Dear Family and Loved Ones,
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week, we enjoyed lunch with four of our Elders. The Sisters from our ward came following lunch (they had an appointment for dinner with ward members) and joined us as Ted dedicated the mission home. A beautiful prayer of dedication was offered that the Spirit will always be present in the mission home and that many teaching experiences will take place here. We are looking forward to planning Family Home Evenings, Firesides and other meetings to gather people together to learn about the Gospel in this special home. A Sister who works for the Church has done a great job of decorating. We asked her to include some sacred art, she was able to get a beautiful, large print of the Savior walking on water. It is gorgeous, very eye-catching and will be a great conversation piece. Hopefully our missionaries, as well as our family, will be strengthened by the message of the painting that we can always look to the Savior for spiritual safety, even when there are storms all around us.
We also kept our family tradition of going to a movie Thanksgiving Day. We saw the latest Harry Potter movie. It was fun to have a family outing, the theatre was very nice and most of us enjoyed the movie (Ted's not a Harry Potter fan).
Yesterday was a special day in our ward. A newly returned missionary spoke on Sacrifice - gave a great talk! His father "just happened" to be the High Council Speaker who was assigned to our ward. Months ago, when High Council speaking assignments were made, the Dad was serving in our Bishoprics. A couple of months ago he was called to be a High Councilor and took the place of a brother who was assigned to yesterday's meeting. The brother said, "I guess this could be luck, or a coincidence, or a lucky coincidence." Everyone knew that it was more, it was truly a tender mercy. The High Councilor's talk was also on sacrifice and the blessings that come to us as we keep the commandments, especially tithing. He also read from his journal thoughts his own mother had shared when he returned home from his mission more that 24 years ago. His Mom described a young man who served faithfully and through his service became a mature, strong man of God. He was very emotional as he said, "this is how I feel about my son." It was a wonderful tribute to his son but it was mostly an acknowledgement of the blessings and growth that come to missionaries who sacrifice their time and dedicate them self to the Lord's work.
We see our missionaries growing through their dedication and sacrifice. Many of them have given up so much to be here but what they are gaining is truly priceless!
Today we say goodbye to three incredible sisters and four amazing Elders. Tomorrow we receive five new Elders, two are Samoan, one is Korean and two are from the States. We can't wait to watch them learn and grow as they serve the Lord here in Long Beach.
We love you all,
The Long Beach Buberts
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