June 27, 2015  Saturday P-Day

WORK:  This has been a slow work week for me especially.  I’ve only had 2 sessions.  Neal has had more.  So, I’m trying to retool and figure out what the Lord wants me here to do. 

LANGUAGE:  I’ve had two Spanish classes….that is a dead loss….I am so bad…Neal does better.  He came with me to one of the classes.  A darling young nurse is teaching us.  She is a returned missionary, an Institute Teacher, Secretary of the Stake Young Women, and one of the directors of Youth Conference and Girls’ Camp (71 girls expected).  Those two events are back to back.  She is just darling.  Her name is Katty!    I really get frustrated with Spanish…I taught her the Chicken Dance, the Hokey Pokey, and the Bunny Hop to teach the youth for the conference.  That part was fun….the Spanish,  well, not so much!

SPIRITUAL HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:  As I’ve mentioned before, we escort a busload of missionaries to the temple every Tuesday that they have enough to fill a bus.  A busload is 41.  Right now the missionaries attend the temple once during their 2-week or 6-week stay, (whichever their term is).  Once the temple opens, the missionaries will attend 3 times during their 6-week stay.  They asked us to serve as veil workers (Neal both sides).  When we took our missionaries up Tuesday, they invited us to meet with the temple president, who speaks almost no English.  We had Elder Rojas from the Visitor’s Center go with us to interpret.  President Gonzales set us apart.  It was the most spiritual experience I think I’ve had since we arrived.  It was just very neat.  We will help only the English-speaking missionaries we escort.  The temple is trying to acquire 2,000 temple workers.  They have about 1,400 right now.  The temple opens September 14. 

Thursday, a NEW EXPERIENCE:  I’m looking for things to do and asked if I could help with the welcome orientation for the English-speaking new arrivals.  So, both Neal and

I went over to the building in which this occurs, about 4:30PM.  The missionaries finally arrived between 5:30 and 6PM in a driving, pouring deluge.  It was absolutely unbelievable how much poured down right as the 3 buses were unloading.  We worked (well, we each observed, sitting at one of 4 desks) to interview the missionaries (this was an English-speaking day only) as to their immunizations, their diet, their medical issues, and/or medications.  It was a nice experience.  It is always fun to interact with the missionaries. 

The Process:  We met Mark E. Beecher’s son, so that was funJ  We got through close to 9PM.  The staff meets them at the door, gives them an envelope, with a series of stations and tasks they must complete before they are released to their homes accompanied by

other young missionaries who have been here awhile.  After they get their packets, they rotate through a series of 4 rooms:  computer room where they email their parents that they have arrived, the medical room for interviews and immunizations, an orientation room where they see a power point explanation of the campus:  use of keys, cafeteria, classrooms, maps, etc., then finally they go to a supply room where each is given a nylon kind of backpack filled with Preach My Gospel, Spanish scriptures, the handbook, and other supplies. 

SOLAR SYSTEM reminder:  I thought of Elyse’s desire for a space birthday party yesterday when I sat next to a young adult girl with the solar system tattooed from her

wrist upward to the crook of her elbow. 

A TIDBIT: This is a definite piece of information destined to change your life!  Sister Gill shared with us an experience her aunt had.  They were dining for the first time in the 1940s-1950s…(this is a family legend), at the famous Waldorf Astoria, a very exclusive restaurant.  They had a sumptuous meal and a wonderful cake for dessert.  Her aunt asked for the recipe.  After the meal they were given the bill.  It had $100 added for the recipe.

They were dumbfounded.  $100 at that time was a lot of money.  The aunt went home and shared the recipe with as many people as she could find so that it would be worth the expense.  Sister Gill has the recipe with the bill written on itJ

OH WHAT A RELIEF IT IS:  We have had mosquitoes every night except maybe twice since we arrived, often multiple visitors they are!   The workers have been working on an open trench since we came that goes along the side of our apartment, which has standing water in it.  Then in the middle of last week Neal and I walked around the back of the apartment, and saw that there were (5) open 50 gallon drums right under our window.  On close inspection, we found them just infested with mosquitoes.  There are also open garbage cans across the path next to our place and down the outside hallway from our apartment.  We have rain I think every night.  It starts about 4-5 and goes off an on through the night.  When it rains here, it pulls down big swaths of the palm trees with the wind.  It is 3PM right now, and it is pouring.  It never just dribbles, it really rains.  Then each morning, it is delightful.  The birds are all singing, it is sunny.  Camelot! 

We asked Carlos to please have the 50 gallon barrels  moved on Thursday at our health meeting.  He always gets things done immediately, and had the 5 drums removed, and VOILA!! No mosquitoes at all for 3 nights straight.  YAY!!!   They are still lousy when we walk through them and past the garbage cans, but it is so much better at night. 

When Carlos and Sylvia went on the Trolley Tour yesterday (I stayed in the bus because of all the climbing and steps), she came back with 2 great big welts from bites she got up on top of the hill they all climbed.

RELIEF SOCIETY THIS MORNING:  Sister Call always teaches Relief Society in the auditorium.  Our census is slowly climbing.  We now have about 100 English-speaking sisters.  I try to get there early just to greet the sisters as they arrive.  I really have no responsibilities at all on Sundays other than to pass the mikes around.  Anyway, I was there about 8:40 for the 9:00 meeting.  The auditorium was locked (the buildings here are never locked…it is an open campus), girls were outside waiting.  Sister Call had run to the Reception office for a key.  When we got in, the audio man was not there (on vacation) to run her power point, there were no mikes, no piano light. . . you get the picture.  It is funny because she told me earlier she had had a dream that morning that everything went wrong.  The funny part was everything did go wrong, but all the wrong things were not part of her dream, these were additional.  She always does a wonderful job teaching though and just made do with what she had. 

STORY FOR THE GRANDKIDS:

The Latino counselor in the MTC Presidency visited our small branch today ( we have 19

Missionaries in our branch now, which is quite an increase).  He told the scripture story of the Rich Young Man who could not enter heaven because of his possessions.  He compared that to his own life.  When he was younger, he served as a branch president on this campus (when it was still a boarding school).  He was a physician by profession, and often said, “I am not rich, so this scripture does not apply to me.”  When he was made a bishop, gradually, the area around the MTC, which had been farmland for years and years when the Church bought it, gradually became kind of a slum for poor people.  He said, compared to the humble people living around the campus, he was rich.  He had to rethink who he was.  Then he got a scholarship from the U.S. National Institute of Health, to attend school in Washington D.C..  While there, he attended high priests quorum with millionaires on his left, and on his right, and all around him in the Chevy Chase ward, probably the most wealthy ward in the Church.  He was no longer rich...a poor student on a scholarship with a wife and 4 kids.  He told the story of how their leader said someone was in need of a wheelchair.  He watched as one of the millionaires wrote down, “wheelchair” and placed the card in his pocket.  A week later, he accidentally saw that man bring a wheelchair and leave it unobtrusively in the bishop’s office.  He asked us, “Who is a rich man, who is a poor man.”  We are all rich compared to someone.  The real question and test is if we are willing to give up our possessions, our interests for the Lord to serve others who may be richer than we are in terms of material things.

Then he told the story for the grandkids.  You’ve heard it but it fits perfectly.  There was a monkey who found a bottle with a long neck on it.  Inside the bottle in the bottom were some wonderful treats.  The monkey squeezed and squeezed to get his hand down to the bottom of the bottle, where he could grab the treats.  But woe is me, once he had the treats, he could no longer extricate his hand.  Try as he might, he could not get his hand out of the bottle as long as he grasped the treats. 

We are the same way.  We cannot have the blessings of the gospel as long as he hold onto our possessions, our bad habits, anything that can keep us from enjoying the full gospel of the Lord. 

P-DAY:  Dr. Gill and Nancy have 5 weeks before they return home.  Carlos Zepada oversees the Clinic and many of the operations here.  He lives about 3 hours away from the MTC, and in fact, used to be the principal of the boarding school here for a time.  He works at the MTC during the week and stays here off-campus, and then goes home on the weekends.  He is wonderful to work with.  He and his wife, Sylvia, had promised to take the Gills before they go home to an interesting city near them called Queretaro.  It is known for its historical significance (it is the birthplace of the Mexican Revolution and also has a real Colonial feel to it because of the downtown architecture.)  Since we all go together on P-Days, we were blessed to be included in their visit.   Carlos has done so much for us personally since we have been here:  the piano, mirrors, bookcase, desk, etc. all have been our legacy because of his kindness.  So, we took him one of the huge Costco apple pies to thank him.  He was so surprised, and we think he was really touched.  It was fun to see his face.