BLOG #44
TWO WEEKS OF BLOGGING AGAIN
FEBRUARY 22ND :
Thursday’s special was Crockpot lasagna( a recipe
given to me from Shirllyn Ward-Vise),bread sticks and pudding cake. I could not believe how fast
it was eaten up. I am so thankful for all my friends that have given me good
and fun recipes.
We stood outside the chapel Friday for some of the
Zone Conference. It is strange because we are not really part of any zone so we
can go to the parts of the meetings that we want to go to. It was really good the part that we heard the
spirit was strong and edifying for all the missionaries. This mission is one of
about 30 missions that have been extend the right to have Ipads for the benefit
of aiding in the mission work, so a lot of instruction was given to help them
understand the importance of not
straying from the mission rules and being totally obedient in the use of the
Ipad. It is a wonderful tool to be able to use if done right. The Seventy that
spoke to the missionaries was ELDER ZWICK. His presence and presentation was so
instructional and caring that I am sure they will follow the rules that were
given. In addition to the Ipads he talked a lot about missionary work and
different techniques of how to present the message, a new film was shown to the
missionaries that will be during Easter time and it has a fantastic message
that the Savior loves everyone. At the end of the meeting the spirit was so
strong that everyone just sat in total reverence for several minutes and then
continued that reverence as they exited the building—what a neat experience it
was.
We have had cool weather this week. I have had to wear
a sweater to the office every day. I think
that the cool wind makes it cooler because of all the moisture
that is in the air. It is so deceiving because the sky is blue and
it is suppose to be warm right? After all it is FLORIDA.
We have
some really cool sisters that are actually serving in another ward but come to
this building. They have such a neat spirit about them. Elder Judd: One day they came to see us about a contact they had
invited to Institute. As we talked, I could tell that they were upset about
something. I learned that they felt that they were marked as ineffective
missionaries because of a minor incident that occurred a few days before. One
of the sisters teared up as she spoke of it. Both Sister Judd and I encouraged
them and told them that only the adversary condemns us and the Savior
encourages us in His work. I used the incident when Christ invited the
adulterous woman to “sin no more” and testified that the Lord never condemns us
but only encourages us to move forward. We told them that we knew that they
were great missionaries. After all, they chose to sacrifice and serve Him! It
was great to see them leave with smiles on their faces and their chins held
high. I know that the Savior loves those two sisters… I felt it as we talked to
them.
Saturday, we prepared a breakfast for the early morning Seminary
Teachers In service Meeting. We had Crockpot Oatmeal and breakfast casserole,
fruit, sweet breads and juice. Everyone is always so appreciative that it is
worth the time and effort to fix the meal. Elder Holland gave a marvelous talk
to the Seminary and Institute Instructors on Feb. 6th. We had recorded it and
was one that is important for all to hear and see. It was called “Be Not
Afraid, Only Believe.” If you have a
chance to view it, I know it would be well worth your time.
I went out to the car the other day to go to the store and saw
something white on the windshield wipers, I thought it was a piece of
paper---it was a white frog. He went to the store with me.
MARCH 1ST :
As Elder Judd was
preparing for his Wednesday night class, a young man came into the building
looking for the Family History Center that used to be in this building. He was
not a member but had been very impressed to search for his ancestors. Before he left Elder Judd felt that this
young man wanted some answers to questions he had. They talked for over 1 hour
about he gospel. This young man had gone
to several churches looking for answers. He found truths in every one he went
to, he said. Elder Judd gave him a Book of Mormon and counseled him to read it
and come back to the building and discuss it. It was also interesting that some of his
questions were answered. We do not know if he will come back while we are here
but some day he will have someone or something speak to his heart about the
truths he learned today.
Wednesday evening class is always a good
class. It is the Life and Teaching of the Savior. The only problem that we have
is this night is also Young Women’s, Scouts,
Cub Scouts, Activity Days for the Primary girls and anything else that 2
other wards choose to have, plus missionary work going on at the same time. This building
becomes a very, very, very lively (and
noisy) place. So Elder Judd always needs to shut the door to block out some of
the noise ----that means that I do not get to hear his lesson. Oh well I can
get it later that night.
Thursday night’s class was
a little smaller than normal because spring break for USF begun. Even then we served about 40 people. I needed
to cut some costs down for the end of the month so decided on hot dogs, baked
beans and Texas sheet cakes, white and brown.. I just hoped that everything would be eaten – well not to worry
almost all of it was gone. I had a few
sheet cake pieces left over, so wrapped it, stored it in the frig and brought
it to Family Home evening the following
Monday night. Now it is gone! It does not take long.
This was a week of classes and meetings. In
addition to the Elder Judd’s regular classes –which of course were wonderful-
we went to another zone meeting taught by Elder Zwick again( I wonder where
these Seventies get all the energy to teach everyday). Elder Judd: On Friday, instead of going
to the office as usual, we headed for the Tampa Stake Center for the Zone
conference of St. Petersburg and Tampa Zones. This meeting was presided over by
Elder Zwick. It lasted from ten am until 1:30 pm. Then we had lunch that was
served by members of the Tampa stake. At 3 pm we sat down again and
went until 4:30 pm. Elder Zwick is a marvelous teacher with a command of
the scriptures and an ability and gift to reach out in love and encouragement.
He is a wonderful example who in all the time he spent with us, every word was
positive, uplifting, edifying, encouraging and loving. Listening to him was
inspiring. He is a great example of how the Savior teaches. During his
teaching, he taught a pattern of effective teaching as follows: PRINCIPLE,
EXAMPLE, SUPPORTING SCRIPTURE, and TESTIMONY. He demonstrated this pattern, and
then called on several missionary companionships to teach by that pattern.
Elder Zwick emphasized the point that embellishing the point of the principle
taught after the testimony draws away from the power of the teaching. He told
us that going on and on takes away from the impact of the true principle. The
elders and sisters that demonstrated this pattern did a great job and in every
case, Elder Zwick praised all of them and then pointed out ways to strengthen
what they did. We loved what Elder Zwick taught us. Elder Zwick also taught us
about Structural Integrity by using the renovation of the Manti Temple as the
example. He told us of the dry rot that was found in the roof joists and what
problems would occur if not changed. Immediately
they needed to fix this problem before the whole roof caved in. He told us that
the reconstruction crew had to replace the major beams, add supporting
structures, and several other major items to make the temple a safe place to
be. Elder Zwick then compared it to repentance. He told us that we must have
spiritual structural integrity in our lives by replacing our spiritual rot with
solid purity and righteousness. He went through several examples of the
repentance process. By the time he finished we knew that we had been spiritually
fed with all that he taught us. How he
taught us for 6 hours was truly amazing.
In the evening Elder Zwick presided over the Devotional which was
focused on the use of ward and Stake councils in missionary work. Again we were
fed by Elder Zwick’s teaching manner and his powerful testimony and
examples he
used to illustrate the principles he taught. The building was packed. (Welchs, we ran
into your son at this mtg—What a great spirit he has) It was a long day ( we arrived home about 10
pm that night) but up lifting and positive.
We came to the church about 10 am Saturday to help the
YSA ward clean the building. We had about 8-10 young people and us. With that
amount of people, the cleaning went very fast and we were finished by 11:30 am.
We are thankful that we can work with
such great young people. After the cleaning I went into the office to start my
project for the fast-feast dinner, which is held after the block time. I
decided to make wheat rolls for them and since I do not have a mixer in the
apartment we made the dough there and came home and baked them here. I love the
smell of rolls baking. About 70 YSA ate 7 dozen rolls. I thought that I would
have a few left over. WRONG! I know it has been 10 months of cooking and baking
for this bunch of kids and have not learned that they eat everything. It was a
St. Patrick’s theme for the dinner and a lot of items that the YSA brought had
green food coloring in it. Green Potatoes, green cookies, green broccoli, etc.
We even had Corn Beef and cabbage (Wally and Jack yours was better.
Sunday before the meeting
started we had a baptism for a young man who was baptized by his newly baptized
father ( about a month before). It was such a neat experience to feel the love
that these two people had for each other. This young man bore his testimony
after his confirmation was given. We wished we all could bear such a
strong statement of love and respect for
the Savior and he did.
This is Jacqui Shelton( on the Left) and Cat Hunter (on the right)
these two girls make me laugh and are extremely busy but come to Institute always.
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