Another week has snuck by! They seem to get shorter and shorter. There’s not a lot to write about, but as I often do, I’ll just start writing and see what comes out. Our last Monday preparation day was spent cleaning out the old apartment in Sparks, then organizing the new apartment in West Reno. Not very exciting! The new apartment is much more homey than the old one, but it has little storage space - especially in the kitchen. It also hadn’t enough storage space for all Diane’s office and study supplies. (Those supplies multiply almost magically!!) So, we bought two sets of shelves, two thingies to add another layer in existing shelves and freezer, and a hanging drawer for the fridge. Now we have most things we own in a place. We also upgraded the toaster, the silverware, the knives and the shower curtain. (Aren’t you glad you are reading this blog to find out all this important stuff?!)
Our time during the week is still spent meeting and having brief lessons with members, with service assignments to help fill the mid-day hours. We’d love to spend most of our time working with less-active members and referrals, but that hasn’t quite developed yet. There are fewer than ten less-active members that are willing to meet with us and/or members of the ward, and the referrals are still to come. The ward is so good that we like to think we can generate some work with non-members! We both spoke in church last week (Diane on Example, and me on Overcoming Fear), and we (working with the EQ and Ward Council) are about to roll out a new ward mission plan in the next few weeks. I think most ward mission plans are way too complicated, so ours will be something along the lines of “INVITE OTHERS TO ‘COME AND SEE’ (John 1:39)”, with several responsibilities spelled out for leaders, members. missionaries, ministering brothers and sisters, and ward bulletin editors. We are hoping that by keeping it simple and constantly in front of the ward that people will remember it! We’ll see…
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| You can see the temple on the hill almost anywhere in our area. |
As far as other missionary work, our stake presidency has told us that they would like to have a senior missionary fireside, followed by a senior mission seminar assuming enough interest. We have received quite a few questions from members of our ward about senior missions, so we may have run it up the flagpole to see if there was an appetite. We don’t know what our role will be yet, but more to come…
One of the highlights of this mission location is that it isn’t too far out of the way for drop-by visits from friends and relatives going to or from California, or just coming to see us! Stephanie and her family were here 10 days ago, and my sister Marcy and B-I-L Todd came Thursday and went out to dinner with us. It was really fun talking, and I don’t remember ever before actually being asked (politely) to leave, so they could use the table! Then, we stood outside and talked for another 20 minutes. It was great! It also looks like Angie and her family will come see us in early September, and our friends Dale and Margaret Smith will come see us in later September. We love it!
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| Jesse, Lucas, Hailey |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| One of the Hot August Night cars |
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| Climbing walls in the middle of Reno |
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| Empty Nester FHE |
We are growing to love our mission more and more! We have come to realize that things happen at a slower pace than we full-time missionaries would prefer, but they will come around. Things that are top priorities for us are sometimes just one more thing to fit in for people in the middle of normal life. We try to remember that, and try not to be too annoying bugging them (my companion reminds me). We also have to admit that we are not as young as we once were, and after an hour or two of work, we often need a rest to catch our second wind. We cannot do everything the young missionaries do – they are amazing!! They go and go and go, and we are learning not to be embarrassed when our car is in our parking spot more often than the young missionaries’ car is. We will do what we can do, and we know the Lord will cause it to work for the benefit of our area and ward! We know this is the Lord’s work, and we know He brings it to fruition through the weak, so we should be OK if we keep working at it! We know this is where we should be, and (even when we see our Facebook friends having fun) we are glad to be serving a mission!!
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