Hurrah for Israel!

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

     Another great week has come and gone very quickly.  We have especially enjoyed extremely nice weather and more is predicted for the coming week.

     This was Ben and Mari’s last week of the semester at High School.  They did great with their finals! They enjoyed their final’s schedule, just three classes a day on Wednesday and Thursday and no school on Friday.  Ben and Mari went to Disneyland with a few of their friends on Friday to celebrate, they had such a great day, it was about 75 degrees and there were no lines!

     Tuesday our twenty new missionaries arrived, nineteen AMAZING Elders and a much needed Sister!  They are a great group of missionaries and are ready to go to work and to fill the very big shoes of their predecessors. As always they represent many families, wards and stakes across the United States including Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Utah and Idaho.  We also have a new Elder from Guatemala.  Many of these missionaries were the only member of the Church in their High Schools so their experience in the MTC and here in the mission is wonderful for them. They enjoy being with their companions and the missionaries in their districts and zones who have the same beliefs, values and goals. It’s so great for them to feel a part of this mission team. 

     I really enjoyed making phone calls to the new missionary’s parents to let them know their missionaries arrived safely in Long Beach. They always express how much they love and miss their son or daughter, at the same time they let me know they are so proud of their missionary.  It’s also a lot of fun to hear the different accents from all around the country when the parents answer the phone :)

     We really made quite a scene at the airport with twenty new missionaries, our assistants, two office secretaries, Ted’s counselor and Ted and me (we needed five vehicles to transport that many missionaries and their suitcases) parading down the walkways and up the elevators to our waiting cars. Many heads turned and many knowing smiles were sent our way.  My favorite reaction came from a man, who watching us pass, raised his fist in the air and said, “Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel!” Wow! His enthusiasm brought tears to my eyes as I realized that the dedication of our young missionaries is like that of their pioneer forefathers who gave up so much to share the Gospel message. Of course the man at the airport was referring to the classic story of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball who were both sick when they left for one of their missions to England.  Their families who stayed behind were also sick. Brigham and Heber rose from the wagon bed as they departed their homes and shouted hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel as they waved their hankies to say goodbye to their sick families. Missionary work requires sacrifice.  It is faith and testimony in the Gospel that motivates missionaries to dedicate their time and efforts to the Lord’s work.

 We love you all,

The Long Beach Buberts

 P.S.  Here is the complete story of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball leaving for their mission from Nauvoo:

“On the fourteenth of September, Brigham Young left his home at Montrose and started for England. He had been prostrated [bedridden] for some time by sickness, and at the time of starting on his mission was so feeble that he had to be assisted to the ferry, only some thirty rods from his house. All his children were sick, and he left his wife with a babe but ten days old, and in the poorest circumstances, for the mobs of Missouri had robbed him of all he had. After crossing the river to the Nauvoo side, Israel Barlow took him on a horse behind him and carried him to the house of Elder Heber C. Kimball, where his strength altogether failed him, and he had to remain there for several days, nursed by his wife, who … had crossed the river from Montrose to care for him.

“On the eighteenth of the month, however, Elder Young, in company with Heber C. Kimball, made another start. … Elder Kimball left his wife in bed shaking with ague, and all his children sick. It was only by the assistance of some of the brethren that Heber himself could climb into the wagon. ‘It seemed to me,’ he remarked afterwards in relating the circumstance, ‘as though my very inmost parts would melt within me at the thought of leaving my family in such a condition, as it were, almost in the arms of death. I felt as though I could scarcely endure it.’

“‘Hold up!’ said he to the teamster, who had just started. ‘Brother Brigham, this is pretty tough, but let us rise and give them a cheer.’ Brigham, with much difficulty, rose to his feet, and joined Elder Kimball in swinging his hat and shouting, ‘Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel!’ Sisters Young and Kimball, hearing the cheer came to the door—Sister Kimball with great difficulty—and waved a farewell; and the two apostles continued their journey without purse, without scrip, for England” (B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 2:23–24).