Dear Family and Loved Ones,
We had a lot of missionaries coming and going this past two weeks and we are receiving another new missionary tomorrow. There were a few unusual departures, one of our Sisters returned to Nauvoo where she will complete her mission, one Elder returned home after finishing on schedule, another Elder went home for medical treatment, after serving for more than eight months in Long Beach one of our visa waiters finally got his visa and is now in Brazil. Tomorrow we will be on the receiving end and will finally get our own visa waiter, an Elder from Mexico who has been stuck in Mexico City waiting for his visa several months. He now has his papers so he can enter the United States. We are so fortunate that our Long Beach Airport is only about fifteen minutes from the mission home since Ted spent a lot of this past week sending missionaries off. Most of the flights leave early in the morning so Ted’s alarm clock rang at 4:15 a.m. most mornings last week. He said, “I don’t know why I’m so tired this week.” I think he’ll be surprised how much better he will feel this week when he gets to sleep in until 5:15 a.m. :)
Tuesday we received twelve new amazing missionaries. They are going to do great but for whatever reason they were all very sleepy and serious during training. They eventually started to smile and by the time they were sent off with their trainers they looked like they were excited to be in the “Great California Long Beach Mission”. It will be good to see them again in a week when we meet with them for a “tune up”. I had a lot of fun calling all over the USA to let the families know that their missionaries had arrived safely. We recognize that it’s the sacrifice and support of families and wards which makes it possible for these amazing young Elders and Sisters to serve.
Ben and Mari had a busy and fun week too. Mari went to Disneyland for a few hours Friday after school (that’s the perk of living so close) with some friends. They went on a couple of rides and got a churro. They came back and picked up Ben for a movie. Saturday Ben helped with a fun run in Seal Beach. It was the annual 5/10k run and children were invited for a mini 1k run. Ben and some of his football buddies were asked to run alongside the little kids to keep them safe. Ben really enjoyed it and took charge of special needs boy named Jackson. Saturday Ben and Mari had a “Best of EFY” multi-stake event which they loved – they said the speakers were even better than the dance. Tonight they went to a stake fireside to learn about their summer youth conference. I think Ben hit the nail on the head after observing the many activities the wards and stakes provide for the youth he asked, “Why do they keep us so busy? Are they afraid we’re going to get into trouble?” Of course the answer is yes! They are doing everything they can so there are wholesome alternatives to the not so good activities they might be tempted to be a part of. We’re very grateful there are so many opportunities for Ben and Mari to have good, clean fun!
Tonight Ted and I went to a couple of baptisms in the Ximeno branch (Spanish speaking branch in our stake). The first was for an eight year old girl who was baptized by her Father. The next service was for a man and woman who had been taught by the missionaries. Both services were nice, the Spirit was felt and the baptismal candidates were all radiant.
The baptismal services were held in the Primary room. It was fun to see three bulletin boards on the Primary room walls that represent the units which meet in the church building; an English speaking ward, a Cambodian speaking ward and a Spanish speaking branch. The Primary theme for the year is CTR (choose the right). Each bulletin board had the familiar CTR shield, in Spanish the acronym is HLJ (haz lo justo). The symbols for CTR in Cambodian looked like a frowning face and I have no idea how they say choose the right but I’m going to find out. Two of the bulletin boards also had photos of each of the beautiful primary children.
This month’s theme for Primary is “Jesus Christ is the Perfect Example for Me”. I thought about how each of those being baptized today were following Christ’s perfect example. In the Book of Mormon Nephi teaches in II Nephi 31:
5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being aholy, should have need to be bbaptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be cbaptized, yea, even by water!
6 And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
7 Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be aobedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the agate, by which they should enter, he having set the bexample before them.
10 And he said unto the children of men: aFollow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we bfollow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?
12 And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father agive the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, bfollow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.
By the way, one of the Elders who baptized tonight has been in the mission less than a week – what a great way to start a mission :)
We love each of you,
The Long Beach Buberts
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