A Letter From Dad January 14, 2018

Dear Family,

We have almost completed our first week back in the mission field on our little island.  When we drove up to our apartment it seemed like coming home.  I told Sister DeMille it is like we have two homes, one here and one in Utah.   As we have seen the members and particularly after church today, it is home not only because we are back in our apartment, but we are back with people we love and care about.   At the same time we have left the people we love and care about most, our children and grandchildren.    At the conclusion of sacrament meeting today we were asked to bear out testimonies.  Kristy, Sister DeMille now, said it best in her testimony.   Someday we, the saints and our family will all be together in one place in one harmonious joyous place, heaven, and it will be our home.   We won't be split by geography, we will all be together.   There won't be a Richfield Utah and a St. Croix.   We will all be together.   I thought that what a good way to think of it.   

Our mission presidents, President and Sister Smart, came to the island to welcome us back, since we did not go to Puerto Rico.   They requested that we be able to fly directly here to avoid another plane transfer and a longer length of travel.   We really appreciated that and I was glad not to have stopped in Puerto Rico.   So they made a special trip here to welcome us and give us a new direction for our mission.   Instead of being just proselyting missionaries we were charged with helping to rebuild the Branch and to restore the faith of the saints in the church.  They flew in Friday and spent Saturday and Sunday with us.  We had a delightful time and grew in appreciation for the trials that they have endured.   We shocked to hear that they still do not have power at their home.   They have a total house generator though.   We learned more about the difficulty of taking care of the missionaries during and after the hurricane.   Their home lost its protection membrane on the roof and the house filled with water.   The sisters were wall to wall and the sisters who were not fortunate enough to be in one of the bunk beds slept on the hard tile floor, in water.   President said the sisters were wall to wall in their bedroom as well.   There were many more experiences that they shared with us.  It was very theraputic for them and us to talk about our experiences.   

They have 14 Elders back.   They found that the Elders had bottled up their experience and they really needed to be able to talk about it.   They said one of the first meetings they had they just let them talk about their experience and they talked for hours.  They said when they went to the states to other missions they had to just hold it in, their companions did not want to hear any more about it.   There have been a couple of Elders that did go home a while after coming back to Puerto Rico.   They did not realize how traumatized they had been and how hard it was for some of them to come back.   But the good news is that the work in going crazy.  There are already 6 Baptisms lined up.  They have received more member referrals in the short time they have been back than all the time in their mission.  They are busy teaching. 

The mission is taking a little different approach and emphasis.  It is to build back the branches, and increase spirituality by reading and teaching the BOM.  The emphasis is not on numbers it is on people.   There is a great feeling of love from President and Sister Smart for the missionaries and for the members and the work.   I love it.   The baptisms will come and members will be activated if they are willing.   And it will all be on the Lords time and as people exercise their free agency to act upon the promptings of the spirit.   

We set up some appointments for visits by the President and Sister Smart with members which we feel were inspired and we accomplished some good.

Church today was amazing.   There were way more people there than we anticipated.   It was more than the branch anticipated as well.   We discovered there had been so few at church that they were only using one bread tray and one water tray.   Well guess what, they ran out of the water and had to do more.   We are so excited, members are already coming back.  It is such a blessing.  

We sought out John Paris, our long-time investigator, the third day we were here.  He and we were so excited to see each other.   He said I will be to Church Sunday, we didn't even have to ask, and he was there 15 minutes early.  He was wearing a white shirt and tie.  He may be coming for the wrong reason, (because of the missionaries), but we are hopeful and we won't give up.  

We love you all so much and are so grateful that you have the blessings of the gospel and of the temple.   The temple elevates us to a higher level of protection and to celestial living.   We truly become the sons and daughters of God and through the blessings received there, our families enjoy a portion of the celestial kingdom on this earth.  

We are so grateful for all of our blessings.   It is a blessing to us to be able to come back and we thank you for your support and love and for all you do for us while we are away.

We feel that all of our family is being blessed in ways we don't even know yet.   

Thanks 

Mom and Dad

PS   Mom will send you a much better version of our first week.   As you all know she is a great writer and composer.   My attempts are just that attempts and it still takes me twice as long to write and correct something.