Life in Long Beach

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

Tomorrow we receive our first missionary, Elder Flory, from Canton Ohio.  Elder Flory has spent the last 12 weeks at the MTC learning Cambodian. He will join our four Elders who teach the Cambodian People of Long Beach.  Cambodian is a very difficult language but these young men are amazing.  We are getting ready to welcome Elder Flory in the morning with a training meeting and lunch - then he will be off with his trainer and will get to work!

It is so interesting to be a full time family and full time missionaries.  We are supposed to keep things as normal as possible for Ben and Mari.  At the MTC they said that we would have to figure out how that will work for our family. Some kids don't want their parents to dress as missionaries when they go to school events, or to wear their nametag when they are doing family activities.  We can choose what works best for Ben and Mari.  We are finding that Ben and Mari are so supportive and we wear our missionary clothes and nametags wherever we go.  Last P-day we took a drive to Costa Mesa to a Sprint store (the mission had ordered new phones for us that needed to be set up).  It surprised me how different I feel when I wear my name tag.  I noticed that the first thing you see is the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  Wow! We are representing Christ and His Church, what a big responsibility.  I thought, "what if every member of the Church wore a nametag that reminded him or her of their baptismal covenants, that they have taken upon themselves they name of Christ and have promised to stand as His witness at all times and in all places?"

Some highlights from the past week:

Mari survived girl's camp, she made some new friends, went canoeing, hiking, went on a faith walk and stayed up too late every night. She admitted she was a bit homesick for both Utah and Long Beach.  We were proud of her courage.

Ben went out with two of our Elders and did some street contacting and visited a less active member of our ward.  He really enjoyed the experience and is hoping to go with them again this week to teach a 16 year old boy.

We were excited to find Popeye's chicken ( a favorite, spicy Louisiana style chicken).  We realized we were on the wrong side of town when we walked in and saw bullet proof glass from counter to ceiling.  There was a lazy susan to pass the chicken to the customers.  We got our chicken anyway and enjoyed thoroughly enjoyed it!

We went to a dinner with the Stake President's and their wives (5 of 7 were there).  It was hosted by President Ahlstrom and was held at his beautiful home.  Elder Reynolds (an area authority seventy) and his wife were also there.  The local priesthood leaders are very supportive.  We enjoyed great food and learned about each of the couples and their families.

We continue to enjoy perfect weather, the locals say it is unseasonably cool (65-70).

Thank you for your prayers and support - we feel it and we need it.

We love you all!
The Long Beach Buberts

P.S. We will still be the greenest missionaries since Elder Flory has spent so much time at the MTC