Spiritual Feast

We are lucky to be having a spiritual feast here in the mission field.  Every week seems to bring some wonderful opportunities to feel the spirit and know that we are blessed to be serving this mission.  I just think back on the prior few days and we had some great experiences.  Last Friday we were scheduled with many things to do including an opportunity to get together with some of the senior missionaries for dinner.  Sister McGuire (I never know whether to call her Diana  or this, so I just go with whatever I'm thinking) got a call from Sister Moreno asking if she could play the piano for a baptism.  The baptism was set at 6 pm and our dinner was set for 5 pm, but we would need to get to the baptism by 5:45 to allow time for prelude.  We decided to send our dessert and some Christmas gifts with our neighbors to the dinner and allow us to go to the baptism.  It was such a great decision!  The person getting baptized was Dana Sanchez, the wife of a previously inactive member.  She had taken the lessons and during this time he had been re-activated and had received the Melchizedek Priesthood.  He was able to baptize her and then confirm her.  But the really spiritual moment was when Dana bore her testimony at the end of the meeting.  She humbly bore testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel and the Book of Mormon.  This young lady who works at the city library and is working on a masters degree in Library Science, loves to read and she had taken the challenge to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and her prayers had been answered.  Unfortunately at home we rarely get the opportunity to really see convert baptisms like this - and it is a wonderful experience.  Speaking with her husband after the service, he said that his re-activation was due to Dana and her search.  So we not only had a new convert, but one of the Savior's lost sheep came back to the fold.  Nowhere else would we have witnessed this and been so fed.

Then last Sunday we went to the YSA 1st Ward for their meetings and found out that Larry Chu had received his mission call and was going to open it after the meeting block.  Larry is one of our favorites.  He was baptized in April before we arrived.  His story is amazing.  He had done some work for some members while working with a construction company owned by another member.  He was given a Book of Mormon, but set it aside for a while.  Some months later he found the book and began to read it again.  He received the lessons from Elders Stecklein and McChesney and accepted everything.  They told us he was the only one they taught who did everything they asked and even read more than they had suggested.  He is a truly amazing young man!  When we arrived, we got to know him well and found him doing everything he could to learn more.  He started coming to our Pearl of Great Price class and I could see him taking copious notes.  He never missed a lesson once he started and went to the Wednesday night class as well.  We referred to him as a sponge.  About a month ago he told us that he was going to submit papers to go on a mission.  He is just under the age limit and he wanted to make sure he got them submitted on time.  The Stake President pushed the submission button on December 8 and by the 11th it was assigned.  A large crowd of people gathered as he opened his call - Washington DC South Mission with a date of May 11 to arrive at the MTC.  This young man is going on a mission just a year after he was baptized!  He will be a phenomenal missionary - so intelligent and yet so spiritual.  We will have the privilege of teaching him the Temple Preparation lessons and can't wait.  We are blessed to know him.




Then just this past Monday we had the Mission Christmas Devotional.  Sister McGuire was asked to play the organ for it and accompany a couple of the musical selections.  Boy was she nervous!  Too long away from playing it and the nerves were certainly there.  All the missionaries in the mission came together for this meeting and what a wonderful thing it was to see these fine men and women who are devoting themselves to the teaching of the gospel.  The music was great as were the spirit and the messages of President and Sister Schmitt.  It can't replace being with our wonderful family, but it is a good substitute.

Having told these three experiences, it is clear that had we not come on this mission we would have missed many opportunities to feel the spirit in such magnitude.  These experiences build our testimonies and we are better for having witnessed them.  It reminds us how important it is for couples to take the opportunity to serve a mission.  That feeling is not presented in a singular event, but multiple times as we serve.  So as we will miss our wonderful family at this Christmas season, we are grateful and blessed to be here in San Diego serving others.