First Month

We have now been serving our mission for a little over one month.  Our eyes have definitely been opened to new things and our hearts filled with gratitude for our bounteous blessings.

Along with the bishop's help, we have gotten Innocent's apartment furnished.  Craig spent about five hours one evening at LDS Employment meeting with Innocent and an immigration attorney to get Innocent's application for asylum transferred from Los Angeles to Salt Lake.  We have also helped him to put together a resume and cover letter and apply for a job as a school bus driver (he has a CDL).  Some friends of ours gave us a nice winter coat for Innocent which we will give him Sunday.

Sister Hernandez is working on her adult high school diploma which I am definitely able to help her with.  I spent an hour this week helping her with some math and plan to meet with her again soon.  She is scheduled for knee surgery next month.  She has also found a special program for her 17-year old son.  He will be picked up each day and taken to a program that will provide a half day of therapy and a half day of school.  She really tries to be a good mom and grandma.

Our third family, the Kings, are a big challenge.  We still haven't been able to get inside the home.  Patrick, a retired high priest, seems reluctant to let us meet his daughter.  We ran into the granddaughter, Andi, outside the apartment one Sunday and introduced ourselves but that is it.  We have tried setting appointments as well as just dropping by, both without success.

With the bishop's approval we are going to start holding Family Home Evening on Wednesday nights in a room at the church and invite our families to attend.  Sister Hernandez has already said she would like that.  Innocent is agreeable with most anything, so the King family will remain our challenge.  Craig is going out of town next week so we won't begin until October 28th.

Last Sunday was Stake Conference followed by a quarterly mission conference.  We had a lovely meal and some inspiring messages.  This coming Sunday we have been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting.

Mission Update

I want to get into the habit of doing this weekly--right now I'm three weeks behind.

After our first Sunday in the Meadows ward we were assigned several families to work with. This info is from an email we received from the Bishop.

Alicia Hernandez

* Elder & Sister Casper have been working with the family for a few months.

* Sister Hernandez is a 46 year old sister that is raising her family, the size of which changes from time to time. At the present time  her grown daughter(s) stay with her with their children.  Her 17 year old son has emotional problems and rarely leaves the house and is looking at home school, which is a severe challenge for Sister Hernandez.

*  Sister Hernandez has health problems and is facing hip & knee replacement surgery, but the surgeon is reluctant to perform surgery. I have no idea why.  She also has diabetes, back problems, and depression. 

* She recently quit her job at Apollo Burger because she can no longer endure the pain of being on her feet all day.

* Within the last few months she lost most of her furniture because of bed bugs and other insect infestation.  Slowly recovering with some furniture, but lacks sofas and other furniture.

* Although there are serious problems, she tries very hard.

* She is currently on the housing list which allows her to pay a small percentage of the rent, which is a huge blessing.

* Contact the Casper's to receive more information about Sister Hernandez.

King Family

* Patrick King, 65 year old High Priest, a disabled retiree with back problems

* Amy King, 37 year old daughter of Patrick King, and mother of Andi King.  She has other children, but they are not currently with her.  She has been on some kind of recovery programs.  I failed to ask.  Recently she was hired by Deseret Industries as a Sales Associate.  Amy smokes, including in the house, which is a problem with everyone else.

*Andi King, 13 year old daughter, that is trying to grow up too fast.  Mom and daughter fight (police have been called).  Andi is a go getter, but needs to be at church and establish a pattern of righteousness.  Andi attended church the first couple of Sundays, but has not been for awhile.  Her best hope is to be to church every week and adopt the standards outlined in the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet.

Both Mom and daughter need to see what it means to establish a church/Christ centered home.

Rudy A. Tello/Hailey Nan Manning

*A young unmarried couple with an infant that I met two days ago.

* Normally I would not provide assistance with couples that are not married, but there was something about this couple that caused me to reconsider.  I believe they want to change and return to church activity.  He is a member, but Hailey is not a member, but I believe she will be at church.  We talked for some length Tuesday evening.

* Already from our conversation they scheduled a baby blessing with his grandfather. 

* Rudy's mother (I believe it is his mother) currently has cancer (not much time left)

* Rudy works Friday - Sunday 14 hours a day, then is off for four days

* Hailey is looking for a job (as a waitress).  She lives on her tips, as her salary is garnished 65%.  She has been convicted of two felonies, but my take is that she will take the missionary lessons, join the church and change her life.

* I have talked to this family to determine if they would welcome assistance from a wonderful Service Missionary family.  They are willing, but would like you to wait until next Tuesday before you come over.

* Family needs to establish a pattern of church attendance and commitment.

  Our second Sunday included a meeting with the Bishop and all of the other service missionary couples (presently five but one is soon to be released and we are taking their place).  He informed us that a murder had taken place in the ward that week.  A grandmother and her two-month old granddaughter were shot and killed along with an unknown 28 year-old male.  The grandmother was a member and the bishop had just been over to meet her a few days before the incident.  After listening to all of the challenges in the Meadows Ward, we were both overwhelmed and realized we were definitely out of our comfort zone.  We just weren't sure we were up to the challenge.  At this meeting, the Bishop also assigned us another individual to work with:  a man named Innocent, a refugee from Congo, who's baptism was scheduled for the following Saturday.

Our first project was to find a sofa for Sister Hernandez.  We found one on the Inner City Mission website and Craig arranged to pick it up on Monday after work.  He and a collegue   picked it up in Bountiful and delivered it to Sis. Hernandez's apartment.  He described her as a very nice lady who was thrilled to get the small sofa.  He drove his collegue around the ward boundaries and he, too, was overwhelmed with the poverty and slums.

Saturday, September 26, we attended Innocent's baptism.  He is a very humble and intelligent man who has suffered things unimaginable to us.  He has enthusiastically embraced the gospel.  Brother Weight, the High Priest Group Leader, is assigned to be his home teacher.  Bro. Weight told us Innocent was sleeping on the floor with a sleeping bag and air mattress that had been loaned to him.  Sunday Innocent was confirmed.  He was so happy that he literally "beamed."  The Bishop told us he was going to get Innocent a bed and dining from Deseret Industries on Monday, so we could concentrate on other furniture.  

We have learned that Innocent has applied for asylum in the US and his case is still pending in Los Angeles.  We need to find out if it can be transferred here.  He still owes the lawyer some money, and he has a debt for CDL training in Las Vegas.  He presently has a minimum-wage job which doesn't give him enough money to cover his expenses.  We are trying to help him find a better job.  Someone else gave him a sofa and love seat and we found him a microwave, a living room table and lamp.  

As for Rudy Tello and Hailey Manning, I discovered that they are both on parole from the Utah State Prison so I had to tell the Bishop that I cannot work with them.  I was also able to give him some background information that will help him decide how to proceed with them.

We have met Patrick King and he is anxious for us to meet his daughter, but so far that is proving to be a challenge.  I had planned to go to the DI where she works today and introduce myself to her, but Patrick called and said she was getting off early today.  I will try another time.

Sis. Hernandez lives next to Innocent, so we have been to see her.  She is working to get her high school diploma and was excited to learn that I teach adult ed--I agreed to help her with her homework.  I am taking her to night Relief Society this coming Tuesday.

We have decided to try and organize a weekly family home evening for all of our people.  We will try to do it on a Wednesday night when we can get a room at the church. 

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.

WEEK TWO

Our second week of the grandchildren's visit included a trip to the dinosaur museum, bowling with Amy and Joe and a four-day family campout.  We had a great time at the Fail family's property in Joe's Valley where we went fishing, 4-wheeling, swimming and rafting.  After we returned to South Jordan we spent one day at Temple Square and one day at Snowbird where we road the tram to the top of the mountain.

We began our Independance Day celebration on Tuesday night.  Molly stayed over so we enjoyed some sparklers and fireworks with her.  Wednesday morning Nanny joined us for a big breakfast after which we went to the Gateway to play in the splash fountains.  Then Molly went home for her nap and the rest of us left for Provo.  We attended a Colonial Heritage Festival where we geet hands-on experience with colonial life in a colonial village.  It was awesome.  Then we headed for the Stadium of Fire.  Kelsey and Connor seemed to really enjoy the Beach Boys concert, and we totally dazzled by the spetacular fireworks display that followed.  It was a grand finale to end their visit on. 

A busy Weekend

Friday morning we met Mindy, Molly and Amy at the zoo (one of Molly's favorite places).  Molly quickly became best buddies with Kelsey and Connor and we all had a good time. We finished off the day with a swim at Mindy's neighborhood pool while Molly took her nap.  Kelsey and Connor stayed the night with Carrie and Brandon in Farmington.

The next morning we met up with them at Cherry Hill for a round of mini golf followed by a picnic lunch.  After lunch, Brandonl and Carrie took the kids on the waterslides.  We finished off a busy day by picking up Molly and going to a Utah Bees Baseball game.  Grandpa had gotten complimentary tickets for the Nicholas suite so we watched the game in air-conditioned comfort with all the food and drink we wanted.  The kids got to meet "Buzz Buzz" the team mascot and also we priveledged to meet one of the twelve apostles, Elder Christopherson, in the elevator.  It was a fun but tiring day.

Thank goodness for Sunday--we all went to church and then Grandma & Grandpa Wardle came over for dinner and spent a few hours with the kids.  Monday morning Molly and Nanny went with us to the aquarium where Molly was thrilled to see Nemo, Nemo's daddy, and Dorie.  We also saw penguins, otters, sharks, an octopus and many other fish.  After lunch at McDonalds, we came home for an afternoon of games and movies while Molly napped.  Monday night Grandpa showed the kids his coin collection and then we all went out for frozen yogurt.

DOWNTOWN SALT LAKE

Yesterday we took the TRAX downtown with Aunt Amy to take in a few of the sites.  We toured the church museum and the conference center.  Then we walked over to the new City Creek Shopping Plaza and had lunch.  After we ate, Connor said he was too tired to do anything else, so he and grandma came home while Amy and Kelsey went on a tour of the Beehive House.

Last night we went to the movie Madagascar II.  The kids thought it was great!

GRANDKIDS ARRIVE

domestic elk 1 block from our house

Kelsey & Connor with Great-grandma Spelts (Nanny)

Kelsey with Millie; Connor with Rocky

Yesterday our two oldest grandchildren, Kelsey and Connor Romney came from North Carolina to spend a cople of weeks with us.  We are so excited to have them here!  Yesterday was a long day for them since they had to get up at 4:30am EDT so we just stayed around home except for a visit to see Nanny.  Today we are taking the TRAX to downtown Salt Lake City for the day.