A New Year!

Well here it is a new year and still almost a month since I last wrote.  For anyone who knows me this isn't a surprise.  Writing in journals/blogs or whatever has always been on the end of a long list of things to do.  It shouldn't be so hard, but that is the nature of my mind, a mind that forgets things easily anyway.
We had a great Christmas here in San Diego.  We had dinner at the Institute with several missionaries and YSAs.  It was fun to be with them and enjoy the spirit of the season with them.  We got up early the next morning (didn't even check what Santa had brought!) and headed to the Mormon Battalion where we met other missionaries who were going to the Marine base to perform for the recruits.  It was a wonderful thing to spend that morning enjoying the music of Christmas with the troops.  Following the performance it was interesting to see several of the young men being given blessings by the brethren who served there.  It's not easy being a marine, and Christmas I'm sure made it even more difficult for them.  We then went home and opened our few presents.  In some ways it was nice not to have a ton of gifts to open.  Our minds and hearts were more focused on the Savior and it was just nice.  After calling the kids to see what everyone got for Christmas and chatting with them we went over to Bishop Goff's house and had a nice dinner with his family, a few YSAs and Elders McCloy and Kunz.  A fitting end to a wonderful mission Christmas.  I know that we missed the fun of the whole family being together, but there is something to be said to enjoy a mission Christmas.
The next day was spent with Ananth, a Indian covert who was baptized that day.  We had him over earlier with the missionaries and had heard his conversion story. He had been looking for a church to go to since coming to the US and met some missionaries.  He decided to listen and learned that it was true.  He told us he had come to the US because his brother-in-law had threatened to kill him to allow his sister to inherit the estate from his father.  And we think we have problems!  Following the baptism they always give the new member an opportunity to bear their testimony and it is always a sweet experience.  So it was with Ananth as he bore testimony of the truthfulness of the things he had been taught.  Simple, loving testimonies are wonderful to hear.  He and his sister had cooked some Indian food after the baptism, so we enjoyed that, but boy was it spicy.

Sister McGuire, Ananth and myself after the baptism

We touched base with both YSA wards on Sunday as usual and then spent the next few days cleaning up at the Institute.  We organized the storage room; cleaned out closets and stocked the treat shelves.  We had to make sure all the Christmas decorations were taken down just as if we had been at home (which we also had to do at our apartment - luckily there were a lot fewer decorations in our small apartment).
During this period of time we heard that Kristina was concerned about having to leave her children for two weeks while she and Nate went to Arkansas to pick up their adopted son.  We were in between semesters and had some free time along with a companion ticket on Delta so we arranged to take care of her kids for a week from January 11-18.  We had to move up the cleaning of the kitchen here at the Institute to January 6th.
We did take some time to enjoy some of the San Diego attractions during the time between Christmas and New Years.  We enjoyed the Zoolights at the San Diego Zoo on one evening and then later took in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on New Years day.  On the way home we decided to stop at the San Diego Temple since we had not been able to see the lights earlier.  The grounds were wonderful as you can see in the photos.

The beauty of the temple at Christmas

 The week following New Year's was spent enjoying some time at the Institute with additional organizing, cleaning the kitchen, etc.  It was nice to have two of our missionaries help us with the kitchen for a few hours.  Elders McCloy and Kunz did yeoman service that day!  Friday the 8th was an opportunity to meet with other religious groups on campus to welcome incoming students.  The Catholics, Jews, Methodists, Lutherans and Protestants were all represented as filled a table and watched all the students pass right by.  There is a dearth of spirituality in the youth of the world today.  They seem to see little need for religion in their lives.  SDSU is known as a party school and there is too much partyin' to let a little church interfere, except for our little band of YSAs who really do try to live the gospel.  Still there are some who are looking and missionaries gleaning comes into play on a regular basis.  That night we went over to a member's house to join in the festivities of the reception for Eilisha Goff (the Bishop's daughter) and Mitch Johnson, who had followed her out from Utah to win her hand.  It was packed and fun to see all the YSAs enjoying it.  Now if they could just take note and follow suit with their own marriages.
On Monday January 11 we boarded a flight to SLC early to spend the week with Kristina's kids.  Diana will tell more about that; just know that throwing ourselves back into the world of family and grandchildren was certainly different for us.  Our quiet missionary life doesn't have all that excitement and, yes, noise.  After all, how would it be to have this on a daily basis?

Our eldest grandchild, Jacob, being himself

We enjoyed hearing of Kristina and Nate's receiving their new son even from afar.  And it was rewarding to be with her children in that time of need.  The only really bad part were the colds that each of us suffered through while we were there.  We unfortunately missed the baptism of Melissa Pacheco, Hashem Murad's girlfriend, that was scheduled quickly while we were in Utah.  It is hard to miss those wonderful experiences.
Well now we are back in the mission field.  And it feels great!  Lots to do to prepare for a lunch for ninety Seminary teachers this Saturday, and get ready for classes.  But we are seeing the students come back and it is wonderful to see them again.  It is easy to see how it will be hard to leave and not have those experiences on a regular basis.  But life races ahead for us all and change is a part of life.  It was wonderful to attend a broadcast from SLC about missionary work this morning and we were invigorated from the messages given including those from Elders Oaks, Bednar and Andersen.  All of us who are called to be missionaries have some real opportunities to teach others of our Savior and allow them the opportunity to be saved in the Kingdom of God.  And because we are here we will serve as best we can.  May the Lord bless all of you, our family and friends and know that we know that God and Jesus Christ live, and this gospel is His gospel.  The ordinances of salvation are only available in this church and we are blessed to have the leadership of prophets and apostles.