The mission comes to an end

We were released from our mission by President Snow at 7:15pm. Both of us shared our love of our mission to him. We report to the High Council at 7 am on Sunday.

When we got home I ran across a note I had taken at the MTC. It was from a clip we had watched by Elder Bednar about teaching by the spirit.  I reviewed these notes a couple of times on the mission. The notes say, “ we don’t know when we are doing it ahead of time, we’re prepared and doing what’s right - it happens- follow the good ideas that come to us- don’t talk yourself out of it. As a missionary- say those things that pop into your head during the tours”.

 It did happen that way on the mission and in reverse. Sometimes I forgot to say things I usually included in the tour. As I thought about the tour later, I realized that it wasn't important to the tour. So it works both ways. The Lord is in charge and he uses the missionaries to give the message he wants each person to hear.

I feel that is good advice for life and following the spirit. Often times we must step forward into the dark before we are sure we are taking the correct path. As we look back we realize that we were guided even though we didn’t feel it at the time.

I am grateful for our mission to Cove Fort. It was a special experience to know that you are an extension of Lord’s will. We were in a special bubble for six months, protected from the worldly worries. I know that we were protected. I know the blessing of health that George gave me had an impact on my overall health as well as the health of my eyes. Dr. Mehr was surprised my eye was doing so well and commented that I had been blessed because of my service on the mission. I know the Lord blesses us when we are obedient. I love the Lord.

 President Snow, Sister and Elder Ross

Indigo

My last tour for the day was Indigo and her grandmother. Grandmother introduced herself as a member but that her granddaughter, Indigo, was not. Indigo is 13. Indigo’s mother is inactive and says that it is for Indigo to decide for herself about religion.

We had a great tour. At the Book of Mormon display I asked Indigo if she wanted a Book of Mormon. She already has one so I offered Finding Faith in Christ to be delivered to her. She has read a little of the Book of Mormon. I suggested that she invite one of her LDS friends to be with her as she sees the video so she will have support and be able to discuss her questions with her friend.

 Grandmother was very touched with the sharing toy as well as the fact that Indigo referred herself to the missionaries. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. As we were leaving the Fort I told Indigo that my parents were inactive and that I was baptized at 13. I felt the spirit as I told her how important the church was in my life. I told her to be prayerful about her decision. She and her grandmother gave me a hug before leaving.

An interesting side note. I was sent out to greet a car but I couldn't find it. I noticed a couple walking toward the MPR from the other parking lot. Elder Ross went out to greet them not realizing that it was my car that had gone through to the other parking lot unobserved by any of us. I was then sent out to meet Indigo and her grandmother. This tour was meant for me because she needed to hear my testimony. 

Rawlinsons

For my birthday a friend of mine, Nancy Coon, who is a cousin to Sister Rawlinson sent me a card. Nancy told me that her cousin would be servicing as a missionary at Cove Fort. I had heard the Rawlinson name once before when I was in the Manti Temple. Sherleen Juassi, a temple worker, had approached me and asked if the Rawlinsons had arrived at Cove Fort yet.  A couple of weeks ago Elder Dye asked Elder Ross and me if we would be their mentors. Coincidences? I think not.

A few months ago, I took some pictures of the recorded genealogy written in the back of the old Bible in the women’s room. The names belonged to Elder Rawlinson’s ancestors.

Two Amazing Tours

What a busy day! We went for a walk before going on the swing shift at noon. We were in the MPR 30-45 minutes before were assigned tours. My tour was two women from England. Evidently I was supposed to have this tour. Elder Hale had met them and told him they wanted to eat lunch first. By the time they were ready, he had gone out on a tour so they were assigned to me.

The ladies have been here for a couple of weeks doing sessions in the Oquirrh Temple, and the  St George Temple. They have visited many church sites. The crowning experience for them was attending two sessions of conference. They took pictures of everything in all the rooms. They wanted details in each room as they photographed. It took us nearly one and half hours to complete the tour. It was such fun to exchange information and teach them about the Fort and feel of their spirit and testimonies.

I returned to the MPR and I had to go back out after about five minutes.  I met a car with a couple from Indiana. Wendy greeted me with a hug. They, too, took pictures of everything. They have visited Nauvoo and many other church sites. They are converts, baptized in Mesa in the Alma 5^th ward at age 29 in 1987. They have been unable to have children. Wendy has been very sick for the past four years. She is feeling somewhat better just now. They want to serve a mission in four years when he retires. She feels she may not be here in four years. I forgot to give them the sharing toy as we left the Fort like I normally do. They wanted to see the barn and I remembered the sharing toy while we were there. They loved it, of course.

 I walked them to the car to get an address for their referral card. He spoke with me and told me about her illness while she was talking to the Ences. Elder Ence had given them a carrot from the garden while we were in the Fort and looking out the back door at the garden and the buildings in the back. He gave her a few more carrots to take with them. She had shared with him as she had with me about heart to heart hugs.

Such a spiritual day! Two tours that took about three hours! 

Australia

I went out to greet a big white van and three little kids greeted me and read my badge and one of them said, “That is what we are.” I could tell from their accents that they weren’t from Utah. The father John Rea comes from a family of eleven and parents came from families of over fourteen. And almost all of his family lives on the same street in Brisbane, Australia. Half of their acquaintances are family members.

We started with the video and the six children were so well behaved. They asked lots of questions, especially the two little girls. We took a long time in each room so it was good the Fort wasn’t too busy.

When we arrived in the room of light, I asked about the four sources of light and before anyone could say anything the five year old girl said, “The scriptures.” Wow! Most people get it as the fourth source and most of the time with prompting. I’ve only had a couple of people choose the scriptures as the first source of light. In the prophet’s room, the youngest boy said, “My dad is a bishop. “John said they have been to visit Nauvoo that the Nauvoo Temple is his favorite temple. They were an amazing family. I asked permission to take their picture to post on my blog.

The Reas are in Utah because one of his brothers lives in the town of Benjamin and one of her sisters lives in Salt Lake. They have been here about two weeks.

George's Birthday

George is 72 today. We went on shift at 3:00. The Baileys had prepared a birthday gift for George. They gave him a left handed golf club in a big tube with a golf ball like thing one end and a shoe to couch the club head on the other. Each missionary had written comments on the outside of the tube. They sang to him just as we were coming on shift. I was able to take a couple of pictures and had to leave in the middle of the presentation because I had a tour. He was supposed to go with me but he had to stay to finish reading the instructions for the uses of the tube.

We were waiting for our next tour when Elder Despain came in and said someone wanted to see us who had been to Disneyland. We both remembered the family who had been here about two weeks ago. The family came out of the main video room and we recognized them immediately. Sister Despain had mentioned it was Elder Ross’s birthday when they told her who their tour guides had been when they stopped on their way to Disneyland. We had tried to show them the cabin and/or the video but the sites were all busy after we had toured the Fort. They promised they would return for the rest of the tour. They sang to George. Elder Despain took a picture of us with them. 

We came home and had a piece of birthday cake. There was a plastic flower on the car that played the birthday song over and over. We couldn't get it to stop playing. I broke it trying. 

Solo

We went to Richfield to the Verizon store. My cell phone was not working at all. The store was pretty busy with only one employee to handle the customers. She did her best to work on my cell phone/computer issues and take care of incoming customers.  It was almost 10:30 when a lady came into the store and immediately asked me questions about the couple coming to Cove Fort in October and about the Atwoods. I realized I must have met her when I was in the Manti temple. We started chatting after George left to go sit in the car. He was getting frustrated that the store employee kept waiting on each person who came in instead of focusing on our problem. At 10:50 the clerk said she was making progress but it would be several more minutes. Sherleen Jaussi (my new friend) jumped up and said she would deliver it to me at Cove Fort as soon as it was finished. Surprised, I agreed and we headed to Wendy’s for lunch to eat it on the way to prayer meeting which starts at 11:40. We were a couple of minutes late. Sherleen brought everything to us about 1:00. My phone is working!

Later I found out that Sherleen is the main character written about in the book Solo. I later read the book, by Patricia O’Brian King. It is about Sherleen Jaussi’s adventure when her plane went down outside of Grand Junction.  She was from Price where her husband was a doctor. They both decided to learn to fly to be able to make trips to visit Sherleen’s mother in Idaho. She was taking a three legged flight including Blanding, Price and Grand Junction. This was a requirement for her to have a three stop solo flight to get her license. Her plane lost power and crashed. We learn how she survived until she was rescued.

She now lives in Richfield and she serves in the Manti Temple.