umble confidence that God acknowledges our service with approval and approbation. He smiles upon us as we offer these heartfelt acts of compassion, especially acts that are unseen Talofa All!
It's just hard to imagine Christmas with green grass and tropical scenery, and very warm, humid days and nights! But we are seeing the Christmas lights popping up everywhere and the stores are getting holiday "stuff" in them. And my email is blowing up with Black Friday deals! I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. On our Friday, the Seniors got together for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, so at least we didn't have to miss out on the Turkey and pie and side dishes! We. missed being with family though.
This past week we've been working on things to get ready for the upcoming Outtake,Intake, and transfer week coming up. I've put together 32 new intake welcome bags, Elder G. has been purchasing new sheets and pillows for all of them and some mattresses for new mission quarters that are opening up to accommodate the increase in missionaries. We have only 12 going home and a few Visa Workers leaving, so that still leaves quite a few more missionaries coming in than leaving. Hard to believe we only have one more outtake/intake to go before we will be "outtaking"! It's going by pretty fast.
The Elders from Tutuilla flew in on Tuesday for a temple trip. Elder Clark (from Wellsville) came over to visit us with his new companion from Lehi, Elder Revill. I was just finishing making taco soup for dinner ao they ate a bowl with us and drank Diet Coke and Diet Mt, Dew from Elder G's stash. Elder G. gave them both a Jazz jersey. We've given most of them away now, only about four or five left. Thanks for sending them, Whitli!
We were able to go to the temple ourselves last Thursday. That was nice, we haven't been able to find time for a few weeks.
On Saturday, we went over to our assigned Southeast Zone to scope out a new mission quarter and then attend a baptism. This one was unique-- the chapel is a big covered porch on the Bishop's property. It's just one big room with benches and a pulpit. When we got there, it was filled with members who were practicing and learning how to play on portable electric keyboards.They put away the keyboards and moved the benches back into place to get ready for the baptism when we pulled up. They had the opening exercises there and then we all loaded up into vehicles and drove a couple of mikes down the road to a river where there was a collecting pool and that's where they baptized him. Then we loaded back up and went back to the "church" and had the closing exercises. During the Bishop's closing remarks, we heard him say "President" a couple of times and after the meeting the missionaries told us he thought we were the mission leaders and was thanking us for coming! This has happened to us a few times now and I've heard some of the other Senior couples say it's happened to them too! I think the mission President needs to get out into the areas a little bit so the members can get to know who he is! HaHa!
Today after church, Elder G. had to go over to one of the Sister's MQ's and bury 9 dead premature puppies that were born right outside of their house. While he was digging a hole for them, it started to pour so he got drenched! Another first in the life of the mission housing coordinator duties.
I read a conference talk last week by then President Uchtdorf called "The Greatest Among You". Here's a few quotes from the talk I want to share:
"God's greatest reward goes to those who serve without expectation of reward. It goes to those who serve without fanfare; those who quietly go about seeking ways to help others; those who minister to others simply because they love God and God's children."
"In the eyes of God, there is no calling in the kingdom that is more important than another. Our service--whether great or small--refines our spirits, opens the windows of heaven, and releases God's blessings not only upon those we serve, but upon us as well. When we reach out to others, we can know with humble confidence that God acknowledges our service with approval and approbation. He smiles upon us as we offer these heartfelt acts of compassion, especially acts that are unseen and unnoticed by others."
"Each time we give of ourselves to others, we take one step closer to becoming good and true disciples of the One who gave His all for us: our Savior"
"He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
Have a "Seki" week! That's Samoan slang word for (awesome, great, best)!
No comments:
Post a Comment