Lets see...On the 26th we visited a couple in Sequim Bay Ward who were both converts to the Church, but he had received his endowment 8 years ago and she had not! (The Stake President had asked if we could visit those in our stake who have received their endowment but have let their temple recommends lapse. This couple was on that lengthy list.) They were very nice and we enjoyed our visit. They moved here last year from Seattle and have a lovely home, beautifully decorated and filled with antiques from her family. She was so pleased to show us! One of the things she wanted us to see was her Lego storage. (I thought our grandsons would be interested!) She explained that each drawer had a different part in it--one was all windows, one just doors, one dinosaurs, one horses, etc. Her grandsons were now in high school but still loved to build with them when they come to visit. I'm sure!
That evening we had a third discussion with S... Because she suffers with dyslexia she does not want to read and has trouble sometimes grasping concepts. We explain things several different ways, but finally that night she said, "You said it right! I got it! That made sense to me!" I was testifying again that the Lord sent prophets to His children out of love for them, and that prophets hold the keys of the Priesthood power on the earth. Something clicked. This past Wednesday she and M... came to our house for dinner and a lesson. This time we showed them The Testaments to help them see the connection between Bible and Book of Mormon. They liked it and agreed to start meeting twice a week! The Elders are dying to add them to their teaching pool, but so far she feels more comfortable with us.
One of the days we were out checking apartments we passed a tiny museum with this old threshing machine outside! Bruce says it is like the one his Dad and Grandpa had when he was a boy in Eagle!
Saturday we took a walk to a little park a couple of blocks away. This is one of the first hand-hewn log cabins here. The size of the logs was quite impressive! This park was originally the old settlers cemetery. When they decided it would be a good place for a park, the city contacted all the families that were still in Sequim and told them they could come and exhume their ancestors bodies if they wanted to! President Shaw, the former Stake President that feeds the missionaries every week, was telling us about how his Dad and older brother went in the night to get the body of their grandpa and move it to the new cemetery!
This plaque celebrates irrigation coming to Sequim! We were told that "some Utah boys taught them how to irrigate" and it is the reason Sequim became a farming community! There is an "Irrigation Festival in the summertime.
It is interesting that most of the grass around looks like this--full of wildflowers. Lovely, maintained lawns are few. In the next picture Elder Walker is showing how big that tree is!
Women's Conference was wonderful! I missed you all! It was to be broadcast to our Church Building and I kept thinking about our Bishop's wife, so I asked if I could go with her. She seemed delighted for the company. We got to the Church just a few minutes before it was to start, but found the building dark and locked up! Someone had forgotten to have a "return and report" meeting with the man who was to set everything up! Sister Cain called her husband, and found who was responsible, called him, and after a bit he came to help us. Some of the women had given up and gone home, so he just set up a tv in the RS room. After the meeting, we brought the Sister missionaries home with us and watched the first part we had missed on line.
The Sisters stayed so that Sister Naupoto could practice missionary discussions with us. Sister Naupoto is a very quiet, shy, Tongan sister from Salt Lake City. She is also very humble and is trying hard to overcome her homesickness and shyness so that she will be an effective servant. She cries very easily, and so was in tears a couple of times, but Elder Walker was so good and encouraging to her that she went home feeling much more successful. (It was good to observe the strength of my companion and to look forward with confidence and appreciation to serving together! Forever!)
After attending that meeting, we came home for just a few minutes so that I could finish preparing to teach the combined Young Women of the Happy Valley Ward about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ helped me in my trials. That was a wonderful experience! I did not share the nature of my trials, but explained to them how devastating they were to me, and testified that the Savior had wrapped me in love as though He were wrapping a big soft quilt around me, or bandaged my wounds so that I was protected until the time I was sufficiently healed that I could stand on my own. Remembering was refreshing and healing to my spirit. I came home renewed! I told them that though I wouldn't want to live through those experiences again, I would not trade what I learned about the Savior for anything!
At 1:00 pm we attended Sequim Bay's Sacrament Meeting, after which I played for Primary. We came home for an hour and a half to end our fast, then went back to direct the choir rehearsal for the combined three-ward Easter Fireside that will be held April 12th, then rehearsed a song with the missionaries for 30 minutes, and then we came home. It was long day!
Monday we met with H... and Ju... for lunch again and they surprised us by inviting a man they had often told us about who loves to visit them and who fancies himself a gourmet chef and likes to cook for them. You will remember that J... has a daughter who belongs to the Church. Well, this man also has a daughter and her husband who joined the Church in Austin, Texas! He was interested to meet some Mormons!
Tuesday was Transfer Day! Elder Straddling was being transferred so we took he and Elder Leavitt to Tacoma and brought Elders Lovell and Leavitt back with us. The Transfer meeting was great! President and Sister Blatter spoke and all the departing missionaries bore their testimonies. There were several musical numbers from groups of missionaries! Toward the end of their meeting they always sing a version of Amazing Grace! We were not sure what to think about it when we first heard it, but they did it very well! Evidently, under the last mission president, they had really practiced together and had very good musical firesides and this was one of the songs they liked to sing. They don't get time to practice together under this mission president, but there are enough left over missionaries that it still sounds pretty good. Elder Walker decided that it would be more exciting if we added organ, so he wrote an organ part for the last key change of the song. This transfer I played it for the first time. Everyone loved it! President and Sister Blatter both really appreciated it and noted that the missionaries sang with so much more spirit when the organ was added. Elder Walker felt good about it!
I didn't take a picture until after the meeting so many are leaving. All the couples in the mission office went home this transfer. We will miss them! Especially the Harwoods from Idaho Falls. He is the one who calls me "Sis!" (They say I look like his sister.)
Each day we visit and try to bless, teach and testify of the Savior, of the Book of Mormon and that the Lord shows his love for His children by sending prophets. Each day is busy and fulfilling. We are sure that we are meeting people for which we have had a special love before this life. Relationships build so quickly as missionaries!
Each day we think of and pray for all of you! Our hearts expand to fill the hundreds of miles to reach you. Each day we know you too are doing all you can to love and bless and serve and it make us feel close to you. We felt especially close as we all united in watching General Conference! What a wonderful conference it was! How we love our faithful leaders! How we love the Lord! May we check our notes for what the Spirit was saying to us and then be sure to watch or read a talk each day as part of our scripture study. That way the counsel we received will come to be part of our being!
Nope! This isn't black and white! This is just later the same afternoon when it started raining. A "gray day" on the Peninsula is really gray!
We walked to the Bishops house the other day. This is the view from a covered patio area up the side of their hill. We are looking SE. South is toward the mountains, North, toward the sea!
They are remodeling this home to sell it. They did that in Chicago before they came here and did really well. They are very careful to pick a home with a good setting! He does amazing work!
These flowers are all over Sequim on the hedges!
One of the very nice couples we visited this past Friday had this sign in their office above her desk. They are Family History consultants and there wasn't a clear surface that I could see anywhere! The plaque struck me funny, mostly because I have lost so many things by putting them away instead of leaving them in the pile I recognize!
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