One Year Mark!!

We enjoy the first Monday night of each month, when the Senior Missionaries meet at the Mormon Battalion for Family Home Evening.  Each one of us take a turn being in charge.  This month Elder and Sister Rockwell presented the life of Porter Rockwell, he is his great-grandson.  It was a great presentation.  For Christmas, Mike and Emily gave us a new book out on Porter written by Elder Rockwell's cousin, so we took it and had him sign it...kind of fun.  So good to visit with the other senior couples.

  This picture is of Elder and Sister Everett, they were honored at the FHE because they mission is over and they are going home to Kansas.  They have been working at the Marine Corp Recruit Depot (MCRD) and also at the Temple on Tuesday with us.  We have heard many stories of their work with these LDS Marine Recruits.  Elder Everett is a retired Army Colonel, so he understands military.  A lot of these young men have joined the marines to get away from going on a mission.  But the basic training is so intense, the recruits quickly find Heavenly Father and love the break of being able to go to church.  They bring their friends and 6 to 8 baptisms are not uncommon in each of the 9 weeks courses.  At the end of the training, the families are invited to come and watch the graduation.  Elder Everett talks of watching fathers ordain their sons to be Elders with tears running down their faces....these once inactive boys are now active and have found themselves and their way.

We have a lot of Senior Couples serving here in all kinds of capacities.  Five are serving military missions, keeping track and helping the young wives when husbands are deployed, we have a lot of military here.  Four are serving at the Mormon Battalion, six with CES and YSA, those working in the office and five or six of us MLS (Member, Leader Support) like us...assigned to an area and work doing whatever is needed.  We enjoying talking with everyone to see what they are doing...many ways to do the work of the Lord.

We had a great investigator turn out for church at our Otay Mesa Ward today.  The missionaries were very happy, last week no one came!  We also had two inactive women come out that we as a ward, have been trying to get there for a long, long time!  Sister Haws said how good it was to come, she felt like she was doing something important for herself and she had such fun reconnecting with ward members she knew.  It was a great day!

We have several Filipino members in our ward, and Sister Rosalinda Agustin 81, is moving back to the Philippines to be with her family.  She has been apart of the ward for 23 years.  She bore a tearful goodbye testimony in RS, then at the very close of the meeting she stood and sang a song "Goodbye Sisters"...almost sounded like a song one would sing at a funeral.  Then we sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."  We all had shed a lot of tears and hugs...such a sweet, sweet woman.

 
The end of February, my big brother, Ed, fell on the ice early in the morning as he and his wife were going to work at the temple.  He was in surgery for 3 1/2 hours for the bleeding in his head.  It was touch and go for quite awhile, he is finally out of ICU, but has a long ways to go.  He is a fighter, has surprised the doctors with his recovery so far.  He is a great guy and an incredible brother, keep him in your thoughts and prayers, please.




One year ago on February 13th we entered the MTC.  I can't believe it has been a year since we started this mission adventure!! As I was visiting with our Ward Mission leader, Brother Myers, I was telling him how nervous I was when I came out about knocking on doors of strangers.  He laughed and said and everything you feared has probably happened and you have made it through.  I had to agree with him...as long as my good companion knocks on the door, I will always back him up!!!!