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.