Dear Family and Loved Ones,
Today is Stacey’s b-day – we can’t wait to hear about the traditional celebration at the ranch. We are thinking about Stacey and all of our family and hope everyone is enjoying a great time together.
This past week was full of great missionary experiences and family fun. We enjoyed visits from cousins and friends, the beach, Hollywood, and Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium!
Mari’s friend Lauren celebrated her 15th b-day here in the mission. Her Dad surprised her by dropping her off at the airport, handing her a packed suitcase and a ticket. Her actual birthday was Monday and several Elders were here that night for brownies and ice-cream so we sang Happy Birthday to Lauren in English, Spanish and Cambodian (I don’t think she will get that experience again).
Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium was a lot of fun. Elder Quinton Cook threw out the first pitch and even got it across the plate! We were better prepared with jackets and blankets this year – it’s amazing how cold it gets when the sun goes down at the stadium. We saw a grand slam (unfortunately it was for the other team). After the game they had great fireworks and they let us come down on the field. We touched the grass, which is incredibly thick and well manicured. The best part was sharing the night with local members from our Stake and our cousins who have made the game an annual tradition.
We had three days of Zone Conferences which were wonderful. We love gathering our missionaries together and they really look forward to it too. We are blessed to have such a small mission (geographically) so we can combine zones. We are able to meet with all of the missionaries over just a few days and they get a chance to associate with missionaries that they otherwise wouldn’t get to know.
Our Zone Conferences usually consist of the missionaries giving trainings from Preach My Gospel and the Eight Essentials. Sometimes there are special musical numbers. Elder Farani, from Samoa sang at one of our conferences, his singing was so sincere and beautiful. He is just learning English but he did great. Testimonies are shared by those who will be finishing their missions and other missionaries, the testimonies are always a highlight. I talk for a few minutes and Ted teaches for about an hour.
This past conference Ted trained the missionaries on how to use all of the helps in the scriptures. The missionaries loved it! It was so fun to watch them flipping through their scriptures, making new discoveries.
I shared some thoughts from our dear friend, Elder Justin Chidester’s , last letter home. I told the missionaries that their letters home can have a great impact on those who receive them and that they should make sure to write letters that will encourage and strengthen their family and friends. Here is an excerpt from Elder Chidester’s letter: “It was in that prayer that I perhaps realized the most important principle of my mission. I had reached that point that I had wanted to for so long, that is, the point where I was truly serving with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, and I was no longer thinking about myself. Like, at ALL. That's what it felt like. It's not like I was neglecting my basic needs, but really - it surprised me that I wasn't thinking about my own comfort at all when I was promising what I would sacrifice for this other person. And then it hit me indeed what the Atonement really was about. They say that if the only person that would be saved through the Atonement was you, then Jesus Christ would have gone through all that suffering to save YOU - and only you. And is that not what we should be doing? Every day, our actions affect those around us - are we trying to bring others back to Him? Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Now that verse may mean that you literally die to save someone else, but on a different level I feel that "laying down your life" also means that you sacrifice yourself to serve and help others. Parents lay down their lives for their kids. Missionaries do it for their investigators. Friends do it for struggling friends. And the Savior did it for us all”.
I also shared President Hinckley’s experience on his mission when he wondered if he was wasting his time and his Dad’s money. President Hinckley’s Dad advised him to, “Forget yourself and get to work”. Great advice, not just for missionaries but for all of us! We are surrounded by young men and young women who are doing just that – they are forgetting themselves, sacrificing their own pursuits and dedicating themselves to the Lord’s Work. They are an inspiration and we are honored to serve alongside them.
Thank you for your great support, faith and prayers! We love you all,
The Long Beach Buberts
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