How was everyone's week? We saw pictures of birthday tea parties and tough guy Moab bike riders. We saw pictures of new puppies and championship baseball games.It seems it is a busy time for all of you. Hope you are all well and hanging on!
We had a good week. On Monday for Memorial day, the Relief Society president wanted to have a soup luncheon. She invited everyone so it turned out to be a branch party. Everyone brought a HOT pot of soup which we sat outside and ate in the HOT and humid heat. Their parties are never short and they really enjoy getting together. So fun to be with them.
I may have told some already, but my hair is becoming famous in the branch. At the soup luncheon, it was so hot that I'm sure my face was really red. While we were sitting around a few sisters asked me if I were ok. I replied I was fine, just hot. Sister Hosier said, "Well, we can tell you are hot. The hotter it gets the higher your hair goes!" And then they all started laughing their big booming Caribbean laughs. We all laughed so hard I thought we would have to lay down on the patio with the gongolo worms and die. It was so funny. I told them my hair was the new thermostat for the branch and then we had another round of laughter. They are so fun. I love them.
Today in Sunday school Marcel taught his first lesson. It is fun to see how far he has progressed from when we first met him. He did such a great job. Our class meets outside under the porch at the church. The lesson was on faith in Jesus Christ. He talked about how faith is like the wind. We can't see it, but we can see the effects of it. "For example," he said, "I am looking at Sister DeMille. I can't see the wind, but I can see it moving her hair this way and then that way." So glad that I can be useful to the branch in ways I never dreamed of.
Thursday we flew to Puerto Rico for a combination zone conference. We met with a local zone there and had a zone conference with them. It was fun for me to see the elders and sisters teaching each other. I thought of many of you who had been zone or AP leaders and had done this same thing. I wish I could have written home to all their mothers what great missionaries they are!
After the lunch, the mission president and his wife taught us. Pres. Boucher had asked us all to prepare 3 minute talk on repentance. Since a lot of the conference was in Spanish, dad and I felt like we were safe from having to give ours. But before the pres. gave his talk, he called on an elder and two sisters to give their talks. They couldn't pronounce my name so I didn't realize it was me until Pres. pointed at me. So I gave my little talk. Couldn't believe it would make me so nervous! It was a good experience for me to be in a zone conference with missionaries. I really enjoyed being part of that part of a mission.
We got home last night. The humidity hit us hard as we stepped off the plane. Puerto Rico isn't nearly as humid as here. I think we are in for a very hot summer.
This week we have a funeral for an older member whose children are not members. We hope it will be a good teaching moment. It makes us nervous trying to make it be a good experience for them and that they will feel the spirit of why their mom joined the church in her later years. It is a little tricky to have it be an LDS funeral and also to have parts from their religions so they feel like they contributed to it. Wish us luck.
I will end with something I learned this week. In 1 Nephi 18:20, it talks about how Laman and Lemuel tied up Nephi on the ship as they were crossing the ocean to the promised land. A huge storm arose and they all became fearful of perishing. "And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me." This kind of repentance is from fear. Sometimes we fear God, sometimes we fear what our friends or family may think. We repent out of fear. This kind of repentance doesn't usually produce long lasting results.
Compare this to Alma 22:18. King Lamoni is taught by Aaron. He says, "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou are God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."
How much deeper and more effective is repentance with Jesus Christ at the center of our repentance. Our faith in Christ and our love for Him lead us to repent or to change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with His will. We repent because we LOVE Him.
Elder Holland said, "REPENT is perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary." I want you to know I feel the need to repent of many things but specifically of the mistakes I made in raising our family. I need to repent because I love the Savior and I want to be like Him and with Him some day. I want all of you to be there with us.
I have learned better on this mission that repenting is not a fearful thing, but such a loving, hope-filled daily opportunity given to us by our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I want to repent because I love them.
AND I love all of you. We love you grandchildren. Please hang on as tight to the iron rod as you can. Cling to it tightly with both arms as securely as you can. We don't want any of you to fall off! Be honest, Be obedient, be modest, be faithful.
Hope your week is good. Sorry this is a bit long.
Love you all, Dad and Mom
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