From Mom 3/8
Dear Family,
It seems like I just wrote. The time is flying by. And speaking of time, when does Daylight Saving time start there? They announced in church on Sunday that it starts here on the 25th of March. I always thought it started on the first Sunday in April. I know we’re a few hours ahead of you but I didn’t think we were a week ahead! I guess that’s not all that important but I was just curious.
This has been a mixed week. We’ve met with a few inactive members and Dad met a lady who lives in this building downstairs when he went to get the mail. We had talked to her a few other times and she told us how sad she was because she has recently lost her husband. Then this week when Dad saw her downstairs she told him again how sad she was and Dad told her we would like to come and talk to her about some things. Her response was, “come in and let’s talk”. Dad came up and got me and we went down to her flat. She lived in Russia and has been in Germany about 10 years. She speaks German fairly well but can’t read anything in German. She asked a few questions about the church and we told her some about it and her response to that was, “the Catholic church is the only true church. All the others are wrong, but I want to hear more about your church.” We had to leave then for another appointment but made an appointment with her for Monday. We also found a Russian Book of Mormon and some pamphlets in Russian to take to her. I don’t know that anything will come of this but it could be interesting. Dad is pretty bold. He isn’t afraid to talk to anyone and ask them if they would like to learn about the church. Sometimes I’m thankful that I can’t speak the language. It gives me a good excuse to not talk to people! But I’m willing to support Dad and am thankful that he’s not shy about meeting people.
We met with another woman this week. She is a member but very inactive. Her husband died and she and her daughter lived alone for about three years and then she met this really nice German man and they started living together. Because she was a widow, she was getting a pretty good pension from the government that she would have to give up if she got married so they have been living together for a couple of years. Our purpose in visiting her was to meet with her live-in husband and start teaching him but he wasn’t there when we got there. We were talking to her and she told us that she had been a member for a long time and knew that she needed to get active in the church again. Then she told us that she would like to be sealed in the temple to her husband who had died and wondered how she could do that. We get ourselves is some pretty complicated situations!! Anyway, she wants us to come back and re-teach her the gospel and she wants to get more active in the church again and maybe this other situation will work itself out. Never a dull moment! Sometimes we come home with our heads just spinning wondering what to do about some of the things we get involved with.
Petra continues to progress and keeps us busy looking up answers to questions she has. This week she was really confused about the apostasy and what exactly dispensation meant. She thought that every time there was an apostasy and then a new dispensation that a new church was started. That took some “searching the scriptures” to try to explain that to her but she finally understood it and seemed happy to have that straight in her mind. New member lessons and follow up are so very important! This ward leaves a lot to be desired as far as home-teaching and visiting teaching goes. I’m becoming more convinced all the time that those two callings are among the most important things we can do in the church. We really need to take care of each other.
We read a really neat story while preparing for out seminary/institute class. It was actually a talk given by Marion D. Hanks several years ago in conference. I’ll try to make it brief. It was about a young girl who wanted to go to a church school. Her mother was a widow and wasn’t able to help her financially. There were few opportunities for work in her small community so she went to a big city not too far away to look for work. She had a hard time finding a job and became very discouraged and depressed. She found company in a young man who ended up taking advantage of her and she became pregnant. She went back to her mother feeling very ashamed about what had happened and also went to her bishop and confessed what had happened and asked for counsel from him. The decision was made that she would stay at home and wait for her time. Then on fast Sunday, she stood up in front of the congregation and told what had happened. She said she wanted them to know so when she walked the streets of their town that they would know and hopefully have compassion on her and forgive her. Then she bore her testimony of her knowledge of the saving mission of Jesus Christ and sat down. Then the bishop stood up and said that this young woman would not be the only one on the list of sinners in the ward. He felt he had sinned for not staying in closer touch with the family, especially knowing the mother was a widow and they were struggling to get by. He said he had talked to his wife and to others about his concern for the girl and had prayed about it but had done nothing about it. He went on to say that he didn’t know how much longer he would be the bishop of that ward but as long as he was, he would not let anything like this happen again. Then the counselor in the bishopric over some of the auxiliaries stood up and said he would be on that list too because the bishop had discussed this situation with him and he was concerned. Then he told of how many times he had gone to this city on business trips where this girl was and had passed up the opportunity of looking her up and seeing how she was doing. He too had talked to his wife and to the Lord but had done nothing. Then the Young Women’s president stood and told a similar story. The counselor in the bishopric had mentioned their concerns and she had given it some thought but had done nothing. The last person to stand was an older man and he said he was going to add two names to the list, his own and that of his home teaching companion. He said they had been assigned to this young woman and her mother’s home as home teachers but they hadn’t been consistent in doing their home teaching and had not made an effort to know what was going on with this family. He said as long as he lived in the ward, he would not miss another month of home teaching. Elder Hanks went on to say that he didn’t think we could have understood the importance of our callings in the church if the Lord himself had come down to teach us than what was taught in this testimony meeting. I was so impressed with this story and the more we work with these inactive members and come to understand some of their problems, the more strongly I feel the importance of watching out of each other. I liked the article in the February Ensign that mentioned that most people become inactive because of missing just one meeting and no one noticing they aren’t there. That is something to think about.
Well, I’ve got to get off my soap box. These are just some of the things I’ve thought a lot about this week and we’ve talked a lot about. We are very thankful for the freedom we have as senior missionaries to visit these part member and less active families. Most of them are very nice. We’ve had a few hang up on us when they found out we were missionaries but that is to be expected.
We love your letters. It is so great to hear about all the goings on in your families. It makes me tired reading about all the running and activities you are all involved in but I guess I did the same thing at one time. That was when I had much more energy than I do now. It’s just fun hearing about everything everyone is involved in. We were hoping that by now we would know where Zach is going to be serving his mission. I’m sure that he is much more anxious than any of us. Its hard waiting for that big white envelope but it will be worth the wait.
It’s trying to be spring here. The sun shines at least half the day now and I love the longer days and more light. Soon they will be even longer. I wish I could describe the beauty of this country. I remember when Cindy got home from her mission and said Idaho looked so flat. Now I know what she meant. We will miss all the green, rolling hills and all the trees but being with all of you again will more than make up for it.
Have a good week and know that you are loved and prayed for every day.
Much love,
Mom
It seems like I just wrote. The time is flying by. And speaking of time, when does Daylight Saving time start there? They announced in church on Sunday that it starts here on the 25th of March. I always thought it started on the first Sunday in April. I know we’re a few hours ahead of you but I didn’t think we were a week ahead! I guess that’s not all that important but I was just curious.
This has been a mixed week. We’ve met with a few inactive members and Dad met a lady who lives in this building downstairs when he went to get the mail. We had talked to her a few other times and she told us how sad she was because she has recently lost her husband. Then this week when Dad saw her downstairs she told him again how sad she was and Dad told her we would like to come and talk to her about some things. Her response was, “come in and let’s talk”. Dad came up and got me and we went down to her flat. She lived in Russia and has been in Germany about 10 years. She speaks German fairly well but can’t read anything in German. She asked a few questions about the church and we told her some about it and her response to that was, “the Catholic church is the only true church. All the others are wrong, but I want to hear more about your church.” We had to leave then for another appointment but made an appointment with her for Monday. We also found a Russian Book of Mormon and some pamphlets in Russian to take to her. I don’t know that anything will come of this but it could be interesting. Dad is pretty bold. He isn’t afraid to talk to anyone and ask them if they would like to learn about the church. Sometimes I’m thankful that I can’t speak the language. It gives me a good excuse to not talk to people! But I’m willing to support Dad and am thankful that he’s not shy about meeting people.
We met with another woman this week. She is a member but very inactive. Her husband died and she and her daughter lived alone for about three years and then she met this really nice German man and they started living together. Because she was a widow, she was getting a pretty good pension from the government that she would have to give up if she got married so they have been living together for a couple of years. Our purpose in visiting her was to meet with her live-in husband and start teaching him but he wasn’t there when we got there. We were talking to her and she told us that she had been a member for a long time and knew that she needed to get active in the church again. Then she told us that she would like to be sealed in the temple to her husband who had died and wondered how she could do that. We get ourselves is some pretty complicated situations!! Anyway, she wants us to come back and re-teach her the gospel and she wants to get more active in the church again and maybe this other situation will work itself out. Never a dull moment! Sometimes we come home with our heads just spinning wondering what to do about some of the things we get involved with.
Petra continues to progress and keeps us busy looking up answers to questions she has. This week she was really confused about the apostasy and what exactly dispensation meant. She thought that every time there was an apostasy and then a new dispensation that a new church was started. That took some “searching the scriptures” to try to explain that to her but she finally understood it and seemed happy to have that straight in her mind. New member lessons and follow up are so very important! This ward leaves a lot to be desired as far as home-teaching and visiting teaching goes. I’m becoming more convinced all the time that those two callings are among the most important things we can do in the church. We really need to take care of each other.
We read a really neat story while preparing for out seminary/institute class. It was actually a talk given by Marion D. Hanks several years ago in conference. I’ll try to make it brief. It was about a young girl who wanted to go to a church school. Her mother was a widow and wasn’t able to help her financially. There were few opportunities for work in her small community so she went to a big city not too far away to look for work. She had a hard time finding a job and became very discouraged and depressed. She found company in a young man who ended up taking advantage of her and she became pregnant. She went back to her mother feeling very ashamed about what had happened and also went to her bishop and confessed what had happened and asked for counsel from him. The decision was made that she would stay at home and wait for her time. Then on fast Sunday, she stood up in front of the congregation and told what had happened. She said she wanted them to know so when she walked the streets of their town that they would know and hopefully have compassion on her and forgive her. Then she bore her testimony of her knowledge of the saving mission of Jesus Christ and sat down. Then the bishop stood up and said that this young woman would not be the only one on the list of sinners in the ward. He felt he had sinned for not staying in closer touch with the family, especially knowing the mother was a widow and they were struggling to get by. He said he had talked to his wife and to others about his concern for the girl and had prayed about it but had done nothing about it. He went on to say that he didn’t know how much longer he would be the bishop of that ward but as long as he was, he would not let anything like this happen again. Then the counselor in the bishopric over some of the auxiliaries stood up and said he would be on that list too because the bishop had discussed this situation with him and he was concerned. Then he told of how many times he had gone to this city on business trips where this girl was and had passed up the opportunity of looking her up and seeing how she was doing. He too had talked to his wife and to the Lord but had done nothing. Then the Young Women’s president stood and told a similar story. The counselor in the bishopric had mentioned their concerns and she had given it some thought but had done nothing. The last person to stand was an older man and he said he was going to add two names to the list, his own and that of his home teaching companion. He said they had been assigned to this young woman and her mother’s home as home teachers but they hadn’t been consistent in doing their home teaching and had not made an effort to know what was going on with this family. He said as long as he lived in the ward, he would not miss another month of home teaching. Elder Hanks went on to say that he didn’t think we could have understood the importance of our callings in the church if the Lord himself had come down to teach us than what was taught in this testimony meeting. I was so impressed with this story and the more we work with these inactive members and come to understand some of their problems, the more strongly I feel the importance of watching out of each other. I liked the article in the February Ensign that mentioned that most people become inactive because of missing just one meeting and no one noticing they aren’t there. That is something to think about.
Well, I’ve got to get off my soap box. These are just some of the things I’ve thought a lot about this week and we’ve talked a lot about. We are very thankful for the freedom we have as senior missionaries to visit these part member and less active families. Most of them are very nice. We’ve had a few hang up on us when they found out we were missionaries but that is to be expected.
We love your letters. It is so great to hear about all the goings on in your families. It makes me tired reading about all the running and activities you are all involved in but I guess I did the same thing at one time. That was when I had much more energy than I do now. It’s just fun hearing about everything everyone is involved in. We were hoping that by now we would know where Zach is going to be serving his mission. I’m sure that he is much more anxious than any of us. Its hard waiting for that big white envelope but it will be worth the wait.
It’s trying to be spring here. The sun shines at least half the day now and I love the longer days and more light. Soon they will be even longer. I wish I could describe the beauty of this country. I remember when Cindy got home from her mission and said Idaho looked so flat. Now I know what she meant. We will miss all the green, rolling hills and all the trees but being with all of you again will more than make up for it.
Have a good week and know that you are loved and prayed for every day.
Much love,
Mom
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