Week of April 17 - 23

 

We were suppose to get six new missionaries Monday about noon, but only Elder Coronado came because he was traveling from Oklahoma. The others were coming from the MTC in Provo and spent the night in Phoenix because they could not all get on the flight. They did not arrive  until 6:40 pm on Tuesday evening. President Layton reminded us that the way you spell missionary is "f-l-e-x-i-b-l-e". We all had to readjust our schedules and plans. We had already set up for lunch at the stake center, and I was just about to turn the ovens on to bake the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Instead of lunch on Monday for the arriving missionaries and lunch on Tuesday for the departing missionaries, we had the arriving lunch on Wednesday. It all worked out in the end because we are "flexible". Elder Coronado was only in our mission four days because his visa arrived just after he got here and on Thursday he flew to Guatemala where he was originally called. He served in Guatemala previously for about eight months, but got sick and had to go home to Oklahoma for almost a year. Then he was called back to the same mission in Guatemala. It makes one wonder why he came to our mission for just a few days. He told President Layton he knew why he came. He said our missionaries love their missions  and really want to serve. He said it was not that way where he was serving in Guatemala. Elder Coronado said he is going to try to change things when he goes back now that he saw how it was here.

Seven sisters and one lone elder, Elder Diaz, returned home.

Our six new arrived missionaries plus their companions enjoying lunch.

Thursday we were finally able to take Melva to the Family History Center and opened her an LDS account and signed into Family Search. Since she had the names of her grandparents on both sides and a few dates and places, less than an hour later, she walked out with those names  plus that of her father ready to take to the temple. We were all so excited! Now, we are planning a time when we can take her to the temple.

Friday night we had another potluck dinner at the mission home with the mission staff and Elder and Sister Brown, farmland missionaries from the "nut" farm (almond farm). We ate outside on the patio by the pool.

We each wrote down two things about ourselves that no one (except our spouse) would know. We found out that Dr. Brooks was a good friend of Ted Bundy's and even set his sister up on a date with Bundy. Wow! James wrote he worked in a flower shop and held state records for running when he was in Jr High. I wrote that I grew up in a house with no indoor toilet and then moved to a house previously owned by polygamists.

Sister Layton says they use the pool quite often. They have a pool at their home in Utah also.

Look what I have for my computer desktop at the mission office! This beautiful group of people pop up every time I open my computer. AMAZING!

Last week our mission had fifteen baptisms! This week there was only one. We attended it. Brittany Faulkner, a young mother of a ten month old daughter, was baptized.

Sunday was our Ward Conference. After Sacrament Meeting we talked to the man sitting next to us and found out this was his first time in twenty years to come to church. I asked him, "How did it feel?" He replied, "Like I have been gone too long!" Hopefully, he will continue to come. Bishop Butler gave a talk and had an important question that we should all ask ourselves, "Is your Heavenly Father pleased with your service?" We can also ask Heavenly Father directly if He is pleased and what we need to do to be better.
They did not have the Spanish Group Sacrament Meeting today, so we got home from church earlier.

Bakersfield, California is #1! This is not a good thing however. Bakersfield tops the list of the 10 US cities most polluted by short-term particle pollution. Cache Valley, Utah came in #10 on the "State of the Air" report. That's not good either.

THE LORD LOVES YOU AND SO DO WE!