Dear Family and Loved Ones,
This past week was a whirlwind! It’s hard to believe how much went on in our little mission in a few short days. Monday we had our departure dinner, Tuesday our newest missionaries arrived, Wednesday we celebrated Shelly’s birthday, Thursday and Friday was our mission tour with Elder and Sister Porter and this afternoon we were able to attend the temple workers devotional at the Los Angeles Temple !
Monday we had a rather small group for our departure dinner and testimony meeting (five Elders and one sister). We had been inviting our senior couples to come to the dinner at the mission home but our numbers keep growing (which is a big blessing for us) so it was starting to feel like our departing missionaries were outnumbered. We don’t want to take away from their experience so we decided to have a separate pot luck dinner once a transfer with our senior couples and sisters. The dinner and testimony meeting went well, we love having a chance to see how much each missionary has grown (that growth is so individual) and to hear their beautiful testimonies one last time.
Tuesday we received a big group of missionaries, five who will be permanently assigned to Long Beach and four visa waiters (two sisters who will be going to Rome Italy and two Elders who will be going to Spain). It is a great group of missionaries! Since it was a pretty big group we had pizza at the mission office after our orientation so we could get through their interviews and get them out to work with their trainers.
Wednesday was Shelly’s birthday. She spent the day with her fiancée Ian, then we all went to the Black Bear Dinner for birthday pancakes that night. They even had a black bear come sing happy birthday – you can’t beat that!
Thursday we picked up Elder and Sister Porter at the Long Beach Airport. We were slightly nervous but mostly excited to have them visit our mission. Elder Porter told Ted, “You will recognize me when I come off the plane because I’m 6’7” tall”. They were easy to recognize both for their height (Sister Porter is very tall too) and because he looks like a general authority. We had read Elder Porter’s bio and were so impressed to learn about his many scholarly pursuits before becoming a General Authority. He is an expert on Russia and speaks Russian and German fluently. He worked in Germany and in Washington D.C. and was teaching Russian History at BYU when he was called to be a Seventy. We were pleased and relieved to find out they are so down to earth and very easy to talk with.
We first took the Porters to Signal Hill so they could see our mission. It was an overcast day but you could still see Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Compton and Whittier. From there we went to the mission office for a short devotional. Our office missionaries were so excited to meet the Porters! We sang “Called to Serve” and Elder Porter shared a few thoughts and his testimony. He told us that he served in the mission office for eleven months when he was a young missionary in Germany. He served with two different mission presidents and learned so much from them. It was from them he gained an interest in Russia (they were both German and had fought for Germany in Russia during World War II). He told our office staff that the missionaries need to feel the Spirit when they come to the office, they need to feel secure and loved there. He also told them that their job will be extremely important in the coming months as our number of missionaries will grow a lot. Elder Porter said there are so many missionary applications coming into the Church Office that instead of one of the Apostles making the assignments each week there have been five apostles working to make the calls in the past four weeks. If the numbers continue to increase they are prepared to have up to ten of the Apostles make the calls each week!
After lunch at Marie Calendars we returned to the mission office for the first of three conferences (one third of the mission attended each session). The conferences were very simple; a welcome, opening song and prayer, reciting of D&C section 4 and our missionary purpose and a Preach My Gospel principle. Ted, Sister Porter and I spoke for about fifteen minutes each and then Elder Porter taught us for almost two hours (half way through his talk we took a quick break and had a great musical number before finishing the meeting). Of course there is no way to tell you all of the amazing things we learned from the Porters but I’ll try to at least share a few insights.
Ted taught from Preach My Gospel “Where should I go, what should I do and what should I say?” It was all about relying on the Spirit in our missionary work. The Holy Ghost should be the third member of our companionships. Elder Scott taught that having the Spirit will not only help us know what to do but will also give us the capacity to do it!
Sister Porter shared an experience her son had on his mission to Siberia Russia. The first year of his mission he worked hard and was exactly obedient but felt no joy in his missionary service. As he was thinking about this he came across a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants 12:8 which says; “And no one can assist in this work except he shall he humble and full of love . . .” He recognized that he had not been feeling love for the people he taught. He continued being a good missionary but he also learned to love the people he was serving and then found great joy in his mission. She also told several experiences where missionaries didn’t see the results of their service until much later. She reminded us that we don’t always know who we have touched, she said, “People are constantly watching you. You are always a missionary. You may not know until you get to the Spirit World all of the people you have influenced.”
Elder Porter’s talk was centered on the Doctrine of Christ and Christ’s Atonement. Here is just a small sample of what he so powerfully taught us: Christ was lifted up that we might be lifted up. It is through His Atonement we are saved. No unclean thing can enter His kingdom EVER – it CANNOT be done! How do we become clean? We become clean through the Doctrine of Christ; faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. The Doctrine of Christ is not to be followed just once in our lives. We must apply these steps over and over. We must continue to exercise our faith in Jesus Christ, repent and renew our baptismal covenant each week as we partake of the sacrament and we need to live worthy of having the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.
In speaking of the Atonement Elder Porter taught that when Elder Holland was compiling a reference guide for his book “Christ and the New Covenant he found over 200 titles for Christ. One of those titles is Emanuel which means God walks with us. Jesus Christ experienced it all so He can understand our challenges and trials. Christ overcame the world and as we have faith in Him His strength, power and support will be with us as He walks by our side.
Elder Porter asked the missionaries how many of them remembered the “R”s of repentance. He reminded them that they are recognize, remorse, restitution and reform, he then said the most important “R” in repentance is Redeemer – He makes our repentance possible.
After our conference on Thursday the Porters came to the mission home for a simple dinner of beef stew and Marie Calendar’s pies. They were so gracious and said they enjoyed the meal. We then went back to the mission office for a meeting with the ward mission leaders and High Councilors over missionary work from each ward and stake in our mission. It was a great meeting. Ted started in off getting everyone excited about the many new missionaries we will be receiving. He said our Prophet, President Monson believes we can do this so we know we can! Elder Porter gave some great examples of how we can do missionary work in a natural way. He emphasized we don’t make friendships simply so we can do missionary work rather we share the Gospel with people who are already in our lives. Some natural ways of sharing the Gospel that he mentioned were: inviting our neighbors, family and friends to baptisms, baby blessings, etc., inviting them to hear us speak in Church and inviting them to church activities and events. There was a great response from those who attended.
Following our conferences on Friday we took Elder and Sister Porter to a delicious seafood restaurant – we had never been so we were relieved that it was so good especially after they told us they had lived in Boston for many years and are particular about the seafood they eat. The Porters made their mission tour to Long Beach easy for us. It was wonderful to spend time with them. We not only learned from the things they taught us but also from the way they have lived their lives. They are totally consecrated to the Lord’s work!
Following dinner we dropped the Porters off at their hotel in Santa Monica so Elder Porter could reorganize the Santa Monica Stake this weekend. His companion for the conference was Elder Trythall (our niece Tara’s Father-in-law – it’s a small world in the Church). We saw Elder Porter again tonight at the temple devotional where he spoke. Somehow he looked even younger and more energetic than he did when he and Sister Porter arrived in Long Beach. Ted and I marveled at how the Lord sustains His servants – it is amazing!
The temple devotional was very special. The music alone was enough to have made the drive to LA. It was provided by the Southern California Mormon Choir – it was beautiful! President Hough and his wife gave great talks and then Elder Porter talked. He told us that he once gave a devotional for the Apostles and First Presidency. Since it was just before Thanksgiving he decided to talk about gratitude and the temple. He was so surprised to find so many “new scriptures” that talk about how the temple is a place for Thanksgiving. He didn’t give us a lot of references so I’ll have to do a bit of searching on my own so I can record some of them while I’m thinking about it. He also shared the story of a man he had shared the Gospel with, he was baptized and Elder Porter confirmed him. When he had been a member for a year he invited Elder Porter to come with him when he went through the temple for the first time. Elder Porter wasn’t able to go because he was going out of town for a Church assignment so he called to let him know that he wouldn’t be there and to give him some advice. Elder Porter told him don’t try to understand everything that happens in the temple, just open your heart and feel the Spirit. The new member had such a great experience in the temple that he pleaded with his wife to become a member of the Church too so they could enjoy the blessings of the temple together. She did join the Church but before they could be sealed in the temple this good brother passed away. Elder Porter said it gave him great peace to see him dressed in his temple robes in his casket and to know that through the temple he had prepared himself for eternal life and that once they are sealed he and his wife will have the eternal marriage they were planning on. Elder Porter said if we think of the temple ceremonies as a coronation it will help us to comprehend the symbolism of the temple.
We had a great week! We have some catching up to do with some of our missionaries who are struggling and leadership training this week. We are also really looking forward to Thanksgiving vacation for Ben and Mari and a visit from the Boswells!
We love and appreciate each of you!
The Long Beach Buberts
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