Last Sunday we visited a ward sacrament meeting where two sisters reported on  their mission experiences. There is great strength added to these wards when these missionaries return to their homes full of enthusiasm for the gospel and willing to share their experiences and testimonies with others.

 We have continued visiting with some of the widows in the area. Each one of them has a story to tell and they are so happy that someone is willing to listen to their story. They are obviously lonely and have usually asked why we are visiting them. We tell them that the Lord loves them and  ward members love them and want them to feel that love, we have the opportunity to deliver that love, for which we are grateful. We always leave a short message with them and leave with a prayer.
  We have tried to enjoy preparation days by doing something fun during the day. We usually have some missionary things mixed into the day but we are learning how to take some needed time and do something other than work all day.
  Tuesday night we had a short visit with our Stake President. He had forgotten about a returning missionary so we rescheduled our visit after a brief meeting. The missionary returning was from our home ward. He is a young man who stayed active in spite of the fact that his parents were not actively attending. He was promised as he left that if he did his work, his family would return to activity. Many people have encouraged the family during his absence, he served honorably and the week before his return his father accepted a call in young men's and his mother accepted a calling as well. I'm sure now that he is home his little brother will be active.
  We had some random visits and did some service that is part of our work.
  We had a great Zone conference on Wednesday. Our president and his wife participate but a lot of the teaching is done by the assistants. Those assistants really do a good job. We talked a lot about establishing the Church in the lives of people coming into the Church by encouraging them to study the scriptures, pray,  have family home evening and scripture study, do family history and attend the temple. The blessings are available to all of us but most important in establishing the Gospel in the homes of new converts. It is always special when the wards feed the missionaries at the zone conferences. Most of the time those who serve are parents or family members of current or recently returned missionaries. They are so kind to the missionaries because they trust that their own missionaries are receiving the same kind of love and attention in their missionary service.
The Gospel is true and we want to be effective in sharing it with all those around us!