Still Learning! and Still Raining!

Dear family,

At District Meeting yesterday with the missionaries, we were discussing how to gain more Charity in our missionary work. One sister missionary related this story:

“I had a companion a while back. We got along just fine and she was very nice. I just wasn’t as close to her as I wanted to be. So, I asked Heavenly Father to show me why he loved her. Throughout the week as I would observe her a voice would say to me, “I love her because… or I love her because….” This sister missionary shared how she grew to love her companion. What a teaching moment!

We are truly going to miss working so close with the missionaries in the office. What a blessing and privilege that has been.

Dad has been extremely busy getting oil changes done and paying for car repairs before they close out his mission credit card this month. We had a visitor from SLC come and check our finance and car records. He was so impressed with all the work done by your dad and the office elders.

We are in the stormy part of the year out here. The other night your dad woke me up to get dressed because the tornado siren had gone off. We got dressed and grabbed out 72-hour kit. We decided to check the weather report on the Internet one more time before we headed out the door, and we watched the storm front go around us. It was pretty exciting for sure and such a testimony the Lord is watching over us missionaries.

The last couple of cloud bursts in Kentucky dropped 7 inches in one hour. The whole town was flooded. On the way to church last week, just as we got into the car, it started to rain. It didn’t stop till we reached the church 12 minutes later. It was like driving through a car wash the whole way.

Right after it stops raining here everyone jumps on their riding mowers and starts cutting their grass. They have to mow every 5 days. You have never seen such large green lawns as here. It is quite normal to have 5-10 acres of lawn to cut. We really should be ashamed of ourselves for ever complaining.

Love, Mom

Well, Dad’s turn to put something down. Lots of neat things happen and then when I sit down, they go away. I am having trouble with the starter in our car. Not a good sign. I was looking at starter prices on the internet last night. Oh well.

Here is an interesting story, interesting for what it taught me, I hope I can remember the lesson for longer than normal. My memory is becoming like a peach. Fuzzy!

So we went with the missionaries about 2 months ago to this woman whose son was soon to return from his mission. She is not a member, her ex-husband was a member, but cheated on her many years ago leading to a divorce. Her son joined the church while going to a local university and then went on a mission. So, the woman wanted answers to her questions for when her son got home from his mission. It was not a very productive lesson, we just couldn’t get her to commit to reading the Book of Mormon, she just had irrelevant questions.

She attended church once before her son came home, and then after he got home she came with him every week, but in the Gospel Principles Sunday School class she would continue to ask global type questions that were completely off the topic. I pretty much wrote her off.

Now, since I wrote her off, you know what is coming next, right? Your mom figured out that since her father was Jewish, she felt she would be betraying him by reading the Book of Mormon. Once she was taught that “doing what is right” brings honor to your parents, everything turned around. The sister missionaries started teaching her since she has a problem with “men.” That part makes sense. Anyone who is not a man has trouble with men! Now she is reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and recognizing the spirit. The biggest change, she is starting to be happy. I just love it when a sad face turns upside down and the corners of the mouth turn up. The whole world looks better and years of troubles drop from the face. Oh, what a good sight!

Well, it’s raining like crazy again and on the way to 94 degrees today and 80% humidity. Oh Joy! Guess I better smile!

We wish a Happy Fathers Day to you dad, and to you my good sons! We Love You!

Pa

.