S and L in Houston: 7th Post

Another busy week - they do go by fast for us. On Monday we were able to attend our first zone conference. It was held at the chapel next to the bishops storehouse and employment center. Elder Johnson, a member of the First Quorum of Seventy, and his wife were visiting the mission so we were able to be there and hear them speak. Before the meeting started President Hansen, our mission president

, said that Elder Johnson wanted to shake everyone's hand and he wanted to know our name and where we were from and how long we had been on our mission. So row by row the missionaries stood and met Elder Johnson, that was a great experience. The meeting was wonderful. President and Sister Hansen spoke; Sister Hansen talked about the emblems we want on our soul (faith, obedience, hard work, etc.) President Hansen gave instructions to the missionaries on needing to focus all we do on the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Sister Johnson told a bit about Elder Johnson; how he is totally obedient. She told of the blessings that we will receive by being obedient. Elder Johnson told us to lead by example, make sure investigators understand the lessons before moving to the next. Don't get caught up in the number of lessons taught. One of the Elders asked "How do we know that it is the Spirit prompting us and not just our own thoughts?" Elder Johnson answered "If we are obedient and doing everything we can to do good - our thoughts will be guided by the Spirit; so it is the same and don't worry."

After zone conference all the senior missionaries went to the mission

president's home for dinner with Elder and Sister Johnson. There were 21 there (total). The mission home is beautiful. We were each assigned something to bring and dinner was lovely. What a great day!

Tuesday is our late day at the Bering Building, we don't arrive home until about 9:30 pm so it is a long day for us old missionaries. We stay busy on the computer and contacting our candidates. We think about them a lot, especially those who have no papers, car, phone, or computer. If we have a job lead how will we contact them - sometime all we can do is pray.

We just had one come to the career workshop on Wednesday, we were expecting four. The sister who came was very kind and appreciated the help and will be back on Friday to finish up; hopefully her husband will be able to come with her. Christine called this afternoon and said that they were coming for the weekend!! We are excited to see them and I am already dreading having to say goodbye!

When we got to work on Thursday the phones and computer were not working so by the time things were up and running it was early afternoon. We had three people come to the Broadway center today and they were all non members. The missionaries were teaching two of them, they didn't speak much English but understood it pretty good. One was from Cuba and had been a merchant marine for 28 years the other one was a trucker. The third visitor came with his brother-in-law (who is a member) that we met at church last Sunday. I wish we had lots of jobs we could give them, we will do our best to help.

Christine and Derek called when they got to their hotel and we drove up to see them and give the kids a hug. They were excited to see us and we were more excited to see them. The kids were bouncing on the beds and busy checking things out. Of course they wanted to go swimming as soon as they saw the pool, but Christine told them "tomorrow".

On Friday morning Elder Walker had his first of three BCG treatments. He got along a lot better than he did in Delaware. It was less painful and not near the blood or blood clots. It was a female doctor who did the procedure this time and I told him that was probably why because women are just more gentle and do things RIGHT! He took it pretty easy for the rest of the day, by nighttime he was not feeling real good but not near as bad as he did after his treatments in Delaware. Another tender mercy from our Father in Heaven.

Derek brought Carson to our apartment to take a nap Friday afternoon. They had been at the children's museum for the morning. He took a good nap and Christine and Derek took the rest of the kids and went swimming at the hotel. Afterwards, they all came and had dinner with us, it was sure fun to have them here.

Saturday was a fun day with the Vances. We went to NASA and the Johnson Space Center. It was very interesting, but some of it was "boring" for the small kids. Steven and I will return and check it out closer. We tried to eat our lunch outdoors on the picnic tables but the mosquitoes were eating us faster than we could eat our lunch, so we ended up in the car instead! After NASA we drove to Galveston and put our hands and feet in the water. The kids were very disappointed that they couldn't go swimming, but we were not prepared. We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel and all returned home tired but happy.

We are thankful that Heavenly Father planned for us to be part of a loving family and we are so grateful for ours!