Tuesday to Tuesday (June 2-10, 2014)
It has been a great week. Lots beginning to go on, plus we have had one birthday (Finley), and one I missed (Graysen) the month of May. Urgh! Parents, if you know your crazy mom hasn’t mentioned a birthday coming up, please let me know. It may not be possible to call, as we are finding with our crazy schedule, but we want to at least acknowledge it.
With that in mind, I’ll get right with it. On Tuesday, the 2nd, we went looking for a woman who had been told by a member (back in Feb.) that the missionaries would come help her fix a ramp at her house that she needed for a member of her family who is in a wheelchair. The Sister who told us is a home nurse and evidently hasn’t been back to the home since because she was unaware it hadn’t been done. We finally found the home to check it out, and now we need to discuss the situation with the Elders to see what can be done. The woman said that she could probably pay for the repairs, but she will need help. They obviously couldn’t do it in Feb.-Apr. because of the weather, but it is now getting warm, and needs to be followed up.
That evening we fed the Sister Missionaries in our apt. complex. Sister Newton was leaving the next day to go to the Mission Home for her last night in the mission. We will miss her. She lives in Mountain Green. She would get home on Thursday, and then she would leave on Saturday for Germany with her family. At their request, Elder Lenhard gave both of them a blessing, and we realized how much we are coming to love the young missionaries in our area.
Wednesday was spent with transfers. Although we didn’t need to go, we wanted to wish those that were leaving a last farewell and welcome those who were coming. It took most of the day. It is fun to watch the newbies show up. They can be spotted immediately by the look on their faces. Those leaving are alternately laughing and crying. It is an emotional experience.
Thursday, we went to the dentist that had been recommended by Sister Cutler (Mission President’s wife). The hygienist who took care of me kept repeating how I needed to do this and that and this and that. I really liked her, but I felt like a kid getting a scolding for not flossing. I do floss. Elder Lenhard, on the other hand, was told that he was one of the lucky ones who obviously has an enzyme that makes it possible for him to skip flossing. Urgh! No fair! I spend lots of time brushing and rinsing (with mouthwash), and flossing, and I always have lots of cleaning, but Elder Lenhard – NO. Oh well.
That afternoon we had our first missionary interview with President Cutler. It was a choice experience, and he encouraged us to spend extra time this next month in reviewing our scriptures on the Atonement. We have begun doing that and in the process committing to memory where more of them are located. It makes studying in the morning more meaningful. We were also encouraged to visit the North Stake and become known there in the genealogy library.
Finally, we met at 6:30 at the Pathway program. We are now trying to get registered as mentors for the program. We have 10 lessons we have to complete. This is a great program, and we can see the Lord’s hand in it. We then finished the evening in the genealogy library where I am helping a nonmember with her work. We have been pretty successful in getting some clues together and making sense of her work. We had been doing it on Ancestry, and we were shown how to take that and using the PAF program, converting it to the Family Search site. That took up our time.
Friday was not busy. We checked into the Mission Office and got some info about a Scottish Fest to be held on Saturday. We had asked around about a Scottish one and no one had heard of it. We did some things that hadn’t gotten done this week (like the laundry) and made arrangements to go with the Elders to a meeting on Saturday.
Saturday was the most beautiful day. We did preparation in the morning and left for our appointment at 11:00. It takes a while to get to some of these places. It’s like a rabbit’s den. It would seem like you could go down road one and turn left at a certain place OR you could go down the road one and turn left a little earlier, then right to get back to the place you should be – but NOOOOOO. Here a diagonal, there a diagonal, a one-way, construction (which appears everywhere), and before long Elder Lenhard is fighting with the GPS. When we got to our appointment, we were waiting outside for the Missionaries when they called and said it had been cancelled. Lots of that going around. We can remember making promises to the Missionaries and then not keeping them. People get scared if they think you might teach them something religious, and suddenly there are plenty of excuses as to why they can’t meet. Sad! It just prolongs the time in which they do not experience true joy and the peace that the Gospel can bring into their lives. There are lots of us who think that just because we have enough or we don’t have any challenges in our lives, we are happy. Once they have experienced the blessings of the Gospel and have felt the Spirit working in their lives, they begin to understand what joy is all about. We are not the vacuum salesmen who have a product that we want to unload in order to make a buck. We have something that will change lives for the best. I’m on my rant so I will stop here. We love these young Missionaries, and we know how hard they are working to find those who have been prepared to hear the Gospel. We are blessed to work with them.
That afternoon off we went to the Scottish Festival. It is only a small one, and everyone told us that the really big one is in October. We did get in touch with some who will be working the Irish Festival and gave them our name to be volunteers with them. I really didn’t expect them to call me back, but they did. We will be working onOct. 15. We had some wonderful chats with members and nonmembers at the Festival. It was fun, and our bucket list certainly includes a future trip to Scotland and Ireland. I could hear the kilts calling to Elder Lenhard. He surely does want to wear one. He has such good legs for it; maybe, I’ll have to relent and let him have one. The crowning moment for me was when they performed Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. Someone better get started learning how to play so you can do it for my funeral. You know it takes a long time to build up the lung capacity to do it right. I don’t want you dwindling down at the end. Think how tacky that will be. I will have to raise up in my coffin and give you the stink eye as Mallory calls it.
We were beginning to see the end of our stay at the festival when we got a surprise call from Jon. He was coming to Milwaukee. We quickly got home, and he was here before we knew it. We love that man. He had two good friends with him, and they were all a pleasure to talk to and get to know. They left and went to find some good food and a place to lay their head for the night.
On Sunday, we went to pick up Jon for Church and kept him with us for most of the day. He is truly a gentleman. He lets us talk all kind of nonsense, and he is so quiet and (probably wishing we would shut our mouths) forgiving for the blunders we make. It is hard to be around him without bragging about him. He made a good impression on those at Church. He has been in lots of places, and he has been around a varied assortment of members. He is very diplomatic and careful about what he says. Did I say how much we love him?
Unfortunately, all good things must end, and he had to leave. We felt blessed to have had him visit us.
Monday, we stayed busy. After study time, we were off to the gym. We feel so much better when we have had our workout. We had to go to Costco (which is 20 miles away, but still in our area). I bought lots of fruit, and for once, we are not letting anything go to waste. It was fun; we love to go when the samples are being handed out.
Haha I worked on genealogy until we had the Sister Missionaries come over, and we showed them what we expect of them as they work at the Polish Festival. They are super young women, and they represent the Lord well.
On Tuesday, we attended our first Zone Training meeting. WOW! We reviewed scriptures that point to the Atonement. Elder Lenhard and I are working on them. 2 Nephi 2:6-9 is a good example, but the entire chapter is inspiring.
One of the things we were discussing last week in our study is about Adam and Eve and the choices they made. I made the statement that Heavenly Father’s plan was that they would make the choice to leave the Garden. If they had not had the choice, they would have been following Satan’s plan. They didn’t really understand what they were doing when they chose to eat the fruit, but it was necessary. Satan thought he was going to change the plan. He didn’t realize fully that he was just playing into what Heavenly Father wanted. What a great plan! I know I’m not stating anything you haven’t heard before, but it is wondrous to think about all the possibilities.
Well, this week is now behind us, and a new week is ahead. We love being in a Mission. I hope that all of you will plan to go on a mission for the Lord at some point in the future. We love you very much. Please take care and love one another even more each day. This life is but a moment in the eternities. We need to make the most of it.
Elder and Sister Lenhard
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