"And the servant of the Lord must . . . be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient" 2 Timothy 2:24

We will open this post with a bit of humor. One of our office missionaries has this quote on her desk. 

"Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes, that would be boring.                                Spend 30 seconds in my head, that'll freak you right out."

We simply have to laugh and nod our heads - it seems particularly fitting to be applied to mission leaders! We love this work and this chapter and would have it no other way.

Here is a little bit about some of the things that keep us busy here on the mission. Each week we have two zoom devotionals with all our missionaries. The Zone Leaders rotate the responsibility of leading the Devotional and sharing messages and President and I always have something to add at the end. Recently we focused on the Christlike attribute of charity - one element of this being patience. After all "charity suffereth long . . . and is not easily provoked."                              1 Corinthians 13:4-5. 

Well, it just so happens that on the very week that we were discussing patience, one or our own missionaries landed in the hospital with appendicitis that culminated in an appendectomy. That was a mission first for us. I had seen Sister L the night before, she explained she was not feeling well and her bishop, who happens to be a medical doctor, expressed an opinion that she might have appendicitis. She was walking and talking, and I advised her and her companions to keep an eye on things. If they got worse and she was doubled over in pain and vomiting then she should have it checked out. [Shout out to my mother, a nurse who taught us to ENDURE pain]. Well, in the middle of the night Sister L did go to the hospital and lo and behold it was appendicitis. It took nearly 24 hours before she was able to receive surgery and thus, we have dubbed Sister L our "patient patient." 

Medical events do occur on missions, we have another Sister who has returned home to have surgery on her shoulder. We pray for her speedy recovery and return. We are blessed to have three nurses who assist with the medical needs of our missionaries and are truly grateful for their efforts. 

In all of this we are reminded of the Lord's patience with us, He is "longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)  In the Book of Mormon King Benjamin reminds his people of the "goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men;" (Mosiah 4:6). 

Indeed we should follow our Lord's example of long-suffering and "submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." (Mosiah 24:15)

A few updates, Elder S has begun working with a speech pathologist. This is an arduous process that will take time. He is meeting the challenge head-on. Another set of missionaries, a mandarin speaking companionship, were rear-ended and their car is in the shop. Problem is, there are no additional mission cars for them to use and so they are currently without transportation. They were able to get rides with very short notice to lessons they had previously scheduled and are confident the Lord will provide. 

Last week we received 24 new missionaries, a few who are here temporarily while they await visas to the destinations to where they were originally assigned. It seems every transfer we discover miracles in the assignments that have been made. Here are some examples from our current transfer cycle. I. One sister was assigned to serve in a newly opened area in El Centro. It turns out her great-grandmother was born in El Centro. We were entirely unaware of the family connection when the assignment was made. II. Elder G was assigned into a trio for the first week of the transfer but then emergency transferred to a different companion. It turns out Elder G just happened to have contact information for an individual his trio had been trying to connect with and had he not been there for that week, the discovery would not have been made. III. Last transfer one of our ASL elders was assigned to be outbound and after arriving to his new English speaking area discovered that three ASL speakers he had previously interacted with lived in His new area facilitating the teaching of these individuals.

On a personal note, we are grateful our daughter and her family survived Hurricane Ian which blew through Florida on our twin grandson's third birthdays. While they were without power for a full week, they are all safe and sound. Our thoughts and prayers are focused on those who lost loved ones, homes and possessions during this disaster.

We constantly see the Lord's hand in small details such as those shared above. We know this is His work and that He is mindful of each one of us - His children. That He is long-suffering and patient with us. And most importantly, that as we trust in and are patient with Him we can find joy and peace in our situations. 

Photos: At the temple with our missionaries who arrived on Oct 11, 2022. A salad that features the "healthy rainbow" we encourage our missionaries to eat!