Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: CHANGE IN ASSIGNMENT

On Monday we learned that another couple would be taking responsibility for Italy, and that we would be taking on France, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg effective the end of October. Elder and Sister Kershisnik will be going home at the end of the month, and no one has been called to replace them in France. While I am sure there will some cleaning up of open projects between now and the end of the month, right now that means we would be giving up 19 projects and taking on 45 new ones. Life is going to get busier.

Monday evening, we were able to watch the Sunday afternoon session of general conference. Call me (Russell) a wimp, but I just don’t get much out of a meeting that starts at 10:00 PM. I am glad for easily accessed recordings of conference.

My favorite talk was Elder Bednar’s Sealed by the Holy Spirt of Promise. In it, he quotes Elder Boyd K. Packer saying, “No matter what citizenship or race, whether male or female, no matter what occupation, no matter your education, regardless of the generation in which one lives, life is a homeward journey for all of us, back to the presence of God.”

“Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality.”

Elder Bednar said, “Ultimately, all gospel ordinances and covenants must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. As the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, ‘All covenants … not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise ... are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead.’” (D&C 132:7)

Continuing he said, “Receiving this ratifying sealing by the Holy Ghost typically is not a one-time event; rather it comes over time as we repent sincerely and consistently, honor our covenants, and yield our hearts unto God.”

I appreciate the additional clarification by a living prophet to the general direction found in 2 Nephi 31 of needing to “endure to the end” following baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost to have eternal life.

Midweek I was approached by our zone vehicle coordinator. She asked if I wanted the use of a car that would need to be returned for sale the next Monday. As it was not our week for the car we share, I jumped at the chance. Her request was simply that I run almost all the gas out of it, as they turn the cars in for sale with a nearly empty tank. It was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it! After seeing how many kilometers the car was estimated to go on the remaining tank of gas, I calculated somewhere to visit on Saturday. Factoring our Sunday commute to church in Wiesbaden, Strasbourg, just over the border in France seemed a good choice. Our new IFR couple, Elder and Sister Sakley went with us. This their sixth mission together. They were the Area Humanitarian couple in Hong Kong just before we got to Indonesia and Elder Sakley was the IFR in Manilla when we were evacuated for the Covid pandemic. They also served as mission leaders in India.

This was where Russell had to get in to the on the lower bunk. The cement pad on top is where our normal vehicle is parked. There was not much room above or on the driver's side to get in.