Dear Family and Loved Ones,
Wow what a week! This was a week of highs and lows for our mission. We spent the week in zone conferences which are always amazing. The trainings for our conferences were some of my favorite ever. The topics are always the same but each day different zones meet together until we have met with all 10 zones in the mission. Assignments for talks, trainings, prayers, etc. are given to missionaries in whichever zones are meeting that day. It’s amazing how different and how good the presentations are. Some of the topics for the conference were: We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up, sacred studies, The Doctrine of Christ, etc. Ted gave an amazing training on repentance! It really didn’t feel like it was our last zone conferences – we must be in denial.
I was so impressed with the many wonderful missionaries who took care of every aspect of each conference; music, talks, prayers, trainings, etc. These young missionaries are so capable and dedicated to doing the Lord’s work. As always each stake Relief Society fed our missionaries a delicious lunch (except for Tuesday when we provided pizza). Again the variety of meals was impressive, each was different but all were thoroughly enjoyed by our hungry missionaries. One stake served lasagna and green salad, another served delicious sandwiches from a local Italian deli, we had burritos, rice and beans for one of the other conferences. As I said, each menu was different and each was very much appreciated and enjoyed! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful members who willingly serve our missionaries.
Tuesday we received a new Cambodian speaking Elder. He was the first missionary to arrive in Long Beach who we weren’t able to be at the airport to greet. The assistants picked up our new Elder and brought him to our zone conference where we met him for the first time. He seems like another outstanding missionary who will bless many lives in the Park Ward.
Ben and Mari had a lot of testing at school during the week so their schedules were adjusted with either late starts or early outs. It’s really helpful that Ben can drive on those days, especially when we are not available because of our conferences. These tests were to certify that the school is teaching the proper curriculum so they didn’t need to study for the test but it was still a draining week for them. Friday was their last day of early morning seminary – we are all excited to sleep in until 6:00 a.m. for the rest of the school year!
There were some very difficult events in our mission this week. Ted has had many long, long days sorting through the heartbreaking decisions that had to be made because of these serious situations. Friday night as we were feeling very low we saw our ward missionaries parking their bikes and approaching the front door of the mission home. They didn’t have an appointment and we were frankly not in the mood for company but we did our best to welcome them into the mission home. As soon as these two angels sat down the gloom we were feeling lifted and we were reminded of the hundreds of valiant missionaries we have known and loved here in our mission. We can’t let a few who have let us down take away from that. We visited for a few minutes then Elder Eto (from Japan) asked if he could share one of his favorite scriptures with us. He then read D&C 128:22, “Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad.” What a timely message from two humble servants of the Lord who felt prompted to stop at the mission home to share a quick lesson with us. There is no doubt that we are doing the Lord’s work and even when we stumble or others let us down we must pick ourselves up and continue to do all we can to move His work forward.
We love each of you and need your prayers,
The Long Beach Buberts
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