Finally!

I have been less than diligent in writing on this blog the last few weeks. I left it up to the capable hands of my wife to keep everyone informed. But I am sure that many of our avid readers (let's see, we have five children so maybe 7 total) have been waiting for a new post from me. So here goes.
We went to the San Diego YSA 2nd Ward today and really enjoyed their Testimony meeting. Testimony meetings here are really interesting. They often feature new members who have truly experienced a "mighty change" in their hearts and some who have returned after absences. The wonderful mixture of races and cultures is also refreshing. Each time we come away spiritually fed and don't mind that the meeting went 10-15 minutes longer than usual.
I have to say again how much we have enjoyed working with these YSAs. They are easy to love and feel close to. Whether it's teaching them, just talking with them or feeding them, we have a great time.
We had a couple of great missionary opportunities the last few days. On Friday the missionaries texted us wondering if we would be around the Institute at noon. We really had planned on doing P-day things but they were meeting with a young lady, Summer Vukovik, who was baptized in January but had stopped coming. She had told them she wanted to meet with them and they said the Bishop thought it would be great if we could be there. We decided that was more important than what we had planned so we went there at noon.  Summer had an interesting story. She said she had a good friend who was a member who had passed away and she knew he turned to the Church for his support. She decided to do the same with her pain of his passing. She contacted the missionaries and they began to teach her.  She gained a testimony and was set to be baptized.  She was staying with her parents and her father, a staunch Catholic, was against her baptism. He decided to lock her in her room so she would miss the baptism. She crawled out her window and went to the baptism, although a little late. She told us she recently was going through some more difficult situations and decided she needed to return.  She asked that the missionaries teach her again. The spirit was strong, but when the missionaries asked her to come to church on Sunday she was hesitant. She said her mother was visiting on weekends and it made it difficult to get away. I felt impresses to tell her that, while no longer a Bishop having that special power of discernment, I felt strongly that not only did she need the gospel in her lif, but the Ward needed her. She responds by saying "I guess I better come to church then."  And she did. My impressions were validated today as we met with the Ward Council and they talked about the need for some family history work in the Ward. Before going inactive, Summer was called as the family history consultant. She has a love for family history. It was wonderful to see her at church and see many of the YSAs welcome her.
The other experience is an example of my dear wife's closeness to the spirit. Several weeks ago we went to Fuddruckers to eat. The young lady working as the cashier noticed our nameplates and commented that her grandfather was a member and had worked on the Hawaii temple. We told her we worked with the Institute and YSAs and would have to talk to her again as there were people in line. Over the intervening weeks, Diana mentioned we needed to return and talk to her, but we didn't and I wasn't sure that it would be that fruitful. On Wednesday we had the ZLs over for dinner and Elder Baloaloa challenged us to talk with someone about the church. Diana thought immediately about this girl and we committed to going there to speak with her. On Friday we went there with the intent of approaching her. We saw that she was preparing some food and went to talk with her. She seemed very willing to talk with us and Diana asked if she would be willing to talk with the missionaries and she said she would. We told her we would be back on Saturday with them. When we returned on Saturday she said she had been looking for us and would try to take a break to talk with us. It was really busy and she didn't seem able to take a break. Diana went to talk with her and she asked her Manager who said they were too busy to have her break. She gave Diana her phone number and address and was willing to have the missionaries come see her. We will have to wait and see the outcome, but Diana was tuned into the spirit on that one. Melody is a single parent of a five year boy. We aren't sure whether she was baptized, but at least she seemed very interested to talk with the missionaries.
One thing I have learned through our time here is that you cannot tell a person's heart by looking at their outward appearance. There are many young people that I would never imagine that they would be interested in the gospel, but turn out to be ready to hear the message of the gospel. And the change in their life is shown by their appearance as they accept the gospel.  It's a good thing the Lord knows to look upon our hearts because I sure would miss some of his choice spirits.
Well I have said enough. If any of you reading this are approaching senior mission age, make sure that you put that on your bucket list. The opportunity to serve your Heavenly Father's children, to interact with other senior missionaries as well as the young missionaries is such a blessing that you don't want to miss it. After all what are you going to do with your time, golf?  Not even close!