Men and Women of Integrity

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

     This was a very busy week and there will be no slowing down between now and the end of June. Monday night was our departure dinner, Tuesday twenty-seven new missionaries arrived, that night  Mari had a dance show at the High School, we enjoyed visits from Shelly and the Sextons and we had Stake Conference in Cypress Stake this weekend.

     Our departure dinner was really nice. There were ten Elders who finished their mission which is a perfect size for not feeling too overwhelmed and for having plenty of time for testimonies. The Elders who were going home were some of our extra special missionaries, they worked hard and were obedient. They returned to Utah, Kansas, Oregon, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Wyoming, Idaho and New Zealand. I could imagine their happy reunions and told them to remember that feeling because that’s what it will feel like to return home to Heavenly Father but even more amazing. It was very weird to think that it was our “funeral” dinner as well!

     Tuesday we welcomed twenty-seven missionaries to our mission – twelve are Sisters :) They are very excited to be in Long Beach. Many of the missionaries mentioned they could immediately feel nice humid air when they got off the airplane. Those from humid areas said they were glad to be out of the dry climate of Utah. Long Beach weather really is nearly perfect! Orientation went well and after serving our new missionaries Costco pizza for lunch they were matched up with their trainers and sent out to work. Ted interviewed some of the new missionaries Tuesday and the rest on   Wednesday. While they were waiting for their interviews they were trained by Elder Barlow (Senior missionary over cars and houses). Everyone seems to be settling in very quickly although we have already had a Sister fall from her bike and fracture her wrist and an Elder had to go home to take care of some personal issues.

     Tuesday night Mari had a dance show at the High School. She did a great job and it was fun having once last chance to see her perform. The extracurricular activities at the High School here are exceptional.

     Wednesday night Ted went out to Huntington Beach where he gathered a few zones of missionaries to talk with them about integrity. We are hoping to reinforce the importance of keeping the mission rules, especially the one regarding being responsible for your companion by always staying together. The next day he started interviews with the missionaries from the zones he gathered the night before. It is a great way to make sure that everyone gets the information and the individual attention they all need. He’ll continue with this pattern until he has spoken to and interviewed the entire mission of 233 missionaries.

     Thursday we had wonderful time visiting with Shelly! We did some errands together then met Ian in Huntington Beach for dinner at Sanchos which was delicious and fun :)

     Friday night President and Sister Sexton stopped by the mission home for a visit. The Sextons preceded us here in Long Beach. President Sexton works at BYUI and he had an assignment here in Southern California so they took a little tour of their old mission. It was really good to learn more about their experience, we had such a short time together when we arrived in Long Beach and to hear about many of our missionaries who have returned home.

     We enjoyed Stake Conference in Cypress today. The theme of the conference was member missionary work (yeah!) and it was awesome. The stake presidency has just been in for six months but they are doing a great job. President Mackay was the last speaker. He invited his son and his son’s girlfriend, Carina, to join him on the stand while he asked them a few questions about Carina’s conversion. When President Mackay’s son started dating Carina President Mackay asked her, “Has my son told you about his standards”? When she answered that he had not he asked his son to invite her to have the missionary lessons in their home. Carina accepted the invitation to learn because as she said, “I wanted him to quit bugging me about it.” Carina quickly felt the Spirit and knew that the Church was true. She has been a member for nine months, recently received her Young Women’s medallion, will be attending BYUI this fall and is planning on serving a mission when she turns nineteen – all because she was invited to listen to the missionary lessons. It was very emotional to see a beautiful young lady whose life has been completely altered by accepting the Gospel.

     After conference today we had President and Sister Devereaux over for lunch. We grilled chicken and had fried rice, strawberry salad and Marie Calendar pies :) President Devereaux has been Ted’s one and only counselor these past three years. We tease him and tell him that since he does the work of two there isn’t a need for a second counselor. Ted has always been on the lookout for another counselor but didn’t ever feel inspired to call anyone else. We enjoyed our visit and it was good to be able to thank the Devereauxs for their warm welcome when we first arrived in the mission and for all of their service to our missionaries.

     This is a portion of a talk on integrity by Elder Tad Callister that Ted has been sharing with our missionaries before their interviews. “Today I would like to speak about becoming men and women of integrity. It is this attribute that often defines the greatness of a man or a woman.”

     “What then is this integrity that is such a dominating force in determining greatness? Integrity is a purity of mind and heart that knows no deception, no excuses, no rationalization, nor any coloring of the facts. It is an absolute honesty with one’s self, with God, and with our fellowman. Even if God blinked or looked the other way for a moment, it would be choosing the right—not merely because God desires it but because our character demands it.”

     “Integrity is the very core of our being. It is who we really are. When all the scaffolding is removed, it is our integrity that both defines us and identifies us. Men of integrity are like the Rock of Gibraltar—steadfast and immovable. Men without it are like the shifting sands on the Sahara Desert—tossed to and fro by every variant wind of life.”

     “Integrity is the foundation upon which character and a Christlike life are built. If there are cracks in that foundation, then it will not support the weight of other Christlike attributes that must be built upon it. How can we be humble if we lack the integrity to acknowledge our own weaknesses? How can we develop charity for others if we are not totally honest in our dealings with them? How can we repent and be clean if we only partially disclose the truth to our bishop? At the root of every virtue is integrity.”

     “Integrity is not doing just that which is legal but that which is moral or Christlike. It may be legal to have premarital relationships, it may be legal to commit adultery, it may be legal to gossip, but none of those actions is moral or Christlike. Integrity is not just adherence to the legal code; it is adherence to the higher moral code. It is as Abraham Lincoln suggested—living in accord with ‘the better angels of our nature’.”

      “If someone only changes his behavior while a missionary, then, when he goes home, he will be the very same person he was when he left, subject to the same problems that plagued him before. But if someone changes his nature, he will go home a new man, with the power and discipline to conquer his old Goliaths. With the Lord’s help we can transform our natures.”

     “King Benjamin told us how we might change our natures from a natural man to a spiritual man: ‘For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father’.”

     “Changing our natures, not just our behaviors, is facilitated by an eternal perspective that we are the children of God, that we do have His spark of divinity within us, and that through the Atonement we can become like Him—the perfect model of integrity.”



We love and appreciate each of you and ask for your continued prayers – we need them now more than ever!

The Long Beach Buberts