Of Love and Sacrifice

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Today we were unable to get any appointments so we just picked a neighborhood and stopped by each member's home to see if we could find someone to visit.  After driving all morning and stopping by each of the eight sisters that we had chosen to visit without being able to see any of them, we were a little discouraged.  For the first time it seemed that we would not find even one person to visit.  I turned the page of my appointment book to see a few more sisters' names that I had jotted down just in case we still had some time left for more visits.  The first three were just like the previous eight.  They had either moved or were not home.  Only one sister left.  We pulled into the driveway and a barking poodle came towards us.  We decided he didn't look too mean and got out of the car.  We headed in the direction of the front door when the sister called out to her dog from the shade of her back porch where she and her husband were taking a little break from their work.  We went back and introduced ourselves.

It is interesting to see the sisters open up as we visit.  We start with a little small talk about the weather, their house and yard, their pets, their children, etc.  Since they are on the records of the church, we assume that at some point they must have had a testimony.  We ask about how long they have been members of the church or how they were introduced to the church.  Some have just lost interest or have put their testimony aside because of family situations, and others share with us in their own way their little bit of a testimony that they still hold onto.  Sometimes, as was the case with this particular sister, after visiting for a while, they will open up and share with us life-changing events in their lives.  This sister shared with us the story of loss that their family has experienced the past year.  The first anniversary of the death of their 37-year-old son just passed.  He was in a motorcycle accident and died from a hereditary condition called malignant hyperthermia that they discovered after surgery.  His death was followed soon thereafter by the death of another family member.  Faced with such hard trials, some people will just give up and others will move forward with increased faith.  As we hear these shared experiences they suggest to us a spiritual thought that we can share with them or allow us to simply give encouragement and let them know that Heavenly Father loves them and is aware of their needs.  We can then ask if it would be okay to visit with them again.  This sister said it would be okay but added that she is seldom home.  We have her phone number so we can call on her again.  We found one more active sister who lived nearby and ended our day by visiting her.  It turned out to be a great day after all.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Thursday we attended the temple and were able to participate in two sessions.  It is so interesting how the Lord works sometimes.  I shouldn't be surprised, but each time I have to offer a little prayer of thanks for His goodness.  After driving so far we really want to do more than one session, but if we miss the session immediately following our first, we have to wait an hour, and this puts us driving home in rush hour traffic, which we try really hard to avoid.  The window of time between sessions is so short that if we are not among the first ones seated, we are not able to finish in time to make it to the next session.  I just said a little silent prayer that if we were to have the opportunity to do two sessions today, please let us get our usual front row seats.  As we sat and waited to be seated, we realized that there was a sister who was going through for her own endowments, and this usually means family and friends attending to be with her and thus a larger session.  They seat the own endowment members and their families/friends first and then the rest of the participants, so we were pretty far back in the line.  How surprised we were to see that our "preferred seats" were still available for us to sit in.  I feel it was an extra special blessing because not only were we able to be finished in time to get in the following session, but there was a special young sister in a wheelchair in the next session who brought a very reverent feeling into the session.  We drove home with light hearts.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Today seemed to be a day for Grandmas.  We started the day with three appointments and then filled in the afternoon with cold calls again.  The first two sisters we visited I could relate to.  The first one grew up in Tooele, Utah.  She knows Danny.  She now lives in a very nice house on a large, well-kept piece of property surrounded by large white pines that they planted shortly after they moved there 37 years ago.  Their children are grown and gone, but she takes care of her granddaughter every day while her daughter works and has done so since the day the baby was born.

The second sister we visited is also a grandmother, a sweet sister from the Philippines who is living with her daughter and their family.  She moved to Maryland and left her home in Orem for an undetermined time so that she can care for her granddaughter while her daughter works.  She has served a mission in the Philippines and wants to serve another mission, but she told her daughter that if she wants to start a family, she will help care for their baby so the daughter can continue to work.  She had just turned in her papers to serve another mission when she found out that her daughter was expecting so she called off the mission and moved to Maryland.  They said they want to have another baby so this dear sister has basically committed the next eight years of her life to care for her grandchildren instead of going on a mission.  What's more, she is now over 70 years old, so her chance of serving another mission is diminishing with each passing year.  What a wonderful sacrifice these two sisters are making for their children.