Life Can't Always Make You Happy...

Elder Klebingat

This past weekend, a new stake president was called in the Anaheim Stake, so we had visiting authorities at our meetings. What a treat it was to attend both the Saturday night and Sunday morning sessions of Stake Conference!  

It was the first time we have heard Elder Jorg Klebingat speak. He was born and raised in Germany, a convert to the Church at the age of 18. In 2014 he was called as a General Authority Seventy. We were so inspired by Elder Kelbingat's messages and his bold, engaging personality!

He began by commenting on the new home centered/Church supported learning program.  He said it's as if the Lord is saying to us, "I can see that you can get yourself to church every Sunday, but now I want to know how you really feel about Me and your commitment to the gospel when you are on your own." He gave the example of branches/wards in Eastern Ukraine, where he served as mission president. He said that because of the recent changes in government, all church buildings have been taken away from the members and they must meet on their own now. There are no more organized meetings in church meetinghouses, but the work is going forward.

Elder Klebingat promised that this challenge to study as individuals and families, as well as daily family scripture reading WILL BRING BLESSINGS TO INDIVIDUAL FAMILY MEMBERS. We are being given a clearer perspective and an opportunity to unleash the power of families. As we spend time studying together, we will strenghten family relationships and our love for each other in our families. As we remodel our homes into gospel learning centers, we are preparing for the Second Coming. This is more than a simple logistical change in Church programs, it is a critical step. There are not many safe places in this world anymore, except inside the walls of our homes. This is basic training from Heavenly Father so that we can call down those blessings we will need.

President Nelson has said, "In a coming day, only those men who have taken their priesthood seriously, by diligently seeking to be taught by the Lord Himself, will be able to bless, guide, protect, strengthen, and heal... [and] to bring miracles to those he loves and keep his marriage and family safe, now and throughout eternity." (Russell M. Nelson, The Price of Priesthood Power, April 2016)

Elder Klebingat said that there is an urgency in President Nelson's counsel. As the prophet, he has made more references to the Second Coming than those who have gone before - both in public and in private.

In our October 2018 General Conference, President Nelson said, "The assaults of the adversary are increasing exponentially, in intensity and in variety. Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater. I plead with you to take a prayerful look at how you spend your time. Invest time in your future and in that of your family. If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord - to be in His holy house - then keep that appointment with exactness and joy. I PROMISE YOU THAT THE LORD WILL BRING MIRACLES HE KNOWS YOU NEED AS YOU MAKE SACRIFICES TO SERVE AND WORSHIP IN HIS TEMPLES."

President Christensen of the Newport Beach Temple presidency also said at our Stake Conference, "Performing temple ordinances changes eternity." He told us that there has been a change in how names are being prepared for temple work. In the past, 80% of names came from extraction projects and only 20% were from personal research. Those statistics have reversed.

Elder Klebingat said that what the Lord needs from all of us is a commitment to be all in - under all circumstances. God will not trick us into entering His kingdom. We will enter by our desires only. It is a time to choose to come out of the world because there is no neutral ground anymore. We cannot be in both worlds. We cannot ride into paradise on a golf cart! We will be tried. This is hard work, but we can find the truth on our knees. A broken heart and a contrite spirit will bind us to God. Our diligence in keeping God's commandments demonstrates our love for Him and for our Savior. The greatest gift He came to give us is the atonement. Accept it. Allow healing. You can be loved and forgiven while you are in the process of repenting. Claim it.  

At the end of Elder Klebingat's counsel, I was reminded of something I read just two weeks ago from another Seventy, Elder Larry Corbridge, when he spoke at a BYU Devotional. He said, "The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel....  Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone - without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, and despair. And I ask, which way is easier?"  

While it's true that life can't always make you happy, the gospel of Jesus Christ can!

-- Pat --

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, a day to share our love.  The stores have aisles and aisles of heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, red roses, white carnations, and valentine balloons, candies, and rows of colorful cards to send to loved ones and friends on this special day.  Our mission office has been flooded again this week with boxes, gifts, and cards for the missionaries -- not as much as during Christmas time, but carrying important messages of love which the elders and sisters need and appreciate.




















I love Valentine's Day!  Other than Christmas and Easter, which are very special holidays because they center on the Savior's birth and His resurrection, Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays because they focus on love and gratitude. What's to celebrate about Ground Hog Day, anyway? On this Valentine's Day, I'd like to share a few personal thoughts about love.

I have learned that people come to love those they serve. Missionaries who forget themselves and serve others will soon learn to love them. They will be effective missionaries as their love is felt and reciprocated. Love is an automatic consequence of service. It happens in all human relationships -- missionary service, acts of kindness, church callings, and in marriage.  Most people, including missionaries, have a variety of concerns, worries, and fears, even anxiety at times. Yet Moroni tells us that "perfect love casteth out all fear (8-16)."

Many who serve faithfully in church callings are sad when released because they will miss those they have served, whether it was on a mission, in Primary, Relief Society, YM/YW or as bishop.  When your bishop, youth adviser, or Primary teacher says he or she loves you, believe them. They mean it. They love you because of the time they have spent serving you. Some of my dearest friends, those I love most, are a friend I baptized in high school and a young couple I met and baptized 55 years ago in Switzerland, including their children and grandchildren who have been lifelong friends.

Most young couples who "fall in love" and get married are quite sure that they love each other.  I knew I loved Pat when we got married, but the love I feel for her now far exceeds how I felt about her when we were engaged and newly married.  As I have learned to serve her, my selfish concerns have decreased, and our love has grown. We have learned that relying on each other while serving together as missionaries has deepened the love in our marriage and increased our capacity to love.

There are many great examples of love among couples in our South Jordan neighborhood who have been married for many years. As they get older, they show us how to care for each other with patience, kindness, and love. You can just feel the love they have for each other as their health begins to decline and the love, tender care, attention and concern they give each other increases.

There are also other kinds of love, not usually considered on Valentine's Day.

After Jesus was risen from the dead and dined with his disciples, he asked Simon Peter three times, "Lovest thou me?" Three times Peter answered in the affirmative, and each time the Savior saith unto him, "Feed my sheep."  (John 21:15-17).  He was talking about service. The Savior asked us to"love one another, as I have loved you" and told us,"greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 12-13).  It seems to me the best way we can come to know and love the Savior is to serve Him throughout our lives by the way we treat and respect others. 

I can't comprehend or understand how the Savior was able to take the sins of the world upon himself in Gethsemane and bear the awful pains of the crucifixion on Golgotha. I believe He was able to endure only because of the complete and amazing love He had for us, as well as His love for and resolute desire to do the will of His Father.  Consider also the love our Father must have for us, to allow His only begotten son to suffer and die for us.

I now think Valentine's Day ranks right up there with Christmas and Easter because of its focus on love. And the greatest demonstration of love we have is the love of the Savior, given freely to every person. He is waiting for us to trust Him enough to ask for His love and help.

To me, Valentine's Day is far more than chocolate hearts, cards, flowers, and balloons, though I love to send and receive cards and gifts. To the extent that this day causes us to think about others and to share love and kindness, and to remember the love our Savior has for us, it will continue to be one of my favorite holidays.

-- Don --
     

    

       

We love Monday mornings!

During the first couple of weeks after we arrived here at the mission office, Monday mornings were crazy!

Monday is P-Day (Preparation Day) for the elders and sisters, and most of them come into the mission office sometime during that day to check mail, pick up supplies, wash their cars, get haircuts, and write emails to their families. Sometimes they meet with President Golden or with Elder Tomlinson who volunteers each Monday to work with elders and sisters wanting advice on post-mission college and university admissions. Depending on missionary schedules, it can get pretty crowded in the mission office!

At first, it seemed like we were constantly being distracted from the work we were supposed to be doing on Mondays, and I was starting to get frustrated, but then I stepped back and took a better look at things....  "Wait a minute, here. Assisting the elders and sisters with what they need when they visit the mission office on Mondays is EXACTLY what I am supposed to be doing!"

The elders and sisters are the heart of our mission; they are the heart of every mission. Their energy, their enthusiasm, their testimonies, and their passion for what they are doing is contagious! It is a joy to watch them walk in each Monday and I look forward to doing whatever I can to help them with what they need that particular morning.

Monday mornings are still crazy, but Mondays have become my favorite day of the week!

Meeting with Sister Rhine about cars and referrals.

Each companionship is allowed one gallon of water to wash
their car. (About 2/3 of our companionships are in cars.)
I wonder if they will be allowed more water in the future
 since we've had so much rain this winter?

There are usually a few welcome snacks around...

Past companions often get to see each other again and
catch up on what's been happening in their areas.

We distribute cleaning supplies for missionary apartments.

These sisters created a new bulletin board for the
mission office last week.

Everybody's favorite spot is the mail cupboards.
Letters and packages are organized by zones.
I love watching and listening when the missionaries
realize there is something there for them!

Mondays are happy days around the mission office.

Guess who got mail?

Elders and sisters preparing for the coming week. 

Last week we had the privilege of picking up
two sister missionaries from Temple Square
who will serve in our mission for three months.
They left Salt Lake in a massive snowstorm
and walked out of John Wayne Airport to
sunshine and palm trees!

My favorite quote from last week's morning devotionals.

Happy Valentines Day from us to you!

--Pat--

Nuts and Bolts of Missionary Work

Although this is not our first mission as a senior couple, there are many things about missionary work we knew little about when we were called to serve in the California Anaheim Mission.  Called as MLS missionaries, but reassigned by our mission president to work in the office as housing coordinators, we had much to learn.  We could not have foreseen how much satisfaction we would find in the "nuts  and bolts" of missionary work in this area.  Here are a few examples that make our service meaningful:

   -  Securing and renewing apartment lease agreements for fair prices that allow missionaries to have clean, safe places to live.
   -   Keeping contracts up to date on IMOS, the church computer system, so that the mission financial coordinator can arrange for Salt Lake to make monthly rental payments on time.
   -   Maintaining rental spreadsheets in zones and areas that allow the president to make informed missionary assignments and transfers to best serve the wards and stakes in the mission.
   -   Conducting periodic apartment inspections to encourage habit of tidiness, health, and safety that will help missionaries stay clean and healthy now and throughout their lives.
   -   Keeping cleaning supplies, cooking utensils, and other items stocked in the mission office for missionaries to pick up and use in their apartments.
   -   Learning to repair vacuum cleaners, replace belts, and fix light poles, lamps, tables, chairs and chests of drawers owned by the mission.
   -   Installing and testing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide sensors to ensure missionary safety.
   -   Ordering parts and fixing appliances, refrigerator doors, and microwaves owned by the mission.
   -   Working with leasing offices to make certain that carpets are periodically cleaned and other maintenance agreements upheld.

Some of the missionaries in the California Anaheim Mission

Pat and I have enjoyed completing these assignments in housing that help the missionaries in their work.  We love interacting with the young missionaries whenever we see them -- in the office, on the streets, in their apartments, or at church.  They lift our spirits as we try to assist them. The two other senior couples in the office have similar experiences working with the missionaries while caring for mission automobiles and bikes, referrals, finances, and secretarial duties.

We also enjoy attending the Anaheim 4th Ward, where we have weekly visitors attend our meetings while coming to Disneyland.  This is a very diverse and inclusive ward with a wonderful welcoming bishop.  As an assistant clerk for memberships, I have the opportunity to work with Pat and the ward leaders to welcome and assist members moving in and out of the area.

Two weeks ago I called on a young man in his early 40s who hadn't been to church for several years, though he had previously served a mission to France.  He is a USC graduate, and since I had previously worked at USC, we had much to talk about, including Tommy Trojan and USC football.  We also talked about his mission, the recent dedication of the Paris Temple, his life and goals, and his love for the gospel.  Last week he came to Sacrament meeting on his own and remained for the Sunday School discussion.

One of our joys is taking a 17 year-old young woman to church each week and giving her weekly lessons on gospel topics.  She has a baptism date set for her 18th birthday this fall.  She is full of love and excitement for the church, reads the Book of Mormon, and is looking forward to her baptism.

Another unexpected blessing from our mission to Anaheim is that our apartment is located only two blocks from the University of California Irvine Medical Center, where I have been seeing an outstanding Rheumatologist, who has helped me overcome some issues affecting my hands and fingers.

There are so many blessings that come to senior couples serving missions.  Anyone with even the slightest interest in serving a senior mission should contact the LDS website for senior missionaries at    https://seniormissionary.lds.org/srsite.   This website allows members to search listings by service priority, length of service, monthly cost, geographic regions, language, and whether special medical care is required.  There are 30 different kinds of full-time missions available, as well as numerous part-time service mission opportunities.  Each mission is meaningful and unique, with many unforeseen blessings attached. 

Perhaps the greatest blessing of our mission has been the closeness Pat and I have felt in our marriage while serving others full-time.  We have stayed in regular contact with family members by phone, internet, and Skype, but we have especially appreciated the unity we have experienced working as a couple, planning, talking, and serving the people we meet each day.  We also treasure the time we've had together to take in the good weather and the unique culture of Southern California.

   --  Don