Mission President's Seminar, Interviews, Stake Conferences

It's been awhile since I've written! We have been so busy, and with that busy-ness also comes exhaustion-haha! As I've said before, we go to bed exhausted and wake up tired! But it is amazing how the Lord strengthens us to do the work--and how we are revitalized when we are with our missionaries!
After our transfer week we drove to Cardston to meet with President Lybbert's bishops and ward mission leaders to discuss with them the missionary work in their wards, and see how we could help them. The stake presidents we work with are such great men, and want so much to see success in their missionary efforts in their stakes. After that meeting on Saturday we participated in the Cardston West Stake Conference with President Ferguson, who was just called 6 months ago. It was good to be with them and to feel the excitement of a new stake presidency. We were also able to go visit the Shipley family and express our condolences to them with the passing of Kevin, a church service missionary, who passed away earlier in the week. I have written about Kevin before, and he has indexed over 2100 names by himself. He loved being with our missionaries as he lay in his bed and feeling of their spirit, and knowing he was also a missionary. We are so grateful for the wonderful example he was to all of us.
We were invited to lunch afterwards at the home of the Olsen's and had a delightful time with them before driving over to Medicine Hat to do a Youth Face to Face with their stake. That was a great night. The youth and parents had good questions, and we tried to answer them the best we could! We love helping the youth as they think about preparing for missions, and building their testimonies. We ALWAYS encourage them to read the Book of Mormon and gain their own testimony of that powerful book. They can't go testify of something they have never read or don't know about. And you can't testify off of your parent's or friend's testimonies--you can only testify of what you know personally to be true. So, we always issue that challenge. And we always challenge them to learn to do hard things in their lives, because missions are hard, and if they have been able to achieve and do hard things during their teenage years, it will benefit them greatly as a missionary. Anyway, after the fireside we drove home and got home about midnight.
On Tuesday we got up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready to go the airport for our flight to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for our Mission President's Seminar. I think I'm getting too old for these early mornings!
This mission president's seminar was special because we had Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with us. That never happens, so we were so blessed! We also had Elder Ulisses Soares, Elder Wilford Andersen, and Elder Brett Nattress (and all their wives) with us. This is a great few days for us to be taught and trained by them, and also to be able to visit with the 27 other mission presidents and wives that are attending. We were able to attend the Star Valley Temple together on Wednesday morning before our trainings began Wednesday afternoon. These seminars are so uplifting and inspiring and really help us to go forward. At the end of the seminar on Friday morning, Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke to us and at the end he bore his testimony to us as an apostle of the Lord. It was so powerful. To be so close to him and to hear it was such a special and unique experience for Steve and I. We will always remember it.
Then on Saturday morning we got up at 4:30 to catch our flight home! But we did have a layover in SLC for 3 hours so we were able to see ALL of our children and our newest little grandson that was born 2 1/2 weeks ago. It was such a treat!
Once home from the seminar we began right into interviews and we also had a Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday. We had 8 new zone leaders and sister trainer leaders at that meeting. It is always such a great meeting. We discussed how we can better implement Preach My Gospel into our mission and it will be the focus of district meeting tomorrow. These leaders really have desires to minister within their zones, and they really want to bring more people to Jesus Christ. We just love their faith.
This week we also had two missionaries in the ER--one on Monday and one on Friday, and they are companions! What a week for them! But both are doing well, with their different situations, and we are grateful for priesthood blessings, and for good doctors. We are so blessed in our mission to have good LDS doctors that look out for our missionaries.
Yesterday and today we participated in the Bow River Stake Conference--this is the area where we actually live, so it was great to be there! Since we attend 29 stake conferences a year, we are rarely in the ward closest to us. But it was a great conference with Elder K. David Scott of the Seventy as the visiting authority. He reminded us of President Monson's admonition last April to read the Book of Mormon every day, and of the promises he gave. He also counseled us to not become distracted with other things that take us away from the most essential things in our lives. I am grateful for our general authorities who teach and lead us to bless us and help us to be happy!
We are looking forward to this week of interviews and being with our missionaries!