Dear Family and Loved Ones,
This month is flying by – I can’t believe we are just one week away from the end of our transfer! Three years ago today we opened our assignment letter and read the words, “You are called to the California Long Beach Mission”. The feelings of surprise were quickly replaced with the comforting feeling of knowing we had been called of God to the mission that is just perfect for us and our family. We are so grateful to serve here with our wonderful missionaries and the amazing members of the Great California Long Beach Mission!
The past week was a really good one for Ben and Mari since they just had three days of school. They did have finals on Wednesday and Thursday but they still enjoyed having a couple of days to relax. They also did great on their exams and are ready to start their new semester tomorrow.
Ted spent the week still recovering from his terrible cold but was able to get a lot done including ordering a mega transfer board so we can fit all of our missionaries on it without using magnetic white boards for the overflow (which is what we are doing now), he worked on transfers, interviewed many missionaries and read letters. He is feeling mostly better though he doesn’t have his normal energy. Hopefully he will feel better soon because he has so much to do.
Today we went to the Long Beach Stake for Stake Conference. It’s a wonderful, diverse stake and we love the beautiful members and leaders of Long Beach. The LA Temple President, his wife and Elder and Sister Garn (An Area Seventy from LA) all spoke. They are all amazing and did a great job. Ted and I were asked to share our testimonies. It was nice to speak near the beginning of the meeting so we could relax and enjoy the rest of the talks and because all of the speakers who followed us referred back to the things we had said about missionary work. Hopefully all of that repetition will help the message sink in that we need the members support with so many missionaries coming to Long Beach soon.
After the meeting we had a chance to visit with many members and our missionaries who are serving in LB. It’s especially fun to meet their investigators. They love the people they are teaching and are so hopeful that they will continue progressing and will soon be members of the Church.
A few days ago Ted’s phone rang when he was in the other room so I picked it up to see who was calling. I was surprised to see the name on the caller ID was Dean Martin. When Ted came back in the room I told him he had missed a call and that I was really confused because of the name that had come up. He laughed and said, “That’s Elder Dean and Elder Martin”, they just happened to be matched up in a companionship. I’m not sure how many members and investigators see the humor in being taught by Elders Dean and Martin but I think it’s pretty cute. We have had at least a couple of other interesting companionship combinations: Stout/Grout and Knight/Mehr. I told Ted I was just glad he didn’t ever feel inspired to put Elders Short and Stout together.
We will be learning many more missionary names in the near future since we will have at least 76 new missionaries arrive by April! What a blessing and a challenge!
Thank you for your prayers!
We love each of you,
The Long Beach Buberts
No comments:
Post a Comment