ALL THINGS BEAR RECORD OF THE SAVIOR

Christus - Independence, Missouri visitors center

'And behold, all things... are created and made to bear record of me... things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth... all things bear record of me.' - Moses 6:63

One of the many things on this earth that has always borne record to me of the Savior and his resurrection is the great change that takes place during the Spring, as nature comes back to life after appearing to have died during the winter. The Book of Mormon states that all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him. As we witness new life through out the world at this Easter time, it reminds us of the Savior and the 'new life' that his atonement and resurrection make possible for all of us. 

The changes in nature are so much more dramatic here in Missouri than back home in Southern California. As we watch the trees and flowers 'come back to life' we are once again reminded of what the Savior did for all of us.

Our driveway a few months ago

 

Today

GENERAL WOMEN'S SESSION

Robyn was able to attend the General Women's Session of Conference on Saturday with Kaui and Kelehua. The three of them enjoyed a quick bite to eat before heading to the stake center where Kelehua was part of a ward primary choir that was asked to sing prior to the broadcast. Robyn said that for her, President Eyring's inspired counsel on seeking for opportunities daily to serve others was one of the highlights of the session. He said: 

"My prayer for the sisters in the kingdom, wherever they may be or in whatever circumstance, is that their faith in the Savior and gratitude for His Atonement will lead them to do all they can for those the Lord asks them to serve. As they do, I promise that they will move up the path to become holy women whom the Savior and our Heavenly Father will welcome warmly and reward openly."

It was a wonderful evening all around. This is one of the many 'fringe' benefits of being able to serve in the Missouri, Independence mission.

Reacting to the fact that Luke just nailed me between the eyes
with a Nerf gun as I was taking their picture

DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENCE

On our P-Day, we visited downtown Independence. The courthouse has statues of their two 'favorite sons' -  President Harry S. Truman who was born in Independence, and President Andrew Jackson, whom the county of Jackson, Missouri was named for.

I have a special place in my heart for President Truman. I figure he probably saved my Dad's life when he authorized the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan, which ended the war. Dad was in the Army Air Corp stationed in the South Pacific, preparing for the invasion of Japan. He would have been in the very thick of the fight and quite possibly could have been killed in bombing missions over Japan if the war had gone on. A lot of people second guess President Truman's decision, but I am not one of them.

MEDICINE MERIT BADGE

We have been working on the Medicine Merit badge for the past couple of weeks in scouts. Tuesday, we took all the boys to the anatomy lab at the Cleveland Chiropractic College, where the scoutmaster is a student.  Cadavers and the smell of formaldehyde brought back a lot of 'fond' memories for me of dental school and the anatomy lab. The boys put on gloves and had some 'hands on' experiences with hearts, lungs, kidneys, muscles and other body parts. One of the cadavers had been a heavy smoker during his life. It was a great lesson for the young men to see the blackened and damaged lungs that were the result of years of not adhering to the word of wisdom.  I believe all boys developed a greater appreciation for the complexity and amazing design of the human body. As leaders, we bore witness to the young men that our bodies were created in the image of a loving Heavenly Father, and did not come about by random chance during billions of years of evolution.

Cleveland Chiropractic College

Getting ready to see what is inside the boxes

Brother Dube, the scoutmaster, along with two medical students from the ward who came along to help and answer the boy's questions

Lots to see

.

This week we have been visiting less actives and helping prepare others to attend the temple. The Relief Society president recently asked us to visit the Sanchez family. She told us that Brother Sanchez is a fairly recent convert, while Sister Sanchez is a third generation member from Mexico. They have two daughters, 16 and 13. Up until recently they had been quite active, that is until the older daughter found herself pregnant. The parents felt so embarrassed that they all stopped coming to church. I'm sure that is not the only reason why. The baby girl is about 3 months old now. When we visited with them, the mother of the child asked about having her baby blessed. We talked about Easter coming up and that the Savior's atonement could help heal any wounds and help them put their lives back in order. And then we challenged the whole family to come to church and speak to the bishop concerning blessing the baby. This past Sunday they all showed up including the baby's father. After speaking to the bishop, they are planning on blessing the baby next week in his office during Sunday School. We plan to be there to support them and hopefully be able to continue to visit and encourage the family to recognize the importance of church activity.  

Tonight before Robyn went to Relief Society, we met with Sister Hernandez to review the temple preparation classes she recently finished. She was baptized a little over a year ago and the bishop wants to make sure she understands everything and the significance of the covenants she will be making. There are 7 lessons in the manual and after visiting with her this afternoon, it is quite obvious that we will need to go over each one in detail before she is ready to meet with the bishop. Sometimes we who have been members all our lives forget that often it takes time for the truths of the Gospel to sink deep into someone's soul. 

NEW APARTMENT GARDENER

It has been almost 5 months since Robyn has been able to get her hands dirty by working in a garden. The fact that  the apartment has paid gardeners did not stop her from going to Walmart and buying a rake and other gardening tools so she could get her gardening 'fix' for the week.

CAMPING IN KANSAS

Campsite as seen from troop drone

Troop 244 of the Kaw River ward had it's first campout of the year this past weekend. The bishop of the singles ward here in the Lenexa stake owns about 600 acres of land just outside of Garnet, Kansas. It's about an hour and fifteen minute drive south of Kansas City. The previous owners raised pecans, cattle and corn on the property. The bishop leases the land out to another farmer and also allows youth groups from the stake to come down and have some fun. The scoutmaster, Derrick Dube and the young mens president, Mike Albrechtsen and I along with 6 scouts made the trip. One of the dads drove up later in the evening.

It was a little chilly, but everyone had a great time. 

After arriving and setting up camp, the boys went canoeing on the river that runs right through the property and chased some cows that came by to inspect the new comers. After dinner and our campfire program, the boys played capture the flag and then tag using glow sticks to be able to find each other in the dark. Fortunately, none of them ran into any barbed wire fences or fell into the river. The next morning after breakfast, Brother Albrechtsen brought out his drone and had fun taking videos of the area and chasing a vulture that happened to be flying by. More canoeing and hiking along the river followed. Although we didn't see him, there is a beaver at work on the trees along the river. 

It was a great couple of days, especially gratifying to be able to get to know the boys a little better. The Kaw River ward has a good group of young men with an occasional goof ball (every troop seems to have one). Our next campout is already scheduled for next month. I can't wait.

Just arrived

'A river runs through it'

Noe, Andres, Ilyan, Carlos, Tommy and Zach

Corn fed Kansas beef

Yep, the goof ball

Chasing the vulture

Dinner - meatball sandwiches

Bill (Tommy's dad) and Mike Albrechtsen cooking breakfast burritos

Let's get these troops out of the hot sun

Beaver's work

Uprooted tree that was close to river. Roots were very shallow, not having to go far for water, and so were not able to keep it strong during a storm. Discussed with the boys why we do hard things so our roots go deep into the gospel soil.

Tornado Season - disaster preparedness

Robyn has been working very hard with the members of the ward to become better prepared for any emergency, not just tornados. She took orders last Sunday for rice, beans and powdered milk. We were pleasantly surprised with the results. Tuesday we drove down to the Kansas City home storage center and picked up about 16 cases. The members of the ward were eager to stock up. Each month Robyn plans on concentrating on a couple of different items so hopefully by the time we leave, the ward will be much better prepared. In the meantime, our living room looks like a well stocked church home storage satellite warehouse. 

Visited with Brother James Porter at the VA hospital here in Kansas.
James had back surgery that hopefully will allow him more mobility and movement. He has been unable to come to church because of the pain and we pray that he will make a full recovery and become more active. He loves Robyn's pumpkin bread so we are trying to bribe him with it. 

Robyn and I are so grateful to our Father in Heaven for this wonderful opportunity to serve here in the Kaw River ward. Every week brings new experiences and challenges.
This past week we met with a young man whose wife has left him. They had recently moved here from Brazil and have been less active for a while. He now recognizes that the Gospel is the only way that his marriage can be healed. The bishop asked us to meet with him regularly to encourage him to not give up.  And then the other evening we met with a family whose teenage daughter recently had a child out of wedlock. When the daughter became pregnant, the family stopped coming to church because of embarrassment. They promised us that they would come to church this Sunday.  We pray that they will.
We know that we do not have all the answers, but the Holy Ghost does. "For, behold, the Comforter knoweth all things, and beareth record of the Father and of the Son."

Elder Bednar taught us in the worldwide missionary broadcast that it is the Holy Ghost who is the teacher. If we are worthy and the person is receptive, then teaching occurs. He also instructed us to always invite. Everything we do should invite someone to act. And then he said we promise blessings if they act. We are trying to always remember that inspired counsel as we meet with members and non members alike.

  

APOSTLE GARY E. STEVENSON

March 13, 2016

This past Saturday, we had the privilege of attending a special mission wide conference presided over by Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Twelve. Elder Wilford Anderson of the Seventy was his companion. Elder Stevenson was sustained as an apostle last October. Like all the general authorities, he was so very humble and warm. The first thing he did when he arrived, was to ask all of us (around 250 missionaries) to come up and one by one, introduce ourselves to him and shake his hand. The mission president later commented to the young elders and sisters that this experience, to be able to shake the hand of an apostle, will be one that they remember all their lives. I have to agree with that, as I was privileged to shake the hand of then Elder Gordon B. Hinckley when I was a missionary in Argentina. That is also a memory that I will always cherish.  As the church continues to grow worldwide, these types of opportunities, to be in the presence of one of Savior's special witnesses, do not come around very often, if at all.
Elder Stevenson commented that he often feels like a new missionary trainee and that he is sure the more senior apostles must be saying to themselves that they hope he figures everything out soon, before the Lord calls them home. The meeting lasted from 9 - 12:30.  Later in the afternoon, he held a fireside with all the youth in the mission, 12-18, and then a training meeting in the evening for all the auxiliary presidents. Noah reported that in the youth meeting, Elder Stevenson shared a number of personal experiences when he was a teenager and then bore his sacred witness regarding his conversion and testimony.
The Spirit bore witness to Robyn and I that Elder Stevenson, indeed is a prophet, seer and revelator and one of the Savior's personal witnesses. We both were overcome with joy to be able to be with him.

LIBERTY JAIL 

We were able to visit the Liberty Jail this week. We are so blessed to live so close to so many of the historic sites here in Missouri. We live about 20 minutes away from Liberty. Other than the two sister missionaries and the supervising senior couple, we had the whole place to ourselves. We took our time as we pondered the significant events that transpired in this 'prison-temple'.  Robyn and I left the Jail in absolute awe again of the Prophet Joseph and the others who were imprisoned there from December 1, 1838 - April 6, 1839.  All of this occurred during what, by some accounts, was considered the coldest winter on record in the state of Missouri.

In the Prophet Joseph’s letters, he spoke of the jail being a “hell, surrounded with demons … where we are compelled to hear nothing but blasphemous oaths, and witness a scene of blasphemy, and drunkenness and hypocrisy, and debaucheries of every description.  We have… not blankets sufficient to keep us warm; and when we have a fire, we are obliged to have almost a constant smoke. Our souls have been bowed down and my nerve trembles from long confinement.”

And yet some of the most beautiful revelations received by the Prophet were recorded there.  Elder Holland in a CES fireside said, "How empty our lives as Latter-day Saints would be if we did not have sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants!"

Robyn and I hope and pray that we can be examples to our loved ones of enduring to the end, no matter what, as the Prophet was to us at Liberty.

We ran into an old friend of mine, Kirk Robinson, working in Independence. Actually it wasn't Kirk, but it sure could have been his identical twin.


The Amayo family is one of the families that we have been visiting with to encourage more activity. Sunday, I spent most of the Sacrament meeting trying to keep their two year old, Efeomo, semi quiet with little success. He reminds me a lot of Matthew at that age.

Efeomo 

Uhunoma, age 9,  Kansas Jayhawk fan

Etinosa, age 6 - Kansas Jayhawk fan also

Mike Albrectsen

Brother Mike Albrectsen is another one of the many talented members who have been called out of their home wards to serve in the Kaw River ward. He is currently serving as the ward young men president while his wife Lynda is serving as the ward young women president. I recently met with him to get some direction regarding my new calling in the scout troop.

He showed us his studio in the basement of his home. He was commissioned to paint the gorgeous mural in the instruction room of the Kansas City temple. Another of his paintings hangs near the recommend desk in that temple. He has also done a mural in the Indianapolis temple. Some day the painting behind me in the photo, may be hanging in the Star Valley, Wyoming temple. The temple committee has expressed an interest in considering it when it is complete for that temple.