Chinese Gardens at Huntington Botanical Gardens near Pasadena, CA

September 26th

I say this with almost every post:  We are keeping busy, and time is flying by!  We will reach our halfway point two days after General Conference!

Being a Senior Missionary has some perks that the “Junior” missionaries do not have.  For example, we can leave the mission boundaries on occasion.  We have done that a few times.  Most recently we went with another couple to the Huntington Botanical Gardens near Pasadena, about an hour away.  It was well worth the visit.  We walked through all the various sections of the gardens, and they were magnificent.   I was most impressed with the Japanese and Chinese gardens, and their peaceful settings, followed by the desert gardens.  There were so many varieties of plants…mostly cactus in the desert… but all very interesting.  “Why there are so many types of cacti?” I asked myself.  


                                                 Japanese Gardens at Huntington Gardens

As you may know, Liz is responsible for travel of the missionaries.  She works closely with Missionary Travel in SLC to coordinate the departures and arrival of our missionaries, but it gets even more exciting when missionaries are leaving for their originally assigned mission.  (We will get 10 to 15 missionaries every 6 weeks who come to Riverside until their visas have been finalized, or until their country opens up from Covid lockdown.)  Several of our French missionaries have recently completed their visa applications.  


                                                                    Self Explanatory

The next step in the visa process is for them is to go to the French Consulate in Beverly Hills, so this week Liz and I drove two of them to the consulate.  They had to be there by 10:30, so we picked up the first Elder at 7:30 am, and the second at 8:00 am.  We arrived with 15 minutes to spare.  Traffic around here can be amazingly difficult.  When we arrived at the consulate, we found missionaries from nearby missions doing the same thing.  They were escorted by other Sr. missionaries, so we visited with them and compared notes.  (One was a vehicle coordinator, which is what I am.)   The consulate was running hours behind schedule, and we never did find out why.  After 3 hours of Liz and I sitting on a stone wall outside of the building, (no chairs, no benches) our missionaries finally came out.  We drove back to their areas, and we returned to the mission office. 

                                                
                                                  Waiting....3 hours at the French Consulate

We are heading into another busy two weeks.  On October 5th, we send 10 missionaries home, and will receive 38 or 39 (It is a moving target because some who were assigned here to await their visas were approved to go directly to their original assignment).  Transfer week, with the arrival of so many missionaries is fun, but chaotic. The week after they arrive, Elder John C. Pingree of the Seventy will be visiting the mission for a “mission tour.”  There will be Zone Conferences, with half the mission on Wednesday and the other half on Thursday.  In between the meetings he’ll interview many of the missionaries.  He will also have a special dinner and devotional at the mission president’s home for the senior missionaries while he is here.  Liz is responsible for organizing a luncheon for the missionaries on Wednesday and Thursday, and the dinner for the senior couples.  We are all looking forward to hearing from him.

Because of the nature of our assignments in the office, Liz and I do not often get involved with actual missionary work, or teaching.  I’ve been able to go on a ministering visit with another ward member.  About 2 months ago, we were invited to go with the missionaries to visit a part-member family.  The Dad isn’t a member but comes to church almost every week. Their son is serving a mission in the Tri-Cities area and will be released in October.  Last week Liz and I were asked to go with the Elders to teach a delightful single sister.  That may become a standing, weekly event, which will be nice.  This morning, they asked us to pick up a friend the missionaries had met recently, for church.  While it isn’t very much, we are pleased to help wherever we can.

Even though we do not get to teach and have very little interaction with those being taught, we do feel like we are contributing to the work.  Elder and Sister McBride, who recently returned to Idaho, taught us a few lessons.  Sister McBride told us to watch for the miracles…even in the office.  And we’ve seen a few of those.  Elder McBride often said that when these missionaries go home, they should all have an asterisk after their names because the served during Covid.  Before Covid, they were out doing things missionaries have done for years: knocking on doors, street contacting, teaching in people’s homes, etc.  Then came covid. They were locked down and were not allowed to teach people in-person, or to go to their homes.  Some missionaries who had health problems were sent home.  Most of those serving outside the US were sent home and had the option of continuing to serve within the states, being released, or waiting for a period of time and then continuing their missions.  Some of the missionaries from other countries have harrowing stories of getting out of the country, last-minute races to the airport, and many catching the last plane out.

I read a short article this week from a new sister missionary who was called to serve outside of the US.  But before going to the missionary training center, Covid struck. The MTC was closed. They started the online MTC, and she was teased by her family that she wasn’t really a missionary because she was still sleeping in her own bed at home!  When her missionary training ended, she was assigned to a SLC mission.  Finding someone to teach was very difficult. She didn’t teach anyone until she had been out 9 or 10 weeks!  She was getting discouraged. She desperately wanted to go to her original country, but it didn’t look promising.

Then she had an epiphany.  She was called to serve as a missionary, and it really didn’t matter where she was serving.  Once she got over her disappointment of not serving in a foreign country, things turned around for her and she started to really enjoy her missionary service.

After reading this short article, I wondered about those assigned to Riverside because of Covid or visa issues.  How do they feel?  Because I see what is happening in the mission, why should they be disappointed to serve here?  When Covid struck, the mission immediately turned to social media almost exclusively.  The mission has weekly social media training meetings to share ideas with the missionaries.  There are Elders or Sisters whose task it is to create meaningful video messages to be posted on Facebook and Instagram.  Those videos are impressive.  All have a specific message related to Christ.  I believe that those missionaries who come here temporarily can learn how to use social media and take that knowledge to help move the work forward in their mission once they are allowed to go.

In the Riverside mission, missionaries are teaching people on all 7 continents.  Yes, all 7!  And they are being taught in the contact’s native language!  So while Covid has been very costly in so many ways, it has also been the impetus to finding other ways to teach the gospel.  It is the “effectual door” spoken of in D&C 112:19:

“Wherefore, whithersoever they shall send you, go ye, and I will be with you; and in whatsoever place ye shall proclaim my name an aeffectual door shall be opened unto you, that they may receive my word.”

Stay tuned for next week: Parachutes and cockroaches.

 

 

 

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