand and on our left!! One thing that came on Thursday really strengthened me again. It was three quotes that were read to us by our shift coordinator in our preparation meeting on the Friday just after Great Grandma had her strokes. I knew that the Lord wanted us to go on this mission but I was missing my mother so much and wondering if we really were supposed to go on our mission at this time. I am including them here.
I am called of God.
My authority is above that of the kings of the earth.
By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is my Master and He has chosen me to represent Him.
To stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me.
My voice is His voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are His words and my doctrine is His doctrine.
My commission is to do what He wants done.
To say what He wants said.
To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work.
--Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“I have the conviction that the Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temple. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs. We will be eligible to have the Lord take an interest in our affairs both spiritual and temporal.”
--Elder Boyd K. Packer
“The Blessings of the Temple are priceless.”
--President Thomas S. Monson
How grateful I am for inspired leaders!
We arrived late Friday night....too dark to see much and too tired to do much. We slept well and on Saturday took these pictures of where we are staying: Zion's Camp at the base of the Hill Cumorah.
This is home, sweet, home for the next six months. As you can tell by the trees, spring has just barely come to this northern place. It has been cold!! Down to freezing and in the fifties during the day! Sooooo glad we brought winter coats!!
The grounds are beautiful. This little gazebo is right in front of our home. We have free laundry facilities at the camp as well as showers although our RV has a comparatively nice shower so we will use it.
For the rest of Saturday, we met all the other RV missionaries and they are wonderful people. I think we will become good friends. We also hiked to the top of the Hill Cumorah around the back way...a little hard on the knees coming down but a good walk. After shopping and cleaning our house we went up to the temple for a session and met with the temple President. Such a lovely day!!
Today has been so wonderful!! We went to church in the Palmyra and they were so welcoming! Every time we turned around we were being greeted as the "new temple missionaries". The sister who gave the opening prayer in Relief Society even prayed for us. It was so touching. This actually will be our only time going there because we will be assigned to branches to support them while we are here. I'm excited about that. This afternoon several couples decided to go to the Sacred Grove. What a fitting way to begin our service here. The Spirit was so strong there. The sweet Sister missionary bore powerful testimonies as she took us around. We told her how sweet her testimony was and how it uplifted us and she looked really surprised....she told us how we had strengthened hers. I am constantly amazed at how the Spirit works..."all are edified". The Grove was as peaceful and sacred as it always is. How can I be so blessed to serve here and look over the Sacred Grove every day as I walk into the temple!!
Tomorrow we begin our "MTC" experience, most of which will be in the temple. .....but.....I'll tell you about that next week. I love you all so much!!! I know the Lord will bless each of you as we serve.
Mom/Grandma
Love it.
ReplyDeleteThat would be amazing, excited for your new adventure, love the Hicken's.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Love and thanks for the blog!!!