Another Prophet Sighting: Missionary Sings to Prophet at Mission Presidents' Seminar

Sister Sallie Wilson's family shared a great personal encounter she had with President Thomas S. Monson last Sunday following the mission presidents' seminar:

...I met the Prophet :)

No, seriously, I MET THE PROPHET!!!!!!!!!

So here's the run down of the last week, since I know that you're DYING to hear!

So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, we sang for the NMP seminar devotionals. That's pretty much all we got to do - we'd file in, sing, then file out and be on our way for the day. And every single day I was just dying to be able to stay and listen!!! But we couldn't. But it was still amazing! Apparently this has been the best small MTC choir they've ever had - Bro Brenchley (our director) told us that several times, and also told us on Sunday morning that E. Holland told him the same thing: that we were the best sounding, most professional/missionary looking group they've ever heard. In fact, he (E. Holland) said that our rendition of Pres. Faust's "This Is the Christ" was the best he'd ever heard, and they requested the recording from the devotional!!! Holy cow!

Thursday morning, President Eyring and Elders Holland, Oaks, Perry, Cook, Christofferson, and Anderson were all there. Friday morning we had Pres. Uchtdorf and Elders Holland, Perry, Oaks, Bednar, Christofferson, Anderson, Scott and Cook. Saturday morning it was Pres. Packer and Elders Holland, Oaks, Perry, Ballard, Scott, Bednar, Cook, Christofferson and Anderson. And then, yes, on Sunday (not the morning devotional, but the special 1st presidency sacrament mtg), all the 1st Presidency and quorum of the 12 were there except for Pres. Packer. Apparently he was scheduled to be there, but had to do a stake conf. broadcast from SLC. Is that not INCREDIBLE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! My companion and I were talking to Pres. Clegg (a counselor in the MTC presidency that we've become good friends with), and he said that this was really an unprecedented event, to have that many of the presiding brethren (not to mention LOTS of seventy and other general aux. leaders) here at once like that. AND I GOT TO SING TO THEM EVERY MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention all of the incredible new mission presidents and their beautiful wives - you want to talk about spiritual priesthood power in a room? That's what I felt every morning. It was wonderful! The neatest thing though, was that it wasn't all about THEM. It was actually all about US - the missionaries. It was interesting to be there, with the tables kind of turned - THEY were all watching US come in, THEY listened to OUR message and testimonies (through song), THEY were so happy, excited and overjoyed to feel of OUR spirits, and then THEY watched in quiet reverence as WE left. I could really feel their love and appreciation and respect for us as I participated. And each morning, as we would file back out, I always looked over to the Apostles on the stand (we sang just in front of the stand - maybe 5 feet away from right where they were sitting), and tried to make eye contact and smile. And I did! Elder Cook and Christofferson both looked and smiled right at me a few of the mornings as I left! It was really amazing! Then, on Sunday morning, after we sang in Sacrament meeting, they made special arrangements for us to watch Pres. Monson speak from another room (they just broadcasted it into the room we were in - there was no room in the actual room)! We stayed for most of it, but then had to go for our other meetings. It was so neat to hear him speak to all the new mission presidents! I felt so much overwhelming gratitude as we began to watch, just because it was such a privilege and a tender mercy to even be in the choir in the first place, and then to get to hear the prophet speak - even from another room - was wonderful!

So when did I actually meet the prophet??? ...I know, I know, I'm getting there! Sunday morning we sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" for the special Sacrament Meeting. Afterwards, we went back for our regular Sunday meetings, but had a break for lunch and study time before OUR sacrament meeting. Since we had seen the 1st Pres. cars' parked up on the sidewalk (and security was TIGHT, let me just tell you! It took us 3 tries just to get anywhere close to the doors of that building, and we were the CHOIR!), we decided to go sit on the benches outside the building and study, hoping that maybe, just maybe we'd get to see them when they left. We waited out there for a good 45 or so minutes, and then FINALLY they came! Pres and Sis Uchtdorf came out first, and left pretty quickly, but they waved to all of us (there were probably about 15 or 20 of us out there waiting...) and told us we were wonderful and that they loved us, then left. Quick side not, can I just tell you what an incredibly beautiful couple they are? Really, they are just stunning people!

Anyways, a few minutes later President Monson and President Eyring and their wives came out! There was a bigger crowd by now, and it definitely continued to grow! As they came out, we were all standing, and began to sing "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet". After a moment, Pres. Monson came over and just stood and looked at all of us. He just stood there, not 10 feet away from me (I was right at the front of the group), and just watched us. I barely finished the verse because I couldn't help but cry as I stood there, as a missionary of the Lord, looking right at His chosen prophet, seer, and revelator, and sang "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter-days! We thank thee for sending the gospel to lighten our minds with it's rays! We thank thee for every blessing, bestowed by thy bounteous hand, we feel it a pleasure to serve thee, and love to obey thy command." It was really funny though, because as we got to the end of the verse, Pres Monson smiled really big, and lifted up his arms to direct the last line or two! It was just wonderful! Then he stood and talked to all of us for a good 10 minutes or so, asking about where we were going, and telling us stories (of course!). He even sang some funny little song to us in Spanish! He didn't shake our hands because 1)there were too many of us, and 2) the whole swine flu thing. Stupid swine flu...

Speaking of which, it's pretty much taken care of here...there are still some sick missionaries, including a few in sick bay/quarantine, but the best news of all with this is that THEY'VE LIFTED THE HANDSHAKING/HUGS BAN!!!!!!! It's been against the rules to shake hands or hug anyone since before I got here, but Pres. and Sis. Clegg told us last night that they've officially lifted it! Our elders were all really excited to shake our hands today after we told them, and our teacher hugged us all (hermanas) twice! :)

Anyways...after Pres Monson talked to us for a little bit, he moved around to the other side and talked to all the other missionaries who had gathered by that time; then, as he went to go to his car, we all sang "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet" again, and he turned to all of us, and directed our singing! He really just waved his arms - he doesn't actually know how to direct music - and smiled, chuckling to himself a little bit, but I can now say that I've sung in a choir directed by the prophet!

The thing that hit me more than anything else was his genuine love and joy. He and Pres Eyring both just radiated that joy that the gospel brings, as well as the love of the Savior. What an awesome thing, I really can't even begin to tell you, to be a missionary, taking this incredible gospel message to the world, and to see it, up close and personal - the living prophet, called of God to lead and guide us; to sing and learn and teach, feel everyday these amazing truths! And the best thing about it is that I'm not the only one who gets to have it!!! That's why I'm going out to serve - so that EVERYONE can know, and feel and follow the Savior! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really love her enthusiasm and devotion. It is a joy to read her joy in sharing her talent with the mission presidents, General Authorities and others. She is really sets an example for me to be a better person. Also she is a credit to her parents. I have no doubt she will be an exceptional missionary.

New Mission President Sherman L. Doll Describes Elbow Rubbing Experience at Mission Presidents' Seminar

President and Sister Sherman L. and Linda Doll, the new Illinois Chicago North mission president described their experience attending the new mission presidents' seminar on their new blog A Marvelous Work and a Wonder:

The accompanying photo is of the name tags we received the day we entered the MTC. This was an especially emotional moment for me since I haven't worn one for nearly 36 years. It's humbling to be counted among the full-time missionaries.

The experience at the MTC really can’t be described but must be experienced. The main building of the MTC is completely dedicated to the New Mission Presidents Seminar. All of the members of the Twelve and the First Presidency have been here and many have given talks. Most of the breakout group instruction is handled by members of the Seventy. It’s just so interesting to rub elbows with all of these brethren during and after our sessions, including eating with them. They’re all very gracious and kind, and they so much want us to be successful.

The term rubbing elbows is a reality since shaking hands has been prohibited due to a recent swine flu problem at the MTC. Many of the people here have adopted the custom of rubbing elbows as a substitute. We’ve been segregated from the missionaries as a consequence of the flu situation.

The amount of instruction and inspiration has been incredible. Elder Perry describes it as "feeding us with a fire hose." This is a very apt term.

An especially tender moment occurred in the Saturday morning portion of the conference as Elder Boyd K. Packer was ending his talk. He left us with an apostolic blessing that included a promise that those who had children who had strayed would not lose those children but would see them return as a consequence of our service and sacrifice. I noticed quite a few people with tears as he treated this tender subject. Ours were included.

The Sunday sacrament meeting was quite inspiring. All three members of the First Presidency and all of the Twelve (minus Elder Packer who was ordered by his doctor to rest) were in attendance. Elder Perry conducted the meeting and the sacrament was blessed and passed by missionaries from the MTC. Over 300 people were there to hear an inspirational talk by President Monson. It was loaded with advice and counsel for all of the 108 mission presidents and their wives.

The closing hymn of the sacrament meeting was especially difficult. We all sang together "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." In the three and one half days we were at the MTC we quickly made friends with a number of the mission president couples. So many have had similar experiences as we have had in being called, preparing, and leaving jobs and families. And, of course we also share the daunting task of leading a mission. Sunday ended with tears, handshakes (OK, we broke the rules), and hugs. I expect some of these people will be lifelong friends. Others we may never see again.

We've been blessed, inspired, counseled, loved, and instructed. We leave with confidence and a little anxiety of the unknown.

I like to see new mission presidents and their wives that blog. I hope this proves to be another vibrant and dynamic mission president and his wife who are blogging.

Hobnobing with the GAs and Seeing Behind the Scenes at the MTC during the Mission Presidents Seminar

People forget that behind the mission presidents' seminar there is a lot of planning and even missionaries involved in the process. One blogger Mike Devries tells how he ushered and how his wife Camille did a lot of the legwork on the arrangements:

Camille is my hero. This week she has been working at the mtc about 14 hours a day to help with the mission president seminar. It is fun to see her in her at work. I worked as an Usher just a couple days of the seminar and saw Camille workin' away. It was hard on the one hand because I wanted to do things like hold her hand or give her a little kiss, but that, unfortunately, is a no no. On the other hand it was wonderful to see my sweet and happy wife often throughout the day. The mission presidents, upon seeing my tag, would often ask, "Are you Camille's husband?" I would reply in the affirmative, and then something to the effect of, "Ohh, we love Camille," would come. I haven't met a person who hasn't completely loved Camille. I'm a lucky guy, what can I say.

Another behind the scene action is the missionaries who sing in the choir. On Wednesday, 29 June 2009 Sister Sallie Wilson shared with us her involvement during the mission presidents' seminar and the songs that were sung by the missionaries:

What a day! Today is Wednesday, so we got a bunch of new missionaries in, AND today all the new mission presidents and their wives arrive for the seminar this week! That's great, and crazy all at the same time. Great because, well 105 new mission presidents and their wives, plus tons of general authorities, with at least 1 apostle each day, and Pres Monson on Sunday, is GREAT! Especially because I get to sing for them everyday, including twice on Sunday (one for their am devotional, AND for their Sacrament mtg with Pres Monson)! Uncle Vernon, if I get a chance to talk to Pres Monson, I'll tell him hey for you! Now, the craziness is mostly because for this seminar, they've partitioned off half of the cafeteria, which means that the already insane amount of missionaries that eat in there together are now going to be totally crammed into half the space and available food lines. Trust me, it's going to be nuts (tonight is the first meal like that for us).

Choir is SO GREAT!!!! Absolutely Awesome!!! We are singing 5 times, plus once with the whole MTC choir for devo on Friday. We are singing "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth," "Come Thou Fount," "Joseph Smith's First Prayer," "This is the Christ," and a brand new, absolutely incredible arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer."!!! They're letting us record our singing (our dress rehearsal/warm-ups each morning), so I'll send you a recording! I'm SO EXCITED!!!!! Our first devotional is tomorrow morning at 8am, and Pres Eyring is going to be here! Friday is Pres. Uchtdorf, Sat. is Pres Packer, and Sunday is Pres Monson! Elder Christofferson is here today. Baaaaah!!! It's so awesome!

On Monday, 29 June 2009 Elder Jacob Budge who also sang in the choir reported his impressions of last week's mission presidents seminar particularly the meeting with the missionaries:

This week has been AMAZING! So many things are happening, have happened, and will happen. So, this past weekend, all of the Quorum of the 12 and the First Presidency were here. It was incredible! They came for New Mission Presidents Seminar, which has been taking place since wednesday. Holy cow. It has been awesome. We had a devotional on friday night, and Elder Holland spoke. Holy incredible. Elders Bednar, Cook, Andersen, Perry, Oaks, Scott, and Christofferson were all on the stand as well! 8 Apostles of Jesus Christ! I cannot describe the feeling and the Spirit that existed in that room. It was awesome because I'm in the MTC Choir and I was sitting in the 2nd Row. I've never been so close to that many Apostles. El sentimiento no admite descripcion. It was sweet because we got to just walk past everyone that had been waiting 2 hours to get into the Devotional, so I felt like a VIP. It was sweet.

So, Elder Holland's talk was amazing. We constantly hear that we need to teach with the Spirit, and if we don't have the Spirit, we're commanded to not teach. But, Elder Holland shared some incredible insights on the subject. After we sang, he actually said "Well...I may as well give the benediction and go home. If there has ever been a Devotional moment, that was it." My favorite principle that he taught (out of many...I have 4 pages of notes) is that the Holy Ghost is our connection to God's Heavenly realm. We teach by the Spirit so that OUR lessons become HIS lessons. Only the Spirit of the Lord can lift people out of the Temporal World, take them towards the Godhead, and eventually to their own Godhood. Through the Holy Ghost, we bring God's presence into the homes of our investigators. Elder Holland said that it is because of the Holy Ghost that our investigators realize, IN SPITE of us Missionaries, that our message and mission is Divine. That really hit me hard because I really think so highly of so many missionaries here in the MTC, but we're all so full of imperfections. We need the Holy Ghost to have people look past our imperfections and our broken Spanish to know that this message comes from Heaven. It comes from the love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What a blessing.

Finally one missionary shared how the missionaries were hobnobbing with the GAs. On Tuesday, 30 June 2009 Elder Justin Hale shared his experience with meeting the Prophet:

OK so this whole week was the new mission president training seminar, and 14 out of the 15 apostles were here at some point during the week. We weren’t allowed to associate with them because of the swine flu, but Elder Holland spoke to us on Friday. It was the coolest talk. He talked about having the Holy Ghost as your 3rd companion, and making sure he is always the senior companion. One thing he said that was way cool was that the way you exercise the gift of discernment is by looking into a person’s eyes. So anyway, on Sunday I met 2 prophets (well I guess 1 prophet and 1 apostle)! President Monson came to speak to the mission presidents. As he was leaving the MTC, somebody shouted in the classroom building, and everybody rushed outside. There was President Monson and President Eyring! I was near the front of the small crowd and so I was about 5 feet away from President Eyring. While President Monson wandered around talking to the missionaries, President Eyring was standing right next to me, talking to us about an injury he had from playing basketball with his grandkids. By the way, President Eyring is way cool! He was cracking jokes the whole time, telling us that President Monson always makes them late because he is meeting people!

Well, eventually President Monson made his way towards my part of the crowd and then stopped. He started pointing at different missionaries and asking them where they were going. He pointed to everyone around me and then….HE POINTED AT ME!! It was so freakin cool! He asked where I was going and I said, “Argentina, Buenos Aires!” He smiled and said, “I love it there! I dedicated the temple there!”After mingling a little bit more, he started to get into his car (a white Buick), and everyone started singing “We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet.” President Monson turned around and jokingly led the music! It was so awesome! Then after waving, giving air hugs, and shouting goodbye in Spanish and Samoan, the two apostles drove off.

It is way cool to experience firsthand as we read the missionaries blogs of their impressions during important events and see what happens behind the scenes during the mission presidents' seminar. This helps us when we read in the Church News the addresses and we read one line about how they spoke to the missionaries. It gives us an added dimension.

California Long Beach Mission

California Long Beach

Mission Website(s)

LDS Mission Network (Alan Whitcomb)

Missionary Site(s)

LDS Mission Network

Dear Elder--Elder Matthew Todd Bringhurst 2008-2010

Dear Elder--Elder Andrew Cahoon 2008-2010

Dear Elder--Elder Bryan Collier 2008-2010

Dear Elder--Elder Curtis Jarman 2008-2010

Dear Elder--Elder Andrew Nielsen 2009-2011

MissionSite.Net--Elder Peter Arrington 2009-2011

MissionSite.Net--Elder Trax Decker 2008-2010

MissionSite.Net--Elder William Highland 2007-2009

MissionSite.Net--Sister Robyn Hoover 2007-2009

MissionSite.Net--Elder Tovin Hudson 2007-2009

MissionSite.Net--Elder Gregory Kline 2009-2011

MissionSite.Net--Elder Thomas Larsen 2009-2011

LDSMission.com--Sister Aura Ararat 2001-2003

LDSMission.com--Elder Joshua Bailey 2005-2007

LDSMission.com--Elder Michael Coburn 2002-2004

LDSMission.com--Elder Drew Dangerfield 2000-2002

LDSMission.com--Elder Deniz Dogan 1999-2001

LDSMission.com--Sister Melissa Emerson 1999-2001

LDSMission.com--Elder Kurt Ericksen 1998-2000

LDSMission.com--Sister Maria Gonzalez 2008

LDSMission.com--Elder Jason Johnson 2003-2005

LDSMission.com--Sister Evelini Kinikini 2003-2004

LDSMission.com--Elder Derek Maples 2001-2002

LDSMission.com--Elder Nephi Mata 1999-2001

LDSMission.com--Elder Chris Mckissack 1998-2000

LDSMission.com--Elder David Morris 1998-2000

LDSMission.com--Sister Mandie Moss 2000-2001

LDSMission.com--Elder Marco Ramos 2003-2005

LDSMission.com--Elder Joshua Redfern 1998-2000

LDSMission.com--Elder Eric Shelley 2001-2003

LDSMission.com--Sister Kate Slater 1998-1999

LDSMission.com--Elder Christopher Sundberg 2002-2004

LDSMission.com--Elder Matai Tupola 2003-2005

LDSMission.com--Sister Kristian Willison 1999-2000

Joseph Warburton (Spanish-speaking) 2009-2011

Melba Latu (Spanish-speaking)

Adam Goff 1998-2000

Davis Law 1999-2001

A. La Mont Henriksen Obituary

Pictures

LDS Mission Network

Dear Elder--Elder Curtis Jarman

MissionSite.Net--Elder Trax Decker

MissionSite.Net--Elder William Highland

MissionSite.Net--Sister Robyn Hoover

MissionSite.Net--Elder Tovin Hudson

MissionSite.Net--Elder Gregory Kline

President(s)

LDS Mission Network

“New Mission Presidents Now in Place,” (Edwin A. Sexton) Liahona, Aug. 2007, N4–N5.

“New Mission Presidents Now in Place Worldwide,” (Edwin A. Sexton) Ensign, July 2007, 77–78.

"New Mission Presidents," (Edwin Allen Sexton) Church News [5 May 2007].

"New Mission Presidents Receive Assignments," (new mission president Edwin A. Sexton, former mission president Ronald W. Evans) Church News [Saturday, 3 March 2007].

“New Mission Presidents Begin Service,” (Ronald W. Evans) Ensign, July 2004, 74–75

"New and Returning Mission Presidents for 113 Missions," (new mission president Ronald W. Evans, former mission president Roger P. Christensen) Church News [Saturday, 6 March 2004].

"New Mission Presidents," (Ronald Walter Evans) Church News [Saturday, 31 January 2004].

"New Mission Presidents," (Roger Paul Christensen) Church News [Saturday, 17 March 2001].

"New and Returning Mission Presidents," (new mission president Roger Paul Christensen, former mission president Grant Leon Pullan) Church News [Saturday, 10 March 2001].

"New and Returning Mission Presidents: 1998," (new mission president Grant L. Pullan, former mission president new mission) Church News [Saturday, 7 March 1998].

"New Mission Presidents," (Grant L. Pullan) Church News [Saturday, 14 February 1998].

Blog(s)



Articles

Jena Peterson, "Letting Go of Your Missionary," (Angie McMurray) LDS Living Magazine [29 June 2009].

"Some 1,300 Referrals Collected," (missionaries from Los Angeles, Arcadia, and Long Beach Mission at Cinco de Mayo celebration) Church News [Saturday, 20 May 2006].

Timothy Cobbley, “A Light in the Darkness,” New Era, Feb 2003, 11.

"Cambodians Converted," Church News [Saturday, 5 March 2005].

“Comment--A Sense of Heritage,” (Sister Amy Gooden) Ensign, Jan. 2005, 79

“Q&A: Questions and Answers--I want to serve a mission because I know it’s the right thing to do, but I’m very nervous about receiving a mission call. How do I know I’ll have what it takes to be a good missionary?,” (Elder Kevin Bryant) New Era, Jun 2000, 10

"City Recognizes Missionary Service," (Elder Chad Butterfield and Elder Kevin Carver) Church News [Saturday, 22 April 2000].

“LDS Scene--Procession of Light in Huntington Beach,” Ensign, Apr. 2000, 78

"From Around the World--300 members join interfaith effort," (President Grant Pullan mentioned) Church News [Saturday, 19 February 2000].

“Thirteen New Missions Created,” (The California Long Beach Mission is created from a division of the California Los Angeles, California Arcadia, and California Anaheim Missions. The new mission will serve approximately 1.5 million people, with about 24,000 members organized into seven stakes.) Ensign, Apr. 1998, 76.

"New missions created; total now 331," (Three missions - the Los Angeles, Arcadia and Anaheim missions - will be divided to create the California Long Beach Mission. The new mission, centered in the harbor and naval city of Long Beach, will have a population of 1.5 million and a Church membership of 24,000 in seven stakes.) Church News [Saturday, 10 January 1998].

Stories

LDS Mission Network

Jo Phillips, "Missionary Moments: One Baptism," Church News [Saturday, 9 August 2003].

Missionary Letter: Becoming a New Person

Sunday, June 28, 2009 11:28 PM

Hello again from Zhongli. From the looks of it, I will be here forever...my companion leaves two weeks early during this transfer, so either I will go senior for 2 weeks with a native Taiwanese who will become a missionary for 2 weeks, or I will become a three-some with other sisters. That would be hard though because the closest sisters are Bade and Taoyuan. Both are a train ride and then like 10-15 more minute bike ride. So it wouldn't be easy to visit my investigators during that time. But it would be hard to be with a native Taiwanese who doesn't really know the missionary lessons and would be unable to speak to me in English. My Chinese is not at par to be able to handle that yet, and I highly doubt it will until I change companions....But yeah, I think white washing isn't a super common affair, so unless something uncommon happens, I'll be in Zhongli this and next transfer. But that's just my personal opinion...you never know.

President Grimley will be here on Wednesday. We saw President and Sister Nielson for the last time here in Zhongli on Sunday. They came and spoke in the 2nd ward. It was nice to see them for the last time...and we finally got those letters we wrote to them...My companion lost the letters twice...so we had to bike all over the world and waste a lot of time and energy both times just to get them...but I put a lot of effort into them, so that really was a blessing that we were able to find them again both times. The Nielson's told me I looked good and had a light in my eyes and stuff. I guess I was happy to hear that, because its true. I really have changed a lot from when I first got here and I'm a lot better. Still a lot of things I need to change, but as long as I'm making steps and becoming a better person a little every day, I figure that's what really matters. You can't become a new person in one day. I used to want to, and tried, and failed. I mean, maybe some people can, but for me, it's just step by step.

But yeah, it was really cool, President had us missionaries get up and we sang I am a Child of God. It was a really neat experience. I saw a lot of woman crying in the crowd. I think it was a good thing for our ward.

Then later that night, we had a missionary fireside for the other ward. So this was a good week for the wards.

This week has been pretty slow. It hasn't even been a week since we wrote. I guess the cool thing of the week is that 11 people were at church. So that's really good. Especially since we only have 2 people with dates. But honestly, I was still a little :( because I had a goal for 15, since 20 people said they were coming. My companion said she highly doubted that many would come. She was suprised 11 came. So I guess wo de xinxin bu gou. My faith wasn't enough. Maybe one day.

Mom and Dad...I need you guys to send me a family picture I asked for forever ago! Also I need a way to get my pictures from my camera to the computer...I've been borrowing my companions and she leaves in a couple weeks. I told dad forever ago for just a couple bucks you can get something that converts my sd card to a jump drive. So if you could find that really soon so I can keep sending pictures that would be great!

And gigi, can you try to get me the following addresses, I would like to write....Amanda Lowder, Sara Medina, Nick Drake, and Cole. Matt Moses will probably have Cole's address, the other ones have facebook. So if you could do that for me, it would be great. I thought of other ones before, but now that's all I can remember.

Okay well time is up, byebye.

Philadelphia Mission President Works Off the Pounds of Three Missionaries

President Mike Murray of the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission has been working his missionaries so hard that three of them have lost a combined weight of 215 pounds. The Biggest Loser has nothing on the rigors of serving under Murray as he keeps them super-busy. Check out The Biggest Loser--Missionary Style.

Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission Dissolved

Mike Murray, President of the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission revealed last week on his blog that the Harrisburg Mission was dissolved with missionaries going to the Pennsylvania Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Missions.

He describes the area that his mission picked up in great detail:

Effective July 1, 2009 the Scranton Pennsylvania Stake will become part of the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission (PPM). There are 8 units (wards or branches) in this stake and there are 22 missionaries currently serving in these areas. Previously this stake was part of the Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission. The Harrisburg mission is being absorbed into its two adjacent neighbors -- PPM on the east and Pittsburgh on the west.

PPM will now consist of five stakes: Scranton, Reading, Valley Forge, Philadelphia and Wilmington. A stake typically has 5-12 units and 3,000 - 5,000 members. We will have 142 missionaries assigned to our mission.

The church adds and dissolves missions for various reasons. I guess in this case the Harrisburg Mission is one of the casualties of change.

Hidden Objects: Unusual MTC Missionary Tradition

Unbeknownest to most Mormon missionaries attending the MTC are the hidden objects in their rooms many times hidden in the ceiling of their room or behind the dressers or cabinets.

One missionary Elder Justin Lee Larson of the South Carolina Columbia Mission turned me on to this little known MTC tradition that I never knew about when I served or any of my children told me about when they served the past three years. Elder Larson's blog says:

There is a tradition in the MTC where missionaries tag different objects in their dorm so that a piece of them lives on in the MTC forever. The missionaries hide the items, and somehow every new set of missionaries finds the items and then are inspired to leave their own marks. Justin’s room was all about the lost books.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:2a50718d-9966-43d0-bd1a-5191095f2f6d&showPlaylist=true" target="_new" title="Lost Books">Video: Lost Books</a>

I wonder what is hidden in the rooms. I hope other missionaries keep the tradition going. It is very interesting to see what creative pursuits missionaries come up with. I bet the current batch hide their swine noses or pig snouts. It is another example of Mormon folk culture. Now we all know what to look for! So missionaries need to be even sneakier.

Missionary Letter: Haowan (Progress in Zhongli, Tawain)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 6:06 AM

This week was a lot of fun, and I want to send pictures, so once again I'm going to write as fast as possible. And since you put important information up front in things like newspapers, next week Preparation day is going to be on Monday, or your Sunday night, we get move calls Friday. So only Annika and Gigi emailed me, and I still want to hear from them again, but by Sunday night I would like Desi to write me that long email that disappeared I was promised a LONG time ago, and I'd love to see pregnant pictures from Gen and Stuart, I know you have them! And since I can't be there I need to see the pictures! hehe. And mom and dad!!!! You guys are supposed to email me every week! So you can't forget.

This week went by pretty fast. President Nielson is leaving here pretty soon, so we had our last interviews with him as president. It was a sad and happy occasion. I got to talk to Sister Nielson for awhile and I really got to see how a mission presidents wife can be involved in the missionary work. I found out that she receives inspiration about missionaries health and stuff. So yeah, the wives have a really big part in this work. We had lots of laughs. She's such a smart woman. I like the Nielson's a lot. I bet I'll love the Grimley's too. I'm so excited to meet them.

This week was just a happy week. Yesterday we didn't have a very planned out day and I thought it would be really slow, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and we visited an awesome family, and our last appointment was with the Li family, with Yvonne and her husband, and the Shan family did it with us. It was so good. The Shan family talked about how the mom and dad had split up and how they both ended up investigating the church, how the mother was a member referral, and the father saw a flyer about families and thought it was really great and realized his family had fallen apart, and they both investigated, but went to 2 different wards, so didn't even know. Then she eventually was told she has to call her husband for permission to be baptized and they were investigating the church...they got back together and now they are the cutest family I have ever seen and they love each other so much. And the Li family just really needed to hear their story. Yvonne was crying and her husband said he didn't realize how important families were before, and how he knows that studying about the church should bring them closer, but he has to slowly try to find a belief in God. Which the Elders are working on that with him! And doing great. So I'm excited for them. They are both progressing now and it is now something I see happening in the next few transfer that they get baptized.

My other favorite investigator we have right now, Rita, is just so great. I am happy when I visit her. She's willing to make a lot of changes in her life, but last lesson I think we threw too much on her at once, but it's okay, because now we know her problem is the Sabbath because it's her husbands only day off, so clearly we need to also get her husband interested to really help her. But for now she's just so cute and great, she was willing to keep every other commandment except the Sabbath day we told her about so far, and she even told us she'd invite her husband to church and see what he thought about the Sabbath day. So I'm excited for her.

Today we went to a theme parklike place with our new investigator, Lin Yuting and 2 new members, and all the Zhongli 2nd ward missionaries. I think it really helped her get to know us, and she likes church and is really good friends with the 2 boys baptized last week, so I'm excited to start seeing more of her. She's so cute. So now I will try to send pictures of today! Bye bye!

Is Swine Flu Winding Down at the MTC?: I Don't Think So

On Monday, 15 June 2009 Elder Drew Swainston reported:

Swine Flu is still a huge issue here and we still can't shake hands or play basketball. There are about 50 people in quarantine still and that lasts for about 10 days (quarantine). There is an Elder on our floor who was in quarantine since the day I got here. He said it was the most boring experience ever. He just sat and read or sat and stared at the wall.

On Tuesday 16 June 2009 Elder Daniel Brown tells us:

The hardest thing in the MTC is avoiding the Swine Flu! My district is dropping like flies, it seems like every morning another Elder or two is down for the count. My entire zone is now on TamiFlu, so it is unlikely that I will get it now. The church found some secret supply of vaccines so now they are handing them out like candy. Unfortunately, I read the side effects of the drug. 70% of the control group experienced violent diarrhea. That is kind of a bummer. The doctor who gave us the pills (I'm quite convinced he wasn't even a real doctor) told us not to read the instructions because it would make us scared! Quite funny, oh well. I'll take that over being quarantined for a week. I can't afford being out of the classroom for that long, I will fall behind way too fast.

On Wednesday 17 June 2009 a missionary reported to his family:

This has been a very interesting week. First and foremost, my companion has swine flu. He has been in quarantine for 4 days, but will get out tomorrow. He and 2 other Elders in my district tested positive. I was tested, but I'm fine. All of the healthy missionaries are on Tamiflu to make sure we don't get it. I've had a temporary companion, Elder Andersen (one of my roommates) He's a good missionary and very nice, but he's a little spastic. His favorite activities are whistling, singing, and making noise. He's fun though. After finding out that my district was so flu ridden, Carly bought me some airborne and hand sanitizer :-)

Also on the same day Elder Riley Jones Leigh reported:

Well my first piece of interesting news.... Elder Christofferson in our District got the Swine Flue! He has been moved into quarantine for 5 days and our entire district has been put on Tami flu to help prevent us from getting it too. Pretty Crazy huh? The swine flue really is hitting the MTC hard, there are sanitization booths everyone and they encourage you the use it every time you go past. Don't worry though, we are all ok and none of us are showing any flu symptoms.

Elder Brady Johnson gave a very thorough report on the same day:

Hey one and all!

So today is my p-day and I’ll try to answer all of you questions if I can remember them all but I only have 30 minutes on the computer. so… the story behind the whole flu here at the MTC is that a total of 75 people have gotten it so far and I am one of the lucky ones who got it!! Haha — yeah you guys can make fun of me all you want but I know that I got it for a reason. and that reason is to humble me and make me realize that I’m not invincible! haha kind of funny really. I definitely think the Lord has a sense of humor! But the day I got sick was Tuesday and I felt sick when I woke up and was dry heaving in the morning but then I started to get chills and at the health clinic I had a temperature of 100, and I tested positive for Influenza A. The test that they do to see if you have the flu is so ridiculous! They shove a giant Q-tip up your nose and probe at your brain. I heard people talk about it and when the doctor was there and about to go in to my massive nostrils, I told her to just make it fast. IT WAS THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE THING EVER!!! And when she pulled it out, my nose was bleeding and my eyes were watering and it was crazy! They then put one of the very stylish surgical masks on me until the test came back. So a long story short is that I had Influenza A and pretty much if you have had the flu shot and you get the flu than it is the swine because it has mutated and people can still get it. So they threw me into the quarantine and it was a nightmare! I had a lot of trials while in isolation. My patience was tried and I was going insane. The first two days in isolation I was out cold in bed all day sleeping but after that I was up and able to move around and stuff. Once I was able to move around I felt great and I wasn’t even sick anymore. So it was frustrating to know that I was stuck in a hallway with all these sick people when I was fine. Pretty much the isolation place was just a residence hall and 4 people to a room and you are locked in the hallway you are assigned and they bring you food. While in there, there was no rules as far as sleeping and stuff which was annoying because people were up at 3 in the morning messing around… but this place was gross! There were 40 elders in one hall and it was absolutely trashed. Soooooo grossss! The air was thick and hot. A kid in my room actually was up at Rockland Apartments in Rexburg and I knew him kind of so we became friends and so that was nice. But I did get a lot of studying done which I’m happy about so it was good. Once I got out Sunday morning was amazing. To actually be outside in fresh air was amazing. So that is the story of me becoming a swiner… I lucked out on my severeness of the swine. Some kids had to go home it was so bad!

A week ago 10 June 2009 Sister Sallie Wilson reported:

I spoke a little too soon about the swine flu avoiding my district here...the day after I sent that email (last Thursday), TWO missionaries in my district got quarantined, one of which was one of the sisters in my room. That meant that on Friday, our whole district got to go in for a special "health meeting," where they gave all of us a preventative medication called Relenza. All districts who have missionaries go into quarantine get it, in the hopes that it will prevent the rest of us from getting the flu. I wasn't too crazy about the idea, but I decided that it's for the best, and that I needed to be obedient. So I'm taking it...4 days left! Right after that meeting, MY companion went and got sick, though apparently not with the flu. She was in bed for most of that night, and pretty much the whole next day. We finally took her back to the clinic Saturday night (we'd taken her on Friday and they just sent her away with some Sudafed), to find out for sure what was wrong. Since it was Saturday night, that meant that the MTC clinic was closed, so we got to go to the local clinic here in Provo. Yep, I left the mission boundaries on my one-month mark. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was nice to have a little change of scenery! A little weird to sit in a waiting room where Batman was on TV though. . . She tested negative for the flu, but the Dr. did mention that the Relenza that we're all on could have masked it and made the test come back wrong...fabulous! She's been pretty much out of it until today, which means that I've been inside on my residence floor for several days. Got some good personal study in though, and it wasn't too bad. I'm still fine, as is the other Hermana in our room. The most I ever got was a slight runny nose, so I'm very grateful!

You would think the swine flu would be winding down now that a week has gone by as you can see from Sister Wilson's report to the four other elders. In fact I am impressed that the general authorities with the mission presidents are going in there next week since older people have a harder time fighting off swine flu I hope they don't get sick. The missionaries are sure handling their bouts with the flu well.

Sister Missionary to Sing for GA's and Mission Presidents

Sister Sallie Wilson who is going to a Spanish-speaking mission in Los Angeles is excited to be chosen as one of only 36 missionaries who will sing each day for the mission presidents, their wives, and the general authorities during the four day mission presidents' seminar that will be held next week in the MTC.

Hermana Wilson shares her excitement:

So each June, they have the New Mission Presidents' Seminar, where all the incoming mission presidents come and are trained by the Bretheren here at the MTC, over a 4-day period. So that's exciting in and of itself, because it means that next week the entire first presidency and quorum of the 12, along with various other General Authorities will be here! But wait, there's more! ("It's a NEW CAR!!!" just kidding, just kidding :) Each morning they have a devotional, and they have a small choir of missionaries do a special musical number for said devotional. Small as in 36 missionaries small. 36 out of 2500 in the whole MTC. And guess who was chosen to be in this small choir of 36 (8 missionaries per part)? ME!!!! AND my companion!!! AND 2 elders from our district!!!!! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! That means that next Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun (possibly twice on Sunday), I get to sing for all the new mission presidents, and at least some of the bretheren (Pres. Monson is coming on Sunday) EVERY DAY!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!! Keep in mind that this only happens once a year, and I'm here for it!

I am surprised they didn't move the seminar up to Salt Lake City or to a different location at BYU with the swine flu problem. I am glad that the mission presidents and General Authorities are proving how tough they are to go in to the MTC. It shows they put their health where their mouth is.

Missionary Letter: Missionaries Asked to Rededicate Themselves: Church Celebrates 50 Years in Taiwan since Dedication

Everyone who lived within about 2 hours from Taipei went down to the Grand Hotel to celebrate 50 years of the land of Taiwan dedicated (13 June 2009) this last Saturday. Almost the whole mission was there. We walked from the J Train to the hotel together as missionaries.

They asked us to rededicate ourselves as missionaries. It was fun to see a lot of people from the MTC again. First picture is Sister Ho, Olsen, and I. Sister Olsen is in Bade so I actually saw her this Sunday at a baptism of a girl my companion taught for a long time, so we went down for her baptism. They were both in the MTC the transfer after me.

Got Swine? MTC Funny Picture (Both Missionaries Ramirez and Forsyth Had Swine Flu)

Missionary Letter: Investigator Commits to Baptism after Randomly Reading a Scripture

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 12:59 AM

There isn't a lot to really say about this week, I'm spending most of my time on the computer sending pictures this week.

This week went by kind of slow, but it's weird because most days I don't remember what happened. Probably because I was lazy about writing in my journal this week, so I don't really remember what happened in the days.

Yesterday we rode around on our bikes for like 3 plus hours because plans ended up falling through, and then all of the things we did were on the opposite sides of our area. It put me in kind of a bad mood because I was so hot and tired and just didn't even want to bike to our last appointment by the end of the night. But I'm glad we did because we went and saw Rita. I love that lady. She's just so happy and nice she helps make me happier. We talked about keeping the commandments and the importance of baptism. So yeah our last appointment was really good.

I'm just going to tell the highlight story of the week, then the rest of my time i'm using to send pictures. This week we had an investigator, Zhen Peiyu. She's a really cute 28 year old girl who works at the Herbal Life store with her mother. She hasn't really been progressing a lot, so we didn't schedule to really meet with her that often, we would just see her when we went to visit her mom, and just encouraged her. But back a couple months ago, she said she couldn't be baptized until the 6th month. Well, we went over the other week and said, Peiyu, June is almost here, are you ready to start keeping the commandments? And she said maybe she'd try. She said she still remembered to pray sometimes. So we decided to set up with her, which we hadn't set up with just her in a long time. So this week we had an appointment with her Sunday night. We weren't really positive what we were going to discuss because Sundays we don't usually have time for companion study. So we went into the lesson, and my companion asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon yet, they met missionaries back in March. And she said she still hadn't. So S. Hill was like, (and this is me translating to my best ability) well what great luck (geng2 hao3)! We have time right now. Let's pray and ask God to give you an answer if the Book of Mormon is true, since he sees that you have faith and pray. And so we kneeled down and my companion prayed, and while she was praying I was praying that Peiyu would get her answer and feel the spirit. And after the prayer we got the Book of Mormon off the table and told her to suibien flip and see what answer God had for her. She turned to Jacob 5. She started reading towards the end of the chapter about how this was the last time he was going to labor in his vineyard, until I think vs. 75. We weren't so into reading the end about burning in the fire. The spirit was so strong and all the while, still on our knees we talked about how the Lord was speaking to her, and she was sooo excited because she said it answered the question she'd been looking for an answer to about work for a long time, about how she needed to be more diligent and other things. And then after about 15 minutes on our knees, or more...they hurt so bad...we extended the baptism commitment and told her God wanted her to keep his commandments. She said okay and we got up, figured out a good date, and had Peiyu say a closing prayer and thank God for answering her question. After the closing prayer, she still had a question. She said the reason she was willing to commit to baptism was because we didn't' give up on her, even though she wasn't progressing like Daidai or her mother who came to church, but we still wanted to meet with her. So we both shared about how we loved her and gave our reason for being out here in Taiwan and willing to not give up on her. We shared quite a few scriptures, mostly in Alma 26 about glorifying in God and about being comforted when people didn't want to listen, but knowing that this is what will bring them the most happiness in their life. It was a really neat lesson. Seriously the best one I've been in so far. So now Peiyu who wasn't progressing since I got here in Zhongli is progressing! And when she gets back from Korea, she just went to Korea yesterday, then she will start coming to church! YAY! :)

So yeah, now I will go send pictures, if I have more time, maybe I'll write more later. Probably not though! Bye!

Fu jiemei.

Scabies and Missionaries

When I lived in Hawaii I contacted scabies from my small children who picked it up in the LDS Church nursery. It takes contact with a kid or someone with them to get scabies. Hot tropical climates and other crowded areas are prone to scabies. Getting them has nothing to do with how clean you are since even clean people can come down with them. I and my kids took a bath every day of our lives as does the missionary in the case below.

The Center for Disease Control says about scabies:

Human scabies is caused by an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis). The microscopic scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs. The most common symptoms of scabies are intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash. The scabies mite usually is spread by direct, prolonged, skin-to-skin contact with a person who has scabies.

Scabies occurs worldwide and affects people of all races and social classes. Scabies can spread rapidly under crowded conditions where close body contact is frequent. Institutions such as nursing homes, extended-care facilities, and prisons are often sites of scabies outbreaks.

This week I read Elder S. Tyler Minetto's blog post Scabies and Baptism which reminded me of just how pesky scabies can be:

wEll well well. i hope you all love that title cause its 100 percent true

So this week was interesting. First thing is first.

So my comp and i totally got SCABIS this week. it totally stunk sooooooooooooooooooooooo bad. So i really started itching bad on sunday of last week. And i was just itching SUPER SUPER bad, i totally felt like a stinking monkey cause i would itch my back like every 2 seconds and rub it on trees and things cause i couldnt reach it sometime. hahaha. So then Tues it got really bad and i decided to look at my back and it had a huge red rash all over it. So i called sis hansen and she told mi to take pics and send them to her through the email and she sent them to the mision doctor in Mexico City. She called mi back that night at like 10pm and told mi that my comp and i had scabis. So that same night we went to the store and bought a cream and pills. And the next day our whole body just felt itchy and crazy and that morning sis hansen told us that we had to wash EVERYTHING in our house. So we washed our Graments and we took all our laundry to a washing place and we had to pay 425 pesos….like 40 bucks. Then we washed the house down like crazy. That day we ended up starting to work at like 5pm. It was horrible.

Scabis are like little bugs that get in your skin and lay eggs and then those hatch and it just keeps going. So we finally killed them all. But i think i gave them to some other guys in our zone cause they had some problems too right after us and its getting to be a problem here in the mision now cause alot of people are getting them. boooooooo to scabis. i thought only dogs got them. They killed mi and my comp. hahaha

This elder and his companion were fortunate to knock them off so easily. It took me about two months to kill them the time I had them in Hawaii. Scabies are tricky mites that come out when a person is sleeping and bite the crap out of you so sometimes it takes a while to detect them. Fortunately for these elders they were being bitten while awake. I had to have a doctor look through powerful magnifying glasses to see them since they are so infinitesimally small and hard to detect so they are lucky they were diagnosed with just a picture.

I took Permethrin to kill mine off and it was very harsh on my body. I am sure there are a few other options for killing them. I read that Lindane is used if you are unsuccessful with Permethrin. I am glad the missionaries killed theirs off the first time. I hope I never have to experience scabies again in my life since they are worse than fleas or lice and hurt like crazy. There are a few natural remedies like Thyme to kill them off on the mattress. Wickipedia has a good section on how to treat them.

It is amazing what hardships missionaries have to go through in the service of the Lord. One of the ways to get rid of the eggs of these pesks is to wash everything and I mean everything down including bedding. I even vacuumed the mattress to get rid of their eggs. It is hard to kill the actual scabies because they burrow in your skin and hatch. I am sure most missionaries don't consider that they might confront pesky little creatures like scabies, head lice, ticks, and bed bugs on a mission. These trials will prepare the elders for being parents later.

This Week: Missionary Letter

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 10:45 PM

Hey everyone!

I don't have as much time to write this week because first I took care of some business for my ward mission leader and an activity that I hope works out for our Young Women's, but since I can't email non-family members, I had to send it to gigi to have her forward it to the people I needed it sent to. Haha. So funny how many paths I had to go through to send 2 short emails. Thanks for doing that for me Gigi! But yeah I told our ward mission leader about having this testimony sharing opportunity with a ward from America, so I hope that it ends up being something they are able to do, because I know it will help them to be able to express their testimonies and everything. Some of the mothers here have expressed a concern about their children not having testimonies of the gospel, so it would be a good way for their parents to see that they really do have testimonies, written out and all. The only concern is time, so we will see what time frame she's on.

So just a really fast overview since I have only a couple minutes remaining, this week we had zone conference. It was our last one with President and Sister Nielson. It was very touching. There were a lot of tears. But good tears too. Everyone was sad to know this was our last one with them, but there were so many very strong testimonies. I really loved the two zone conferences and one mission conference I had with the Nielson's. Even though I was only here 2 transfers with them, I feel like they really love their missionaries and they are really amazing and great to us, so I am sad to see them go. But I'm sure our new mission president, Grimley will be great. We still have 3 more weeks with the Nielson's, then our mission will change. Taiwan will go down to two missions instead of three, and Taipei boundaries will change. It's kind of bittersweet, you know? Because change is a lot of fun it makes life interesting and each new day unique. But then at the same time change is incredibly hard because you learn to love people a lot. And then in seconds they are gone. Everyone always says the reason a mission prepares you for marriage is because you are with a companion all the time. But I've started to think a big reason people are more ready to get married after a mission is because they know what change is like. You change areas, companions, investigators. Your life changes a lot on a mission. Every transfer. Things aren't stable. I think it makes you feel like when you get home, you are ready for stability. Or at least, in my personal opinion it would. Everyone is different. Haha, just since President and his wife are leaving and wont be able to give everyone parting advice, they have been asking them to give them advice before they leave. So then it was on my mind for a couple minutes during zone conference and that's the conclusion I came to. Although I don't see myself getting married really soon after my mission. But I'll definitely be more ready than I was back in college, when a lot of people my age were getting married.

Okay that subject is boring now for another year at least...lets see something else at zone conference was just they talked about the fire with the baptism covenant. They talked about how we would have fire of adversity/trials. That brought a new meaning to the baptism of fire to us. In District meeting yesterday, Elder Lords asked us why it was that after baptism, it seemed like more adversity was prevalent (sp?) in our lives. The response I gave that came to my mind, although I'm not sure I'm completely right or wrong, was that with the gift of the Holy Ghost, we were then more accutely able to feel the power of the adversary working in our lives. That it was an awareness thing partly. And I said some other stuff I don't remember, but E. Lords responded that what I said sounded good, and another reason he thought it was that way is because when we make correct choices, the adversary isn't happy and is going to work doubly as hard to make us transgress, because he doesn't want us to be happy. He read to us from Moses chapter 1 about Satan. Satan is creepy in the Pearl of Great Price. I read PoGP in my first transfer and decided that. So yeah. That was neat that President and Sister Nielson talked about that and brought it to our attention.

So last Preparation day, we went down to Yingge and made pots. It was a lot of fun. I have some fun pictures I'll send one of these Preparation Days where we have time to pay for more time on the computer so we can send pictures, but today isn't one of them because in 8 minutes we are headed over to Taipei for Temple day. We get one every transfer. How lucky am I to be in this mission and get a Temple day once a transfer on preparation day. Pretty lucky I think :). The other mission gets to come once a yearish. And people in our mission too far away don't get to either. So I'm lucky to be in Zhongli, far enough from Taipei that it's a TAD cooler...but close enough it's not impossible to go for temple tours and temple day. By the way, I found out Taipei is nicknamed the concrete jungle...for good reason. It's hot here and it's not even summer yet! I'm so glad that when it's starting to get this hot next year I'm going home! I think it would be very hard for me to get through two summers here. AHHH. Me, accustomed to Idaho sent here to Taiwan. Haha. I'm hot! And it's really humid. Some days right before and after the rain it's hard for me to breathe. People used to say that about Rexburg, but I didn't feel that way. But now I do in the humidity. :)

Our investigators are doing okay. We found 6 new ones last week so I'm really excited about a new pool of investigators. My companion and I have been praying for new ones. We also fasted for them to come to church and the one we wanted most to come did! So our prayers and fasts are being answered. It's hot and the work is progressing. Life is good!

I didn't hear from mom and dad this week, don't forget to write me!

K bye!

Residence Hall Made into Isolation Unit for Swine Flu

Elder Darin Knudsen in his weekly letter home this week has given us some new information about where missionaries are being quarantined at the MTC due to the swine flue outbreak:

Have you guys heard about the swine flu?! Ha Ha its like a zoo here! Nobody dares do any bodily function for fear of being sentenced to 4M!!! (4M is like the prison for all the sick people. they have taken a whole residence building and made it isolation!!! Its crazy, our zone leader said he felt a little bit sick and we haven't seen him all week! Its the same building as the barborshop so today when I got my haircut we went up one flight of stairs and signs were saying DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU LIVE HERE. MISSIONARIES STAY AWAY. I talked to someone who talked to one of the missionaries in there and he said they had to talk through a small window but the kid in isolation said I feel fine but they wont let me out!! They are all so lonely in there. they just stare out the windows ha ha you can see them at night. we actually got a letter form our district president from the inside that said its like a zoo in there. A lot of the Missionaries are not keeping the rules!! ha ha I was actually way sick last week but i never told anyone for fear of 4M. Whats the news in the outside world on the swine flu. I'm not worried i'm tough as nails. Its actually way way funny!! Its totally helped lighten the mood here. And they equiped us with inhailers ha ha to fight sickness!! Its pretty serious. you can't even leave your room if your sneezing or coughing or anything!! Its funny. Oh and it helps that mom sent me with all this allergy medicine and EMERGEN-C's so thanks mom.) Sorry this letter is kinda scattered, this little red clock in the corner that is counting down is stressing me out!!!! > Anyway, my flight plans and travel plans have stayed the same. originally they weren't going to let us out of here untill the 15th but I think they know it would be best to get out of this MTC de Muerte!! but they gave me a call home pass to tell you this so let me know if you want me to call home and when. It can only be five minutes though, but when I travel I can call whoever whenever so make sure EVERYONE is by there phones on the 11th!!

It looks like they are sending a few missionaries out in to the field and revising the idea to keep them longer.

Blog of the Month: Extraordinary Missionary Effort among Ke'kchi and Guatemalan Youth Reported On Mission President's Blog

I came across a very interesting mission president's blog Torres Zion. There really aren't a lot of mission presidents' blogs out there so every one I find is a gem as I can see what is really happening out in the mission field. He reports some very interesting happenings including the visit of Elder Quentin L. Cook and preparing 1,000 Guatemalan young people to serve missions. The Deseret News missed both important events that should have been reported.

This blog gives us a glimpse into the happenings of President and Sister David and Maria Luisa Torres. The blog describes the demographics of the mission as having 172 missionaries divided into six districts with two Districts that are Ke'kchi speaking. The mission comprises all of the north -eastern part of Guatemala City and its surrounding communities. The northern boundary of the mission ends at the Mexican border. There are some very colorful pictures like the one above.

A couple of weeks ago President Torres described the visit of Elder Quentin L. Cook:

On April 30 at 2pm we were blessed with a visit from Elder Quentin L. Cook in Guatemala City. We had a very special meeting with him and his wife which included the Area Presidency, Elder Don Clarke, Shirley Christensen, and Enrique Falabella of the Seventy and missionaries from all three Missions in the City as well as streaming broadcast to our missionaries in Petén and Coban (including the Polochic and Senahu Zones). All together the audience totaled over 1200 in attendance.

Elder Cook reviewed for us the importance of seeking the spirit in both finding and teaching our investigators and using the inspired book for our generation of missionaries… “Preach My Gospel.” He told us to be mindful of the 4 Loves, Love the people, Love your companion, Love your Mission President and most important…Love the Lord.

On 29 April 2009 President Torres reported an unusual event that has great significance for missionary work throughout the world:

Guatemala is witnessing the greatest number of young men to submit applications to join us in our forces to accomplish the great work assigned us by the Savior, to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

On April 25, 2009 young men and women participated in the “Jornada medico” where they congregated in Guatemala to attend an event that would prepare more than a 1000 young men and woman to enter the mission field.

Latter-Day Saint Doctors, Dentist, and other medical professionals came from the United States, bringing with them supplies and equipment to examine, correct minor dental issues and help each prospective missionary fill-out their applications to be submitted.

It was a great effort for the many health care professionals to donate their time and travel and medical expertise to take care of such a large group of young men and women. It is no small undertaking to give the future missionaries vaccinations, fill cavities or extract teeth. I am very impressed by the dozens of LDS dentists who travel the world helping out their fellow Saints many times at great personal sacrifice.

The mission president himself helped in a small as he described his efforts in readying the young men for their passport and VISA pictures:

I was able to help in a small way by feeding our young people and also as a “barber” on Monday afternoon. Some of the young men were reluctant to part with their locks, but I was there to sooth their concerns.

Check out Torres' Zion because this guy and his wife are really down to earth people.

Ending A Missionary Tradition: Swine Flu Breakout Catalyst for Eliminating Missionary Tradition of Missionary Drop-off Devotionals

This week Bored in Vernal and I discovered the elimination of the Mormon practice of taking your missionary to the MTC and reported on it in our new blog He Said/She Said. The swine flu breakout precipitated the decision on the part of the missionary executive committee to discontinue the practice. On the blog He Said/She Said are differing reactions to the policy. In many ways it was a faith-promoting experience that required a constant outlay of people power to coordinate the arrival of new missionaries. In addition it tied up the presidency of the MTC and a member of the First Quorum of Seventy who was usually on site to greet the families.

Tiarna Bronach reported about dropping off her brother this week:

On a completely different note (and in a completely different emotional direction), my one and only little brother went into the MTC today. We couldn't even go inside because they're having swine flu and regular flu issues, so we had to just hug and say goodbye on the curb where we unloaded his luggage.

'Twas very sad. ;_;

In Bored in Vernal's account she lamented about the discontinuation of the practice:

So with all of the policy changes which have taken place in the past few years, I very much regret to see another of our Mormon traditions bite the dust: the MTC drop-off.

It's been a wonderful tradition, ever since the Provo MTC was built in 1978, for families to be able to bring their missionaries to the campus, check them in, take pictures, participate in a brief orientation, and then bid their missionary goodbye. Families exit one door, and missionaries another, amid many tears. As a young convert missionary in 1981, I had no family to take me through this ritual, but I watched with a tender heart as mothers hugged their sons goodbye, little brothers shook hands solemnly, and the families wept. I loved being a part of it. I had the opportunity to take my oldest two daughters to the MTC in 2006 and 2007. When my third daughter departed this past January, we were unable to go with her, but three of her sisters, who were attending BYU took her through the rigamarole.

I actually saw the utilitarian side and the vast amount of effort and resources that were being expended in keeping the tradition going and felt that the Church was doing the socially responsible thing in ending the practice. In my commentary on the practice on He Said/She Said I agreed with the decision because:

I am not sure what their experience will be now that this sappy tradition is ended. I think of the literally tens of thousands of hours spent in saying goodbye and the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in traveling to Provo by families who would come from all over the country. The Church ending this tradition is being more health and resource conserving.

I fully agreed with Richard G. Hinckley and the Church's reasoning in discontinuing the practice for health security:

Hinckley says they've had outbreaks of other viruses before and similar protocols are used. However, this time it will permanently change how parents say goodbye to their children at the MTC.

"Those [parents] who typically do come, from this area, will be asked to drop them off, from this point forward in time, at the MTC and say goodbye to them at the doorstep and not come into the buildings," Hinckley said.

Check out the He Said/She Said blog for a deeper look at the subject and take the poll to express your feelings one way or the other on the topic.

Host Missionaries at the MTC: New Welcoming Technique

Elder Kevin Forsell describes a new missionary intake process that is being conducted at the MTC on his Special Delivery from Dallas blog:

Good morning! Yesterday was GREAT! We had that "mystery" thing to do with the new missionaries. Here's what it was. The MTC is no longer allowing family into the MTC to say goodbye to missionaries. (Aren't you glad I entered when I did?) Instead, this is how they're doing it: The families can drop off their missionary, take one picture, and two minutes to say goodbye. Then the missionary is taken in by a "host missionary" for 10-15 minutes who takes them to their room and shows them around the MTC. One of those host missionaries was me!! It was SO fun! I took under my wing about 6 missionaries. Not at the same time, obviously, but one after another. It was kinda sad to watch them say goodbye to their family, but they'll do fine.

I am glad to see that missionaries are now assigned as mentors to their fellow missionaries. It will help them to get situated.