Happy Valentine's Day!!! (February 14, 2012)

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you are well and happy.
We spent the day in Kalamazoo at a zone conference, learning more about the great love that our Savior has for us. "Greater love hath no man..." I am grateful to know that Jesus is our Savior, our Redeemer. Our mission president, Pres. Hess, is close to the Spirit. He is a great teacher. I love how he makes even complicated things seem simple so we can all learn. He and Sister Hess love the missionaries. They apply every teaching to missionary work, and then turn around and apply it to life after the mission. They are training these young people for success in their future lives. We heard the testimonies of three elders who will be going home soon. They are strong in the gospel and ready to go on. The assistants to the president and the zone leaders teach with power and authority, with a maturity beyond their years. I am thrilled to get to spend time with them. Their youthful vitality and enthusiasm is contagious. We love them all.
Our mission office couple, the Jensens, were at the zone conference, too. They take really good care of all the details of the mission. They will go home in May. Anyone want to put their papers in and come join us in Michigan???

Bro. & Sis. Jensen

We brought Elder Ferons & Elder Palmer home with us. Elder Bridgewater stayed in Kalamazoo for exchanges with Elder Cox. He will be back sometime on Thursday.
We have done a lot of visiting this week, not always with great success. So far, we have discovered about thirty individuals and families who are not living at the address that is found on the ward list. We are like detectives, trying to track them down. Special thanks to Mark, Elder H's brother for his help.
It has been cold and wintery. I AM NOT COMPLAINING!!! We could have had months and months of this.
Catherine had a birthday!!! We love you, dear.
Please forgive the bad video job. I am never sure when the camera is on or off, so I always have feet in the pictures. I am having difficulty getting these videos to load. I apologize if they will not play. I will try to make the file smaller and try again.

Red-neck Banana Foster:

Last Thursday evening, the elders called. They got home a few minutes early and wanted to come over to make a treat for us. You have to understand that they came in and told us all about the treat with great enthusiasm. They were then very good sports to try to do it over again so I could video them. We love them!!!

We were impressed with Elder Ferons' egg cracking ability. Here is the video of that.

On Sunday we hoped a young man who we would like to see return to church would be there. He had promised. He was invited to dinner afterwards at out apartment. We also had the elders coming and Kiery and Garth Wilson. He did not show up at church or dinner.We invited Sister Hammer to come instead. She is such a dear lady. We asked her questions about living in Germany during WWII as a child. She answered a lot of questions I had wondered about in the past.Our three o'clock appointment canceled. The elders had to leave.  We played Uno Attack!  and had a good time. We thought it might have been planned that way, as Sis. Hammer contacted us the next day and said she had slept that night for the first time in years. Her life has been difficult, but you would never know it from her smile. I was glad she came.
After dinner we went to the Brandon's house and held a fhe with them. I am grateful that we have our experiences to draw upon. They are a wonderful family.
We visited with all of our children at once time on Google Plus. We are on eastern time, the girls are on mountain time, and Paul and Carly are on Pacific time. We start at 9:00 p.m. our time. We are blessed to be able to see one another. Sarah and her family are going to the cabin this weekend. Addi, our three year old granddaughter, asked her mom if we would be there. It makes me feel loved. Hope they have a good time.
I spent time sewing on our prep day on Monday. We have a lot of babies coming to the ward. It is fun to see these families growing.
We are grateful to be in Michigan serving the Lord. The President talked a lot about faith today. I appreciated hearing his words. We just need to be patient. We are seeing hearts open up and know that, even though we would like it to be faster, progress is being made.
The gospel is true. The Savior will save us all if we turn to Him and do our best. I know this is true. I am reading Elder Tad Callister's book on the Atonement. I really recommend it. I appreciate the idea that being "at one" with the Lord is not about a geographical location. We often think it is about living with Him again, which it is, but it is more that we will be like Him. It makes Alma's question, "Have  you received his image in your countenance?" more clear. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true. Think about this: If you went as long without food as you have gone without feeding your spirit through prayer and scripture study, what condition would you be in? Our spirits have to be fed.
We love you all.