Part-time Mission

A new calling has prompted me to start writing this blog again.  Craig and I have been called as service missionaries in the Salt Lake Inner City, serving in the Riverside Stake and the Meadows Ward.  We received the calling, very unexpected, on August 23, 2015 from our Stake President.  At the time Craig was serving on the high council, so we thought the appointment was to inform us of Craig's release  We were very surprised to say the least.

We have expressed interest in serving an inner-city mission two different times previously, and both times we were told that the stake had other plans for Craig.  The first time he was subsequently called as the stake clerk, and the last time he was called to the high council as the PFR.  But the stake president remembered that we had expressed interest, so when the need arose to call someone from our stake, we received the call.  Ironically, that same day, our son Jason was called as the second counselor in the bishopric of his ward in Winston-Salem.

Our Bishop set us apart on September 10th and September 12th was our training day.  We were taught by a member of the Seventy, Elder Pingree, as well as by the leadership of the Salt Lake Inner City Mission.  It was all very inspiring and a little overwhelming; however, we were totally amazed at the enormity of resources the church makes available to help us help others become self-reliant.  That is the goal for Inner City Missionaries.

Sunday we met with the bishopric of the Meadows Ward for about half an hour before church.  They will pray together this week and choose some families or individuals for us to work with.  There are three other service missionary couples in this ward, so obviously, there is a lot of need.  We were told to wear "wash and wear" clothing as many of the homes we will go into have cockroaches and bed bugs.  We will want to remove our clothes as soon as we get home and wash them.