From Mom 1/11/2007
Dear Family,
It’s late. We just got home from a meeting with the ward mission leader and I’m tired but I need to get a letter to you, so if it sounds a bit mixed up, you will know the reason.
Every week we have new experiences. Sunday at church one of the counselors in the bishopric talked to us about helping get the Seminary program up and going again. The man who was teaching it left to take a job in another city but he thought he would be able to make it back to teach. But another interesting thing happened to him. He joined another church! The Elders quorum president happened to see him one day and that is how we found out what had happened. I don’t think the seminary kids know and that is probably best. That could shake them up quite a bit. We were shocked when we heard it. It made us realize how important it is to keep our testimonies strong through studying the scriptures and staying active in the church. So now on Wednesday night, Dad teaches seminary. Last night I taught a class to the mothers who bring their kids to seminary. We have been doing that together every other week. I was a nervous wreck thinking about it. Most of them are from the Philippines and speak some English and some German and I was wondering how we were going to communicate. But it’s wonderful what the spirit does. They told me they understood everything I said and I think I understood most everything they said. There was such a good spirit in the class and when it was time to go, no one wanted to leave. We just sat and talked and it was a wonderful experience. I’m actually looking forward to it again next week.
Another wonderful thing happened this week. Petra wants to be baptized and we have set a date for her baptism. She is going to be baptized on February 4th. We were hoping that it could happen sooner but she wants her daughter to be there and that is the first week-end her daughter can come. We thought we might have to start all over when she realized that we baptize by immersion. She shook her head “no” when we told her that. She really thought we would come to her home and sprinkle some water on her head a say a prayer. So we went to the Book of Mormon and read in Moroni exactly how a baptism is supposed to be done. We also read some scriptures which compared it to “being raised from the dead” when we come up out of the water and she finally accepted it. Sunday at church she wanted to see the font so we showed it to her. She’s still a bit nervous about people seeing her after she gets baptized and about getting her hair wet, but she really is excited about becoming a member of the church. We feel it is so important to stay in close contact with her between now and then. We met with her yesterday and have another meeting with her tomorrow. She has a copy of the Relief Society/Priesthood lesson book, the one by President Kimball, and she has read about a third of that already and she loves it. She read the chapter on repentance and commented yesterday how she thinks it is so good that we don’t take baptism lightly, that through interviews with people in authority it is determined whether they are ready to be baptized. She said to her that was another testimony to her of the truthfulness of the gospel. Because she is a nurse and because of some of the things she has been involved in as a nurse, it is necessary that she has an interview with the mission president. She is actually looking forward to that and feels good about being able to put some of her past mistakes in the past and move on to a new kind of life. She was brought up In East Germany where religion was not even talked about. In fact, it was dangerous to even mention religion so it hasn’t been until just the past 3 or 4 years that she has even thought about religion. We feel the Lord really prepared her to hear the gospel and feel so very grateful that we were at the right place at the right time to meet her and begin to teach her.
Last Friday we had a meeting with another part member family. He is a member but has been inactive for years and years. She isn’t a member and she loves to study the Bible. She goes to two study groups each week. One is a Protestant Group and the other is with the Jehovah Witnesses. We had met them before and they invited us back but she made it very clear that we were to study only from the Bible and not the Book of Mormon. Dad has been preparing for this meeting for nearly a month and did a wonderful job of talking about the prophets and some of the prophecies they made and how they were fulfilled and the need of prophets and our need to listen to them. She and her husband listened and read a lot of scriptures with us but when we were done, Dad mentioned that we would like to come back and talk to them some more. She jumped up and said to her husband that if he wanted us to come back, he had to make the appointment for us to come and that she had listened to the Mormons for years and that her husband won’t ever listen when people from other churches come into their home and she was done listening to people from his church. They got into a terrible argument! I wanted to get out of there and went over and tried to pull Dad up but you know Dad, he wants to try to solve the problem. They went on and on and we could tell the husband was really embarrassed and finally Dad got up and we walked out to the door. The husband walked out with us and we apologized for causing trouble and he apologized for her going “off” like that and we left. Dad called him the next night and again apologized and he said she just does that every once in awhile but she’ll get over it and asked us to call in a couple of weeks. I told Dad we’re not going to call! I don’t ever want to get in on something like that again! She is probably one of the most bitter people I’ve ever met and her husband is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Anyway, it was one of those missionary experiences that I just hope we don’t have too many of.
We are so excited about Zach getting ready for his mission! It seems like such a short time ago that we got a call from Chris while she was at the Hill Cumorah pageant telling us she had met the guy she was going to marry. We just said, “Ya Chris, we’ve heard that before.” Then we met Dale just before he left on his mission and it was like he had always been a part of our family. And now here they are getting ready to send their oldest son on a mission. How time flies! We will be anxious to hear where Zach will be serving. How everyone will love that he has all that music talent. Way to go Zach!!
Thanks to all of you for your letters. They mean so much to us. It’s always good to hear about all the happenings in all the families. We are completely out of touch with what’s going on in the world. Tonight the ward mission leader told us that Pres. Bush had ordered another 20,000 troops to go to Iraq and that Mitt Romney is running for president. That’s probably the first “world news” we’ve heard for a long time. And that’s good. We can keep focused on what we’re supposed to be doing here and now instead of thinking we know how to solve all these other problems. We hope you know how much you all mean to us. It seems like there just isn’t a lot of family closeness here and that makes us very thankful for the closeness and love in our family. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers each and every day.
Much love,
Mom
It’s late. We just got home from a meeting with the ward mission leader and I’m tired but I need to get a letter to you, so if it sounds a bit mixed up, you will know the reason.
Every week we have new experiences. Sunday at church one of the counselors in the bishopric talked to us about helping get the Seminary program up and going again. The man who was teaching it left to take a job in another city but he thought he would be able to make it back to teach. But another interesting thing happened to him. He joined another church! The Elders quorum president happened to see him one day and that is how we found out what had happened. I don’t think the seminary kids know and that is probably best. That could shake them up quite a bit. We were shocked when we heard it. It made us realize how important it is to keep our testimonies strong through studying the scriptures and staying active in the church. So now on Wednesday night, Dad teaches seminary. Last night I taught a class to the mothers who bring their kids to seminary. We have been doing that together every other week. I was a nervous wreck thinking about it. Most of them are from the Philippines and speak some English and some German and I was wondering how we were going to communicate. But it’s wonderful what the spirit does. They told me they understood everything I said and I think I understood most everything they said. There was such a good spirit in the class and when it was time to go, no one wanted to leave. We just sat and talked and it was a wonderful experience. I’m actually looking forward to it again next week.
Another wonderful thing happened this week. Petra wants to be baptized and we have set a date for her baptism. She is going to be baptized on February 4th. We were hoping that it could happen sooner but she wants her daughter to be there and that is the first week-end her daughter can come. We thought we might have to start all over when she realized that we baptize by immersion. She shook her head “no” when we told her that. She really thought we would come to her home and sprinkle some water on her head a say a prayer. So we went to the Book of Mormon and read in Moroni exactly how a baptism is supposed to be done. We also read some scriptures which compared it to “being raised from the dead” when we come up out of the water and she finally accepted it. Sunday at church she wanted to see the font so we showed it to her. She’s still a bit nervous about people seeing her after she gets baptized and about getting her hair wet, but she really is excited about becoming a member of the church. We feel it is so important to stay in close contact with her between now and then. We met with her yesterday and have another meeting with her tomorrow. She has a copy of the Relief Society/Priesthood lesson book, the one by President Kimball, and she has read about a third of that already and she loves it. She read the chapter on repentance and commented yesterday how she thinks it is so good that we don’t take baptism lightly, that through interviews with people in authority it is determined whether they are ready to be baptized. She said to her that was another testimony to her of the truthfulness of the gospel. Because she is a nurse and because of some of the things she has been involved in as a nurse, it is necessary that she has an interview with the mission president. She is actually looking forward to that and feels good about being able to put some of her past mistakes in the past and move on to a new kind of life. She was brought up In East Germany where religion was not even talked about. In fact, it was dangerous to even mention religion so it hasn’t been until just the past 3 or 4 years that she has even thought about religion. We feel the Lord really prepared her to hear the gospel and feel so very grateful that we were at the right place at the right time to meet her and begin to teach her.
Last Friday we had a meeting with another part member family. He is a member but has been inactive for years and years. She isn’t a member and she loves to study the Bible. She goes to two study groups each week. One is a Protestant Group and the other is with the Jehovah Witnesses. We had met them before and they invited us back but she made it very clear that we were to study only from the Bible and not the Book of Mormon. Dad has been preparing for this meeting for nearly a month and did a wonderful job of talking about the prophets and some of the prophecies they made and how they were fulfilled and the need of prophets and our need to listen to them. She and her husband listened and read a lot of scriptures with us but when we were done, Dad mentioned that we would like to come back and talk to them some more. She jumped up and said to her husband that if he wanted us to come back, he had to make the appointment for us to come and that she had listened to the Mormons for years and that her husband won’t ever listen when people from other churches come into their home and she was done listening to people from his church. They got into a terrible argument! I wanted to get out of there and went over and tried to pull Dad up but you know Dad, he wants to try to solve the problem. They went on and on and we could tell the husband was really embarrassed and finally Dad got up and we walked out to the door. The husband walked out with us and we apologized for causing trouble and he apologized for her going “off” like that and we left. Dad called him the next night and again apologized and he said she just does that every once in awhile but she’ll get over it and asked us to call in a couple of weeks. I told Dad we’re not going to call! I don’t ever want to get in on something like that again! She is probably one of the most bitter people I’ve ever met and her husband is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Anyway, it was one of those missionary experiences that I just hope we don’t have too many of.
We are so excited about Zach getting ready for his mission! It seems like such a short time ago that we got a call from Chris while she was at the Hill Cumorah pageant telling us she had met the guy she was going to marry. We just said, “Ya Chris, we’ve heard that before.” Then we met Dale just before he left on his mission and it was like he had always been a part of our family. And now here they are getting ready to send their oldest son on a mission. How time flies! We will be anxious to hear where Zach will be serving. How everyone will love that he has all that music talent. Way to go Zach!!
Thanks to all of you for your letters. They mean so much to us. It’s always good to hear about all the happenings in all the families. We are completely out of touch with what’s going on in the world. Tonight the ward mission leader told us that Pres. Bush had ordered another 20,000 troops to go to Iraq and that Mitt Romney is running for president. That’s probably the first “world news” we’ve heard for a long time. And that’s good. We can keep focused on what we’re supposed to be doing here and now instead of thinking we know how to solve all these other problems. We hope you know how much you all mean to us. It seems like there just isn’t a lot of family closeness here and that makes us very thankful for the closeness and love in our family. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers each and every day.
Much love,
Mom
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