Seminary, DCM, Comp Study, Service Project,  Zone Conference, and New Great Grandson  

New Great Grandson

Monday ended up being busier than originally planned. We had two family calls as we missed Douhet last week. We caught up on Alyson's wedding on our call with Douhet. And we caught up with Season's boys about Youth Conference and Young Men's Camp. It was wonderful to hear all about the leadership opportunities that Karsten had at both Youth Conference and Young Men's Camp. Both were great calls.

Next, we headed over to Peggy's house where I mended several pairs of pants for two Elders. I hope I'm done for a while now. 

I tweaked the Personal Finances Bank Register Spreadsheet for our class members and then emailed it out to everyone. I think each member has started using it. I hope it helps them as much as it has helped me over the years. 

Elder Ihaka

I spent the rest of Monday working on the New Convert Initiative. We are no longer tracking the data we used to try and gather. Gathering the data was proving very difficult in the entire Pacific Area. The leadership has decided to focus on training on the Family Name Assist tool instead. I only have six more Stakes to train.

Tuesday started early with Seminary. The Elders taught the portion of Section 88 about the Plan of Love, or more commonly referred to as the Plan of Salvation. They did a very good job and showed us a nice graphic that shows the whole plan and spells out Love. They said they like to use that graphic with teaching children. They also have a wooden carving of Jesus Christ that has magnetic pieces that also spell out the Plan that they use for others. It is really cool. 

Later, we had our Comp Study with the Riverside Elders.  Once again, we decided to share our highlights from our personal study. Both Elders shared their thoughts on why we have a living prophet today. They had plans to teach that lesson with a friend later in the week. 

After the Elders left, we got on the road to go to the Temple. We wanted to get there before the distribution center closed at 2:00 so I could pick up some new garments. We made it in time; however, they don’t have the new garments yet. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks. We headed to the mission office to see if we could meet Elder and Sister Hurst. They were out, learning their new responsibilities. We hung around for a little while to see if we could visit Sister Garner, but she was out as well. We headed back to the Temple for our Sealing appointment. We had to wait a little while, so we ate our dinner before heading into the Temple. 

We had a very nice Sealing session. I got almost all of my sealings done. I only have three couples that we couldn’t finish. It is wonderful to seal those families together. We were able to seal 6 marriages and about 7 children to their parents. The spirit was very strong at the Temple. 

Wednesday was filled with DCM, watching the second half of Follow Him while we ate our lunch, preparing my Seminary lesson for Thursday's lesson, and another Comp Study, this time with the Hikurangi Elders. We talked about blessings, both the kinds of blessings we receive from Heavenly Father, as well as the priesthood blessings the Elders give periodically. It was a really good discussion. 

We finished the day with our Family Home Evening lesson at a member's home. He has his four little ones every other week and we do a FHE with them on those weeks. 

Thursday was very busy. It started with my Seminary lesson. We talked about "Seek Learning by Study and Faith." I think the lesson and discussion went well. We met up with the Seminary and Institute supervisor from Auckland and had a nice discussion with him. 

The Croshaws

Once home, I started on the Cowboy Bean Soup for Zone Conference on Friday. I finished the preparations around dinner time and then let it slow cook overnight. It turned out to be so yummy. After that we had SPF. After lunch, we headed over to Deborah's house to help with the packing. She has to move on Monday. We met her daughter who had come from Auckland for several days to help. She is very organized and really got a lot accomplished while she was there. The shed and garage were nearly done. Most of the house was packed up. There was still quite a bit to do in the kitchen, so that is where we worked. I think all that is left is a single box, maybe two, of things she is still using. After we got home, I finished the soup prep and made a double batch of brownies. 

Friday was a wonderful day at Zone Conference. I love getting to meet with our missionaries and our Seniors. Our Soup and Salad was a huge success. We received so many compliments for both the junior and senior missionaries. We were able to be part of most of the conference. Cleaning up was quick and we had lots of help with setting up. 

The Croshaws gave an awesome training in the opening hour about the Surrender Process. Basically, it is how we surrender our will to the Lord’s will. The scripture foundation is Mosiah 3:19 – “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” 

They came up with six steps guaranteed to work if you are willing to do it.

The Shaws

1. Pause and Breathe. (Count to 4 and breathe in. Then count to 8 and breathe out. Do this 3 times.)
2. Write it down. Whatever is frustrating you, causing you to have negative feelings, especially things you can’t control. Write it on a piece of paper. Then tear it out and rip it up into little pieces and throw it away.
3. Speak it. Tell someone you trust. You are not to complain about it, just say you are turning this frustration or angry feeling or whatever it is over to the Lord. That helps make you accountable.
4. Pray it. Take it to the Lord. Lay it at His feet. Turn it over to Him to bear.
5. Ask for the next right step. In your prayer, ask for what you need to do next to rid yourself of the problem. 
6. Do it. Proverbs 3 5-6 says, “…And he shall direct thy paths…” Let the Lord help you put off the natural man. Submit yourself to Him and He will guide you back to Him.
   

The Northland Seniors had a nice meeting with the Garners and the Hursts. Elder and Sister Hurst will be taking the Garners place when they go home in a couple of weeks. We are going to miss them so much. We look forward to working with the Hursts and I know we will grow to love them too.

Elder Garner

This transfer we are losing three Senior Couples. The Garners, the Shaws and the Croshaws. They are all in Auckland, but we did have occasion to work with all of them from time to time. They will all be greatly missed. They each shared their testimonies at the close of our conference. It was so touching to hear the missionaries, with their beautiful voices, sing to these three beautiful Senior Couples. I have to admit, I cried. 

By the time we got home, we had news of our newest addition to our family. Andrew Washington Hawkins was born on August 14th, but for us he was born on August 15th. LOL Everyone is doing well.

We stayed home all day. Well, I stayed home. Elder Wilcox went grocery shopping. I wanted to rest all day but still managed to find things that kept me busy most of the day. I had to prepare things for Sunday like the Ward Council Agenda and the Sacrament Program. We also prepared for our Personal Finances lesson on Sunday. I even did a couple hours of work on HawkSoft.

Sister Garner

And the best part of the day was having Comp Study with the Zone Leaders. We covered the same things we covered in Seminary on Thursday. We had a much different discussion. It was all good.

We stayed home all day on Saturday. Well, I stayed home. Elder Wilcox went grocery shopping. I wanted to rest all day, but still managed to find things that kept me busy most of the day. I had to prepare things for Sunday like the Ward Council Agenda and the Sacrament Program. We also prepared for our Personal Finances lesson on Sunday. I even did a couple hours of work on HawkSoft. 

And the best part of the day was having Comp Study with the Zone Leaders. We covered the same things we covered in Seminary on Thursday. We had a much different discussion. It was all good.

I love Sundays. I always have. I love fellowshipping with the Saints. I love the talks. I love the lessons. I love our Personal Finances class. And I love our quiet evening together.

Sister Carlisle on Piano and Elder Carlisle on the Cello

I was a little worried about being on my feet Sunday because I really wacked my little toe on Saturday on the base of our shower. Basically, I kicked the tile covered cement REALLY hard. My little toe is swollen and black and blue all around the toe. I could hardly walk on it Saturday, which is partly why I didn’t go anywhere that day.

I wondered what shoes I could wear without squeezing my toe. Steve and I tried to think of wrapping it and then putting a plastic bag around it so it wouldn’t get wet in the rain. He suggested a brace or taping it. I finally said we would figure something out in the morning. 

Well, Sunday morning I went to the closet and decided my normal black shoes might work. They are wider than any of my other shoes. I put some black socks on and eased my foot into the shoe, and it didn’t hurt. I mainly walked on the inside of my foot, and it all worked out. Occasionally, I would get a little twinge of pain, but for the most part it was just a constant dull pain that wasn’t too bad. I managed to walk around the Church as much as I usually do. I was glad to put my slippers on when I got home. 

Our meetings were great. Our speakers had the Spirit with them, and we all felt it. I went into the Youth Sunday School class as the Second Adult. Charlotta gave a great lesson and had a couple of very fun activities for the youth. I think they all enjoyed it. To top it off, she made blueberry muffins! 

After we got home, I worked on my weekly recap and then got ready for our Personal Finances lesson. I sure enjoy our group. We are all learning so much. Finally, it was time to have a quiet evening together.

All our Love,

Elder and Sister Wilcox