Message—6 June 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
Our hearts are very saddened today to learn of the death of our special friend and brother, Dennis Wright. Dennis and his wife Marcia and their family have been our good friends and neighbors for all the years we have lived in Provo. We have done many things together through the years, including raising our children together; with many of them being similar ages and in the same classes in school and at church. We do not know of anyone who is more kind and considerate of others and who have quietly done so many kind things to help others. We have never heard Marcia say anything negative about another person. We could go on for many pages about this great man and how much he means to us. We express our deep love and appreciation for Dennis and pray for the comforting love of the Savior in behalf of Marcia and all the children and their families. We know it will be difficult for Marcia and the rest of the family to carry on without Dennis; they have done everything together throughout their entire married lives. We would very much like to be there to offer our love and sympathy and comfort in person; but we cannot do that; so our expression through these words is the best we can do for now. We will pray for all of the family through the coming weeks and months for you to be comforted and sustained and blessed in every way possible. Perhaps the Lord will allow Dennis to drop in on us while we serve here and be a missionary in some way here in this mission like he was on his mission as a young man. We will love you forever Dennis and we hope to be worthy to see you in the next life.
Last week we had a busy schedule to take care of several apartment problems and issues. An apartment in Newark in which some Sister missionaries live has had some strange things happen in the last week or so. We went to the apartment to find out what was going on and solve the problems. President Christianson asked us to go and use the priesthood to make it safe for the sisters to continue living there. We had the Assistants to the President (AP’s) meet us there so there were three Melchizedek Priesthood holders there. The Holy Spirit was not felt by any of us when we arrived there; in fact we felt the influence of Satan there. Since neither of the AP’s had done this before Elder Jensen was voice. As we proceeded with the prayer the Spirit directed me in what to do and say; at the conclusion of the prayer; the bad feelings left and the Holy Ghost came in to the apartment. Two days later on Thursday, we went back to Newark to try and find a different apartment for the Sisters to live in. Once again the Spirit directed us and the Sister Missionaries and we found a new apartment in a different part of the town which had the right feeling of the Holy Spirit in it. The Spirit directed us and also the owner. The owner was still in the process of advertising the apartment was available to rent; this was intercepted by divine sources and the Sisters found it and called us and we went to the apartment and we were able to make connections with the owner and her maintenance man, Walter, and they agreed to let the Church rent the apartment. The owner also included for free, a very nice 5 piece corner couch which includes a pull out double bed. The Lord loves his Sister missionaries and takes good care of them. We have made arrangements to get the Sisters moved into the new apartment this week.
One of the Newark Sister Missionaries is Sister Tuitavake who is Tongan; she is completing her mission today and will fly home to Longbeach CA tomorrow morning. Sister Tuitavake and her companions, Sister Lowe and Sister Holm organized a Luau last Saturday evening. With the help of ward members and other missionaries they had advertised it well. The food was free and they had also organized a program. We attended it and it was very well done. The program included several Pacific Islands dances done by ward members, both young and old people. Each dance was introduced by having Sister Lowe and Sister Holm read two complimentary scriptures, one form the Bible and one from the Book of Mormon that was related to the dance. The message being that the Bible and the Book of Mormon witness of each other’s truths. It was really well done and the Cultural Hall was full of people, some were not members. One of the people in the audience was the man we told you about a few weeks ago who had been released from jail and was fully released from any legal requirements. While in jail he had read the Book of Mormon twice and some other church publications as well. When the missionaries taught him he already knew about each lesson and the commandments he needed to keep. Earlier in the day on Saturday he had been baptized.
Happy birthday to the following family members; Jana on June 3rd, Shalee on June 5th, Brandon on June 13th, Bailey on June 20th, and Robyn and Braxton on June 28th. We hope you each had or have a great day on your birthday.
We love and miss you and appreciate your prayers, thoughts, and letters or emails. Heavenly Father lives, Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon is true and can change lives, President Monson is the prophet; we testify these things are true.
Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine
Those are neat experiences. I love you!
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