Angels Among Us

We had the great privilege of going to the temple four days this week. One can always find angels at the temple, and the Memphis Tennessee Temple is no exception. 

On Tuesday several of the large family that was baptized went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. The group included some of the grandchildren, and the youngest of the three daughters. She's the one who just had the preemie baby. She was so excited to go with the kids. When she got there, both missionaries that baptized the family were there as a surprise. Neither are serving in the city of Memphis now so it was a real treat for them both to be there. Everyone cried. I'm sure this is what Heaven will be like—every angel there so full of love for the Savior and each other. 

On Wednesday we served in the temple as ordinance workers. It was wonderful as usual. We will be gone next month, and I didn't get to say good-bye to one of the West Memphis workers. She only serves once a month, so our mission will be finished before she comes again. I was sad, but I phoned her and wished her well.

 

Friday we took the grandmother of the large family that was baptized to the temple. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we had a wonderful visit on the way there. When we got into the waiting room to sit and feel the Spirit, we began to whisper about her grandchildren. One of them (11-year-old boy) doesn't have church shoes. He wears his older cousin's (a girl) work shoes. Another one of  the boys (12-year-old) had to wear his grandmother's slacks to pass the Sacrament. We talked about going to Goodwill after a ward baptism that night to shop. 

Then we got up and walked around the temple grounds and admired the beauty and peacefulness of the place. When we got back to the front door, a blind lady who had been sitting in the waiting room, stopped us. "I didn't mean to eaves drop," she said. "But I'm blind so I hear things very well." She pushed a couple of bills into Grandmother's hands. "Let me help buy the boys' things."

Grandmother began to cry as she thanked her. "What an angel you are." 

We explained a little about the family—a grandmother, three daughters and eleven children.  We visited a few minutes and thanked her again. We took a few more pictures, and were about to leave.

Here came the blind lady again. "I just had to give you more money for all the other children," she said. This time she pressed a big bill into Grandmother's hand. 

Grandmother was crying before, but now she was really crying. "You are an angel. What a blessing," she kept saying. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

You see there really are angels among us.

On Saturday we took another of our recent converts to the temple. She has had a hip replacement, and has had trouble giving up her cigarettes. She wanted to be in the temple waiting room to help motivate her to quit. We again enjoyed the beauty of the moment and that sacred spot. Ward members, all dressed in white because of a wedding, were there to welcome us. More angels.

My little West Memphis worker (another angel) happened to come to the temple with her husband for a session so I got to give her an in-person hug. God provides even the smallest blessings just to let us know He's always there. "Daily miracles," as President Eying called them. Enriching our lives in so many ways that sometimes we don't stop to count them.

Angels surround the temple and bless our lives.

A Typical Day of a Typical Week

Just wanted to outline our day today. It's typical of what we do.

Always prayer and study is first. I love to read a chapter in my Book of Mormon and a chapter in the New Testament. I finish with an Ensign article or two. Then I record the scriptures I want to remember before I begin my day. Elder Monson has his own study method. He's teaching Priesthood on Sunday so he's been working on his lesson.

After breakfast we begin our missionary day.

We have a ward member who got pulled over by the police because she didn't have her seat belt on. The cop found that her driver's license had been suspended and she had no car insurance. We called to find out how much it would cost for her to get her driver's license reinstated, and what car insurance would cost.

Then we made phone calls to a couple of members to see how they were.

Lunch time—down pour.

I am putting together a cook book of low cost meals. Spent a couple of hours getting that organized and the fliers ready to hand out in Relief Society. (Hint: Never come on a mission without a printer. It is inconvenient to have to run to the copy place every time I need a handout.)

In the afternoon, off we went to visit members. First was our little Rosie. She has had a mix up in getting her SSI money, so her power was cut off. Of course all the food in her fridge, and her diabetes medication spoiled. She didn't call to let us know. We just have to show up at her house to find out the problems. Texted the Bishop to get approval to replace her food and medications. 

While we were in the grocery store finishing up that project, we got an emergency call from a sister in the ward, saying that she was going to commit suicide. I called a ward member to go be with her until we could finish buying the food and take it to Rosie's.

Then off to the suicidal sister. Spent an hour talking with her and making a plan:

*positive thinking

*be a good example to her girls

*look for a better paying job

*rely on the members of the ward that love her to be her substitute family.

(Won't go into the details of the whole story.)

Next came Sally, our hip-replacement lady. She needed us to take her to the drug store to get her meds so she can go to the gym on Monday and work out. After we went to the drug store, it was past dinner time and Elder Monson was  hungry. We took Sally to Popeye's Chicken. Both Sally and Elder Monson loved it! Sally has this joke about she and I running drugs because I take her to get medications so often. 

She thought it was way funny to stand by the police car with her drugs—legal drug running. The policeman didn't think it was as funny as we did. ( She did time for illegal drug running before she joined the church.) Read More

Back to the other side of town to visit a new convert and invite his wife to church. We only talked for a few minutes because he had another engagement.

Finally we stopped at the large family who was baptized to deliver a bike that a member's son had outgrown. 

The six-year-old was thrilled. (Sorry the 1st picture is out of focus. It was night, and I was tired. What can I say.)

The kids wanted pizza so it was off to Little Caesar's.

Home we came to kick our shoes off and get ready for bed. We are tired, but happy. It was a great day—filled with lots of service and great fun.

Back To School Week

This has been a busy week of member support as everyone gets ready to go back to school on Monday, August 4th.

Since it was our last week of vacation, we had a pool party for the kids who came to church. 

The missionaries stopped by on their way to a service project.

We had a games and ball activity for everyone. This cute little girl was just shaking that ball as hard as she could.

Here is the little preemie baby, growing like a little weed. She is so very cute!

We bought school supplies and school clothes. Everyone has to have uniforms here. Kaki, blue, and white are the colors of the day.

There was laundry to do for our little hip-replacement lady.

Medicine to buy for an Elder who has sores on his face of some kind. Life is very different these days for someone with a medical problem. I took pictures of the missionary's sores and texted them to the Mission Nurse in Arkansas. She texted back with lots of questions, and the Elder texted his answers. Then she told us what medications to get, and hopefully, he will heal.

We are becoming more and more attached to these converts, and they are telling us their troubles. We help where we can. Sometimes prayer is the only answer.

We are praying for spouses of recent converts to listen to the lessons and join the church so that the entire family is converted. Satan fights for everyone he can get—especially good families that will build the kingdom. Pray with us that these families will join together so they can be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity.

A Week of Learning New Concepts

This week we have been working with others as usual, but as we reflect over the past days, we have taught a lot of new ideas to members. Some of the things are church related and others are just common sense—things that many of us learned in our youth. These thoughts are part of our being, and we take many of them for granted. But for others, these are new and exciting concepts that will change their way of life.

Some of the ideas are simple—like take your pain medication only as directed or you'll run out of pills before the doctor will give you more. 

When shopping for hamburger (or any product) in the grocery store, check out the price per pound and choose the least expensive. That usually means buy a larger bulk package of meat, not the prepared patties.

When choosing chips, get the larger package because it's cheaper than the individual sized containers.

The young Elders teach the concept of tithing, but then there is the legitimate question of how exactly to pay it. 

1.      Get a tithing envelope and slip from the holder outside the Bishop's office.

2.      Fill out the slip with your name, the date, your ward and the amount.

3.      Tear off the top white paper and put it in the envelope with your money.

4.      Keep the yellow copy for your records.

5.      Seal the envelope and hand it to the Bishop. (He's the one with the red tie, sitting on the stand.)

A Four Generation Sheet? What is that? Good question.

This is an outline to begin keeping family records.

1.      Fill in as much information as you know.

2.      Check your family records.

3.      Use Family Search at lds.org to find more information.

4.      Learn how to prepare these family names for the temple.

It's gratifying to help those around us gain this new knowledge and apply it in their lives. It's amazing how many basic ideas we get from growing up in the church and our society that other people have no idea about.

Are we making a difference? Who knows. Maybe with the younger ones, rather than the older ones.

Hopefully some of this information will stick and these Saints will have better lives than they did before. Only time and the help of the Lord will tell.