Jan 18 07

January 18, 2007

Today was the reason people go on missions. Maybe you only get a few days like this, but they’re worth waiting for.

Elder Meeks left on Tuesday and we met his replacement today. Itri is training a brand new greenie, Elder Day from Syracuse, Utah. He’s going to be great. This was his first day doing missionary work and the first appointment we had for him was the exorcism that fell through last week. It was just a wild and crazy day from beginning to end and we think he was a bit overwhelmed by the time they went home. They didn’t stay overnight because Itri has to go to Phoenix for a meeting for trainers tomorrow.

Anyway, although the Gooday family declined having the evil spirits rousted (they said they were praying and reading scriptures and the demon seems to be keeping a respectable distance at the moment), Itri and Day were able to talk to the mother about the gospel while Robert did some good marriage counseling. Last week the wife, Lyviah, who is all of 17, had moved out because the hubby, Davis, is an abusive meth user. This week they’re back together. He admitted to using meth and we have another appointment with them next week. I didn’t go to this meeting, since someone had to cook for the Elders and prepare Primary for Sunday.

After this family the Elders went their separate way and I went with Robert. We went to visit Serafina, but someone else answered the door and said she was in the shower. We seem to time visits frequently when people are showering. Robert says these are either the cleanest people on the planet or we’re getting ditched.

Janet lives across the street from Serafina and we’ve been by several times but have not felt like visiting since she informed us she’s staying loyal to Assembly of God. But today when we left Serafina’s we both said, “Let’s stop and see Janet.” She told us they had no food and wished she just had some flour to make bread. We have extra flour so went and got a bag and took it over to her. We told her we were prompted to stop and that her Heavenly Father is looking out for her. She said her husband had asked why we suddenly stopped in and now she knew.

Then went to see Murphy for just a few minutes because it’s Keegan Bonito’s birthday today and we had promised him we’d come watch him play basketball. His team got trounced but it was fun watching him. Robert says he looks like a bowling ball with legs out there. He’s short and stout and has the cutest run ever. But cute doesn’t win a lot of basketball games.

Left there at 6:00 and came home to finish dinner. Last week when we were at Basha’s we wanted a pork roast. There’s a guy there who works in the meat department who loves to tell the story of shaking President Kimball’s hand when he was here to dedicate the Mesa Temple. The man isn’t a member but he’s very friendly. Robert asked him if he had any pork roast and he said, “Wait up!” which is what everyone says around here. Then he went and cut a roast. It was big enough for 10 people and it’s a good thing. We decided to cook it for the Elders, then Elder Meeks called. His mother and brother had come to pick him up and they ended up in Cibecue about the time we were ready to eat. So we had 7 of us crowded around our little table and plenty of food for all. It’s just amazing how often these little things just happen to work out. We loved seeing Meeks in his jeans, although we think technically he should still have been in missionary attire, but we chose not to share that little thought. We had a great time with them.

They left at 7:00 and we had another appointment at 8:00, this time with Dion and Verbena. Have we said before that Dion is a returned missionary? He and Verbena want to go to the temple and have their baby sealed to them. So we went to give the first Temple Class but really spent the 2 hours we were there doing grief counseling. Their hearts are broken over losing their baby and they needed to talk. Many tears were shed and we hope they felt the Lord’s spirit there as we did. It took 20 minutes to leave after we stood up to go and we drove off with Verbena hanging out the door waving goodbye. We love this little couple and hope they continue with their plans for the temple.

Home at 10:00 to a sink full of dirty dishes. Once again we find that angels do not do dishes while we’re out doing our missionary work. Neither do Elders.