The Fruits of our Labours

30 July 2017

Dear Family and Friends -

Costumes almost ready!

We hope all have had a wonderful week, and those who celebrated Pioneer Day had a wonderful holiday! We didn’t do anything to celebrate here, but it is easy when your mindset is the Pageant, all about the early missionaries travelling to Great Britain, converting many, and the converts immigrating to the USA, to reflect upon our pioneer ancestors and all they did for us. I am grateful for my own pioneer ancestors who accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this country and were brave enough to leave their homeland and travel to America.

Happy 9th Birthday to Nathan and Alexa, our twins this week! Although they live in Texas, we have managed to spend nearly every birthday with them, and we will surely miss being with them on Friday, 4 August. We love them more than grandparents can express in a letter. They are our miracles from heaven, and we thank Heavenly Father daily for them and all the grandchildren. Such a blessing!

We find ourselves at the end of another week, and it was a BIG one! Ten hour days at the office several days this week, but we are down to the final preparation before going back up to Chorley tomorrow for two weeks. We are so excited that it is finally here and look forward to spending time with everyone involved. There is a great spirit on the grounds of the temple there. We have made so many new friends and love seeing them and being with them. The fruits of our labors are coming, as some of the human interest stories we sent to newspapers weeks ago are now being printed, and I am getting at least one phone call or email a day from a TV or radio station wanting an interview from a cast member. We feel very fortunate and blessed! I have attached one story that I particularly love, because eleven-year-old Madison is such a fighter, and I have loved getting to know her and her family as I interviewed them for the article. (Just a note . . .the article was NOT written by Stephanie Bateman )

One bit of exciting news is that we got a new car! The Area Office is now purchasing a larger Hyundai for our mission, and the mission president has designated the larger cars to senior couples, and the zone leaders/trainers will be assigned the smaller ones. When Ron went to pick it up, he came back with the biggest grin on his face and exclaimed, "I'm in love!" In his words, "Where the other car was powered by three squirrels, this one actually has an engine!" I think he is most excited about is the cruise control, although the built-in navigation system and the back-up camera are sweet too. And the seats are so much more comfortable with a little padding! Don't get me wrong, we were very grateful for our other car. We know of many friends who serve missions in foreign countries without a car. The new one is nice, and we are ever so grateful!

The mission president changed some of the Districts in our mission with the last transfer, so now we have another companionship of sister missionaries who live in Birmingham. We met them Thursday, Sister Smith from Adelaide, Australia, and Sister Olson from West Valley City, UT. We also met our new District Leader, replacing Elder Mordue, Elder Holbrook from Park City. Now we have six missionaries to play parents to, and we couldn't be happier.

L to R: Sister Smith, Sister Olson, Elder Boehning, Elder Holbrook, Sister Woods, Sister Bessendorfer

Thursday night we picked up our intern, Amanda, from the airport. Amanda is from BYU and has been interning in Frankfurt at the Area Office and also helping us with Pageant long distance. Now, she is ours to take to the Pageant. She and Ron will work on social media among other things. She made it safely to us, but her suitcase did not. So instead of taking her to her previously arranged place to stay, she came home with us and spent the night so we could supply her with what she needed until her bag came. Again, another chance to play parents, which we loved.

So to get ready to leave tomorrow, you know me, and how I plan each day waaaay ahead, so nothing is procrastinated or forgotten. Last week we had every minute of yesterday planned, our last day to get ready to be gone for two weeks. Then a wrench was thrown in, and the missionaries told us there were two separate baptisms AND a wedding on Saturday! Of course we wanted to support the missionaries, and the new members, so we prayed we could accomplish everything we needed to yesterday and went to the first baptism.

I've told you about our Bishop before. He is a 300+ lb. former rugby player from Samoa who looks like you wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley, but he is the softest teddy bear you've ever seen. He gave closing remarks at the baptism, and his testimony was directed to the non-member family of Grace, the newly baptized member. It was more than my heart could contain. It was so emotional, so powerful, the spirit was so strong . . . so tangible. He is such a spiritual giant. I just love him. He is new in the area of leadership in the church, as many here are, and sometimes lacks in his own confidence. He relies on Ron a lot for answers to his questions and “how do they do this in Utah?” But yesterday in particular, I was so thankful we made the time to go to the baptisms. What Bishop Fakatou lacks in experience he makes up for in testimony and spirit. And you know what? We accomplished everything we needed to, attended the second baptism and had time to spare . . . a blessing and a tender mercy.

After church today, Bishop Fakatou called us in his office and gave us a new assignment to be done AFTER our Public Affairs assignments, and AFTER our church callings. He asked us to be “parents” to the YSA’s in our ward and re-activate many of them. (Just a small assignment ) And, he also asked us to Home Teach three families that need some extra spiritual attention. I guess we weren’t looking busy enough or stressed enough! No, not really. We are thrilled for the opportunity for more parenting and look forward to working with the great YSA’s in the Solihull area. (Rex and Natalie – we need to chat!)

Elder Mordue’s family from Farmington came to pick Elder Mordue up from his mission. We had met them over FACETIME when the Elders were here on Mother’s Day, but it was so fun to meet them in person and let them know what a great missionary their son was. We said our final good-byes to Elder Mordue at the second baptism. I may have shed a few tears . . . those good-byes are hard, as these young men and women become part of your family here. A piece of my heart will go home with him.

Between the extra prayers that have been said and the feeling of working hard and being prepared, as long as the days have been these past weeks we have had the energy and stamina to accomplish all that needed to be accomplished before leaving. I can feel the Lord's hand in all of this. I ask once again for your continued prayers during our time at the Pageant, as we will have very very long days. One day, several of the Church Leaders from Salt Lake and Europe will be here, including Elder Ballard as well as our Area Director from Europe, so it will be particularly stressful as we execute every detail. We will surely need your prayers then! And since I can't say which day just yet, please just keep the prayers coming every day!

We are especially excited that Ron’s parents will be joining us at the Pageant for the last two days, then coming home with us for a few days before getting on a cruise ship. We are looking forward to their visit so much!

My heart is full today of love and emotion for my many many blessings. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We will be posting Pageant pictures on social media, so please watch and share this week! May you have a choice week also and are blessed with the things you need and pray for.

With much love,
Ron and Marie

From my friend serving as Mission Pres in Fukuoka today:

I thought you might like to hear about another aspect of my responsibilities - the "medical calls" I deal with on a daily basis. We address many ailments and sicknesses, especially 10 days before transfers when they start worrying about what the future will bring. Missions are hard in every way, Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually and very stressful, so their immune systems are weakened and they easily catch colds, have lots of stomach and head aches, ingrown toenails, mystery viruses, aches and pains, some even serious problems in emotional and physical health. But thankfully with the help of our Area Doctor and Mental Health Advisors and the Lord, for the most part we're able to keep them going and strong enough to do their work.

Last week I got a call from a sister who was feeling dizzy, had headaches and stomach ache and just didn't feel well. After I get all the symptoms down, then I start my questions, "When did it start? What if anything have you taken for it? "Are you hydrated?" her reply, "yes, I'm drinking lots". (Then the Million $ question) "What color is your output?" (if you are hydrated it will be clear) her reply after some thought, "yellow and white" In my mind I reconciled/rationalaized her answer and then asked, "what about Yesterday?" her reply after more thought "yellow and brown" "Really I said, yellow and brown?" "Yes!" again I asked, "Your output was brown" She started to get flustered and finally I said, "your urine was really brown?" Then she was confused and said, "my what?" "your urine, your output!" long pause…. "Oh, I thought you asked me what color my OUTFIT was?" All in a days work!