Take The Path Of Faith~

Oh my, I have been so busy getting prepared for our mission to start next week. We will be going to the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah on Monday, October 26th. We are very excited to start this mission adventure.. This is a real faith journey for us. 
Before going we have had several things that we needed to do. Because we will be living in our own home; we have had only three weeks to prepare instead of three to five months. We have been making a full time effort to complete the projects assigned for the MTC. Here are just a few things we have been working on. 
We had the sweet opportunity to watch episodes of the District on BYU TV. These are episodes of real missionaries teaching real investigators. There were six episodes that we are required to watch. This took us about 3 hours total. We cried through most of them because they were just so inspirational. You can find The District Episodes here.
Next we were asked to create a Mormon.org profile page. Here we shared a short biography and our testimonies and experiences in the gospel. This profile is a way that we can share the gospel with those who are not of our faith. We each created our own profile and it took a while.  

We have then been working on learning the concepts in the Preach My Gospel: A guide To Missionary Service . We have been working on this from the beginning of our pre-field training. I love this manual so much. It really explains in detail what we believe as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We will be using this book as a reference for the things that we will talk about when we meet with members of the church and or investigators.

There is a Missionary Handbook that we are required to read. It has some wonderful suggestions on many aspects of mission life. Much of it is directed to the Elders and Sister  missionaries that are serving throughout the world. Young men serve two year missions and can apply when they are 18 years old. Young Women serve for 18 months and they can apply at age 19. We will be serving with these young people. We will be part of the district that they are serving in. We look forward to the opportunity to serve with these missionaries. It is amazing how much they learn and grow while serving a mission. It prepares them well for getting an education, future marriages and families. 

There is also some reading material on how to adjust to missionary life. Missionaries do have a daily schedule in which they can have time to exercise, study, and go forth and do the work. 

We are also suppose to learn how to do the basics of Family History and run off copies of our 4 or more generations of ancestors. I love doing family history so this was a fun part and I do know how to do some of it.. We are taught how to do this so that when we are doing missionary endeavors we can help families and single individuals learn how to do basic Family History so they can find their ancestors. 

Finally, it is suggested that we read The Book of Mormon before we enter the MTC. 

I have read the Book of Mormon many times but I am now reading it from front to back again. I love this book and it is a favorite of mine. I made a commitment many years ago to read the scriptures on a daily basis and particularly our precious Book of Mormon. It is a wonderful history of an ancient people who lived in the America's. It tells the story of a group of two families that left Jerusalem in 600 BC and traveled to the America's. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. It tells of His visit here after his Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection. This book has 531 pages that tell a heartrending story of the ancestors of the Native Americans. It is an amazing book and has guided me in many areas of my life through the years. It answers all the questions of Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going?

I think you can tell that we have been very busy in our preparations. At this point of time I will probably not be blogging very much for a while.  After the MTC we will be meeting with our Mission President and learning about what we will be doing. I will hope to be able to share some of our experiences on this blog. 

I love all of you that read my blog and will hope to be able to still read your blog posts but probably not as often. Just know you are in my thoughts and prayers. I have truly loved reading your posts. You have uplifted my heart and helped me to want to be a better person. I have enjoyed your individual thoughts and pictures that have been so inspiring. 

Love and hugs to you all!

A Call To Serve & Precious September Moments~

For years my husband and I have desired to serve a full time Senior mission  when he retired. That moment has come. We had discussed many times what kind of Senior mission that we would like to serve. The were many options such as a Humanitarian, Family History, Visitors Center, Temple Square, Temple Mission, Member Leadership Support, Church Education and various others. We then have the choice to serve for 6 month, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months or 23 months. We also had to make a decision on whether we served a full time mission at home or apply to serve in another area. Finally, we knew we needed the funds that it would require to sustain ourselves on a mission. 
We had the opportunity to serve a part time mission while my husband was still working. We served as Church Service Missionaries in an Inner City Mission from May 2011 to November 2013. During this mission we had so many endearing experiences. We were assigned to a ward and our responsibility was to assist those that were poor and needy to find jobs, health care, funds to survive on and etc. This mission was difficult but also very sweet. We loved those we served and had some success in helping a few individuals improve their circumstances. 
My husband took the month of August as his vacation time and then officially retired as of September 4th. We had planned to apply for a mission in 2016. However, one day we were looking at various missions that were listed on our Church's web site and saw a few that were interesting. We had already decided that we would stay at home and serve from here. After contemplating and praying to know what to pursue we felt that we needed to look into a couple of possibilities. I called the Church Missionary Department and found that one of the missions that we were looking at had been taken. We were encouraged to call the Mission office for our area. I called and talked with the Secretary of the mission and she told me that I should contact our Stake President and ask about the member leadership support mission for our area. Presently, they have one couple assigned as missionaries in each Stake. 
I sent a short inquiry email to our Stake President. A few days later we were invited to visit with him. We spent about an hour in his office and we literately used up almost all of his Kleenex box. It was such a spiritual experience. He told us of his pleading with the Lord to find some Senior missionaries for this area. After an intense prayer he walked up and found our email. There was no doubt in either of our minds that this was the mission that we were to serve. Within the next week we met with our Bishop and our papers were sent of to the Stake President. The question now was not where we would serve but how soon. Our Stake President wanted us soon. 
Since sending our papers off we spent the month visiting our children and grandchildren. Attending their sporting events and etc. My husband then had a scheduled shoulder surgery on August 26th. It was more complicated than hoped so recovery would be a little longer. Our inspired Stake President without knowing the total recovery time needed for my husband, held our papers back for a few weeks. We can see now the hand of the Lord in that decision. It was a tender mercy. 
During month of September my husband's recovery has been hard. He has had some other health complications. Priesthood blessings have been given and he has been greatly blessed with finding out out what is needed for his well being. We have been busy going to Physician and Physical Therapy appointments.

My husband during recovery. You can't keep a good man down. Three days after surgery he was on the computer using the mouse. Within the week, he was typing. As you can see he is pulling weeds. Physical Therapy has been brutal. He is doing well~

We have attended other family and friend activities during the month of September.

Lunch with my dearest High School friends - Left Picture - Joan and Renae;

 Middle - all of us - Rt. Picture - LeAnn and Danelle~

Celebrating our Great Grandson Sagan's 3rd Birthday  with his family~

Attending our Grandson Jonathan's Soccer Game~

Meanwhile, we have been anxiously waiting for our official missionary call. Routinely these calls usually arrive on Thursdays. We knew that the papers had finally arrived at the Church Missionary Department almost 4 weeks ago.
This past Saturday I went out to the mailbox and there it was. Totally unexpected because it wasn't a Thursday. It was a very poignant moment because this isThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference weekend and it has been so wonderful to hear our leaders messages. Three of our beloved Apostles passed away since our last General Conference in April. Three new Apostles were sustained. It has been a spiritual feast. What a perfect time to receive our call. Our hearts are full of love for our dearly beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and all of the Apostles. We love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are prepared to serve him. 
Due to the fact that all of our children live away from us we decided to film the opening of our call. Because I have a great love for my Blogging and Face book friends, I decided to share this moment with you.

Since we will be going into the Mission Training Center on October 26th; we will be busy. We will be in the MTC for one week and then off to do the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I will be sharing some of the moments of this mission as I am able too on my  blog. Thank you to all my friends and family out there. I treasure our friendships and love reading your many posts. You have all lifted my spirit and helped me in so many way. 
Sending love and hugs your way!