Dear Family and Loved Ones,
August may be the fastest month of our mission. It has been a very busy month and looks like the next ten days won’t slow down at all.
Tuesday we enjoyed “Sister’s Training” here at the mission home. We only have thirteen sisters in our mission currently. One of our sisters, from Tonga, completes her mission this transfer. Since we have a sister finishing, our new sister from Guatemala just starting and Mari still on school break (she loves to spend time with the sister missionaries) we decided it was the perfect time to get the sisters together.
We shared with our sister missionaries the new dress and grooming guidelines found on lds.org. At our last Mission President’s Seminar, Elder Kearon of the Seventy asked us to encourage our sisters to dress more colorfully. When the sister missionaries are dressed in long black skirts and jackets the sisters are often mistaken for Catholic Nuns. Elder Kearon said, “We need to get out of the ‘habit’.” To make the point of the importance of the appearance of the missionaries he shared his conversion story. Elder Kearon is from England (you may recall his talk from General Conference about being stung by a scorpion because he was wearing flip flops), he was coming up the escalator after getting off of the Subway when he saw two sister missionaries. He was attracted to them and wanted to talk to them because of how they looked. They weren’t necessarily beautiful but they looked good. Their message was reflected in the way they dressed and in their shining faces. It was fun to go through the slide show with our sisters, answer their questions and to remind them that the first impression their contacts will have is their appearance.
Sunday Ted and I were invited to speak in the 10th ward. This is the Long Beach ward we attended when we first arrived to the mission so it was like going home. Ben and Mari were especially happy to reconnect with our former ward members and didn’t even mind getting up a bit earlier for 9:00 a.m. Sacrament Meeting.
One of the best things about being in the 10th ward yesterday was seeing our senior couple (the Blickenstaffs) there with five individuals they have helped come back into activity! They are an amazing missionary companionship, through their love and encouragement these precious souls are returning to the Gospel path. As the Blickenstaffs put it, “They have been away from the Church for a lifetime, some more than 40 years but they feel like they have come home.”
I gave my talk on the parables found in Luke 15, where the Savior teaches about lost sheep, a lost coin and the Prodigal Son. As I looked out at these dear brothers and sisters I could imagine the joy our Heavenly Father and Savior must be feeling to have them returned to the fold.
A quote I shared yesterday from Sister Tanner really summarized my feelings so well: “I am touched by how frequently the Lord expresses His love for His people, even if they stray—maybe especially when they stray. Think of the parables the Savior gives about lost things: sheep, coins, a prodigal son (see Luke 15). The shepherd goes out after the lost sheep; the woman diligently searches her house for the lost silver; the father runs out to his wayward son while he is “yet a great way off … and [falls] on his neck, and [kisses] him” (Luke 15:20). Likewise, in the parable of the olive tree we glimpse the Lord’s longsuffering love for those who stray (see Jacob 5). Again and again, the Lord of the vineyard laments, “It grieveth me that I should lose this tree” (Jacob 5:7, 11, 13, 32). Throughout the book of Isaiah, the Lord reassures Israel that He cannot forget them: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16). In the book of Ezekiel the Lord says, “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken” (Ezekiel 34:16).” Isn’t it comforting to know that the Lord never gives up on His children, He is always there, waiting for us with outstretched arms to welcome us home. There is such great joy when the lost sheep is found!
We started the week off with some baptisms in Huntington Beach last night, which are ALWAYS a spiritual highlight for us. One of the Elders who spoke began his mission in the same ward where he is now finishing (he returns home tomorrow). The Bishop of the ward said, “I met this Elder on his second day in the mission, it is great to see how much he has grown in the last two years”. We love watching these young men and young women becoming amazing disciples of Jesus Christ – it’s priceless!
All Our Love,
The Long Beach Buberts
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