Officials at Stake Conference

We spoke at a stake conference today where these government officials came.  They were effusive with their praise.  Wanda (the wife) said she had never felt something so spiritual.  Miguel (the husband) said he saw an "aura" around everyone who spoke.   He said when the stake president spoke he moved around a lot, and the aura just followed him as he moved,.  Afterwards we had a small reception and we were able to share a little about the restored gospel, give them a Book of Mormon and get their contact information so the missionaries could pass by.

In Rain or Shine

Actually... the missionaries prefer the rain.  The sun can be brutal here.  We're definitely getting our share of rain with the tropical storms in the Caribbean.  At least they are not hurricanes.

New blood

A group of new missionaries can really animate a mission.  It's like having a new baby in the family.  They are all so cute and we're all excited to watch them grow and progress!

Never too old to start anew

Who could imagine that after trying for years to get his dad to join the church, it would be three humble missionaries who preached with the power and authority of their calling that helped this brother (left of the bride) decide to be baptized.  A year later the couple invited "their" missionaries to  attend their sealing in the temple.

The Gift of Tongues

The "gift of tongues" works even with those who can't speak.  These hermanas baptized a couple who is deaf (their daughter is hearing) and their friend also by reading together, writing, and the hermanas have actually learned enough sign language to communicate with them.

Laundry never was so fun!

Our missionaries are super happy to finally have real washing machines.  They had been using tiny machines that kept breaking and weren't even big enough to wash one set of baptismal clothing.  Now they can wash and wash and wash!  Bring on the baptisms!  And thanks Elder Fajen for making their p-days a little easier!

Welcome Zander!

Our 10th grand baby was born this morning, a little boy.  We will meet him when he is nine months old, crawling up stairs and falling down them, and if he's like the others, standing without help, not knowing that standing's even harder than walking.  He'll have a couple teeth on the bottom and two more on the top.  He'll know how to clap and how to laugh, and I hope he's past the object-permanence stage because we'll be strangers to him.

Happy Missionaries

I don't know how many years it has been since the mission got new mattresses, but the old ones were really sad.  The beds were too short and the mattresses hung over the ends.  One of our senior couples made new bed frames the right size and our housing missionary, Elder Fajen, ordered new mattresses for everybody. 

I Hope they Call me On a Mission!

Last week we were invited to give a fireside to a large group of pre-missionaries and in order to help them get excited about their missions we showed a slide show of our missionaries just having lots of fun.  At the end we showed photos of the last transfer's baptisms.  They realized missionaries can have fun being spiritual!  The sound didn't come out but you can see the photos.

https://youtu.be/_-tQW89MizA