Tender Mercies

January 31, 205

We met Patricia the first week we were in Kansas City. A few days before we met, the bishop had invited us to attend their ward council and meet the ward leaders. Before the meeting, the bishop asked all the leaders to come prepared with names that they had pondered and prayed about and felt impressed that we should begin visiting. The high priest group leader gave us Patricia’s name and told us she possibly would like to have a home teacher. Back in September, he along with about 20 other ward members and missionaries had gone out to visit members whose names were on the records but had never come to church. Patricia was one of them. Apparently, he had made contact with Patricia at the door and felt that she could use a visit. Other than that, he did not have any information about her. Even the bishop said that he did not know who she was.

After calling the phone number listed in the ward directory a number of times with no luck, we decided to just drop by. The older parts of Kansas City seldom have street lights and so it can be very hard to know if you are at the right address after the sun goes down. It was so dark when we pulled up near Patricia’s house, that we were not sure which house was hers. I told Robyn to wait in the car and I would try and see if I could figure out the numbers. This also happened to be our first trip into the inner city after dark and I was a little nervous about who we might encounter.

Just as I was about to give up and call it a night, a car pulled up in front of a house close by. As the man got out and went up to his door, I called out to him. When he turned to see who was calling, I noticed that he reached into his waist band and had his hand on some kind of a weapon. He was probably just as scared as I was about some stranger yelling at him in the dark and was a little jumpy. Fortunately, when I said we were looking for Patricia, he calmed down and replied that she was his mother and we could come in.

We found out that her son, Oscar, works at the Leavenworth state prison, thus the reason he was armed.  I didn’t want Robyn to be worried and so I neglected to tell her until the next day that I had almost been shot.

As soon as we met Patricia, we recognized someone who had been away from the church for years, but was now sincerely yearning to come back and needed to feel the Savior's love and atonement. She just was not sure how to do it. Over the next weeks and months, we got to know her better, and little by little Patricia shared her tragic story with us that broke our hearts. But we realized that through the tender mercies of the Lord, her life could be made whole again.

Patricia joined the church and was baptized in Mexico. She came to the States when she was a teenager where she met her future husband, Daniel. She told us that when they met, he spoke no Spanish and she spoke no English, but they soon learned to communicate.  Daniel joined the church and they were sealed in the Saint Louis temple about 15 years ago. They were very active in their ward and attended the temple as often as they could even if it was almost a four hour drive to get there. Shortly after they were married, they adopted 4 little children (3 girls, 1 boy) who were sealed to them in the temple. Now with Oscar, they had 5 youngsters. The kids brought them a great deal of joy and they even talked about serving a mission when they retired. Things were going well, or so she thought.

About 7 years ago, out of the blue, Patricia’s husband demanded a divorcee. On top of that, he requested and was granted total custody of the 4 younger children. The kids had been Patricia's whole life and now they were taken from her. It appears that this was a classic case of very poor legal representation for an immigrant who spoke little English and had few resources. On top of that, Daniel was so vindictive that he burned all her church things, even her temple clothing, and disappeared with the children. She has not seen her little ones since. She was so depressed and heartbroken that she contemplated ending her own life. She ended up moving in with Oscar who by then had married and had a family. All of this was so traumatic for her that she felt abandoned and all alone and stopped going to church.

As we visited with her that first time, we inquired if she would like to go to church with us. When she replied that she felt it was time, we offered to pick her up the following Sunday. As we walked into church with her, you could tell she felt she was finally home. We continued to visit with her and encourage to get back to the temple. Over the next couple of months, she met with the bishop and member of the stake presidency and was able to receive a temple recommend. This past Thursday, Robyn and I picked Patricia up and drove with her to the Kansas City temple to attend her first session in over 7 years.

Robyn and I were already in the Celestial room when Patricia came through the veil. She needed about 5 minutes and a half a box of Kleenex to compose herself, being so overcome with emotion and joy. After about 10 minutes I asked her if she was ready to go to which she replied, “No, I would just like to sit here for a while longer.” We spent another 10 minutes or so not talking but just trying to absorb the Spirit. The high priest group leader was also at the temple working the morning shift and greeted her. He had been the one who dropped by for a visit in September and felt prompted to give us her name. It was a very sweet day all around. We hope to have many more days like this. We bear testimony that Alma's words regarding the Savior are true: "...and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, they he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people..." 

Senior Prom

Who would have thought that I would finally be able to go to a prom with my missionary companion. I guess this is one of the fringe benefits of serving a full time mission. 

The elders and sisters in our zone come weekly to the Rose Estates senior citizen home to sing hymns and visit with the guests who live here. The director decided to have a 'prom' for all the elderly guests, complete with a band and a horse drawn carriage to take the guests around the block. Although, I'm not sure how they were going to get the wheel chairs into the carriage. The director asked the elders and sisters if they would help decorate. We decided that this would be too much fun to pass up so we decided to help. Robyn jumped right in and organized and directed the decorating of the ball room. It was a good thing we came, because most 18 year old single guys have no clue on what looks good and what to do in this situation. It only took a little over two hours to transform a drab meeting room into an elegant ball room that would be the envy of any high priced hotel. 

I do have to admit that we did not actually attend the prom that night, although I am sure we would have fit right in with the rest of the guests. :)

My date for the prom.
Please don't tell our mission president.


MR. TOAD'S WILD RIDE IN KANSAS CITY

My favorite attraction at Disneyland as a kid was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The climax of the ride is when your car ends up on the train tracks heading into a tunnel and come face to face with a big locomotive headed right towards you.  Last week I wasn't paying attention to our GPS and exited the freeway onto a private road meant only for Union Pacific railroad workers. It was a one way road and suddenly we found ourselves on tracks headed into a railroad tunnel that looked eerily like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Fortunately for us, I think the last train that used the tunnel must have retired years ago. It was such a rush to play chicken with a speeding locomotive that we went back the next day and took pictures. 

YIKES

Uh oh

Made it

Teaching the Gospel

January 24, 2015

This has been such an enjoyable week. Not only have we had the opportunity to teach the gospel in a number of settings, but we have been taught by prophets and apostles. Between the two of us, we had the opportunity to teach a missionary discussion, a family home evening lesson, a Sunday School class, and Priesthood and Relief Society lessons. And then on Wednesday, we attended a world wide training broadcast for all full time missionaries.
Sunday, Robyn was assigned to teach the relief society lesson in the ward. The relief society sisters in the Kaw River ward meet together for opening exercises and then they split up for a lesson in Spanish and a lesson in English. I encouraged her to teach the Spanish group to practice her language skills, but she was not amused. She ended up teaching the English speaking sisters from President Hunter's manual. The lesson was entitled 'Where Can I Go to Find Peace'.
Each Monday, the senior missionaries living in the Independence area meet together for family home evening.  Last Monday was our turn to prepare and teach the lesson. We decided to call my mom for some ideas for lessons. Mom hosts a monthly family home evening for all the single sisters in her ward and so she had some great ideas for lesson topics.  The hard part was picking just one, she had so many great ideas. We ended up asking everyone that was going to attend to come prepared to share about a prophet or woman from the Book of Mormon that they would like to meet someday and why. Abish and Sariah along with Moroni, Nephi, Alma, Alma the younger, Abinadi, Amulek and King Benjamin were among some of those chosen. It was a very spiritual evening as everyone bore their testimony of how these great men and women have blessed their lives. Of course, refreshments are an important part of any family home evening and Robyn decided to not only bring some home grown lilikoi (passion fruit) syrup to pour over fruit and ice cream, but also made enough for each couple to take home a small jar. We have a large lilikoi vine back home in California. Robyn carefully harvests the fruit and freezes the concentrate. We brought an 18 month supply of concentrate with us to Missouri to enjoy and share. Naturally, it was a big hit. Most of the missionaries here  had never heard of passion fruit,

On Saturday, we taught the second 'discussion' to Sofia Almaraz. She is the young girl whose parents and sister are members, but she has not been baptized. The lesson focused mainly on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Because of her limited English, and my limited Spanish, we decided to utilize the KISS method for my benefit - Keep It Simple, Stupid. The CTR 7 primary manual was a great help. Lots of great visual aids and object lessons. Again, Sister Brown prepared a wonderful lesson that helped Sofia understand how important the Gift of the Holy Ghost is. She is excited to have her father baptize her in a couple of weeks.

We have been asked by our bishop to teach the Marriage and Family Relations class during Sunday School. Today was the first lesson. Our main focus in the class is a young couple who we have been working with to prepare to go to the temple. We hope and pray that the Lord will bless them as they work to be temple worthy. 

Along with the Sunday School lesson today, I was asked to teach the priesthood lesson. The lesson was from Elder Cook's conference address entitled 'Shipshape and Bristol Fashion'. Every Conference talk is inspired, but Elder Cook's message was very powerful and hit home for me.

We both have grown so much as we have planned and prepared and taught the gospel this week. We love serving and we love learning.

As I mentioned, this week we were also privileged to attend a world wide missionary training broadcast on Wednesday. Elders Andersen, Bednar and Oaks along with President Clayton, Bishop Waddell and Sister Oscarson all taught us how to be more effective and inspired missionaries. Elder Andersen said, "Speak of the Savior. Testify of Him. Speak of His doctrine, of faith in Him and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, the the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. This is your purpose. This is your charge."

We are trying to apply his counsel and direction in all that we do. 

Elder Neil A. Andersen

It seems that there are more museums per square mile here than any place in the world. There are tractor museums, barn museums, baseball museums, jazz museums, Jesse James museums, farm museums, Harry Truman museums, toy museums, airline history museums, WWI museums etc. etc. etc. along with all the wonderful Church historical sites.

Robyn has decided that we will use our P-Days to get to know Missouri and Kansas better. It looks like we will be museum junkies during our stay here. 

This past P-Day we visited the Arabia Steamboat Museum in downtown Kansas City. The Missouri River flows right through the middle of Kansas City. It is often referred to as the Muddy Missouri - too thick to drink and too thin to plow. In the 1800's paddle wheeler steamboats were used extensively to carry goods and passengers from Saint Louis all through the Midwest. Unfortunately, the Missouri was very hazardous to navigate and in 1856 the steamboat Arabia hit an underwater snag and quickly sank with all it's cargo a few miles from Kansas City. A group of treasure hunters finally discovered its location a few years ago and recovered 200 tons of cargo that was amazingly preserved, having been covered in dirt and muck all these years. 

buried under 40 feet of dirt for over 100 years

part of the preserved keel

Just a fraction of the recovered cargo

We finished up our P-day at the races. We decided to attend a multi-ward pinewood derby race here in the stake to see how it compared with the races on the west coast. We were not disappointed. The first and second place finishers were kind enough to sign autographs and take their pictures with us. Unlike the rules back home, the only rule here that is enforced is that the car weigh 5 ounces. Custom wood, axles and wheels are good to go. Apparently, the father of the two winners has a little experience in this regard...

Creeper Car - 1st place, Modified Tank - 2nd place

My best friend since we have been here

Missionary Discussions

Brother and Sister Almaraz and their daughters moved here from Mexico last year. Since moving, they had not been out to church. The elder's quorum president asked that we visit them and encourage them to attend. They welcomed us into their home. Brother and Sister Almaraz were sealed in the temple in Mexico. Their oldest daughter, Chenitza (Jenny), was baptized, but we found out that in the process of relocating, Sofia age 9, had not been baptized. So we have been giving her the missionary discussions in preparation for her baptism. We are using a combination of Preach My Gospel and the CTR 7 primary lessons to get her ready so her dad can baptize her soon. Sister Almaraz and the girls speak very little English, so most of our communication is in Spanish. Sister Brown's language skills are improving each week. By the time we get home, I expect her to be fluent. She on the other hand will be happy if she can bear her testimony in Spanish.

Almaraz family - Gabriel, Jenny, Sofia and Rocio

We attended our first convert baptism on Saturday. The sister missionaries had been teaching Marcellus over the past few weeks and he gained a strong testimony of the Gospel and had a desire to follow the Savior's example and be baptized. Two weeks ago he got up during Fast and Testimony meeting and bore a sweet humble testimony of how the Gospel has changed his life. He has a bright future ahead of him.

Sister Carroll, Marcellus and Sister Delgado

 Sometime missionary work is not all that glamorous.  Like the time the high priest group leader called and asked if Robyn and I would like to do a little service for some members who were in need. Their apartment just happened to be infested with bedbugs. Yikes. And before the exterminator could come, all their clothing and bedding needed to be removed and laundered and the apartment vacuumed. Robyn was nice enough to volunteer me immediately. She on the other hand, felt that someone needed to monitor the progress via a secure com-line from headquarters 30 miles away. I didn't sleep very well the night before, but after hearing about what this poor couple had been suffering with the past few months I knew I had to go. The dear sister is in a wheel chair having suffered 3 strokes and her husband is not much better off physically.  Apparently, unbeknownst to them, the bedbugs arrived on a couch that they had bought at the Salvation Army store.
The high priest group leader told me that he had also called the sister missionaries and asked them to come. They said, "Sure." I'm sure they did not have a clue of what they were getting themselves into. Without telling the HPGL, I called the sisters and explained that this was no place for them and that they should call him back and politely decline. They thanked me over and over for the heads up.
Home Depot just happened to be out of hazmat suits so I told Robyn to be ready to hose me off outside when I returned. We must have pulled 20 large bags of clothing and bedding out of the apartment and then off to the laundromat. I had every machine in the place going for over 4 hours. It felt good to be able to help them. Robyn said that she will let me back into the apartment in 6 weeks as long as I can prove that I am not a 'carrier'.

I'm not sure why he is smiling

YEP, those are them

Just a few of the machines that we used

Sign outside our apartment
Now I know why I brought the long underwear

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ
Each candle represents?
A. 10 years
B.  12 years
   C.  15.5 years
 D.  20 years 

About 3 years ago, the Mormon Chanel produced an hour long audio broadcast/documentary about the Kaw River ward and how it has grown and flourished in-spite of being in the inner city of Kansas City. We have met most of the people that are interviewed in the program. It provides an interesting view on some of the problems and challenges that we face here on our mission. 

https://www.mormonchannel.org/listen/series/faith-in-action-audio/kaw-river-ward-bilingual-ward-family-episode-49

OUR PURPOSE

The first thing we do in our weekly district meeting is stand and recite together our purpose as missionaries as stated in the first chapter of Preach My Gospel:

"Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

Earlier in the week we had received a photograph from some friends of ours from Argentina that reminded us of our purpose. It was taken at their family's Christmas party last month. Right before we reported to the MTC, Daniel and his wife had come up to visit us for a couple of weeks. During their visit, we talked about all the changes that had come into both our lives over the years and the blessings we had received as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I first met Daniel when I was serving in the Argentina South mission almost 45 years ago. He was fresh out of high school, a typical teenager with little direction in his life. He had recently noticed a copy of the Book of Mormon at a friend's house. Not knowing anything about it, he asked his friend if he could borrow it and brought it home. About a week later, missionaries knocked on his door. He happened to be taking a nap, but his mother knowing that he had a copy of the Book of Mormon, invited them to return later when he was awake. We were able to teach him the discussions and within a few weeks, Daniel was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. 

Daniel (on the left) at high school graduation party - Rosario, Argentina - 1969

Christmas 2015 -  Rio Cuarto, Argentina

The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes and blesses lives. Robyn and I are so grateful to be serving in this great work. We know that there are many 'Daniels' in the Kaw River ward here and we hope to help them draw closer to the Savior.
We have about 15 families that the bishop has asked us to personally work with. Each one is different and so are their needs. We know that with the Lord's help, lives can be changed and families can be strengthened. We love this work. 

Last Monday evening we were invited to a dinner for all the senior missionaries in the Independence Mission hosted by President and Sister Vest. Most of the senior missionaries serve either at the Mission office, the Independence Visitors' Center or at one of the churches' historical sites in Missouri. There are approximately 20 senior couples and 8 senior sisters serving in the mission. This dinner is held every 6 weeks. The highlight of the dinner was the opportunity to hear the testimonies of those couples or sisters that will be leaving for home in the next 6 weeks. Everyone of them shed tears not only of joy but of sadness as they thought about their service here and how they will miss this great work. Robyn and I are already realizing that it will be hard to leave someday.

President and Sister Vest

Bishop Scott Miller

I have always said that our 'current' bishop is always the best bishop we've ever had. Bishop Scott Miller is no exception. It is such a pleasure to work with inspired priesthood leaders like him and feel of their spirit. He is among a number of members of the Kaw River ward that have been called out of their home wards to serve in Kaw River. Bishop Miller and his wife have served 3 stints in the ward. First as a counselor in the bishopric, then as the high councilor over the ward and now as the bishop. Sister Miller serves in the young women's presidency. When he was first called as a counselor in the bishopric, his children were young and did not want to go to a new ward and leave their friends. When he was released after a few years, the kids cried and cried and begged their folks to let them stay. They had truly came to love the members. He and his wife invited us to dinner last week and introduced us to the best barbecue joint in Kansas City, or so we have been told - Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que. So far I have to agree.

Saturday morning, all the full time missionaries in the stake teamed up with members from the ward to make visits to less actives. There was about 30 of us altogether. I was teamed up with Elder Anderson from Eagle Mountain, Utah. Robyn was teamed up with Perla Toraya from the ward. Each 'companionship' was able to visit about 5 families and to inquire about their welfare and invite them to church. With over 600+ members of record in the ward, there are not enough active home teachers to go around. We made a little dent in what needs to be done, but there is still a lot of work to do. Sometimes all it takes it for someone to show a little interest or concern.

Elder Anderson

Perla Toraya

As most of you know, Robyn is an animal lover. So it was no surprise that when we moved into our apartment, the first thing she wanted to shop for was a bird feeder and some birdseed. Since we could not bring the dog, birds would have to do. There was nothing in the cupboards or refrigerator, but we at least had 35 pounds of bird seed and a deluxe bird feeder that we hung right outside our living room window.  I'm sure the caution sign on the street right in front of our apartment had something to do with it.  

Every little sparrow in the neighborhood and a few beautiful red cardinals soon became regular visitors. We have not seen any geese yet - probably gone south for the winter. It seemed like almost every 2 or 3 days we were filling up the bird feeder. After only a few weeks, the 35 pound sack of bird seed was almost all gone.  At this rate, I soon realized that buying birdseed was going to create havoc with our budget. I could not believe that the little sparrows could eat their weight in birdseed everyday. So I decided to keep a close watch on what was going on to determine where all the birdseed was going. It didn't take long before I found the culprits. Game on squirrels. Your thievery will not be tolerated.

sparrows enjoying a quiet lunch

hungry sparrows and a soon to be skinnier squirrel 

42 YEARS

We celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary the way we started it, in the temple. But this time we were in the Kansas City, Missouri temple instead of the Los Angles temple. It had snowed quite a bit over the weekend and we were unsure whether we could navigate the roads to get to the temple. The driving conditions were so bad that the previous day, Monday, our Family Home Evening with some of the other senior couples had been cancelled. Fortunately, we made it to the temple just fine. As we sat in the chapel awaiting the start of the session, we felt the Spirit very strong.  Silent prayers of gratitude for the blessings of the Lord through these 42 years of married life were offered and it was again confirmed to us that this is where we needed to be. We pray that we might always be worthy to come to the House of the Lord. 

Most of the week was spent visiting less active families and encouraging them to come partake of the blessings of the Gospel. The Amayo family is one of many that we are working with to become more fully active. They immigrated from Nigeria a few years ago, and welcomed us into their home and hearts. We are so grateful for the love and acceptance that we feel here in the Kaw River ward. Bishop Miller is so helpful and supportive. We were invited this morning to attend ward council to report on the families we are visiting and receive assignments from the members of the council. The bishop also asked us to return next Sunday for PEC to discuss some additional ideas to help strengthen the members here. There are over 600 members of record in this ward. A lot of those are members whose records have been moved into the ward but are either inactive or unknown. This Saturday, all the full time elders and sisters in the stake are going to team up with members of our ward to go out and try and visit as many families like that as possible. Hopefully we can invite those that are here to come join us on Sunday and at the same time clean up the records of those that might have moved out. 

Amayo family

The weather, I am sorry to admit, was the cause of our first real 'fight' since we had been called to serve as missionaries. It was probably due to a case of 'cabin fever' that Robyn was experiencing over the weekend, not being able to venture very far out into the blizzards. Without any warning, she felt the need to attack me when I was least expecting it. 
I, of course, turned the other cheek. But I reminded her of Kahn's words to Captain Kirk: 'revenge is a dish best served cold'.

Something you don't see everyday in your parking lot in California, 

a truck spreading salt

We have found that sometimes the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It also is a good way to be invited in out of the cold. Since we have been here, Robyn has been busy baking cookies and bread. New Year's eve she baked a batch of pumpkin bread and monkey bread to share with some of the members we have been visiting. Our mission president has challenged all the missionaries here to invite members to accompany them whenever they teach a lesson. So we decided to follow his counsel and invited a member of the Overland Park 1st ward to go with us as we delivered the goodies New Year's eve.

 Sister Kelehua Brown

she will be a great missionary someday just like her mom and dad

 sister missionaries

'sister' Brown also helped with the baking