061 Tuesday to Tuesday (June 17-23, 2015)

We are beginning to feel the work speeding up. Suddenly, we have so many irons in the pot, we feel the pressure to get stuff done and do it right. When the work breaks out here, it is going to catch on like wild fire. The spirit of Elijah is fabulous here, and there is a religiosity here that comes from the foundations of the Catholic Church and others here. We have many Catholics and Lutherans who feel they no longer have a foundation for their religion. The Pope is becoming so political that he is changing their doctrine. These members are saying they have no faith anymore. These people are going to be looking for the truth, and the Lord’s Church is going to be there.

On Wednesday, the 17^th, for one of the first times, I realized these young missionaries are truly young. It was transfer day, missionaries going home and other’s being sent to new areas. On this day, Craig and I go to the Stake Center and President Cutler wants us to have those who are going home do one last service project – cleaning the Stake Center. This is the first time we had missionaries who actually told us, “No,” I’m not doing it. One of them was a Zone Leader, and at one time, they had to tell him to get his Taylor Swift pictures off every wall in his apartment room. He was really rude, and I have to say that because he had a following he was able to pull other missionaries out with him. I don’t want to deal with this. I didn’t take it from students in class, why should I take it from missionaries who are servants of the Lord and should be better examples. I realize they are going home the next day, and for the first time, I felt they were already home. We won’t have to do this in July because Katie will be here with Anden and McKay, but I don’t want to do it anymore. Will have to see what happens.

Thursday saw us at the dentist. I really hate the dentist. Even though it was only a cleaning, no one can tell us with a straight face that it doesn’t hurt. First they pull the mouth one way, then another. Then they push and pull, scrapping the teeth, flossing the gums until they hurt, etc, etc, etc. I really spend a lot of time cleaning my teeth, and I still come away feeling like I’ve been in a war with the tooth fairy.

As usual, we had Pathway that night. Our teacher had to cancel, and I had to scramble to get a new one. The students are so wonderful that I had no trouble getting a volunteer for the class.

On Friday, we had some calling for Pathway to do and then that afternoon we met a couple where the woman was wanting to join Pathway in the Fall. Yeah, we are excited for this. Her husband is a Catholic, and he teaches physics and chemistry at Marquette University. She was reserved, but he was quite open and laughed at everything. He took notes, and he had some great questions. We feel sure she will join Pathway.

On Saturday, we supported some missionaries who wanted to do a genealogy booth at a Farmer’s Market in Brookfield. We had two computers, the video that we had at the Polish Festival, and lots of literature that we used at the Polish Festival. We were over in the North Stake territory where the Stake President really has not wanted us to do much with family history or anything else. He will tell people who are investigating the Church to take all the time in the world to join - it took him 9 years to do so. Anyway, the Genealogy Library Director does not want anything to do with the South Stake’s genealogy work. We were using the South Stake’s literature (it had the address of the South Stake’s library on everything we had). We aren’t sure how she took it, but she was out of town for the weekend. She did tell the missionaries that she didn’t want them to promote the South Stake library. We made sure we pointed out their library as well as ours.  Hahaha

Getting Set Up

A view of the market

Craig captured a bubble at just the right moment.

Trying to see the computer!

Another view of the market.

We did find out that for the Farmer’s Market, we didn’t need computers. No one had the time to stop and go on the computer to find any of their family. The market is open on the third Saturday of each month. Then they let home businesses (hand made jewelry, purses, clothes, etc.) come to sell their wares. It was fun, and we enjoyed being there. We were skeptical about the number of people we could talk to, but in the 3 hours we had, 65-80 people stopped and picked up the literature.  We count it as very successful.

On Sunday, Father’s Day finally came around. All the children called Craig, and he was in Heaven. Church was great, and we enjoyed being there. Craig got a candy bar from the youth.

Monday found us with a new service project. We are helping the Salvation Army again. This time we were making lunches for 1500 children in the worst parts of Milwaukee. They will be taken by the organization to 3 neighborhoods. Some people made the sandwiches, some packed them in baggies, others put them in bags and then packed them in boxes. We will be doing this every other Monday throughout the summer. Eventually, there will be 2500 sandwiches made each time.

It rained again. We certainly are having good days of rain. It tends to keep the temperatures down. It was good then to come home, and Craig was able to contact the District Leaders for the missionaries about the Pathway program. President Cutler wanted the missionaries to report to Craig about how their contacts were going in recruiting young people for the Pathway program. It is not going well, and the missionaries met with the man who is over the Pathway program who told them they are to report to him. We aren’t sure how this will play out.

On Tuesday, we actually had Denise who needed us. We took her to the Courthouse because her husband had lost custody of her oldest children. It turns out that he had been abusive to the woman he lives with now who has a new baby by him. She got mad at him and called Social Services. When we got there, we actually met the dad. He looked like a huge body builder who wouldn’t hesitate to beat you if you didn’t agree with him. Supposedly, he is still using drugs, and he isn’t about to stop. We figured out that Denise was there to help him get the kids back. She let us leave early because she got a ride back. Oh, what tangled webs we weave, we first practice to deceive.

It was ok because we had District meeting that afternoon. It was a good meeting, and we were glad to be able to go.

Our scripture for June is Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-10 -

          And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world,    
          thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my 
          holy day;   

         

          For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to 
          pay thy Devotions unto the Most High;

Our focus on the Sabbath Day is helping us change the way we have worshipped throughout the day. What a great blessing to have maintained our attention on what we should be doing on the Lord's Day. Helps us to remember how to spend the rest of the days in the week.

         

Elder and Sister Lenhard