GENERAL CONFERENCE

Last weekend Eileen and I had the opportunity to watch all five sessions of General Conference.We are blessed to live in a time when we can hear God’s direction to us through His prophet, apostles, and other Church leaders.  I approached this conference hoping to gain insight as to what Eileen and I should do following the completion of our mission here in Missouri.  As I listened to the speakers, I made notes regarding my impressions.  I came away from conference with the clear message that I needed to do a much better job of submitting to the will of God and trusting in Him.  As I looked back over the addresses given, I can see Elder Ulysses Soares’ talk, Aligning Our Will with His, and Elder D.Todd Christofferson’s talk, Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion as being directly on point with that direction to me.  But during the conference, I came away from each session feeling like the message to me from most of the talks was to stop trusting in my own understanding and wanting things “my way,” and just trust in the Lord and submit my will to HIS.

During the past week, I was provided several examples of others putting their trust in the Lord.Two of our young sister missionaries, who are assigned to a YSA branch, have been trying to find young women to teach.  Earlier they had asked Eileen where young single women hangout here in Missouri.  Which of course neither Eileen or I had a clue.  They decided to go to a small local college, set up a booth and try to talk to young coeds about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When asked them about how well that went, they said they had plenty of interest from young men but not from the young women on campus.  They then described to us what they regarded as a gift/blessing from God in directing their missionary efforts.  They said they usually only get one or two referrals per six week transfer period in their area, and they had just received eight, all for young women.  One of which, they are already talking with about baptism.

Last week a family, both parents and older children, were baptized.  They were from Guatemala, where they had talked to missionaries prior to their immigrating to the U.S.  For some reason they decided to come to Kansas City.  One of our Spanish speaking members, who is an Uber driver, saw them on the side of the road.  He decided to stop and ask them where they were going.  Upon learning that they had no home, he took them to his house and let them stay there until they could begin to get established here.  During that process the parents noticed their host was a member of the church they had met the missionaries from back home.  It did not take long for them to be taught and baptized.  All which started from an Uber driver following a prompting from God.

A week has now gone by since conference.  I’ve been praying to know what God would have me do.  I don’t have any better direction of my thoughts of doing things with family members following our return, and then possibly serving again.  But in just the last 24 hours, Eileen and I have both been impressed that God wants us to do something with Nina, a single mother with four kids.  Exactly what and how, I have no idea.  She and her children need the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His church’s organization in their lives.  It will be interesting to see how this one unfolds.

My 15 year old grand daughter has a wonderful artistic talent. She drew this picture of the SL temple while she watching conference.

A grandson studied maps of the world and made a list of where potential temples might be announced prior to conference. He guessed 10 of the 17 announced which we think is quite remarkable. Maybe someday he will work in the temple department. 

                                

Sister Kington  and Sister Anderson didn't get any females who were interested in their displays at the local college. Lots of males were interested. They said God must have been seen their desire to find young women for the YSA ward, because they recently got 8 referrals. They were very excited.

                                                       

Fungus on the hand. Icky.

The seniors did a service project on Saturday. We did 150 handwritten cards to go with Meals on Wheels dinners for Thanksgiving.

Very cute card with a nice handwritten note written upside down. We won't hire Sister Creer anytime soon to work for Hallmark cards-which incidentally has it's headquarters in Kansas City.

Sister Sheffield came up with the service project.  We hope the cards bring joy to those who can't get out with loved ones on Thanksgiving. 

Our granddaughter Bree is celebrating her 16th birthday this week. We are so grateful for the miracles that have occurred in her life. When she was born, she weighed under 2 pounds and was born without a heartbeat.

This giant woodchuck has made its home underneath the 4 air conditioning units at the office. . Elder Draney put out a trap and caught it this past week.  When someone asked Sister Creer where the woodchuck had been relocated, she replied "I am sure it will be some place heavenly."

It has been quite hot this past week. Our office was getting warmer and warmer. Turns out the AC wasn't working because someone had clipped the copper off of the AC units. We were told they probably got $15 for the copper and it will cost $24,000 to replace.  Bummer. 

THE PASSING OF GURU HUNT

As we serve on missions we meet and serve with other missionaries that we remember for years.  Even though we may never see some of them in person following our mission, the shared experiences seem to create a bond that is not forgotten.  On Friday we learned of the passing of Larry Hunt.  I (Russell) knew him as “Guru” Hunt, he was our primary instructor when I was in the Hawaii Language Training Mission (LTM) in late 1974 and 1975.  Elder Hunt was a member of the first group of six missionaries that entered Indonesia in January 1970.  Following his mission, he attended BYU Hawaii and taught Indonesian at the Hawaii LTM when the first group of missionaries to receive language arrived in early 1974.  While we have met in person only a couple of times since then at missionary reunions, I still have vivid memories of him as he taught us, not only the language but also about the people and country that we were to later serve in.  Little did imagine that less than 40 years later I would be serving there again with Eileen.

Although Elder Hunt was five years older than me, we are close enough in age that his death reminds me of my own mortality.  I would like to think that I have plenty of time to become a better person, to repent and change, as we have been encouraged to do by Church leaders.  I need to do a better job of changing today and not procrastinating.

I am so grateful to know of our Father in Heaven’s eternal plan for us, and for our Savior’s role in that plan.  I am grateful to know that I will someday again see loved ones who have passed on, and that relationships formed here on earth can survive death.

For Eileen, this past week has been both very busy and eventful.  The personal nature of her work makes it hard to appropriately describe fully most of the situations she deals with, but here are few highlights.  She sent one missionary to the ER.  After three hours in the waiting room, the elder asked Eileen if he should give up and go home.  They agreed to give it another half-hour.  Five minutes before the appointed hour, the elder was seen and then released three hours later. Following up on that ER visit, Eileen was able to get some assistance from a previously unavailable source, which was an unexpected blessing.  Another missionary was struggling with her new medication for a serious problem. After a few days of holding on, things settled down and now the missionary loves how she feels with the new medication.  

With each group of new missionaries, Eileen reads through their papers and does follow up calls with the parents if she needs more direction.  It is interesting to see in some of the situations how reality differs from what is noted in the papers.  The overstatement and understatement of problems have both been  issues with some.  And then there are a few situations, where neither the parents, Eileen or the Sommerfeldt’s can see how the missionary will be able to survive in the mission field.  Sometimes they don’t make it, but some do.  And when that success happens, it is wonderful and amazing to watch.  Miracles happen!

Russell has nurtured these flowers through a very hot summer. We love seeing them on our balcony.

 The two dots are not freckles but how long the elder's blood clot is.

We haven't had waffles since our grandkids were here. It seemed like a wonderful way to start the morning prior to the conference sessions. It is such a blessing to be able to hear conference live.

This missionary wiped out the basketball hoop. When asked if he was hanging on the rim he said no.  I think he recognized his mistake and that is why he looks like a little boy who just got in trouble.