Thank Goodness for Missionaries!

If it weren't for our wonderful missionaries this would have been a rather abysmal day. Lucky for me Sister Honey and Sister Wood, the Baton Rouge South Sisters, had to bring their car to the office, and the Office Elders and Assistants were in and out today. Otherwise I probably would have dissolved into tears, because it seems like so much went wrong.

I discovered that I made one huge mistake in December by erroneously booking a missionary's return flight, but his parents are picking him up. Somehow I managed to do this after at least 4 communications with the family. I'd like to chalk it up to doing it during transfer week, but there was really no excuse for that blunder. I had a knot in my stomach all during our office meeting, which lasted until noon. It wasn't until I'd pled my case to the travel office that the knot went away. I even offered to pay the cancellation fees, but things were kindly resolved. What a huge relief that was.

The rest of the day was spent recovering from things that came in over the weekend, dealing with "Chuckie," the naughty printer, trying to figure out what happened to the "N-drive" that contains massive amounts of information that I use on a daily basis, why the referral website was down, resending returned mail, blah, blah, blah! Like I said--THANK GOODNESS FOR MISSIONARIES!" They're always smiling, cheerful, friendly, caring, and brighten my days!

To make this one really lousy day, I just found out that the "survival kit" I sent my grandson last month for finals ended up at some woman's house in Kentucky, not BYU Idaho!

A Furry Day at Church

I do believe it was warmer outside than inside the church today, but these two classy ladies, Sister Harris and Sister Taylor, came prepared. I, however, did not, and was happy to sit very close to Sister Taylor in Relief society. At least one side of me was warm.:) So, how long has it been since you've seen a woman wearing a fun hat, stole or coat?

It was High Council Sunday today, and Brother Ferguson shared this story that was related by President Hinckley many years ago:  (This is a very condensed version, but the whole story is on lds.org, December 2000 Ensign.)              

“Years ago there was a little one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to handle them.

“A young, inexperienced teacher applied, and the old director scanned him and asked: ‘Young fellow, do you know that you are asking for an awful beating? Every teacher that we have had here for years has had to take one.’

“‘I will risk it,’ he replied.

“The first day of school came, and the teacher appeared for duty. One big fellow named Tom whispered: ‘I won’t need any help with this one. I can lick him myself.’

“The teacher said, ‘Good morning, boys, we have come to conduct school...Suppose we have a few rules. You tell me, and I will write them on the blackboard.’  Finally, ten rules appeared on the blackboard.

“‘Now,’ said the teacher, ‘a law is not good unless there is a penalty attached. What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

“‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response from the class.

“In a day or so, ‘Big Tom’ found that his lunch had been stolen. The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old. ‘We have found the thief and he must be punished according to your rule—ten stripes across the back. Jim, come up here!’ the teacher said.

“‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“‘Oh, teacher, don’t make me!’ He began to unbutton, and what did the teacher see? The boy had no shirt on, and revealed a bony little crippled body.

“‘How come you aren’t wearing a shirt, Jim?’

“He replied, ‘My father died and my mother is very poor. I have only one shirt and she is washing it today, and I wore my brother’s big coat to keep me warm.’

“The teacher, with rod in hand, hesitated. Just then ‘Big Tom’ jumped to his feet and said, ‘Teacher, if you don’t object, I will take Jim’s licking for him.’

“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’

“Off came Tom’s coat, and after five strokes the rod broke! The teacher bowed his head in his hands and thought, ‘How can I finish this awful task?’ Then he heard the class sobbing, and what did he see? Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. ‘Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!’”

To lift a phrase from this simple story, Jesus, my Redeemer, has taken “my licking for me” and yours for you.

Jesus has, indeed, taken the lickings for all of us. It is through His grace, made possible by His Atoning Sacrifice, that we will live eternally. It is also through Him that we can attain exaltation. “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23)--"All" meaning that we must exercise faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repent of our sins, thus receiving strength beyond our own to do His will.

One Remarkable Lady!

We had the extreme fortune of having lunch today with Elder Bennett's mom. Remember Sister Lund, the mom who works one week each month in Baton Rouge and sent that yummy breakfast to the office a few week ago? Well, we met her for lunch this afternoon and had the best time. What a remarkable woman she is! I won't go into detail, but she became a single mom by the time Elder Bennett, the youngest of 5 children, was barely into elementary school. Since then she's supported her family and sent all of them on mission--single-handed! If any of the other 4 are like their youngest sibling then they're all stellar people. Kudos to you Tami. Thanks for your example, devotion and courage. We're enjoying the fruits of your labors.

And now for my new experience at lunch. We ate at The Little Village where Sister Lund highly recommended the bread, tapenade and garlic to start. Oh my yumminess! They bring out this beautiful loaf of braided Italian bread sitting in a puddle of olive oil and covered with toasted sesame seeds and parmesan with sides of tapenade and a whole bulb of roasted garlic. Yes, I ate it all, but not by myself, and I'd eat it again in a heartbeat!

Elder Bennett, Elder Morrell, Elder Hansen and Elder White

Elder Bennett's amazing mom--Tami Lund

And the day got even better:) Missionaries in the Baton Rouge Zone just received word that they're have car inspections at Zone Training tomorrow. Normally inspections are at Zone Conferences, which are next week, but because BR will be combined with 3 other zones that made for too many cars to be inspected at one time for the Office Elders. Inspections include washing and waxing all cars. It's a good thing Elder L bought 5 containers of wax last week, because it seems many companionships were out of wax. We gave them all out today!

Elder Abbott in the office for turtle wax

Sister Morris and Sister Lindstrom not only picked up wax, but did the work in the office parking lot. If they'd driven home it would have been too dark to get the job done correctly. Poor things came into the office when they finished. Their noses were pink and hands were freezing. It was 19 degrees when we came in today and didn't get a whole lot warmer.

Quick Pic

On our way out of the office the Zone Leaders were just coming in to get a new phone, so I took this quick pic of  Elder Morrell an Assistant), Elder Walker, Elder Andrews and Elder Murhula. Unfortunately, Elder Madsen was in the parking lot so he didn't make the photo shoot!

And that's it for today's blog!

Moms and Grandmas

Today was a Mom and Grandma day, referring to the phone calls. I recently sent out the 4 month letter for our April 30 go homes (there are 19 of them), and today I had 4 calls from moms wanting to know what they do if they're planning on coming to LA to pick up their missionaries. Fortunately, that's an easy answer, but there are a few things they need to do to make it happen. It's always fun to have the opportunity to speak to parents--especially on such an exciting occasion!

I also took a lengthy call from a distraught grandma who's children and grandchildren recently moved to Baton Rouge. The daughter and son-in-law are completely inactive, and one of the grandsons, who was never baptized, has kind of gone off the deep end. I felt so sorry for this grandma and know that if I were in her position I'm sure I'd be doing the same thing, ie. calling anyone who might be able to help or give her a shred of hope. The Elders in their area are going to tract out their apartment in hopes of finding the grandson at home. Very sad:(

Elder Crook and Elder Casillas stopped by the office with Elder Joubert and Elder Horrocks to "check the mail."  But they did call before they came to see if there was anything for any of them. Those Spanish elders love their letters and packages. I'm not sure what they'll do when any of them are transferred out of Baton Rouge and have to wait for their mail like all the other missionaries do who have things sent to the office instead of their apartments. But it's always fun to see them--especially on quiet days.

Barely Time to Breathe!

What a day! It seems like there's so much to do in preparation for the General Authorities who are coming this month. A member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be here this coming weekend for a Stake Conference and to change the Stake Presidency. It's so tempting to miss our meetings in Plaquemine so we can go to that conference, but we're going to do the right thing and attend our own branch.

I think things are finally under control for next week and Elder Teh's arrival. Buildings. Check! Lunches. Check! Calendar reprinted for the 5th time. Check! Dinner arranged for Tuesday night for the Teh's, President and Sister Hansen and all of the office staff. Check! (Elder Fontenot assumed that task. That must have been a relief for Sister Hansen. And I think the rest of the responsibilities are someone else's bags to pick up.

Then Elder Cook, from the Quorum of the Twelve, Bishop Stevenson, from the Presiding Bishopric, and another Elder from the First Quorum of Seventies arrives at the end of January for a few days in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And Elder Kopischke comes in February. But none of those are crises yet:)

In addition to those duties there were referrals, commissary for Wednesday, a multitude of phone calls, lots of name tag orders, and letters, itineraries and certificates to get out to Stake Presidents, Bishops, parents and missionaries. I worked until 5 but still have a sky-high pile of things to finish in the morning.

Elder Fowler and Elder Jacildo in town for an appointment

The ever sweet Sister Bailey and Sister Palmer--our Baton Rouge Spanish Sisters

I'm Seriously Glad It's Friday!

To so that today was a crazy, busy day is an understatement! I think I spent the better part of the day redoing, reconstructing, undoing and redoing again. Seems like nothing was going quite the way I wanted it to. I've now rescheduled the Zone Conference buildings and dates 3 times, thus making me one of the least favorite people on the planet. I intentionally waited until today to print the January calendar which, by 4 pm, was already obsolete and will have to be redone before our Monday meeting. Commissary orders were due today and 5/6 of them were turned in. Deciphering them is a different matter. I had to call several missionaries to find out what they meant by things like "5 skinny light bulbs" or "what happened to your microwave?"

The bright spot in my day is always having the missionaries come in. Sister Lindstrom and Sister Morris came for an appointment so we took them to shop and have lunch at Costco.  I'm so sad, because Sister Lindstrom will be returning home to Idaho next transfer. She's always to much fun to talk to and has been such a strong missionary in our little branch. At least she'll be attending BYU, so there's hope that we'll see her once in awhile.

Fine dining with Sister Lindstrom and Sister Morris

Sister Astle and Sister Jewett were waiting at the office when we returned from Costco. Wow! Don't we have beautiful sisters?