Happy Mother's Day

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

     We are enjoying a mini family reunion here in the mission home so this may be short but we’ve had such an eventful week that I wanted to at least make an attempt to record our activities.

     Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we held specialized training at the mission office. We divided the mission into fourths so we could have smaller groups to teach some important missionary skills. Two of our great sisters taught how to use the area book (an amazing missionary tool that helps missionaries keep track of anyone who they teach or contact as well as maps, ward lists, etc. in their area). The assistants trained the mission on how to effectively use pamphlets and Ted gave some great instructions on having integrity.  The missionaries arrived after lunch so we just gave them a snack half way through the training. Our many new missionaries are doing great and are so amazing!

     Wednesday we received an Elder who had served in Panama but is now reassigned to Long Beach. We had a short orientation with him and a quick lunch then sent him off with his new companions. He seemed excited to get to work.

Friday Scott, Cristy, John and Sam arrived at Long Beach Airport and Saturday night Kelly, Stacey, Pearl and Violet made it to the mission home after a LONG drive and Ian and Shelly came from nearby Rancho Santa Margarita. We have been enjoying one last reunion here in the mission and it has been WONERFUL! When we looked at dates that would possibly work and came up with this weekend I really didn’t realize it was Mother’s Day weekend but as it turned out I gave myself the most awesome gift ever – having our entire family together for the first time since our first Christmas in the mission! So far we’ve been to the beach, to a movie, out to eat, the pier and we are going to top it off with a day at Disneyland tomorrow :)

    We are hoping everything goes smoothly with our missionaries Mother’s Day phone calls. Last year’s calls caused so much homesickness that Ted wanted to cancel the Christmas Day phone calls home. The Christmas phone calls were much better – maybe it’s something about Mother’s Day.

Our sacrament meeting was good today though I think Mother’s Day can bring out so many emotions, there are some who are missing their mothers, others who long to be mothers and many who feel like they are failures as mothers. I love this talk by President Hinckley, I think he really understood what many women feel: “Many of you think you are failures. You feel you cannot do well, that with all of your effort it is not sufficient.”
     “We all feel that way. I feel that way as I speak to you tonight. I long for, I pray for the power and the capacity to lift you, to inspire you, to thank you, to praise you, and to bring a measure of gladness into your hearts.”
     “Now, my dear sisters, that is the way with you. You are doing the best you can, and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do. Then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord. You will discover that you have accomplished something beyond price.”

     “Some of you, unfortunately, will never marry in this life. That turns out to be the case sometimes. If that happens, do not spend your life grieving over it. The world still needs your talents. It needs your contribution. The Church needs your faith. It needs your strong, helping hand. Life is never a failure until we call it such. There are so many who need your helping hands, your loving smile, your tender thoughtfulness. I see so many capable, attractive, wonderful women whom romance has passed by. I do not understand it, but I know that in the plan of the Almighty, the eternal plan which we call God’s plan of happiness, there will be opportunity and reward for all who seek them.”
     “To you young women with small children, yours is a tremendous challenge. So often there is not enough money. You must scrimp and save. You must be wise and careful in your expenditures. You must be strong and bold and brave and march forward with gladness in your eye and love in your heart. How blessed you are, my dear young mothers. You have children who will be yours forever. I hope that you have been sealed in the house of the Lord and that your family will be an everlasting family in the kingdom of our Father.”
     “May you be given strength to carry your heavy load, to meet every obligation, to walk side by side with a good and faithful and caring man, and together with him rear and nurture and bring up your children in righteousness and truth. Nothing else you will ever own, no worldly thing you will ever acquire will be worth so much as the love of your children. God bless you, my dear, dear young mothers.”

     “Now I speak to you single mothers whose burdens are so heavy because you have been abandoned or have been widowed. Yours is a terrible load. Bear it well. Seek the blessings of the Lord. Be grateful for any assistance that may come out of the quorums of the priesthood to help you in your home or with other matters. Pray silently in your closet, and let the tears flow if they must come. But put a smile on your face whenever you are before your children or others.”
     “Now to you dear grandmothers, you older widows, and older lonely women. How beautiful you are. I look upon my dear wife, soon to be 92 years of age. Her hair is white; her frame is stooped.”
     “I take one of her hands in mine and look at it. Once it was so beautiful, the flesh firm and clear. Now it is wrinkled and a little bony and not very strong. But it speaks of love and constancy and faith, of hard work through the years. Her memory is not what it once was. She can remember things that happened half a century ago but may not remember what happened half an hour ago. I am like that, too.”

     "But I am so grateful for her. For 66 years we have walked together, hand in hand, with love and encouragement, with appreciation and respect.”

     “My dear friends of the Relief Society, whatever your circumstances, wherever you may live, may the windows of heaven be opened and blessings come down upon you. May you live with love one for another. May you reach down to lift up those whose burdens are heavy. May you bring light and beauty to the world and particularly into your homes and into the lives of your children.”

    "There are so many wonderful women in my life who have been great examples and wonderful mother figures to me – I am grateful to each one. I’m especially grateful for my angel mother who though she has been gone 23 years continues to influence my life for good everyday! To all of you - Happy Mother’s Day!


We love and appreciate each of you,
The Long Beach Buberts