A Great Baptism!

Last night Eugene and Trisha Rousch were baptized. It was the most special thing I think I ever saw. I don't have words to describe it. I can't think how to start.

Members who have been involved in teaching the family conducted the meeting, gave the talks, and performed the baptism and will do the confirming on Sunday. The missionaries were so willing to just be there and to witness the special event. The main talk was by Br. Skidmore, a local type guy in relaxed attire who was nervous enough that he wrote his talk and read it. He had helped teach the Rouschs and they really like him. I think he was reading his talk mostly to keep from getting emotional. It didn't work. He had to stop a couple times, like when describing how the Atonement makes it so that Christ enters your life and changes you. His talk was excellent, right from the scriptures and full of simple yet profound doctrine.

After the baptism, two of the sister missionaries played an amazing piano and violin version of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." It was perfect. Then Br. and Sister Rousch bore their testimonies. This is the part I can't put into words. Sitting in the audience were Br. Rousch's sister, mother, and stepfather as well as Sister Rousch's brother, some of whom have been opposed to their baptism right from the start and had been bringing anti-Mormon articles to them. Eugene spoke right to them and told them of how he and his family were committed to doing the right thing. He spoke of how pure the message is, how pure the missionaries are, how pure the gospel is. He was very emotional, but not so much in a teary way. He was bold and strong and told how he really felt about finding the true Church of Jesus Christ, all the while struggling to keep his composure. He was exceptional! His beautiful wife just beamed at him. When she took her turn she was so thankful to all who have helped and taught them. She was struggling a little too to keep in control but did great. I am telling you, you would have guessed they had been members for years.

All the while their 6 year old, Javis, was watching and wondering, and little 9 month old Tracin was beaming and smiling at everyone as if to say, "Thank You for helping my family be together forever!"

The Relief Society president welcomed Trisha into that organization, and the Elder's Quorum president did the same for Eugene. The bishop said there wasn't much left to say, so he said just a little.

I am reminded of several of the Book of Mormon prophets who said they couldn't record on the gold plates what they really felt, and that is sure the case here.

What a special ordinance for a very special family.

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He is in the Details?

We first met Esteban at the church where a friend was being baptized. We don’t see him often because he is in the other ward. We did meet him on two other occasions, one time we talked with him (with the sisters interpreting) about his life and interests as we were waiting outside the church for a meeting. Although we didn’t understand the words, we could tell he was a pretty special man. Turns out that Esteban has been taught by the sister missionaries for the past 7 months and is an amazing humble fellow. He appears to be about 50 years old, but his hard life in the outdoors makes it hard to tell. He left Mexico many years ago to try to make a better life for himself. He came alone, and never married. In his loneliness he began drinking and this has been his obstacle in getting ready for baptism.

As the sisters were teaching him, his roommate became interested, and it is this roommate whose baptism we attended two weeks ago. Esteban gradually turned a new leaf. He changed his habits and started learning to read and change his life style. Finally this week Esteban was ready. He had left his crutch and his old life behind him. Much like King Lamoni's father who said, "O God…wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee….”

On Wednesday evening Esteban met with the district leader at the church and had his baptismal interview. It went well and Esteban was very happy that he was going to be baptized on Friday.

Yesterday, Thursday, Esteban was walking past a store when a woman in the parking lot missed her brake and hit the gas instead, going up onto the sidewalk and smashing into Esteban and pushing him through the plate glass window. His leg was crushed and he lost most of his blood. They life-flighted him to the hospital but he has not regained consciousness and is not expected to live.

The ward mission leader (a previous mission president) and the bishop gave him a blessing last night of forgiveness of his sins on behalf of the church and thus sealing him up.

The Lord has such interesting ways of fulfilling his promises He made to us as He sent us here to this earth. He is in the details of our lives, oh if we only recognized it. God bless Esteban.

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a Brick

Hello Friends!
I saw a news blurb yesterday about a hospital here in Cincinnati that is doing some renovating with donated money. Each person that donates a certain amount of money gets their name on one of the bricks in the new hallway to thank them for their support. Kinda neat, huh? They are getting some good help now.

Today we saw a somewhat similar crisis wherein an Elder’s wisdom teeth came in suddenly with a vengeance. The surgery has been on hold pending scheduling and he has been in big pain. He found out today that insurance will not cover the first $800.00 so we called his parents but they have no money. The doctor was about to put off the scheduled surgery. The mission doesn’t have any funding available for such expenses. President made a call to the home Stake President, who gave President his Visa Card number and said he would cover it. I bet nobody ever finds out about it. I wonder where his brick is?

We send our Love,

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A Major SCARE!

I have a funny story for you this week. The other night late two of our young sister missionaries call Elder Earl.

“Elder Earl, Elder Earl, we saw a mouse in our apartment. What shall we do?”

In typical dad-like fashion he told them, “Well, you could stand on a chair and scream.”

They replied, “We all ready did that!!!!”

We had a big laugh. He then told them they had scared the poor mouse enough for one night and to go to bed. The mouse wouldn’t harm them.

He instructed them to call the landlord in the morning and they would contact an exterminator and take care of the problem. They did and the problem was solved.

I though about the event for a while and then decided to ask Spring to draw a funny card of the sister’s standing on a chair so I could give the card to the sisters as a remembrance of this funny event. Spring created a great card and I wanted to share her talent with you.

Way cute!

The ward here has a Fall Harvest celebration the week before Halloween including food, fun, and games. It starts out with a Trunk Or Treat in the parking lot that has become pretty big with about 150 kids coming through, many of them non-members.

Sister Vandemeer is a very outgoing member in the area who involves every person she meets in a discussion about the church! She told us the other day that our Halloween goodies for Trunk Or Treat should be something out of the ordinary. She says that we should ensure that when the kids go home and dump out their loot, it needs to be obvious what came from the Mormons.

We struggled to come up with an "Original Idea." It was PAINFUL! Finally after much tribulation we hit an idea. We printed messages on 150 Avery mailing labels, colored the happy faces with highlighter, and ordered 5 pounds of mini Necco candy wafers.

We are making Chili and a Pie for the food contests. Mormons are indeed yummy and fun.

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Dear Ali, Marisa, Ben, Jaden, Grant, Makenna, Hyrum, Hannah, Nate the Great, Cristine, Brooklyn, Tanner Man, Sierra, and Miles:

Grandpa and I would like to share a busy two days with you. They include another baptism in our ward! I will tell you a little more about it in a minute.

Friday: went pretty smoothly in the office. President Robbins and his wife just left for Washington DC for a conference with other mission presidents. They are going to be instructed by one of the twelve apostles. President Robbins asked Grandpa and me to handle emergencies while they are gone for 4 days.

We planned on getting a jump on the crowd at the stores by getting our groceries right after work but the sister missionaries needed us to go with them to teach a family. The mother was supposed to still be in the hospital so the sisters wouldn’t be able to keep their appointment without us since just the dad and children would be there, so we went along.

As it happened the mom had just got out of the hospital and was there for the lesson. Both parents wanted to learn so badly. The mom read much in the New Testament while in the hospital. The dad had been reading his Book of Mormon. We had a good lesson and the dad asked lots of great questions. Asking questions is a good thing! That is how we all learn. One of his good questions was,” If Lehi was a prophet and God talked to him and gave him instructions for his family, why did God also give him a Liahona?” Pretty good question, huh?

Afterwards we ran to the store and got our errands done. We spent Friday night doing laundry, scrubbing our apartment down, and cooking because we wanted to go hiking on Saturday.

Saturday: morning we got up early, studied our scriptures, and got ready for the day. At 10:00 the office elders showed up and we all went down by the Ohio River and hiked the rolling hills in a Nature Preserve. (I think they were preserving all the poison oak and ivy for the east coast).

Grampa said it was a Hard Hike!




We had a great time looking at all the interesting plants and trees dressed in their autumn colors. We found tons of wild mushrooms/fungus looking things on trees. We took lots of pictures for you. Grandpa and I stayed out of the water and obeyed the mission rules. We are trying to be good.

We then drove to a city up north to find some baptismal clothes for a lady who was getting baptized that night. Saturday evening we attended Linda’s baptism. She is the blind lady the elders have been teaching. She was so happy and couldn’t thank everyone enough for caring about her. Here in Ohio there are more grownups getting baptized than 8 year-old kids.

We had Eugene and Trisia’s family at the baptism and also the new family we had taught with the sisters. Another set of missionaries brought their investigators along too. All of the investigators wanted to witness a baptism because there are going to be baptized soon. The spirit was very strong and I am sure they felt it.

We headed home and changed into our comfortable clothes to settle down for the night and just relax and read. We no sooner had changed than the phone rang and the assistants (the elders that work directly with the mission president) called and said, “Do you remember, you are going out with us tonight?” NOPE! So we said, “O-Ya! We will be right there!” So we threw on our church clothes and met them at a recent convert’s home.

Stephanie has been a member for about 4 months and is struggling with being the only member of her family. Her kids hate going to church and her husband just leaves her for weeks at a time without saying a word. Crazy!

The elders’ lesson was on being consistent with reading your scriptures and praying everyday for God’s help in your life. The elders wanted us to be there to share our testimony of never giving up. As we talked to Stephanie it reminded me of sitting down with one of my daughters and just listening. Listening to her concerns and just saying, “You are doing just fine! You can do this!” Then giving her a hug and a few suggestions on parenting.

How we love these people! We are all the same everywhere. We need to be taught of God and his plan for us, practice living the commandments, stub our toe trying, have someone pick us up and give us a hug and say, “Try, try again. You can do this.” Then cheer for us when we do well because we need friends that care in this life.

Grandpa and I love you all so much. We miss playing with you and getting your great hugs, but Heavenly Father needs us to help little families here that are struggling and don’t have a knowledge of God in their lives or parents or grandparents in their children’s lives. Heavenly Father needs us here for a season. Always remember you are the best grand children and your mom and dad are the best children in the world. We are proud of all the good choices you make and the incredible youth are becoming.

Love each other and look for ways to obey Heavenly Father and your parents and give service to your brothers and sisters and especially your mom and dad.

Love you all,

Grandma April and Grandpa Scott

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2 New Things I Learned this week

October 3, 2009

Dear Family,

This past week I learned about “Enduring to the end” and “How to teach like the Savior.”

Friday an older gentleman came into the office looking for the referral secretary. He had names of several nurses he wanted the missionaries to contact and teach.

This man’s wife had had a terminal illness and the nurses from hospice had cared for his wife up till the end. He said during his wife’s illness he had taught the nurses many things from the Book of Mormon and told them he was going to send them a copy of their own to read. That was why he was seeking the missionaries’ help.

Your dad had a delightful visit with him and then asked him when his wife had passed away. The man replied, “Wednesday. I came here Thursday but no one was here.” Here this sweet grandpa was out thinking of others and furthering the Lord’s work when he had just gone through such personal loss two days before—Amazing! He is a true example of enduring to the end. Not just making it through one crisis after another, but putting the Lord first and being out and about doing good. A truly amazing man!

This last week we had 3 Zone Conferences in East Cincinnati, South Cincinnati, and West Virginia. We decided to get up early and drive to West Virginia instead of staying overnight in a hotel like last time. We had not reckoned on all the ground fog so travel was a little stressful with the winding roads. When we crossed the Ohio River bridges you could only see white clouds below—no water.

In West Virginia the elders drive pickups because the roads are so bad. There are lots of dirt roads and potholes. We had Dr. Aldous from the church come and speak on health habits that will keep you well and he answered many questions.

The mission president had the elders bring sack lunches so the doctor could judge if they were eating good food. The majority of the elders passed. It was a real good test. The training at the conferences was very good, and dad got to show his new video he made of the sacred grove. Here it is in tiny form.

I am not sure I have mentioned our Gospel Essential Class? Our instructor, Sister Skinner, is a convert of 20 years and is a fireball. She has such a way of making everyone feel welcome and explains the gospel so simply. She radiates excitement and love for the Lord and living the gospel.

She loves to tease the missionaries and knows everyone’s name by the end of class and can remember the names clear till the following week—amazing. We meet in a large classroom but it still isn’t big enough. We are wall-to-wall bodies. Everyone loves the class. With an instructor like her you have no fear of bring investigators to class. I guess what I learn from her example is that I need to stick to the gospel basics when I teach, live worthy of the Holy Ghost’s influence so he can teach through me, and show my sincere love for everyone no matter their station in life.

Your dad and I love being missionaries and serving the Lord in this part of his vineyard. We love seeing how the gospel changes lives for the better. We miss you all more than you can imagine, but feel peace knowing our family will be blessed to the third and forth generation if we are valiant. Watch out for each other and follow the prophet’s counsel and then you will be safe and prepared for what life throws at you. We are so grateful for “you all.” Thanks again for email, pictures, and phone calls. You are the ray of light at the end of a busy day.

Love ya,

MOM and DAD

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