Quotes of the Week

God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were. He cares that we keep on trying.
--Dale G Renlund

Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time for one will dispel the other.
--Thomas S. Monson

There is no shortage of God's love in the universe, only in our willingness to do what is needed to feel it.
--John H. Groberg

Exploring Del Mar; Church Open House; Technology Training Begins

We continue to have returned missionaries come back to the mission to visit us. This particular visit was interesting and fun because it was a former assistant, Jared Hopkins, who is now dating a former sister training leader, Sister Lexie Skabelund--who brought her two sisters with them on the vacation.

Our sweet, 10 1/2-year-old granddaughter Brooke loves to text me on her mother's phone. One day we were having a conversation which caused me to laugh right out loud. She's a character!!

I told her we have all gone through it. Her response, "Good. But I haven't." So funny!! Poor girl!!

One Monday morning we ventured down to Del Mar to explore a bit on the cliffs by the ocean.

We found our dream house.

Our purpose was to find out what the wooden eagle is all about that we have seen from the road.

There used to be a big tree there, but the city cut it down because bark beetles had damaged it. The trunk was turned into art. 

The stump is now called Sunset Seat. A seat has been cut into the trunk. 

Attached to the extending branch is a carved red-tailed hawk--the official bird of Torrey Pines Reserve.

Even though we were there closer to sunrise than sunset, Glen took a moment to enjoy Sunset Seat to look at the beautiful ocean view.  

It was a blue, cloudless sky where we were, but as we walked south, we saw a big wall of marine layer clouds that like to hover over the ocean.

That evening the Escondido zone put together a church open house at the Felicita building. The missionaries and the members invited their friends and investigators to come see what goes on inside an LDS Church meetinghouse.

There were missionaries greeting people when they walked in. Each person was given one of five different pass-along cards and went into the chapel where beautiful organ music was playing.

After an opening hymn and prayer, the stake president talked to the group for a few minutes. Then Glen talked to them for another few minutes before they were split up into smaller groups according to which pass-along card they were given.

Each group started at a different place in the building. Missionaries were stationed in the various rooms so they could explain about the different organizations in the Church.

In the baptismal font room, the missionaries had a woman there telling her conversion story of deciding to be baptized. Another convert was telling about the priesthood organization. Another woman was there teaching about Family History.

These three sister missionaries were in the Primary room. They had invited a woman who works with the Young Women to talk about the youth groups in the Church.

Another room where we met was the chapel. In there we were taught about what a worship service is like and the importance of partaking of the sacrament each week.

There were refreshments in the gym at the end of the tour. I must say I not only enjoyed what was said in each room, but I also enjoyed the hallway tour as well as the missionaries talked about what was going on in the various artwork that is prevalent in that building.

It was a job WELL DONE!! We came out of there floating high. It had been a spiritual experience and we were so thrilled to see our missionaries working hard to make it a sweet experience for those who had attended.

We came home to a very late dinner. We had experimented cooking ribs. We love the fall-off-the-bone ribs at a restaurant in Carlsbad and wanted to see if we could duplicate those. We must say the meat did fall off the bones.

But we must also say eating dinner at bedtime is not the greatest idea!!

It has become time for our mission to convert to technology. Here's a little joke to get us in the technology mindset.

The missionaries have led a pretty sheltered life as far as technology is concerned. They have been using flip phones or slide phones. Now the Church has okayed for our mission to use smartphones--Samsung phones, to be exact.

The assistants were collecting all the old phones. Some of them were just hanging on by a thread (or a wire is probably more correct). Surprisingly, the missionaries were a bit resistant to give up their simple phones. Most of them were enjoying not being so connected to everything and everybody.

But, time for a change! We held technology training meetings three different days with a third of the missionaries each time. 

We held the meetings at the mission office church building. Sister Radford, our mission secretary, provided the food for us. Each day is always something new and different. We love how she takes such good care of us!

These are our technology specialists--our two assistants and then two other missionaries who know a lot about...technology...what else??!!!?? 

After each group finished the meeting, we had them drop their old phones in the box on their way out of the mission office.

And then another day of training would commence with a second group. And then another day with the third group.

Throw in a weekend of Del Mar stake conference meetings with visiting authority Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer where Glen did a 15-minute training in the priesthood leadership meeting and gave a talk in the general session. (I had the weekend off from speaking this time.) 

And throw in transfer planning and the traditional transfer planning dinner with the assistants and it made for a very full schedule.

But, no rest for the weary!!! More technology training to come...

Quotes of the Week

Marriage is a gift from God to us; the quality of our marriages is a gift from us to Him.
--L. Whitney Clayton

My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions--every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind number addictions.
--Russell M. Nelson

You may feel that your life is in ruins. But just as the Good Shepherd finds His lost sheep, if you will only lift up your heart to the Savior of the world, He will find you.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Quotes of the Week

The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue--it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.
--Jeffrey R. Holland

You have not failed until you have quit trying.
--Gordon B. Hinckley

So much of our life depends on our attitude. The way we chose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference.
--Thomas S. Monson