Priesthood Power

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

     We had a wonderful week! It was sad to see some great missionaries leave and exciting to welcome 28 new missionaries into the Great California Long Beach Mission.
     Monday Ted interviewed our four outstanding missionaries who finished their missions this transfer, that night we had our farewell dinner and departure testimony meeting in the mission home for our four young missionaries and one of our senior couples (they return home next week). The sister who was finishing her mission arrived late to the mission home and was in obvious pain. She is very athletic and competitive and had injured her arm during a p-day sports activity earlier that day. It became clear that she needed to be seen by a doctor before getting on a plane the next morning so following dinner I took her to the nearby emergency room while Ted and the rest of our missionaries had a wonderful testimony meeting. Fortunately our sister missionary didn’t have a fracture, she had a terrible sprain and returned home the next day in a sling :( We seem to have way too many p-day injuries but we hesitate to overdo the restrictions on the sports our missionaries participate in since they all look forward to their activities. We are starting to understand the term used in politics of a “Lame Duck” President. It’s hard to make significant changes knowing we won’t be around much longer to see them through.
     Tuesday morning Ted’s alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. so he could see three of our missionaries off at the Long Beach Airport, everything went smoothly. One of the Elders was flying to SLC on the same flight as our injured sister so he was able to help her with her carry-on luggage. We returned to the airport at 9:30 a.m. to welcome 28 amazing new missionaries including seven new sisters and eight visa waiters. We rented a U-Haul trailer to get their luggage from the airport to the mission office and had the help of two member families with fifteen passenger vans to transport the missionaries. After orientation and a pizza lunch most of the missionaries were assigned a trainer and were sent out to work, the others stayed for interviews and to be trained to drive in the mission. Wednesday Ted interviewed the rest of the missionaries. It is another outstanding group of missionaries! I loved calling their families to let them know they had arrived safely.
     Tuesday night Ted and I drove to LAX with an Elder who returned to Samoa. Going to LAX every once in awhile certainly helps us appreciate our sweet little Long Beach Airport! Bless our Elder’s heart he had so much luggage the ticket agent at New Zeeland Airlines reminded him that they weren’t in the moving industry. Somehow he reorganized some things and was able to get everything on the plane. Our Elder gave Ted and me some beautiful beaded leis. No doubt his suitcases were full of gifts for his family and friends – the Polynesian people are so generous!
     Thursday we celebrated our wedding anniversary by relaxing in the mission home. Ted has another terrible cold so it was nice to have an excuse for him to miss some interviews and meetings although he still took care of many phone calls and texts (a mission president is always on call!).
     Saturday Ben and I (Ted and Mari were both sick) went to our stake’s Mormon Helping Hands day at the VA Hospital in Long Beach. It’s one of my favorite annual activities here in Southern California. It’s awesome to know that throughout the State thousands of members are contributing many thousands of man hours providing service. It is incredible to see what can be accomplished with so many helping hands. We were able to take care of weeding, raking, sweeping, trimming and planting of the very large grounds at the hospital. It felt good to make a difference. Other stakes in the area participated in similar projects at parks, the Army Base, food banks, etc. Our missionaries all participated wherever they are serving – they give so much service each week but they especially enjoyed working with their ward families.
    Sunday was a great day. My first cousin Kurt and his wife live in our ward but I rarely see them because they serve in the singles ward in our stake. Kurt had to work yesterday so Shauna decided to come to the family ward. It was so much fun to visit with her. It’s hard to believe we live so close but see each other very seldom.
     I really enjoyed the talks in sacrament meeting. One of the high councilors spoke on the restoration of the priesthood and the need for priesthood authority. He gave a great analogy about authority. He said imagine the local ice-cream truck driver’s union decided that people in the area were going too fast and that they should give tickets to drivers who they caught breaking the speed limit. They could print up some tickets and put them in fancy leather covers, they could buy some high quality pens and the next time they saw someone going too fast they could turn on their lights and cheesy music and pull the speeder over. The ice-cream truck driver could then write a ticket and request the driver pay a fine however the driver would not feel any need to pay the ticket since they know that the ice-cream truck driver has no authority. The speaker then related this analogy to priesthood authority, one cannot simply take this authority on themselves, it is God’s power and must come from Him. That is why the restoration of the priesthood through heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith is so vital. Because the priesthood of God is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the ordinances of baptism, confirmation, etc. are done by authority and recognized by God.
     The priesthood blesses our lives in so many ways! Elder Ballard said, “The same priesthood power that created worlds, galaxies, and the universe can and should be part of our lives to succor, strengthen, and bless our families, our friends, and our neighbors—in other words, to do the things that the Savior would do if He were ministering among us today.”
     “And the primary purpose of this priesthood power is to bless, sanctify, and purify us so we can live together with our families in the presence of our heavenly parents, bound by priesthood sealings, participating in the marvelous work of God and Jesus Christ in forever expanding Their light and glory.” What a blessing that this power has been restored to the earth!
     We are looking forward to another very busy week here in the mission and thank you for all of your prayers!

We love each of you,
The Long Beach Buberts