This was a week that the sisters had meals with the members of our stake. But we had some good visits. The week started with a young man who has not attended church for several years. There have been some big problems in his life while he was living in another state, he decided to return home and see if he could get things back on track. Some great home teachers invited him into their home and we had a good visit with him on Monday afternoon. It was interesting to find that the husband in the home had similar addictions many years ago so he knew what this young man was going through. I believe the visit left our younger man with some hope that if he were to stay on course, he could have a good deal of help from the Atonement of our Savior.
Ruth worked with a mother and daughter on Family History on Tuesday morning, then we had a Temple Preparation discussion with our young neighbor couple who are planning on going to the temple July 5th. We are really excited to help them on that pathway.
Wednesday's are District Meetings, the transfers brought to us a new district leader, Elder Vance. We were impressed with his sincerity and his desire to help each of the companionship's reach their potential. We did some preparation for our next Temple discussion and then with Stake Conference coming, Wednesday was designated as a Stake Temple Day in preparation for conference. We felt that the Temple Preparation lessons helped us see a little more clearly the purpose of the endowment session we attended.
Thursday we had a Senior Training meeting. Ruth and I had met with our leaders previously and were asked to give the couples some examples of the messages we leave in the homes where we were invited to have a meal with the families. It was a good meeting. We were happy to learn that in addition to transporting our sister missionaries to the Ogden Temple open house in August and September, we may also be asked to help with some of the open house activities. That would be a very special experience. They expect in five weeks that the open house may attract as many as 500,000 people.
Friday we had an appointment, it was the first one that no one was home at the appointed time, that's disappointing but part of the experience.
Saturday the sisters had a baptism which we attended. The sisters do such a nice job in making sure everything is organized and those who attend feel the spirit of the Lord.
Saturday evening was the first Stake Conference meeting. We were asked to stand and be recognized as full-time missionaries. One of our sisters and a recent convert from our ward were speakers during the session.
At our Sunday session of conference, the Stake President asked us to sit on the stand behind them. Again we were recognized. The stake has conference in two buildings so the meeting is broadcast in close circuit to the other building. Sunday night we were teased a little because as the camera focused on the speaker, we were right in the picture. We were invited to dinner and then were accompanied by a member of the 14th Ward bishopric for a visit. One visit was to a home where we had visited before. However, it seemed that with a member of the bishopric on this visit with us, there was a much more receptive attitude. The visit went well, we had a discussion with one son that just turned eight about baptism. Initially he didn't want to talk about baptism but Sis. Castleton showed him some pictures and got his participation in a plan of salvation discussion. The family was much more willing to talk about spiritual things and at the end, we asked if we could leave with a word of prayer and the non-member father asked if he could give that prayer. Wow, what a wonderful experience! We also visited another family and found out the father was not at home but in California where his mother had just been diagnosed with stomach cancer. We had a nice discussion on family history with the son and mother who were at home.
The Gospel is true! It will bring peace and comfort to all who accept the Savior's invitation, "Come unto me."