Missionary Memories: Easy come.....Easy go....

Mosiah 26:31 And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses...the same hath brought himself under condemnation.
D&C 64:9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

D&C 82:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, my servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you.

I've done a lot of pondering on these scriptures this past week. I realize that I have to be forgiving in order to be forgiven. I know that I am not perfect and have needed the Lord many times in my life to forgive me and will many more times. Forgiveness gives us the power to move on and not continue to carry a grudge and have offenses eat away at us. It is a very wonderful gift that our Heavenly Father has given us. Hence, the following story....

The past week and a half have not been our favorite time here. As some of you know we were victims of a robbery. Last Wednesday, we left our apartment at 9:30 am to go to our weekly District Meeting. We were gone until 2 p.m. On the way home I got a call from the R.S. President and I was still talking when we arrived in the apartment. I sat down on the couch and continued the conversation, not noticing a thing. Our computer table was right in front of me. A few minutes later Paul came out of the bedroom and said that we had been robbed. He was in the closet and couldn't figure out why his golf balls were on the floor. Then he noticed that the drawers in our dresser were all opened up and a laundry basket taken, leaving the clothes on the floor. I immediately looked towards the table and saw that it was empty of our computer, TV and little dvd machine. We were momentarily devastated. After a few moments of panic we calmed down and knelt down to pray. We needed the Lords help in this matter if for nothing else but to calm us down. I prayed that the Lord would bless us and help us through this situation and not let this deter us from our work. When we stood up I had a calm feeling and felt the support of our Heavenly Father. I knew that no matter what, he was there and would get us through this. We discovered that not only our computer, TV and dvd machine, but my good camera (I am now using my little one for which I am grateful to have), a small dvd player, $5 watch, Ipod, mouse, etc. Anything that was electronic. He missed my Nook. It was on the night stand. He came through a hole in the fence outside our bedroom window. That hole has been there since we moved in and it was never repaired. He broke a little piece of the window, undid the latch and raised the window. There were muddy footprints on the floor. It appeared that only one person was involved. He left by the front door. Very brazen in broad daylight. When we told the people at the office they all acted as though nothing like that had ever happened. A few days later we found out that our neighbors just across the street from us were broken into a week before. Had we been informed I know I would have had my camera on me at all times and we would have taken a few more precautions. Needless to say, we have been busy changing credit cards, bank accounts, stock accounts, getting police reports for insurance, etc. Not only do we have to change them, we have to go online and make all the online changes. It has taken time away from the things that we were sent here to do. Basically, no one was home around here. Except our neighbors' daughter, who was visiting with him. While he was at work she was in the apartment. We were unaware that she was here. On Sunday, 22nd, they came over to talk to us. She said that a tall, black man knocked on her door that day about 1 pm. She looked out the peep hole but didn't answer or open her door, thank heavens. She said that he stood there for about 5 minutes. I would have called the police. That was all she saw or heard. But there are always blessings just around the corner. Blessing #1 - The morning of the robbery I had taken some pearls, that my mother had given me to bring on my mission, and put them into my jewelry drawer. They were under some clothes in another drawer. I truly believe that if I had left them there they would have been gone because the drawer was rummaged through. They didn't bother to look in the little case in my jewelry drawer. They just took the $5 watch. Guess it looked expensive. I know that I was prompted to do that before we left that morning. Blessing #2 - On Wednesday evening we decided that we needed to visit a couple in our ward. While we were there the subject of the last week came up and we told them of our experience. Of course, they were saddened and very supportive. Just before we left, Brother Gorman told his wife to go get the computer in the back room. He had given it to his daughter and she now had a new one. He told us to take it and use it until we go home. We felt a little uneasy taking it - especially if this should happen again - but they insisted. So we have a Compaq computer that will do, I hope, for the next year. We had planned on going to get a Mac but decided that we would wait until we go home. The only problem is that I can't Skype with my kids. No camera or mic. We're working on that issue. The experience with the Gorman's doesn't stop there. Sister Gorman is an art teacher and showed us her work and that of some of her students. I love to draw but can't even master a stick figure right now. As we talked she said that I should come and take some lessons. We thought about it and realized that I could go on P-day for a few hours each week and Paul could...let's see...what is it he likes to do....Oh yes,...Golf. So we told her to save me a spot on Mondays.
Monday, 23rd - I took my first lesson today. I was there for 3 hours and loved every minute of it. I had a private lesson because the other students cancelled. Sister Gorman copied a picture of one of my grandchildren, blew it up and made 2 copies. On one I drew a grid. The other was on cardstock to look at for detail. Today I got the outlines of the head, eyes, nose, mouth, and sweater details done. She told me what to do when I go home to begin what she calls the rendering. When I finish it I might put it on a post.

Our computer table looks a little messy, but empty :(

My goodness how it rains here. It always starts with rolling, dark clouds that gradually move toward us. Then the lightning and the thunder begin. Lots of it. The thunder seems to go on forever. Then the rain comes down in sheets. Sometimes it rains for a long time and floods the streets and others last only a few minutes. But the lightning and thunder often continue for a while. Our power went out about 8 pm on Saturday night. It was too dark to do anything so we went to bed and I laid in bed and wondered how I would do my hair in the morning if it was still out. I have to have some curl or it is scary. But around midnight the power was back on and so were most of our lights. I was so grateful.

Saturday afternoon we were witness to a wedding in the R.S. room at the church. A young man in our ward had been dating a woman from New Hampshire. She had two adorable kids. They were very friendly. During the wedding the little boy took a rose that the bishop's wife bought for the couple and pulled it completely apart and all over the floor. Then when it was all over and after a few pictures, the kids went to the little cake and I had to take pictures quickly because they were all over it. Little finger marks. It was very informal. They both had their mothers and some sisters on conference calls on their cell phones to hear the ceremony.

Kimmie and Tysen with the Bishop

If you will respond to the invitation to share your beliefs and feelings about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, a spirit of love and a spirit of courage will be your constant companion.

L. Tom Perry

This ward has been bombarded with the topic of missionary work since we have been here. Sacrament meetings, fast and testimony meetings. auxiliary meetings, etc. Our bishop is very missionary minded. So this month we have had one or more members fast each day of the month to help our ward have missionary moments or successes. We already have had a few experiences that show that what we are doing is bringing about the fruit of our labors. On Sunday we had a fireside. I played the piano for one of the Elders who sang, "Because I Have Been Given Much". But that wasn't what we started with. We practiced until last Wednesday on "Secret Prayer" but I kept feeling that was not what we needed to do and it didn't seem to fit the Elders' voice very well. Then at District Meeting last week we sang "Because I Have......" for our opening song. I had this very strong feeling that that was what we were supposed to sing. Now we only had 4 days to practice. It was the perfect song for his voice and the message. He did a great job. President and Sister Summerhays spoke to us. The Elders did a role play with some of the ward members to give some examples of how we can find investigators to teach. We ended our meeting with "Called to Serve" and lots of yummy desserts that the sisters so willingly provided.

Elder Hendley met me at the door of the church the other day with this mask on. For some reason people like to scare me. Had to get a picture.

So....we have had a very eventful week. A little bit of good and a little bit of bad. But all is well. We are back to our work for the most part. We hope that we will have some wonderful missionary moments in the coming months. Thursday we are having a specialized training meeting and we are hoping that it will give us something that will help us get past the doors of those less active members. I think they are the hardest to meet with. All we can do is love them and pray for them and wait for them to have those promptings that the Lord can give them and those feelings they had at baptism....if they are listening. The Lord very often does things in three's so we won't give up until we have called on them three times. Then we will put them on the list for the next set of missionaries. :) The Lord won't give up on us, so why should we.

There is always room for a beautiful sunset