Week 15 - Halfway!!
Dear Family and Friends,
I can’t believe that we are officially halfway through our mission today. It has gone by soooooo fast and I know that the next three months will go by just as fast. We have loved it so far!! It is hard work but good work!!
The rest of this week has been good with work at the temple and the branch and going to Lockport with the 6-month missionaries. Richard already told about that so I won’t do it again here. It is so good to be back in Zion...
...at the foot of our beloved Hill...
...with a wall of trees protecting us on all sides.
On Friday morning, we were able to walk on the Hill. Here are some pics from our walk.
Notice that they still have to take some things down from the Pageant.
The sun is just starting to peak over the Hill.
Friday we had a precious experience. There was a baptismal group that was supposed to be there at 12:00 but they called and said they would be late. They finally showed up at 4:20. The problem was that there were assigned baptismal workers at 12:00 but no one to do it at 4:20 and our shift got off at 5:00. Dad and I had a break at that time so we went in to get them started. Dad could stay but I had an assignment in the Celestial Room when the last session of our shift was finished. I handed out clothing, gave instructions to the sister who had come with them about handing out towels and then helped another worker who could stay for a few minutes. She had never worked in the baptistry so I gave her the quick and dirty training session….ours had taken two hours!! I then went to the Celestial Room but the patrons didn’t stay very long and I was able to get back just as the other worker had to leave. I took over just in time to help the girls get ready for Confirmations and to do the laundry. Three of the four girls took really long showers and everyone had to wait for over 35 minutes to start Confirmations. At that point, I could clean the girls locker room and start the Laundry. Dad got the boys' laundry before he went to witness the Confirmations. He then came back and cleaned the boys locker room. We finally left the temple over 40 minutes after our shift ended. BUT that was all in the Lord’s plan. We needed a few things at the store so we decided to go to the grocery store in Palmyra. When we got to the checkout stand, there was a young woman (probably late twenties) in line ahead of us and she was trying to pay for as many groceries as she could with a WIC check. I leaned over and told her we would love to buy the rest of her groceries. She hesitated for just a moment and then refused our help. She paid for the rest with a food stamp card. We finished checking out and when we went out we found her trying to load 3 gallons of milk, five bags of groceries and her year and a half little boy into a stroller. We told her we would be happy to take her home. She looked up at us and finally saw our missionary tags. She said, “Oh, you’re from the church.” She let us give her a ride home. On the way, she said that as a girl she had gone to the Pageant almost every year and in the last 3 years since moving to Palmyra she had been wanting to go again. She told us she was originally from Rochester (about ½ hour from Palmyra). When we got to her mom’s apartment building where she was meeting her husband, we helped her bring the groceries upstairs. She introduced us to her mom and said, “they’re from the church.” The mom didn’t say anything to us. She then told us that they used to go to “your church” but that when she was a teenager she had had a baby out of wedlock and they had left the church. I read a whole lot of pain, heartache and hurt feelings between the lines of those few statements. I gave her a hug and told her that Heavenly Father loved her. I also told her that there were no coincidences but that He had sent us not only to give her a ride but to let her know that He knew her and loved her. She got tears in her eyes and said she still had a Book of Mormon. I told her that if she would read it, she would find peace in her life and feel the love of Heavenly Father through His Spirit. She told us that she had a good life now with a husband and a little boy. I think she was telling us that she doesn’t need the church but I also think she has been thinking about the Church. For whatever reason or purpose I know the Lord wanted her to know He knew her. I feel so humbled to know that we were instruments in the hands of the Lord and could play a small part in His grand design to send a message to one of His precious daughters.
We had a good day today at church. Our lesson went well with three extra youth. There was a lot of discussion and sharing of feelings and testimony about the Temple. Dad gave a blessing to a brother in the ward who is going in for surgery tomorrow.
To and from Church we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Upstate New York. There are a lot of white, yellow and purple wild flowers that have replaced the others over the last few weeks.
Today, though, we saw that a new one had popped up….a reddish purple. So pretty. The light wasn’t really good for giving you the best picture but here they all are.
Well, dear ones, another week is about to begin and I want to get this off. I love you all so much. I have thought a lot this week about the quiet, unheralded service that we do. I think that is the most satisfying when we can serve day in and day out to make the lives of our Father’s children better. For us, Dad and I, right now, it is our quiet service in the Temple. How blessed we are!!
Love you and miss you!!!
Grandma/Mom/Sandy
I can’t believe that we are officially halfway through our mission today. It has gone by soooooo fast and I know that the next three months will go by just as fast. We have loved it so far!! It is hard work but good work!!
The rest of this week has been good with work at the temple and the branch and going to Lockport with the 6-month missionaries. Richard already told about that so I won’t do it again here. It is so good to be back in Zion...
Friday we had a precious experience. There was a baptismal group that was supposed to be there at 12:00 but they called and said they would be late. They finally showed up at 4:20. The problem was that there were assigned baptismal workers at 12:00 but no one to do it at 4:20 and our shift got off at 5:00. Dad and I had a break at that time so we went in to get them started. Dad could stay but I had an assignment in the Celestial Room when the last session of our shift was finished. I handed out clothing, gave instructions to the sister who had come with them about handing out towels and then helped another worker who could stay for a few minutes. She had never worked in the baptistry so I gave her the quick and dirty training session….ours had taken two hours!! I then went to the Celestial Room but the patrons didn’t stay very long and I was able to get back just as the other worker had to leave. I took over just in time to help the girls get ready for Confirmations and to do the laundry. Three of the four girls took really long showers and everyone had to wait for over 35 minutes to start Confirmations. At that point, I could clean the girls locker room and start the Laundry. Dad got the boys' laundry before he went to witness the Confirmations. He then came back and cleaned the boys locker room. We finally left the temple over 40 minutes after our shift ended. BUT that was all in the Lord’s plan. We needed a few things at the store so we decided to go to the grocery store in Palmyra. When we got to the checkout stand, there was a young woman (probably late twenties) in line ahead of us and she was trying to pay for as many groceries as she could with a WIC check. I leaned over and told her we would love to buy the rest of her groceries. She hesitated for just a moment and then refused our help. She paid for the rest with a food stamp card. We finished checking out and when we went out we found her trying to load 3 gallons of milk, five bags of groceries and her year and a half little boy into a stroller. We told her we would be happy to take her home. She looked up at us and finally saw our missionary tags. She said, “Oh, you’re from the church.” She let us give her a ride home. On the way, she said that as a girl she had gone to the Pageant almost every year and in the last 3 years since moving to Palmyra she had been wanting to go again. She told us she was originally from Rochester (about ½ hour from Palmyra). When we got to her mom’s apartment building where she was meeting her husband, we helped her bring the groceries upstairs. She introduced us to her mom and said, “they’re from the church.” The mom didn’t say anything to us. She then told us that they used to go to “your church” but that when she was a teenager she had had a baby out of wedlock and they had left the church. I read a whole lot of pain, heartache and hurt feelings between the lines of those few statements. I gave her a hug and told her that Heavenly Father loved her. I also told her that there were no coincidences but that He had sent us not only to give her a ride but to let her know that He knew her and loved her. She got tears in her eyes and said she still had a Book of Mormon. I told her that if she would read it, she would find peace in her life and feel the love of Heavenly Father through His Spirit. She told us that she had a good life now with a husband and a little boy. I think she was telling us that she doesn’t need the church but I also think she has been thinking about the Church. For whatever reason or purpose I know the Lord wanted her to know He knew her. I feel so humbled to know that we were instruments in the hands of the Lord and could play a small part in His grand design to send a message to one of His precious daughters.
We had a good day today at church. Our lesson went well with three extra youth. There was a lot of discussion and sharing of feelings and testimony about the Temple. Dad gave a blessing to a brother in the ward who is going in for surgery tomorrow.
Well, dear ones, another week is about to begin and I want to get this off. I love you all so much. I have thought a lot this week about the quiet, unheralded service that we do. I think that is the most satisfying when we can serve day in and day out to make the lives of our Father’s children better. For us, Dad and I, right now, it is our quiet service in the Temple. How blessed we are!!
Love you and miss you!!!
Grandma/Mom/Sandy
Comments
Post a Comment