The Rock of Revelation

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

     Our school vacation is over and tomorrow we will be waking up again to our 5:15 a.m. alarm. We tried to make the most of this last week, especially since we felt like we got an extra few days of vacation compared to our Utah friends. The kids and I enjoyed relaxing a bit, doing some errands and just spending some time together.

     Thursday we received another amazing reassigned Elder to the great California Long Beach Mission! Our new Elder had been serving in Argentina but returned to Utah for knee surgery. After recovering for eight months he is more than ready to get back to work and will be a great addition to our mission. Our new Elder went straight to Zone Meeting and then had lunch with Ted, the assistants and a few of our other new missionaries. Because we have had several reassigned Elders arrive in the last two weeks, as well as two visa waiters (waiting to go to Spain) we ended up with multiple trios this transfer so Ted made some mid-transfer changes to even out the companionships.

     The transfer board has become a mega board with three magnetic marker boards expanding the original transfer board. We can now envision how our mission will be growing in the coming months and the areas we will open first. We were thrilled today at stake conference to have two Bishops let us know they have families who are willing to house our missionaries. We are really relying on our faith that the members will come through and provide the housing we will need so we haven’t rented a single new apartment! Maybe even more touching was a sister who stopped us in the parking lot, with tears in her eyes she said, “I have a young family and it’s not my season to house the missionaries but if I could I would.” I am certain the Lord will bless her for her willingness to serve even though she isn’t able at this time.

     I spent Saturday recovering from a terrible migraine headache. I have headaches almost daily but every now and again I’ll get a migraine that prevents me from doing anything. I was so disappointed because it was our stake conference with the Cypress Stake which was being reorganized. I was sad to not be there for their adult session especially since Elder Choi from the seventy was the visiting authority who had come to reorganize the stake. Elder Choi and his wife are so special, we met them and grew to love and admire them when they came to our mission for a mission tour in 2011. Ted did a great job of telling me about the leadership and the adult session meetings of the conference. The stake president who was released has given some of the most outstanding talks I have ever heard so I was really disappointed about not hearing his talk last night, Ted said it was maybe the stake president’s best talk ever! Hopefully he will e-mail us a copy. The outgoing stake presidency has been outstanding! In fact today Elder Choi complemented them by saying that they were nearly perfect, they were professionals! He also said that the Lord doesn’t necessarily pick the best, most qualified person for a calling but He does pick the right one.

     Ben, Mari, Ted and I went to the conference today. We were feeling pretty calm that we wouldn’t be called on since Ted spoke in the leadership session and the adult session (he took my place since I was sick). We were surprised to be called on to share our testimonies after the new stake presidency had been sustained. The Spirit was very strong and it was a sacred meeting. It was very clear that the Lord’s will had been done and His work will move forward in the Cypress Stake! We really enjoyed everyone’s remarks including those from the outgoing and new stake presidencies and Elder Haynie (Area Seventy). The outgoing stake president’s wife is the sister of Cathy Davis (one of our dear West Bountiful friends), I loved her from the minute I met her (maybe because she and Cathy could easily be twins). She is so awesome and did a great job with her testimony. Her husband referred to her as a “church widow”. She said she was looking forward to sitting with her husband after 30 years of him sitting on the stand. Her only regret was that she didn’t still have six little children he could help her with :) It was a real treat to hear from the Chois who are so loving and encouraging. They have a knack for connecting with the youth and reminding them that they are the “specials of the specials and the future leaders of the Church.”

     In my testimony I shared the experience that Ted and I had when we met with President Eyring three years ago. After visiting with us for about ten minutes he said, “I would like to extend a call to you to serve as mission president and companion anywhere the Lord may call you.” We of course accepted his call. President Eyring then told us that the Church is run by revelation. He said, “I don’t’ know exactly how it works but it’s all about feelings, about being guided by the Spirit.” He then spent nearly an hour with us sharing experience after experience where he and other leaders of the Church had been led by revelation to make decisions (both for the Church and in their personal lives) that many years later they could understand the purpose of. It is so amazing to see the spirit of revelation in action here in the stakes and wards of Long Beach. We see it at work each time we receive missionaries who have been called by a Prophet of God through revelation. The minute we see each missionary we feel like we have always known them. Ted is guided through revelation to make sure each missionary is with the right companion and in the right place. It is a miracle to see how closely the Lord works with His servants!
     President Monson said, “Brothers and sisters, how blessed we are that the heavens are indeed open, that the restored Church of Jesus Christ is upon the earth today, and that the Church is founded upon the rock of revelation. We know that continuous revelation is the very lifeblood of the gospel of Jesus Christ." What a blessing it is to know that the Lord guides His work! 

We love each of you and appreciate your prayers!
The Long Beach Buberts