Letters From Home

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

Is it Monday again . . . so soon?  Do the weeks go by this quickly for everyone, or is a phenomenon in the mission?

Tomorrow is p-day for our missionaries which means that they will be writing letters home.  They also write a letter each week to their mission president - which means that Ted will receive 134 letters in the next two days.  When we first arrived to Long Beach about half the letters came by e-mail, the other half were hand written.  The word has spread that if you e-mail President Bubert he will reply, now about 100 missionaries send their letters by e-mail, the balance are still hand written but I think before long they will all come by way of e-mail. If you do the math you realize very quickly that reading and responding to the missionaries weekly e-mails is one of the most time consuming responsibilities a mission president has, 134 e-mails X 10 min = 1340 minutes, or in other words well over 20 hours are spent each week.  Despite the incredible amount of time it takes to read the letters from our missionaries it is one of Ted's favorite and most helpful methods for getting to know them.  They share their disappointments, heartaches, and joys.  They share their concerns for family members and investigators. They share stories of miracles while finding and teaching and divine protection.  They tell about conversions of investigators and their own. They share powerful testimonies. They share scriptures and insights they discover during their "sacred study" time. No wonder Ted loves his letters so much!

Many years ago Sister Ardeth Kapp shared an insight about the scriptures and compared them to letters from home.  She said, "can you imagine being away from home and receiving a letter from your parents and not bothering to open it or read it?  This is what happens when we don't read these precious records.  The holy scriptures are like letters from home telling us how we can draw near to our Father in Heaven."  Just as Ted is coming to know and love our missionaries through their weekly letters, we come to know, love and understand our Father as we read His letters to us, the scriptures.

Ben and Mari continue to do great adjusting to school, though they are finding they have a great deal of homework. Today was their first day of early morning seminary, we were up at 5:20 a.m. and made it to seminary by 6:30 a.m.  I waited for them and then dropped them off at school. They loved their first day of early morning seminary!

The weather continues to be picture perfect - low 70's, with a gentle sea breeze :)

There were many baptisms this week including a beautiful family of 6 who were baptized last night.  Members, missionaries and the newly baptized family all had tears in their eyes as they sang the closing song "Families Can Be Together Forever"!

We love and appreciate each of you and are hoping for a few letters from home!
The Long Beach Buberts