Dear Family and Loved Ones,
We spent this past week getting our ten newest missionaries trained and settled in the mission, meeting with our zone leaders and enjoying our stake conference.
Our school week was extra nice, not only did we have a four day school week because of Memorial Day, we also got an extra hour of sleep since Ben and Mari have finished early morning seminary for the year. It’s amazing how much it helps to sleep in until 6:00 a.m. :) Ben and Mari are preparing for final exams and are counting down to the end of school in two weeks.
Our newest group of missionaries are off to a great start. They are adjusting well to mission life. We will bring them back in for some more training at our “tune up” next week.
Friday our zone leaders came to the mission office for zone leader council. Our assistants gave some great training on finding new investigators. The zone leaders will take the training back to their district leaders, who will then teach the missionaries in their districts. Ted always says that the trick is to make sure all of the information “gets to the end of the row”. The zone leaders and district leaders also go on exchanges with the missionaries in their zones and districts so they can work alongside them and teach as they work. The exchanges last for about 24 hours. For Lunch at ZLC we served Popeye’s chicken with homemade baked beans and corn bread. Hopefully we will create a mission of Popeye’s chicken fans – they do seem to love it.
This weekend we had our own stake conference for the California Long Beach East Stake. It’s the first stake conference of the seven in our mission boundaries. Over the next two months we will have a chance to visit the other stakes for their conferences as well. We are usually invited to speak in one of the two sessions. The Saturday night adult session was nice (the adult session is one of the best kept secrets in the Church). Ted and I spoke as did a wonderful young single adult, a newly sealed sister, our Stake Young Women’s President, a counselor in the Stake Presidency and the Stake President. I especially loved the talk given by the young single adult on how temple attendance has prepared her for her mission (she will be serving a full time mission to Independence Missouri) and life. She was amazing and will be a great missionary. Ted also did a great job as usual! Today one of the sisters from the stake said, “I love your husband’s talks, he teaches us about missionary work without making us feel guilty.”
Our Sunday session of conference was also great. Ben was excited because it was only two hours long instead of three :)
President Huff (President of Los Angeles temple) and his wife spoke, the music from the choir was wonderful as were the talks from the stake presidency. One of our Senior missionary couples who live in our stake was called on extemporaneously to share their testimonies – they were marvelous. They told all of the seniors in the congregation that if they have ever contemplated a mission they should quit worrying about it and just do it. They testified that the Lord would help them. This great missionary duo is nearly eighty years old, they are newlyweds (they’ve been married three years). They are assigned to serve in the retirement community of Leisure World. They are able to get into many doors that have been closed to others because they can relate to the residents there. As they put it at our recent departure dinner and testimony meeting “we aren’t going to be around for too many more years and neither are the good brothers and sisters of Leisure World. We’re here to help them get ready to pass on and to be prepared and worthy for heaven.” They added “we hope to see them there before too long”. They are making a GREAT difference here in our mission and we love them.
We also enjoyed a talk from a new convert from our ward, Donna, who has been a member almost a year. It was great to hear how the Gospel has changed her life. Prior to joining the Church Donna was very bitter, she was single, her parents had recently passed away, she was not in contact with her only brother and her only child, a son. She was also suffering from some serious medical conditions. All of these difficulties caused Donna to be depressed. Donna was introduced to the Church by some members she met while eating at a local diner. The group of members dined at the same restaurant routinely, they noticed Donna was often there at the same time, they invited her to join them at their table and a friendship developed. Donna became interested in the Church by listening in on their conversations about Church activities and Gospel topics. The members invited her to attend Church and soon she was taking the lessons with the missionaries. The lessons were all taught in the homes of many members in our ward. By the time she was baptized she had many close friends in our ward. Donna says her life has completely changed by embracing the Gospel. She has repaired her relationships with her son and brother by being more tolerant, she has grown closer to her Heavenly Father. She believed in God but didn’t take time to pray and didn’t make getting to know Him a priority. Now she makes prayer and scripture study a priority. She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It has been a blessing to see Donna’s marvelous transformation and change of heart. That’s what missionary work is all about.
We love each of you,
The Long Beach Buberts
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