April 17-23, 2022

 SUNDAY

Even though our friend Charles was not available to go to church today, we attended the Laveen Ward (which would be his ward) with the hope of meeting some of the people there. We met the Bishop and other ward leaders, the Full-time missionaries and others from the ward. It is a diverse and very welcoming ward. 

Then we attended for the first time the Tempe Ward, our assigned ward. They are small in number but a great spirit there. Elders Tappan and Ludbey are the FT Missionaries and have several people they are teaching. After church we met with Bishop Cowley. He had some people in mind for us to contact that could use a visit. Since Dustin and Meagan are here for the Mesa Temple open house, we all met at Matt and Mary's for dinner.

MONDAY

We try to start each day with exercise. Doug goes to the LA Fitness near our home and rides a bike and uses the machines. I walk the neighborhood. 

We picked up Ethan and met Dustin and Meagan and kids at the Mesa Temple Open House. It is a beautiful and historic building originally built in 1927. The kids were really reverent and attentive. Avery said her favorite room was the Bride's Room because it is so pretty. I love the temple and all it represents. The love of the Savior is there in abundance. As we keep the commitments and covenants we have made, including our baptismal covenant to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ, our sacramental covenant to always remember Him, and our temple covenants to be obedient, sacrifice, live the law of the gospel, be morally clean and consecrate ourselves, we are promised eternal life with our Heavenly Father and with each other. What a wonderful promise!

TUESDAY

We met with Elder Ludbey and Elder Nielsen today prior to District Council. Elder Ludbey serves with Elder Tappan in the Tempe Ward and are also the Assistants to the President. They were on splits today so Elder Nielsen was his companion. They are teaching the Miranda family and invited us to go with them tonight to teach a lesson. Raul and Noemi have been meeting with the missionaries for a few months. They have 3 kids, ages 3-13. They read the Book of Mormon and are planning to come to the ward activity on Saturday and to church on Sunday. They have some hesitation because they are busy with kids and work and are concerned about the time commitment of church attendance. Elder Glauser talked to them about the principle of faith and how we have to 'step into the water' before we will see the blessings. Here is a link to a short video that explains this principle. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2014-06-2100-exercise-faith-in-christ?lang=eng

WEDNESDAY

We stopped by the Mission Office and got a loaner phone (iPhones are not compatible with the Area Book App the mission uses). So now we have an Android. How many new tech things will these 2 old folks need to figure out?!? Actually we will just use it as a directory and still use our own phones for everything else. Whew!

This evening we did a little community service and helped clean the shelves at the Tempe Library. It is great to get out and help a bit.

THURSDAY

We started the day by joining the Elders and Sisters from our Zone at our Stake President's home for breakfast. President and Sister Johnson host this breakfast once each transfer. We had scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese AND pancakes with a scoop of ice cream and all the toppings. After breakfast President Johnson taught a short lesson and challenged us all to teach from the scriptures EVERY TIME we teach. we don't need to teach our own ideas 'mingled' with scriptures. That plan has been tried and it does not work.

We sat with three Sisters for breakfast and asked about where they were from and just a bit about them. Sister Perez is from Katy, TX. When we asked more about that, we found out she has worked closely with Mary at Stake YW Camp! 

Later in the afternoon we were at the church building next door to the Mission Office to meet with the Kaufman's, another Senior Couple. As we were walking from the Office to the Church, I saw Heather (Clark) Hales in her car. (Heather grew up in San Bernardino and spent lots of time at our house.) She jumped out and we embraced. She was waiting for her daughter to get out of school. The HS is across the street from the church. We already had plans to go to dinner at her house next week but this was an unexpected surprise!

FRIDAY

Wendy McWilliams was baptized a couple months ago and is a member of the Tempe Ward. She and her husband have been wanting to go to the Mesa Temple Open House. At the suggestion of the Elders in our ward, we called and arranged to take them. Jim was unable to go but we picked up Wendy and had a very nice time with her. After going on the tour of the Temple, we went to the Visitors Center and introduced her to FamilySearch. She is very interested in working on her family history and going back to the temple to do baptisms for her ancestors.

SATURDAY

We had the opportunity to join the Keep Tempe Beautiful clean-up project. Some Elders from our the Tempe Zone came out to serve. The city provided buckets for the trash and picker-uppers (those extension gadgets). Elder Glauser and I provided the juice, donuts, gloves and hand sanitizer 😁. This is a monthly opportunity. It's probably why the city looks so CLEAN. Elder Glauser and I went to the area on Friday evening to scope it out. We saw some trash, but it didn't look too bad. But on Saturday when we were actually picking up trash, it was amazing how much there was. Thanks Elders Fennemore, Holgate, Wilcox, Moessing, Rasmussen, Parduhn, Smith and Heaton.

We dropped off chocolate chip cookies to the two sets of Elders that live in our apartment complex. they seem to be hard-working young men.

The Tempe and Grandview wards had a joint activity tonight. Chili Cook-off, homemade rootbeer, Trunk or Treat, cupcake walk, face painting and more. Several families the Elders are teaching were there. The Miranda family that we met on Tuesday came and had a great time. We met lots of people from both wards. 

The Miranda family. Noemi (referee) and Raul (Winnie the Pooh) and their kids. Elder Ludbey (from Australia is Crocodile Dundee) and Elder Tappan (center back)

Elder Glauser serving the Rootbeer Floats