From Mom 7/26
Dear Family,
I’m feeling a little old thinking that I have a son who is 44 years old today. Where does the time go? I hope Boyd and LeAnn and the youth of the ward are having a wonderful and safe time at their youth conference. What fun and what a lot of memories of youth conferences gone by.
Today is our P-day but we have had e appointments. We had one more but just as we were ready to walk out the door, she called and had to help out while a daughter took a sick grandchild to the doctor. That gave us some time to get some washing and cleaning done and prepare for the rest of the day. We just finished a game of 3-13. When we got home about 7:30, I told Dad I needed a change of pace for a little while. I couldn’t read one more word or study one more thing until we had had a break.
Sunday we are going to take Thomas Mueller to Nurnberg for his Patriarchal blessing. We had hoped his parents would change their minds and go with him just for the wonderful experience it would be for them and also for Thomas’ sake but they won’t do it. We felt honored that he would ask us. He is just an amazing young man. He is leaving on the 10 of August for California where he will live and attend a junior college there. We hate to see him leave the ward but he has had his heart set on this for a long time and is excited about going. He did admit the other night though that he has never been away from home for more than a month and never alone and is a little concerned about getting homesick. This will be good training for his mission.
Car wise, it has been a rather uneventful week. We haven’t had any breakdowns or flat tires or run out of gas. It was a welcome change from the week before. We are just hoping Sunday won’t be anything like the last Sunday we traveled over there.
Tuesday we had our interviews with President Rakow. He said that he didn’t have any plans to move us and then he added, “But I’m not the one running this mission. The Lord might have other plans for you.” I would love to just stay here and not have to worry about packing, moving and getting acquainted in a new area. But if we do get changed, we will know who wants the change. He is such an awesome leader and has so much concern for everyone. We have been getting some calls from people in the ward asking us to come over and talk to them about some of their problems. We asked Pres. Rakow how much time we should take with active members and he said to do anything we needed to do to help and strengthen the members of this ward. Just don’t turn into a taxi service or babysitters!! That was good news. Sometimes I worry when we’re not spending all our time with investigators, inactive or part member families. He said it is also important to help the active members stay active and to always teach a gospel principle when we are in their homes. Gaining the confidence and trust of the members is a good missionary tool.
We continue to run into really bizarre situations. Dad was going down the list of inactive members and called a woman to try to set up an appointment. She said she would like to talk to us but that we had better talk to her former bishop and stake president about a situation she has before we came. It took awhile to get ahold of both of them but we finally did. The situation is that this woman’s husband doesn’t want to be a man anymore. She still loves him but worries about her standing in the church living with someone like that. We decided to just leave it alone but the other day Dad meant to call another inactive member and dialed this woman by mistake-----her name was just below the one he was going to call. Dad was a bit surprised when she told him who she was but thanks to quick thinking, he told her that he had talked to her bishop and stake president and they had recommended that she talk to the bishop here and asked her if she would like to do that. She wanted to so Dad called the bishop and they set it up for last night. The bishop had talked to the stake president about the situation and he didn’t have an answer but called the area presidency and their recommendation was for the bishop to go ahead and talk to this woman and then write a letter to President Hinckley explaining things to him. Bishop Moffitt is moving back to the states the end of August and last night after he and Dad had talked to this woman, he commented that he’s going out on flying colors-----he has a church discipline court and a letter to write to the prophet within the next couple of weeks. I’m sure he will be relieved to have this job behind him. He is such a great bishop. We all hate to see him leave but lucky for us, he is moving to Twin Falls so maybe we’ll get a chance to visit them sometime. Anyway, I don’t know why we keep digging up all these problems for the bishop but we seem to find some real winners!! This lady is so nice though. It just breaks my heart thinking how torn she must be. She used to be really active in the church and has a strong testimony but is more than a little confused about what to do right now.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
Monday morning we had an appointment with Petra. When we got there, she was in tears and told us she couldn’t go back to our church anymore. When we asked her what had happened she said she couldn’t afford to belong to this church. She had had a rough week with her finances with the expenses with her car breaking down and then having to get new brakes. The Relief Society president had told her to go in and talk to the bishop. They started talking about tithing and what a full tithe was. Petra was paying on the net and not on the gross income and the bishop told her she needed to pay on the gross. That about did her in and she was ready to leave the church over that issue. She talked to a non-member friend who quickly agreed with her that our church asks for too much money------a common complaint we hear from inactive and part-member families too. Then this friend told her to read the parable of the unjust servant in Luke 15. She had interpreted this to mean that you didn’t have to pay the full amount and “the lord commended the unjust servant” for figuring this out. WRONG!!! But Petra wouldn’t listen to us. This friend also told her about a Priest who had an office downtown and people came to him anytime they had a question about the scriptures and he would answer their question. So Petra went to see him. He had interpreted it the same way as her friend but didn’t have an answer for the last part of the parable. He just said, “Jesus taught a lot of things that no one understands.” Then Petra asked him about the verses in Malachi which talk about tithes and offerings and he said he had never heard of that. That was a great experience for Petra because she said she was so thankful for the church and for her understanding of the scriptures and that she knew that somehow she could work her finances out so she could pay her tithing. Then last night we went with the bishop to visit her and he said he had been in a training meeting with the stake president the night before and the training was on tithing. They were told that tithing is a personal thing between us and our Heavenly Father. He also learned that in Europe, where people pay 50% and sometimes more in taxes, they can’t always be expected to pay on the gross so the bishops instructions were for her to continue to pay as she has been paying and when it came time for a temple recommend interview, she could say she was a full tithe payer. He said she had to feel good in her heart about what she was doing. It was something between her and her Heavenly Father and if she felt that what she was doing was right, that how it would be. President Rakow had said there isn’t such a thing as “gross” blessings and “net” blessings with regards to tithing and that if we do all we can do, that’s enough for the Lord. So we’ve crossed another hurdle with Petra. She’s happy. Our dear bishop was so kind. He thanked her for giving him this opportunity to learn more about this. He said he knew she was upset when they talked on Sunday and was thankful that they had been able to talk and get this worked out. He felt at peace in his heart. Petra felt at peace and we felt at peace. We had hardly been able to think of anything else since our visit with her on Monday. Its wonderful how things work out when there are people to go to for help. How grateful we are for Priesthood leadership at all levels.
We have meetings set up with one inactive family and one part member that we haven’t met with before. Dad is an expert at finding things for us to do but we are thankful for the opportunity. The wife is the non-member and has come to some of the Relief Society activities and also to ward parties. She would like to start coming to church but her member husband is the one dragging his feet so our work is cut out for us. We don’t know a lot about the other one only that he was at one time really active. We called him when we first got here and he was working weird hours and couldn’t meet with us but the last time Dad call, he has a new job and regular hours and invited us to come over. It’s always a bit scary wondering what we’re going to find but I’ll just tag along behind Dad and we’ll see what happens!
We met the new couple from Rigby the other day at interviews. Oh how well I remember just how they are feeling! They’re almost over the jet lag but have spent a good deal of their time lost in their assigned city and they don’t even know where to start. To make matters worse, the bishop of the ward is in the states for the summer and the counselors don’t act like they know much what is going on. Their apartment was a disaster when they got there. They were told the Elders had cleaned it before they moved but Sister Meng said their idea of clean and hers were a long ways apart. They are really nice people and I hope I can help her like so many people have helped me. They have 7 children---4 girls and 3 boys----and 14 grandchildren. They signed up for 23 months. They’re a lot braver than I am!!
We have a meeting in the morning with a young mother of two active boys whose husband was unfaithful to her and no longer is a member of the church. She is trying so hard to hang on but sometimes it is almost more than she can do. Sunday she was crying after church. I walked to her car with her and she asked if we could come over and “just talk”. I’ve decided I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life. We’ve seen many sad and very ugly situations since being here. Satan is doing a number on people. He’s trying so hard to get his last licks in. How very important it is for us to stay strong and true to the things we know are right. We need each other as family and we need to be good friends and neighbors. How thankful I am to know who is going to win in the end. The challenge is to live so that we’re always on His side. I know we can do it but not without commitment and hard work. May we ever be true to those things we know are right.
Much love to all of you,
Mom
I’m feeling a little old thinking that I have a son who is 44 years old today. Where does the time go? I hope Boyd and LeAnn and the youth of the ward are having a wonderful and safe time at their youth conference. What fun and what a lot of memories of youth conferences gone by.
Today is our P-day but we have had e appointments. We had one more but just as we were ready to walk out the door, she called and had to help out while a daughter took a sick grandchild to the doctor. That gave us some time to get some washing and cleaning done and prepare for the rest of the day. We just finished a game of 3-13. When we got home about 7:30, I told Dad I needed a change of pace for a little while. I couldn’t read one more word or study one more thing until we had had a break.
Sunday we are going to take Thomas Mueller to Nurnberg for his Patriarchal blessing. We had hoped his parents would change their minds and go with him just for the wonderful experience it would be for them and also for Thomas’ sake but they won’t do it. We felt honored that he would ask us. He is just an amazing young man. He is leaving on the 10 of August for California where he will live and attend a junior college there. We hate to see him leave the ward but he has had his heart set on this for a long time and is excited about going. He did admit the other night though that he has never been away from home for more than a month and never alone and is a little concerned about getting homesick. This will be good training for his mission.
Car wise, it has been a rather uneventful week. We haven’t had any breakdowns or flat tires or run out of gas. It was a welcome change from the week before. We are just hoping Sunday won’t be anything like the last Sunday we traveled over there.
Tuesday we had our interviews with President Rakow. He said that he didn’t have any plans to move us and then he added, “But I’m not the one running this mission. The Lord might have other plans for you.” I would love to just stay here and not have to worry about packing, moving and getting acquainted in a new area. But if we do get changed, we will know who wants the change. He is such an awesome leader and has so much concern for everyone. We have been getting some calls from people in the ward asking us to come over and talk to them about some of their problems. We asked Pres. Rakow how much time we should take with active members and he said to do anything we needed to do to help and strengthen the members of this ward. Just don’t turn into a taxi service or babysitters!! That was good news. Sometimes I worry when we’re not spending all our time with investigators, inactive or part member families. He said it is also important to help the active members stay active and to always teach a gospel principle when we are in their homes. Gaining the confidence and trust of the members is a good missionary tool.
We continue to run into really bizarre situations. Dad was going down the list of inactive members and called a woman to try to set up an appointment. She said she would like to talk to us but that we had better talk to her former bishop and stake president about a situation she has before we came. It took awhile to get ahold of both of them but we finally did. The situation is that this woman’s husband doesn’t want to be a man anymore. She still loves him but worries about her standing in the church living with someone like that. We decided to just leave it alone but the other day Dad meant to call another inactive member and dialed this woman by mistake-----her name was just below the one he was going to call. Dad was a bit surprised when she told him who she was but thanks to quick thinking, he told her that he had talked to her bishop and stake president and they had recommended that she talk to the bishop here and asked her if she would like to do that. She wanted to so Dad called the bishop and they set it up for last night. The bishop had talked to the stake president about the situation and he didn’t have an answer but called the area presidency and their recommendation was for the bishop to go ahead and talk to this woman and then write a letter to President Hinckley explaining things to him. Bishop Moffitt is moving back to the states the end of August and last night after he and Dad had talked to this woman, he commented that he’s going out on flying colors-----he has a church discipline court and a letter to write to the prophet within the next couple of weeks. I’m sure he will be relieved to have this job behind him. He is such a great bishop. We all hate to see him leave but lucky for us, he is moving to Twin Falls so maybe we’ll get a chance to visit them sometime. Anyway, I don’t know why we keep digging up all these problems for the bishop but we seem to find some real winners!! This lady is so nice though. It just breaks my heart thinking how torn she must be. She used to be really active in the church and has a strong testimony but is more than a little confused about what to do right now.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
Monday morning we had an appointment with Petra. When we got there, she was in tears and told us she couldn’t go back to our church anymore. When we asked her what had happened she said she couldn’t afford to belong to this church. She had had a rough week with her finances with the expenses with her car breaking down and then having to get new brakes. The Relief Society president had told her to go in and talk to the bishop. They started talking about tithing and what a full tithe was. Petra was paying on the net and not on the gross income and the bishop told her she needed to pay on the gross. That about did her in and she was ready to leave the church over that issue. She talked to a non-member friend who quickly agreed with her that our church asks for too much money------a common complaint we hear from inactive and part-member families too. Then this friend told her to read the parable of the unjust servant in Luke 15. She had interpreted this to mean that you didn’t have to pay the full amount and “the lord commended the unjust servant” for figuring this out. WRONG!!! But Petra wouldn’t listen to us. This friend also told her about a Priest who had an office downtown and people came to him anytime they had a question about the scriptures and he would answer their question. So Petra went to see him. He had interpreted it the same way as her friend but didn’t have an answer for the last part of the parable. He just said, “Jesus taught a lot of things that no one understands.” Then Petra asked him about the verses in Malachi which talk about tithes and offerings and he said he had never heard of that. That was a great experience for Petra because she said she was so thankful for the church and for her understanding of the scriptures and that she knew that somehow she could work her finances out so she could pay her tithing. Then last night we went with the bishop to visit her and he said he had been in a training meeting with the stake president the night before and the training was on tithing. They were told that tithing is a personal thing between us and our Heavenly Father. He also learned that in Europe, where people pay 50% and sometimes more in taxes, they can’t always be expected to pay on the gross so the bishops instructions were for her to continue to pay as she has been paying and when it came time for a temple recommend interview, she could say she was a full tithe payer. He said she had to feel good in her heart about what she was doing. It was something between her and her Heavenly Father and if she felt that what she was doing was right, that how it would be. President Rakow had said there isn’t such a thing as “gross” blessings and “net” blessings with regards to tithing and that if we do all we can do, that’s enough for the Lord. So we’ve crossed another hurdle with Petra. She’s happy. Our dear bishop was so kind. He thanked her for giving him this opportunity to learn more about this. He said he knew she was upset when they talked on Sunday and was thankful that they had been able to talk and get this worked out. He felt at peace in his heart. Petra felt at peace and we felt at peace. We had hardly been able to think of anything else since our visit with her on Monday. Its wonderful how things work out when there are people to go to for help. How grateful we are for Priesthood leadership at all levels.
We have meetings set up with one inactive family and one part member that we haven’t met with before. Dad is an expert at finding things for us to do but we are thankful for the opportunity. The wife is the non-member and has come to some of the Relief Society activities and also to ward parties. She would like to start coming to church but her member husband is the one dragging his feet so our work is cut out for us. We don’t know a lot about the other one only that he was at one time really active. We called him when we first got here and he was working weird hours and couldn’t meet with us but the last time Dad call, he has a new job and regular hours and invited us to come over. It’s always a bit scary wondering what we’re going to find but I’ll just tag along behind Dad and we’ll see what happens!
We met the new couple from Rigby the other day at interviews. Oh how well I remember just how they are feeling! They’re almost over the jet lag but have spent a good deal of their time lost in their assigned city and they don’t even know where to start. To make matters worse, the bishop of the ward is in the states for the summer and the counselors don’t act like they know much what is going on. Their apartment was a disaster when they got there. They were told the Elders had cleaned it before they moved but Sister Meng said their idea of clean and hers were a long ways apart. They are really nice people and I hope I can help her like so many people have helped me. They have 7 children---4 girls and 3 boys----and 14 grandchildren. They signed up for 23 months. They’re a lot braver than I am!!
We have a meeting in the morning with a young mother of two active boys whose husband was unfaithful to her and no longer is a member of the church. She is trying so hard to hang on but sometimes it is almost more than she can do. Sunday she was crying after church. I walked to her car with her and she asked if we could come over and “just talk”. I’ve decided I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life. We’ve seen many sad and very ugly situations since being here. Satan is doing a number on people. He’s trying so hard to get his last licks in. How very important it is for us to stay strong and true to the things we know are right. We need each other as family and we need to be good friends and neighbors. How thankful I am to know who is going to win in the end. The challenge is to live so that we’re always on His side. I know we can do it but not without commitment and hard work. May we ever be true to those things we know are right.
Much love to all of you,
Mom
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