A Maori Sendoff

Today we were given a wonderful gift at the mission home—a peek of what a heavenly family can be like. A new elder was dropped off at the mission office by his family—all 20 of them.

This Tongan family had taken all their children, natural and adopted, out of school and driven the 5 hours to see their brother off on his mission.

While we waited for President Robbins to show up to do his interview we were privileged to hear this family recite their family motto—all D&C 4—sing to us in Tongan, and have individual children recite Articles of Faith. Once the President arrived and he was introduced to family members it was time for them to go.

The family sang to their brother a farewell song in Tongan. I thought I was standing on the shores of a Pacific Island surrounded by Tongan saints waving goodbye to a love one as they sailed away. The unison of their rich deep voices carried a message of true love deep into my heart and I felt of the mixed emotions they were feeling as they said goodbye for two years and the pride they felt for a righteous brother/son.

Then an incredible thing happened: The brothers took off their jackets and spread out. They then did a Maori Warrior Dance for their brother to encourage him to be valiant. It was loud! It was scary. It was powerful. It was quite the send off.

Then Elder Vakalahi stood by the door and hugged each of his family members as they left. First the brothers filed past and then the sisters. Each was tender and each sibling held a special place in his heart. The last was his little sister of maybe 5 yrs. He picked her up and wept. Last of all were his father and then mother.

I cannot put into words the righteous power this mother had on her son. She hugged him and then spoke quietly to him words meant only for him. Elder Vakalahi hung his head down and listened out of respect and nodded yes. The family left and there wasn’t a dry eye left in the room.

After his interview with President, Elder Vakalahi remained with us in the office for several hours. The office elders surrounded him and had lots of questions for him. They wanted to know how long it takes to cook for that many people and tons of other questions. Elder Vakalahi was so natural and so sure of himself and his family. Everything was matter of fact. No big deal. We even learned how to prepare and roasted a pig from scratch. The office elder’s mouths were watering by the time he finished. I can tell Elder Vakalahi will be a treasure in Ohio!

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Straight Rows?

Dear Family and Friends,

There once was a farmer who one day decided to teach his youngest son how to plow a field. The young man listened intently on how to run the tractor but was thinking of other things when the father explained how to plow straight rows.

The father watched his son do two or three laps of the field and then decided all was well and he could finish up some other work and left.

When the son had just completed his 15^th lap the dad appeared and motioned for the son to stop the tractor and get down and walk with him. The son obeyed. The father took his son to the first row and asked his son what he saw. The son indicated the row looked pretty straight except for a small curve in the center. They walked to the 5^th row and the dad again asked what the son saw. This time the curve in the middle was exaggerated.

The dad asked the son what he was looking at for a guide while he plowed. The son said he lined up the tractor wheels with the ruts from the previous round.

The father then took this opportunity to re-teach his son. The father pointed off into the distance and told his son to pick a stable object that never moved to focus his aim on and not to take his eyes off of it once he started his row. The father then told his son to start over and see if his rows could be straighter. The son obeyed.

A ward member spoke Sunday in Sacrament Meeting telling us this story. He was the young man in the story. Br. Rupp went on to point out the fact that sometimes we focus too much on the everyday things that surround us (like the tractor wheel and the ruts) and forget to look up and focus on the Savior and we get off course.

I have been plowing and re-plowing that crooked row in my mind for days now. I am grateful for Br. Rupp’s visual reminder to focus on my dear Savior as I start out each day.

Hopefully, when I kneel down and talk over my day with my Heavenly Father at night I can catch the little mistakes I’ve made during the day and correct them so tomorrow won’t be affected. Thanks Br. Rupp!

Love you all,

MOM

Pinewood Derby Racin'

Scott decided to try to get some competitive action going with the adults in our mission ward when he heard that there was going to be an “open” class in the upcoming Pinewood Derby races. This open class allowed non-scouts to race in a separate category and to add more weight or size to your car or even add power. The open class race would be held at the conclusion of the regular Cub Scout race. Scott challenged the Elders and High Priests to build cars and race them against him, stating that he could “Whoop Them All.”

He didn’t want to spend much time on his car since that is not missionary work, so he took the block of wood, charred it on the stovetop to give the grain some color, and sprayed it with clear varnish. He glued a plastic missionary on top and added a propeller from a model airplane. No carving, shaping, sanding, weighting, nothin’.

Here is what the “Mission Unlikely” car looked like before the race.

The track was an amazing professional aluminum track with electronic eyes and computer software with projector showing who, when, times, speed, etc.

Here is the starting line.

Here is the finish line.

Note that in picture #1 the missionary is standing nice and tall, and that at the finish line the overhead score bar is, well, not quite so tall.

Here they go, the Mission Unlikely car off to a screaming lead.

At the finish line parts were flying all over the track. It seems the missionary was about 1/8” too tall to fit under the finish line.

Someone had a hot glue gun so the car was put back together without the missionary on top (I am not sure how the analogy fits into a mission story, but there must be some connection somehow.) The repair was done before the next round so the race continued.

Wahoo! Idaho wins! New track record too, 2.7 seconds compared to the next best at 2.9 seconds. Old Age and Treachery Wins Again!

Miracle Baptism

Dear Family,

Saturday was Esteban’s baptism. Esteban is our dear little friend that was all ready for baptism in October but got into a terrible accident two days before. After many surgeries and lots of healing he was ready for the waters of baptism again.

We had close to 100 people attended his service. Seven members of the rescue team came and supported him. Without their fast action and care we would have lost Esteban.

Since Esteban is from Mexico the meeting was conducted in both Spanish and English. The spirit was powerful. Manuel, Esteban’s good friend, has only been a member a short time but was prepared so he baptized him. It took three men to lower Esteban into the water since he has no legs now but they did a marvelous job.

CLICK the picture to make it bigger.

Afterwards the two sister missionaries that taught him had their picture taken with him and the firefighters. Esteban just beamed. I can’t describe the love this ward has for its members. Esteban and Manuel have been staying at a member’s home for over a month now while they are searching for a handicap accessible apartment on the ground floor. We have really seen first hand modern day “bearing one another’s burdens” like the Savior asked us to do.

The good people here have affected us so. We don’t think we will ever be the same again.

Tonight several of us, including the ward mission leader Br. Lind, and the office missionaries, went to the hospital to see our dear blind friend, Linda. She is back in the hospital with pneumonia. Your dad played his nose flute for her and we cheered her up. She really was thrilled with some Necco candies we gave her. Good childhood memories of going to the movie theater and savoring your Neccos throughout the whole movie.

We love you all and hope you take every opportunity you can to show love to others. Mostly, they just need someone to listen to them or a kind word. I think kindness is becoming a rare thing now days. Don’t leave home without it!

Happy Valentines Day our dear ones!

Your missionary MOM and DAD

Esteban, The Rest Of The Story

News 5 WLWT
POSTED: 2:24 pm EDT October 22, 2009
Man In Critical Condition After Losing Legs In Crash
Esteban Gonzales Pinned Between Car, Store
UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio --

Esteban Gonzales, 65, was struck when a truck jumped a curb at Goodwill around 1:45 p.m. on the 4000 block of Commercial Boulevard. One of Gonzales' legs was cut off by the impact of the crash and the other remained barely attached to his body, police said. Gonzales was airlifted to University Hospital, where he was in critical condition Friday morning.

Esteban Gonzales, a dishwasher and having little to spare, was at the Goodwill Store looking to see if he could buy a little used bicycle for the youngest daughter of a struggling single mother of three, who lived down stairs from him.

Due to the fast response time of the Union Township Police and life saving training of the Union Township Fire and Rescue teams, Esteban was extracted and kept alive until the Life Flight team arrived rushed him to University Hospital. During the short flight, the Life Flight team gave him an additional 7 units of blood, barely keeping alive. At the University Hospital, the Trauma Team took him, on the brink of death, and fought for his life. They fought with for him not only with great talent and ability, but with heart. The struggle was not for a few hours by a few people, but for weeks by many wonderful people. Once Esteban pulled through and was able, the Drake Center received him and began to teach him the new life skills that he would need.

Thursday, October 22nd was two days before he was to be baptized. Several days went by until he was conscious enough to see me. He asked how I was and then if he could still be baptized!

On February 13th, at 1 PM, Esteban will be baptized at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 700 Clough Pike, CINCINNATI, OH 45245

On behalf of Esteban Gonzales, I ask that each and every one of you that made this moment possible, to please come and celebrate his baptism and the new chance of life that you all gave him.

Cordially yours,
Don Stanton
513-943-4008

Trip to the Zoo

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. The sun came out so we cleaned up our apartment quickly, went to the office to show a car to an interested party, and went to the Cincinnati Zoo where they were letting people in for 1/2 price.

Click on any of these to make them bigger.

The last two are video clips.

We have to ask first

When the missionaries have an accident with their car, they call me to report it. Then I have to make them fill out the accident/damage report. The report form is in their glove box in a folder called, “What to do if I have an accident.” The report is fairly lengthy and for some reason most of them are somehow funny. Granted, it wouldn’t be funny if someone got hurt but most of them are like, “I thought I had room enough to turn around, but I guess I didn’t.”

On Monday evening there were two calls, both fairly minor (under $1000). The first was a slide off during a turn on a snowy road while going too fast. The caller said, “We were going too fast for the turn and went off the road into a wall.” Whoa, I wondered what kind of a wall? Turns out it was a low brick planter at the edge of the property. All it did was bend the frame of the truck and break the planter bricks.

Then next call was “We hit a deer but we don’t think it hurt the car, except you can’t open the door.” I got the written report in the mail yesterday. I am quoting, “…we were on a straight road but a deer ran out from some trees and we think we clipped his shoulder barely and it swung his butt in to the side of the car. It was only a little baby doe.”

I am pretty sure that angels ride with the missionaries, but I think they get together in the evenings at a pub and tell about their adventures of the day. I can almost hear them.

We have been pretty busy selling 7 cars we pulled from the fleet 4 weeks ago. I was a bit worried about trying to sell so many in the desired time frame, which is 45 days. This morning as we were leaving the apartment to go to the office, Sister Earl asked in our prayer that the Lord would help us in selling the last car. It is a Mazda and we had not received a single call on it in a month. Within 3 minutes of her prayer, as we were getting in our car, the cell phone rang. The man who called came to the office an hour later with a cashiers check in hand and bought it. He didn't even drive the car. The Lord is in the details, but He requires that we ask. That’s just the way He set it up. He stands there with blessings and to spare, but waits for us to ask.

Thank You Lord.

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He is in the Details

Several months ago we were out visiting ward members and we met a widow, Beth, and had a wonderful visit with her. She asked for a blessing of comfort which Grampa gave her. She told us about a good friend down the road from her that might need a visit also. It was late when we left and we were tired but the spirit said to go. So we did. We met Br. & Sister Ison. Br. Ison was on his third round of chemo. What a positive sweet older couple. We just fell in love with them. At each of these homes they expressed their gratitude for the blessings of being sealed in the temple for eternity. That brought them a lot of comfort. Well, this past week Br. Ison went to meet his Savior.  We went over to visit Sister Ison after we found out about her husband's passing. We found Sister Ison with her dear friend, Beth. Because of our previous visits we were welcomed and we had a wonderful gospel discussion. And like always, grandpa left them laughing and begging us to return which we have done. We love these people!

Last week grandpa sold a car to a young man from China who is working in America. I had the opportunity to visit with him while grandpa was outside changing license plates and getting paper work out of the car.

I found out he had a fiancé who wants him to become a Christian. He had been attending several Churches with her. We knew he was coming back in to the office so we had emailed our niece who served a mission in Korea and asked her which language of the Book of Mormon this young man would probably read. We have almost all languages of the Book of Mormon in our office, including Mandarin and Cantonese.

I bore my testimony of the Savior in my life and told him about the Book of Mormon and how it helped me raise a righteous family and how I couldn't have done it without God's help.  I then presented a Book of Mormon in his language to him. I expressed my love for the beauty of his language and asked him to show me how he would read it. He opened it up and the look on his face when he saw his mother language told volumes. He was so pleased and I could tell he was visibly touched by my testimony. What a wonderful experience. I am so grateful we had all languages on hand and Elizabeth Temus could clue us in on which he could use. What a wise Father in Heaven, preparing ages in advance for that special moment when I could give to a brother a sacred book in his own tongue. Thank you, Father in Heaven, for watching over all of your children.

We have been busy in the office this past week preparing for the January audit. All of us have been organizing files and sifting though stuff to make the process go smoothly.  We send our love to all and pray the richest blessing will come to you this New Year.

Love, Gramma April

Obedience, the first covenant

Have I told you I love these obedient missionaries?  Friday at District meeting the topic of swine flu shoots came up. Elder Earl and I had just received ours that morning. The good folks of Ohio ran out of them in November and then finally got a new supply in. Elder Earl was wearing his Brave sticker!

Well, one of the sister missionaries stated she had not received hers yet and besides she heard from a nurse in her ward that there were some side effects and the shots might not be a good idea after all.

(A little back ground information: We had received a visit from the regional doctor for 14 missions in the area. After much study the 1^st presidency encouraged all missionaries to get the shot because of their sensitive age group and because of all the people they came in contact with. The doctor also encouraged all Senior Couples to do the same.)

After a discussion of the pros and cons in District Meeting Elder Earl in Elder Earl fashion stated, “The real question is whether you (talking to the sister missionary) are going to be obedient or be smart?” She looked at him and said “Yes, I guess so.”

Later that evening she called and asked for the address and phone # for the health clinic.  Such obedience!

The previous week we had a similar conversation with the office elders. They overheard me making an appointment with the health clinic and they divulged they hadn’t got their shot yet. They had lots of reasons why they put it off and they listed them one after another. They asked me what I thought and I simply said, “If you want missionary blessings you have to be obedient.”—The health clinic got them in the very next day.  Aw…the power of a mother having the last word.

We are doing great here but seem to be missing out on some exciting times back home. We want you all to know the Lord is at the helm. I bear my witness to his tender mercies happening every day in each of our lives. To list just a few:

Grandma’s hip only being cracked not broken all the way!

Nate getting tubes in his ears now and not waiting for future problems to happen!

Brooklyn getting the run around at the emergency room when she broke her arm and ending up with one of the best children’s doctor in that area.

Cristine finding out about her back problem now so the proper treatment can begin!

Marisa receiving the right medical help when she was sick and her numbers went so high!

I am sure you know of tons of tender mercies that I failed to mention but are very real. I am grateful to a loving father in Heaven for watching over our love ones while we are away!

We love you all.

Grandma April and Grandpa Scott

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Once in a while I find it easy to be an instrument in the Lords hands, simply because I am pretty dumb. Hey, I don’t even have to think. That’s easy for me. I am used to it, and April is pretty used to it too. Thus when the Lord needs a simple tool to do a simple job, I can do that if I don’t let my mind get in the way.

On Tuesday a recent convert told us that she felt she needed a blessing for a fairly minor physical discomfort and asked how blessings work and could we bring the Elders to give her such a blessing. We told here we would find out who her home teacher was and work it that way.

I made a few calls and emails and found her home teacher but by then it was New Years Eve and people had family activities. I tried the missionaries but by then it was after 6:00 pm and the missionaries were told to be home by 6:00 in order to stay out of harms way. We were just relaxing at our apartment when that little voice said “GET UP” and go give her a blessing. I argued that I didn’t have a companion Priesthood holder, but the voice said I was just looking for an excuse, so off we went.

At her home we talked about her concern for a few minutes and she too said it was such a minor thing but it was still bothering her, so I gave her a blessing. The funny thing is that I didn’t really say anything about the problem she was having, but I blessed her home that it would be a safe refuge away from the world.

Today is Fast Sunday and this good lady went up front to give her testimony. It was so sweet. It was also a little amazing, for she mentioned the blessing and how well she had slept that night, and that when she got up early on Friday morning to go to work she found that someone had tried to break into her home that night. The lock mechanism in the doorknob was completely chewed up and broken to pieces but they couldn’t get it open. She said that the Lord had “sealed her in” and no one could harm her when He did that.

I am glad I listened. I keep learning, but I am sure slow.

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