Another transfer week has come and gone in the Great THSM. We received a wonderful group of new missionaries this week, 5 sisters and 1 elder, and it’s a great group of missionaries. They’ve all jumped in with both feet. It is such a blessing when our missionaries come prepared and ready to go to work.
We had five wonderful missionaries five depart this go around. It was a joy to see the incredible growth that each experienced while on their missions. Each had difficulties along their way…..struggles with the language, being shy and timid about OYMing, health issues and for a few of them, at times had to dig deep to keep their desire in the work. We love them all and do all we can to help them to overcome the challenges that come naturally to life. We each are given weaknesses to overcome that help us find strength when we humble ourselves and turn to our Heavenly Father for guidance and reassurance. His plan makes us better it is just hard to see sometimes with our mortal eyes.
The one sad aspect of this transfer, and for likely many ahead, is not being able to go to the temple on their last day. This has become a wonderful way for us to send them home. No one, including the temple president, can give us a projected date of when it will reopen. At the earliest it will be into the first of the year and possibly longer. The entire first floor of the temple had nearly two feet of water and the baptistery was full to the top. We decided to go and take pictures out front and make the best of it. We all hope the temple opens soon. It’s remarkable how much you miss it when it’s not available. The closest temple is a three-hour drive to San Antonio, but we’re not allowed to go that far outside the mission.
I headed to Bay City for district council this week. The topic was on our missionary purpose and using PMG and Elder Christofferson’s talk he gave in a 2008 at a mission president seminar as the reference materials. This talk is a great because it is a helpful guide for missionaries to understand the difference between the activities they do and the reason why them do them. Our district had a lot of teaching moments as a result which was beneficial for missionaries that sometimes those sight of the “why”. After the meeting, I had a conference call with the STL’s on how I could best support them in this calling. At one time, we had Senior STL’s but now I am the Senior STL so new responsibility for me. We had some good discussion and I gained insight how I could bless them going forward. I then met with the Bay City Sisters in a great companionship study.
Jessie had a dentist appointment Thursday morning to check out the filling that cracked. It is on a tooth that should fall out in the next 6 months so we can wait for it to fall out. After taking her back to school, I went to join the Memorial sisters for their companionship study. They hadn’t finished their weekly planning so I was able to share some insights with their planning strategies. They were grateful for the assistance and then we had a great study together.
We had another great new missionary meeting and discussion on the Savior’s Atonement on Friday morning. I had scheduled an Bode and appointment with the orthodontist that morning as well so I scrambled to be everywhere I needed to be. I picked Bode up from school, dropped him off at the appointment, drove to the mission office to present on Missionary Medical and Adjusting to Missionary Life, drove back to the appointment before he finished, took him back to school and returned back to the meeting. I was pleasantly surprise that I was able to do it all without leaving anyone hanging. I did have to finagle the new missionary meeting schedule to do so but our senior missionaries were happy to help me out. J They are amazing and we couldn’t do all we do without them. Zac met with a golfing coach after school and really felt like he will help him improve his golf game. He really is enjoying being on the golf team. He is feeling quite frustrated with basketball. He doesn’t feel like the new coach gives him a chance to play to see his skills and what he can bring to the team. We will see what the next couple of weeks brings and if he decides to continue with basketball. Bode continues to enjoy being with his friends. Apparently, he has asked a girl to the Homecoming dance. Again, not as a “real” date because they pay for themselves and they just meet at the dance. He is also not planning on going to the football game so no big Homecoming Mum like Zac did for his non-date. They might go to dinner as a big group of friends and maybe take some pictures. So different from what we are accustomed to.
An update on the elder that had to return home last week after his x-rays showed the lumps in his lungs. Unfortunately, not very good news for him as they have determined he has lymphoma (not sure if it’s hodgkins or non-hodgkins yet). Only a small part of his upper lungs are cancer free, his kidneys have hundreds of tumors, and his neck has several tumors as well. He’s in for a long battle and we’ll be organizing a mission wide fast for him in the next few days. He’s been teaching the doctors and nurses in the hospital, he’s in good spirits, and we get regular updates from his family. Tough to see one of our own going through a trial like this.
Jessie and I had a little mom and daughter retreat at the spa. We enjoyed getting pedicures, relaxing and having girl time. We also picked up some crafts and Styrofoam pumpkins for her and a friend to do while Aaron and I went to a stake conference tonight.
We spoke at the Bay City adult session of conference on Family History. This was a different topic for us in our missionary capacity because usually someone from the temple presidency speaks to that theme. It was a great opportunity to really express how the two are intertwined in the salvation of all God’s children. Aaron did an incredible job sharing his ties to Lake Jackson and his experience in taking part in Grandpa Nowak’s temple work after he passed away. My favorite take away from the Stake Conference was something that President Bond shared in his talk. He related how repentance sometimes has a negative connotation because of how we describe our feelings about it; like when we repent we feel remorseful, guilty, hurt, punished, ashamed and have sorrow. He went on to share how repentance should actually be a positive experience. Something that you look forward to and should be done often because if you look at the bible dictionary definition it states the Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation. Wow! This opened my eyes to a higher elevation of what repentance is not and truly is. What actually takes place and why it is a beautiful aspect of God’s plan for us here on earth. It gives me hope that I have the opportunity to continually change, be better and be more like Christ through His atonement that makes repentance possible. Love it!!
Our time in Texas is just sailing by. I can hardly believe it.