Message 19 August 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Four days of this past week we had zone conferences in the mission from 9 am to 4pm.  We have four zones: Buffalo, Rochester, Palmyra North, and Palmyra South.  Each conference was held in a chapel within the zone: Buffalo was in the Amherst chapel which is where the stake center is, Rochester was in the Chapel on Westfall Rd. which is where the stake center is, Palmyra North was in the Palmyra Stake Center on Temple Rd. across the road from the Palmyra Temple, and the Palmyra South was in the chapel in Canandaigua.  Three of the chapel buildings are within a half hour drive from where we live in Mendon; the chapel in Amherst is a one hour drive from Mendon.  We had to arrive a half hour early for each conference so we were there as the missionaries arrived with their vehicles so we could get the vehicle parked where we wanted it to be and also get some information from the missionaries about their vehicles.  We were blessed to have good help from Sister Jensen, Elder Servoss, and Elder Ellis with inspecting the vehicles so I had information to update the computer record for each vehicle.  Sister Jensen and I worked together to do half of the vehicles and Elder Servoss and Elder Ellis worked together to do the other half of the vehicles.  This took us about an hour and a half to two hours; then we went in to the conference meeting and listened to the instruction from the AP’s and the President and Sister Christianson.  Sister Jensen took care of setting out the water and treats for the morning and afternoon breaks, and cleaning up afterwards; she usually had help from someone else.  After the break in the afternoon we returned to the mission office for the rest of the afternoon.  The zone conferences were held on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  On Monday and Thursday we spent the day in the mission office as we normally do.

The instruction provided was mostly on improving our planning and goal setting skills and then being obedient so the Spirit could direct us in our work.  President also stressed teaching from the scriptures, following the Preach My Gospel manual, and teaching and testifying by the Spirit.  The President used part of a recording of some training given to the mission presidents in the June 2011 mission president seminar.  He used the segment of the training in which Elder Holland shared how his first companion who trained him on his mission helped him learn how to be a faithful and effective missionary.  He also used some principles from some instruction given by Elder Bednar in his 2011 Christmas Day devotional at the MTC in Provo.  Elder Bednar taught about developing Christ like attributes and following the example of the Savior to spend our efforts in serving others and forget about ourselves.  Everything the Savior did in his mortal ministry was to bless the lives of others, he did not spend time worrying about himself or what he did or did not have.  By inviting others to receive the gospel and helping them to do so the Spirit can guide us to do what the Savior would do if he were here himself; which He is, through the power of the Spirit.  What a special love and association the Savior and the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father have with each other; we can be part of that relationship if we are exactly obedient and work for them and with them.

Wednesday evening we taught the GVB Institute lesson at the GVB meeting place in a building on Culver Rd. in Rochester.  The Regional Institute Directors office in in this same building; the director is Brother Don Gammon.  The GVB is a YSA Branch with about 120 members and about 80 of them attend Sunday meetings regularly; the number who attend Institute is about 8 to 20.  We are teaching this institute for Brother Gammon while he is doing some training of Seminary teachers who will begin teaching this next month in September.  The lesson we taught was on Moroni chapter 7.  This next week we will teach Moroni chapter 8 and 9; then the following week we will teach Moroni chapter 10.  Then in Spetember Brother Gammon will resume teaching the GVB Institute class.  In September on the 20^th, we will be teaching Institute in the Geneseo ward if we can find enough YSA to attend.  There is a NY State college in Geneseo, so there are usually some YSA’s who are LDS who attend the college.  We hope some of them will have schedules which will allow them to attend institute.

Today our Sunday meetings were all very good with good speakers in Sacrament meeting and our other meetings were also good.  The person who was to teach the Gospel Principles lesson did not come today so I ended up teaching that lesson; I had pre-warned that the person may not show up, so I was somewhat prepared.  The lesson was about the life of Christ and His atonement and resurrection and His perfect example for us.  Then in Priesthood it was my turn to teach the High Priest Group lesson.  It turned out the Elders Quorum instructor did not come today so the High Priest’s and Elders met together and I taught the lesson to both groups.  The lesson was on keeping the Sabbath day holy.  One of the principles I learned from preparing the lesson came from the first paragraph in the lesson which was a statement from President George Albert Smith who was the church president when I was born.  As a young boy the neighborhood boys would come to his house after Sunday School in the morning on Sunday’s and invite him to come and play ball with them.  He thought it would be fun, but he said I had a wonderful mother who did not tell me I could not do it; instead she told me, “Son you will be happier if you do not do that….”  Later in the lesson we are reminded that the blessing promised in the sacrament prayers is that if we are obedient, including attending sacrament meeting and keeping the Sabbath day holy, we will have the Spirit to be with us.  The Spirit taught me that the opposite is also true; that is, if we are not obedient, including honoring the Sabbath day, we will not have the Spirit to be with us.  That is precisely what happens when we do not keep the Sabbath day holy, we lose the Spirit and miss out on learning things of the Spirit which are of eternal value to us.  Anyway it was a great Sabbath day.

In Sacrament meeting one of the speakers was the Bishops wife, she gave a great talk about having unity in our ward and in our families so we will not have contention and lose the Spirit.  The other speaker was Jerry Argentsinger who is a member of the Rochester Stake High Council.  His message was taken from President Hinckley’s book “Way to Be”.  The topic he was assigned by the Stake President was the chapter on “Be Still”.  When we are still and quiet and listen to the Spirit we can learn much more than we can in any other way.  He shared a few examples from his years when he was director of the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  Doing the casting, which is choosing which performer should be given the person they would represent, was the most difficult part.  The Pageant had been greatly rewritten two years before he became the director and the way they did the casting for the previous years just did not work for the new version.  The old version had only had about 50 or 60 specific parts; the new version had over 250 specific parts.  There was only about a three hour time frame to assign all the parts on the Friday afternoon when the cast members all assembled for the first time.  To make it work right Jerry prayed a lot and waited for an answer as to how to do it.  The answer came as he talked with a young man he knew; as he did so he had the strong impression that this young man should play the part of Christ descending in the Pageant.  After having this experience he understood that the parts assigned to the cast should be chosen by the Spirit.  As a result he was inspired to take the 10 scenes and have the other assistant directors divide in to pairs and have each pair choose the people for the parts in two scenes.  One example was choosing the person to be Mary the mother of Jesus.  As the assistants were going through the people who had been selected as candidates for the part, the one assistant stopped in front a young Japanese girl who spoke no English and she had the impression to choose her.  She talked herself out of that choice and went through the rest of the candidates but did not feel prompted to choose anyone else.  She went through the group two more times and was prompted to choose the Japanese girl, but she talked herself out of it; but the fourth time she said the Spirit just told her it was right.  So she gave her a paper tag and hung it around her neck and pointed her in the direction of a table where they would record the decision and then they would send her to be given her costume.  While she was at the table a young man was also standing there at the same time who had been selected to be Joseph; this young man had just returned from a mission to Japan and spoke Japanese and he helped the Japanese girl with instructions on what she needed to do and also helped her with her playing her part.  That was not a coincidence; it actually turned out later that the two of them were married in the temple.  The message of Jerry’s talk was if we take time to be still the Spirit can teach us and help us learn things that we would otherwise not learn until much later, if at all.  Another experience in choosing cast members was selecting who should be Mormon and Moroni.  Jerry said they thought they had selected all the cast when it suddenly dawned on them that they had not yet selected people to be Mormon and Moroni.  As they thought of having to go back through the people of the right age group again and select the people for these two parts and then of the trickle down effect of changing to fill these two people and then change the ones whose part they had held etc. they wondered what to do.  As Jerry looked around he saw a father and his son standing nearby who were of the right age to play the parts.  Jerry went over to them and asked if they had a part yet; they responded they did not have a part.  So Jerry felt impressed to have them fill those parts and asked them to do it.  They were delighted to do so.  The father then told Jerry you have to know the rest of the story.  He said my son has been praying every night for two years for the opportunity to play the part of Moroni in the Pageant.  Again, this was not a coincidence; it was another part of God’s divine design.

Today, August 19^th is the 81^st  wedding anniversary of my wonderful parents.  I am so very grateful for both of them and for all they sacrificed and all of their efforts to teach me the gospel and the right way to live.  I was a little slow in learning some lessons but they were patient with me and loved me and encouraged me and set good examples for me and helped me in so many ways.  I hope to become worthy of seeing them again and being with the members of my family, including our own children and their families as well as with my ancestors.  Happy birthday to Marv and Lou on August 25^th, next Saturday; I hope they have a great day; Lou will for sure, I hope Marv does also.

On Monday August 27^th we will be moving the mission office into a church building at 460 Kreag Road, Pittsford NY 14534.  It is only about one mile from the current mission office in Fairport.  If you want to send any mail to us, that will be the best address to use.  Sister Jensen sorts the mail every day that comes to the mission office so she will be the first one to see any mail.

We express our love to each of you and hope all is well in your homes and your lives.  We are so grateful for each of you and we appreciate all you do for us in any way.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Maxine and Richard