Quotes of the Week

Following the Savior will not remove all of your trials. However, it will remove barriers between you and the help your Heavenly Father wants to give you. God will be with you. He will walk beside you and even carry you when your need is greatest.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I witness that our Heavenly Father lives. Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten and Beloved Son, our Savior and Redeemer. He lives.
--David A. Bednar

Always remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which assures you of forgiveness of sin and which offers you the opportunity to get strength to confront every mortal temptation, weakness, or inclination.
--Dallin H. Oaks

Our Sister From Bolivia Leaves, District Meetings, A Visit From Our Friends From NSL, MLC

We visited the Sky Canyon district meeting.

As we walked out of the building, we looked across the parking lot just in time to see the steeple on the new church building being lowered into place. There are two churches right next to each other in Temecula. Crazy!

We had Hermana Balcazar spend the night with us so we could take her to the airport the next morning. She's from Bolivia and has been such a happy missionary since she stepped foot in America. She has worked hard to learn English and has delighted all of us in her efforts to learn. She brings joy whenever she is around.

She is so loving and has truly considered us her parents while in America. She told us we will always have a daughter in Bolivia. She went home a week later than the other sisters in her group because she had requested to be able to fly home with her sister who was finishing her mission in New York.

Because of her request being granted, she was able to attend the special all-missionary meeting with Elder Uchtdorf and the other brethren. She was standing right behind Elder Uchtdorf in the photo. I thought that was a pretty special experience for her and a great memory to end her mission.

Unfortunately, her plane arrived too late in Florida and she missed her flight and her sister had gone on without her. Glen arranged for the mission president there to pick her up and take her to his home to spend the night. Her sister spent the next night with the mission president wherever she had landed while she waited for Hermana Balcazar to arrive. They finally connected and flew the rest of the way home together.

We went to the Melrose district meeting held at the mission office church building.

That afternoon our North Salt Lake friends arrived in town. They were thrilled to get out of cold, snowy Utah. It worked out that we had enough free time that we could cook them dinner.

The Stewarts stayed at our home, so while the others went to get settled in their hotel, Grant and Diane helped me cook dinner. Glen had grill duty and did a famously good job with the meat.

It was so nice to all sit around the big table together in our quiet home and hear what each person had to say. So much better than a restaurant with that big of a group.

The next morning we went to the temple together. LaVona and Colleen (sisters) had brought lots of family names with them, so we spent two hours doing sealings. It was a special experience to be in the temple with them and feel such love between us.

But, we were really pushing it time wise by the time we were finished. Glen and I just had to jump up and hurry to get dressed and get out of there so we could get to our afternoon meeting on time.

Our friends had a leisurely time for a while longer in the temple, went to the Mormon Battalion and then joined up with one of LaVona's friends for lunch in Old Town.

Glen and I spent the afternoon meeting with this small group of newer missionaries in their second trainer follow-up meeting. 

That evening we met up with the group for dinner at a restaurant. Glen was rushed for time, so he ditched out on me shortly after the food came. He had a meeting to attend.

I was glad the group came inside when they brought Stewarts and me home so we could visit longer. We couldn't hear anyone on the other half of the table during dinner. Glen was able to get home before they left, so that made it nice as well.

Jan was getting her kicks reading all the jokes on the napkins and wanted to take them home for her grandson.

We loved so much being able to spend a little bit of time with our friends. Having Grant and Diane here allowed us to have some extra talk time with them. We truly are blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.

We didn't have much time for saying good-byes. We were off for a day-long Mission Leadership Council meeting. Once again Sister Radford did an excellent job providing food for the group.

Sister Radford also likes to have beautiful flowers on display for our enjoyment.

We will be telling three of these sister good-bye soon. That is always a sad thought. But, it's the circle of life--missionary life.

Quotes of the Week

One of the most important things you need to learn in life is to know who you really are. Know that you are an elect son or daughter of God, created in His very image.
--Russell M. Nelson

You have the spiritual DNA of your Heavenly Father. You have unique gifts that originated in your spiritual creation and that were developed during the vast span of your premortal life.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

God the Father lives. He wants you to come home to Him.
--Henry B. Eyring

Elder Uchtdorf Meets With the Missionaries, Feeding the Brethren, Farewell to Burgons

We had a big weekend scheduled with Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

He was coming to the area for a special priesthood leadership conference on Saturday, February 17. He brought with him Elder L. Whitney Clayton and Elder Scott D. Whiting. Our Area Authority Elder Marc C. Davis also joined them.

Glen was invited to attend the 4-hour meeting along with the temple president, the stake presidencies, bishoprics and elders quorum presidents in all 6 stakes making up the California Carlsbad Coordinating Council. 

The two of us were invited to eat lunch with the visiting authorities, stake presidents, temple president and their wives. The tables were decorated so elegantly.

While we were eating lunch, our assistants were busy getting all the missionaries (including senior missionaries) in place for a group photo.

When we walked into the room with our visitors, it was so impressive seeing the big group of missionaries standing there in total silence with big smiles on their faces. We were so awed by their presence and felt such love and goodness radiating outward toward us.

The visitors shook hands with each one of the missionaries as they filed out of the cultural hall and went into the chapel to be seated for the special missionary meeting to follow.

We hadn't been assigned to speak ahead of time. The agenda just said the whole meeting would be under the direction of Elder Uchtdorf. After the opening prayer, I accompanied a sister who sang a solo "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."

I love that hymn. I love the piano arrangement which is stunningly beautiful in and of itself. Then combined with the beautiful voice solo just makes it exquisite. I felt really good about my piano part and also the both of us combined.

I think now would be an excellent time to thank my parents for providing piano lessons for me all those years ago in my childhood so I could perform this particular day in the presence of an Apostle. It was a privilege and a blessing. It was touching to me when Elder Uchtdorf leaned forward to look at me and mouthed "Thank you" as I was sitting back down. I know it was also a thrill for the young sister missionary to be chosen to sing in the meeting.

How happy I was to hear the remainder of the meeting announced and to learn my piano performance was my only part on the program.

Glen, on the other hand, had been asked to take 15 minutes before the other brethren each took their turns speaking to the missionaries. As always, he did famously and then could sit back and relax for the rest of the meeting.

I enjoyed hearing the messages of each of the speakers. I especially enjoyed hearing the Apostolic blessing Elder Uchtdorf gave to the missionaries at the end of his teaching.

It was a really tender and touching ending to the meeting when all the missionaries stood up after the closing prayer to respectfully wait for Elder Uchtdorf to leave the room. Elder Uchtdorf just stood there looking at them for a couple of minutes. He had a longing about him to want to stay in their midst and told them so.

The next day the visitors split up and went to three different stake conferences. Elder Uchtdorf went to the Vista stake conference with Elder Davis. Elder Whiting went to the Murrieta stake conference and had invited the temple president to go with him there. Elder L. Whitney Clayton had invited us to go to the Escondido stake conference with him.

It was pretty random that the regularly scheduled Escondido stake conference had been the week before, so they got to hear us speak two weeks in a row. It was very frustrating that the sound system broadcasting to the two other buildings wasn't working properly, so those people only got to hear the last little bit of Glen's talk and Elder Clayton's talk. Even at that, it was hard for them to hear. Sad!!

Elder Clayton had asked if we could pick him up at his hotel and take him with us to the stake conference. After the meeting he asked if we could take him to the airport.

We had a lovely time visiting with him in the car. He got inspiration for his talk from something he'd seen while we were driving. I told Glen that if I hadn't asked him to take an extra couple of minutes to get a photo with us, we wouldn't have been on the road at the exact time for him to see what he saw to spark the thought which prompted his talk.

As we were walking out of the church building to get in the car to go to the airport, Elder Clayton received a phone call. I heard him asking how long was the delay. Hmmmm, my mind started racing. He confirmed what I thought was going on--his and Elder Whiting's flight had been delayed by several hours.

We were relieved to hear Elder Uchtdorf had been able to get a flight out of another airport. He was sick and we were glad he didn't have to endure the delay.

It seemed the only right thing to do was to invite the delayed travelers to our home to relax for a few hours and to have Sunday dinner with us. They accepted the invitation.

Here's where the tender mercy miracle comes into play...

There was a former missionary here visiting that weekend who wanted to come see us. Glen had invited him and his three friends to Sunday dinner. So, we had a bigger roast in the oven and had bought and were preparing enough food to feed those extra people. Usually we prepare just enough for two people. This day we had enough for four extra people!! We had enough to feed the delayed travelers!!

We texted our former missionary and uninvited him and his friends to dinner telling him general authorities trump them. We were sorry, but would text them when we were on our way home from the airport to see if they were free to come visit us then.

Our roast beef dinner was graciously accepted and devoured. The two men absolutely went wild over the mashed potatoes and gravy. Elder Whiting said he likes gravy so much he could put it in a cup and drink it.

Elder Clayton told us his wife doesn't make mashed potatoes and gravy. He watched closely as Glen was making the gravy, as though he was going to go home and recreate the delectable dish. He ate two servings of potatoes and gravy, exclaiming over the deliciousness of it.

Then when we were finished eating and carrying in the dishes, he dished himself up a third helping of potatoes and gravy and stood in the middle of the kitchen floor eating it and exclaiming once again about how much he enjoyed it. So funny!

Then right after that he tucked his tie in his shirt, rolled up his sleeves and insisted on washing the dishes. Elder Whiting was on leftover duty covering the leftovers with saran wrap.

After visiting for a while, we took them to the airport. It was a very delightful afternoon.

The former missionary and his three friends came by after we got home and they were hungry. We offered the leftovers from the Sunday dinner.

There were four pieces of meat left. There was enough of everything else--including mashed potatoes and gravy--to feed all four of them and there was even a little bit of leftovers left over when they were finished.

It was another tender mercy MIRACLE!! It was like the story in the Bible of Christ feeding the multitude with the five loaves and two fishes. We felt very blessed that day!!

We enjoyed receiving a thank you letter from Elder Clayton. Here's an excerpt: "You were so kind to provide transportation on Sunday. I am sure it was not convenient for you, but it was certainly helpful for me. The delicious Sunday dinner you also so graciously offered was a delight. Thank you."

As Utah was experiencing a storm over the weekend, we had experienced some very windy and colder weather here. When we took our Monday morning walk--this day around Oceanside Harbor--I was intrigued to see the sand drifts that had accumulated much like snow drifts. It made it feel almost like winter here...almost...

The seals were boisterous, active and giving us a show. I love it when that happens.

That particular day we had a family come visit us at home during Glen's reading and answering missionaries' letters. Their son is now in the MTC learning Spanish and will soon be entering our mission. They were in the area vacationing and wanted to meet us.

That evening we had our senior Family Home Evening. It was Elder Atkinson's birthday, so that called for a celebration.

It was Elder and Sister Burgon's last time with us. They will be leaving soon to serve a Nauvoo Temple mission. He has served faithfully as a counselor in the mission presidency with President Kendrick before Glen and now this last year and a half with Glen.

(Back row: Maughans; front row: Burgons and Maríns)

(Front row: Sister Miller, Atkinsons, Van Aarles; back row: Spieglers)

(Neals and Sweetwoods)

(Us, Sattleys and Neals)

We love our senior missionaries. It is a special experience to gather together every six weeks and share missionary experiences and feel the love of each other and the love we all have for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the missionaries who share His message with those who are searching for the truth.