A Great Mission Conference

Dear Jason, Natalie, Kitty, Juan, Rusty, Michelle, Tyson, Suzanne, Spring, Sean, Chaun, Ali, Marisa, Benjamin, Jaden, Grant, Makenna, Hyrum, Hannah, Nathaniel, Cristine, Brooklyn, Tanner, Sierra, & Miles,

It was a busy week for grandpa and grandma. We held two great Zone Conferences. The second one we went to Huntington, West Virginia. For lunch we went over to cousin Elizabeth Temus’s cute apartment and visited with her for an hour. It was so good to see her. She is doing an internship for Amazon. com this summer. It was good to catch up on all the family news. She is doing well. She attends the ward building where we were having our conference, and the Senior missionaries that run the Institute program there already had met her knew all about her.

This weekend an apostle, Elder Todd Christofferson,

and two seventies, Jairo Mazzagardi and David L. Cook,

came and instructed 15 stakes presidencies and their bishoprics. They met with the 3 Cincinnati stake conferences this morning and then met with all of the Cincinnati area missionaries (about 70) this afternoon. They asked all of us to come up and shake their hands and introduce ourselves. They are such gracious men. They explained that due to the demographics of our area and how people move around they needed to make changes in mission boundaries. Elder Christofferson thanked Pres. Robbins for his excellent service and gave an apostolic blessing to him and his wife. He also gave us a special blessing of peace and assurance as we move forward with our service under the direction of a new mission president.

He opened up our meeting to a “Question and Answer” period. We were instructed on the Atonement, Hope, Faith, and then he gave us an update on Pres. & Sister Monson’s health. He said Pres. Monson was spending more time with his beloved wife because of her frail health. Elder Christofferson said Pres. Monson was a wonderful example of what a husband should be like. He told the men to pay attention. He also told us sisters to give the men a break and be patient with them! He apologized for men being so dumb but if we (their wives) keep loving them great things can happen.

We were taught by the spirit. The 2 hour meeting felt like a few minutes. You could feel of the love they had for the missionaries. It was a humbling experience.

Thursday we had a huge miracle take place in the office. We had just returned from West Virginia. We thought we would work in the office for a couple of hours to get caught up. Well, dad’s silly XP computer had other ideas. It just would not boot up and no matter what your dad did it just got worse. We were getting really worried because we still need the computers for a few more weeks and we have to have them to make this merge work.

We finally gave up at 6:30 (which you dad never does) and went home to sleep on it. We prayed that night asking Heavenly Father to bless his computer and we prayed about it before going to work the next morning. I told your dad if Hyrum Smith’s wife could pray over her sick oxen why not over his sick computer. Long story short, the PC was running when we went into work the next morning. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for answering our prayers!

We went on exchanges Friday night. The family we went to had 4 children, a dad, and a live-in girlfriend. The dad and children have been members for about two years now. The parents divorced some time ago and the kids were staying with the dad this summer. Our lesson was on “Recognizing the spirit and listening to its promptings.” We sang primary songs at the beginning and end of our meeting and the spirit could be felt. The children were really polite and talkative like most young kids because they were excited to have company. We liked it but the dad and girlfriend were all over them. We felt really bad for the oldest boy (age 11) because he got the full force. As we were leaving the boy, who had gotten his feelings hurt and had refused to answer any of his dad’s questions, came right over to me and gave me a hug. I had a chance to speak with just him and I shared my love and excitement for scouts and told him to be sure to go. I told him I had confidence he would do good in it. He just kept hugging me and I hated to let go of him and his sisters. Those kids were like a dried garden yearning for words of kindness to be sprinkled on them.

O, these adults!!! They don’t know the harm they are doing by scolding and correcting their kids in front of strangers instead of praising them. We have wished time and again for a magical way of giving parents an injection of parental skills. There are so many dysfunctional families. The parents think the kids are the problem when in reality the parents are the problem!

Thank you for loving your children. Thank you for teaching your children correct principles and setting the example. Thank you, Thank you for being righteous parents in Israel.

Thank you for being obedient grand children and loving your parents. Thank you for having patience’s with your mom and dad while they learn their job.

Jaden, Ben, and Grant: you looked so good on horseback. So glad you are learning how to ride horses. What all did you see in the backcountry of Harriman?

Ali: How was Civitan? How many friends did you make? Can you count that high? How was girl’s camp? Were you Jr. Leader this year? Can’t wait to hear all about it.

Marisa: When do you head to Krupp Scout Hollow? Tell me all about your fun.

Cristine & Brooklyn: What new things are you learning this summer? Aunt Spring was telling us about a funny book called “Fancy Nancy.” Maybe your mom can check it out at the library for you. Tell me what you think of it?

Tanner Man: What is your favorite bug this week? We bet it isn’t mosquitoes!!!

Hyrum & Hannah & Nate: We hope you have fun at the cabin this week. Collect some rocks for grandma. I am running low.

Sierra: We liked seeing you play “T” Ball. You have a great swing!

Miles: We bet you like going to the petting zoo with your mom and dad. The baby goat is my favorite too!

We love you all. Thanks for writing!

Grandma April and Grandpa Scott

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