Visit from Brother Mike Hemingway

I'm always happy at the end of each P-day when I haven't had any calls about injuries! Last Monday about 5:00 I was thinking we made it through the day without incident and then I received 2 phone calls--one from an elder that had badly sprained his ankle, and another from a group of elders in the West zone stating that Elder Johnson had broken his nose colliding with another elder. So, Elder Whicker, the one with the sprained ankle came to our home to get crutches, and I gave him an ice pack and some ibuprofen. Elder Johnson was taken to a walk-in clinic where they told him he had to go to the ER! For a broken nose, really? So, he got to the ER and they put in a couple of stitches where he was split open, but they wouldn't reset his nose--which I thought was odd. They said they usually wait for 10 days to 2 weeks to do that. So, as Steve and I got to the hospital, we looked up and out walked all 4 elders out of the ER, and one of the elders had the bishop of the ward where he is serving on the phone, and this bishop is an ER doctor. He told us we could come to his home and he would reset Elder Johnson's nose. So, that is what we did! Thank heavens for the good doctors we have in the wards here in our mission. They help me out a lot with medical issues! I had to call one yesterday (Sunday) down in Raymond to help me with a sister missionary there who was in severe pain--and he had her come to his clinic and diagnosed her and got her taken care of. So, I am very grateful for their help!
Last week we had the blessing and opportunity to have Brother Mike Hemingway, who is the Director of Proselyting for the Church, in our mission with us for 3 days. He brought his assistant, Garret Beeston, with him. They met with Steve and I for 2 days discussing the needs of our mission, and giving us suggestions and ideas. On Tuesday evening they went out teaching with different missionaries- our assistants and some zone leaders, and Steve also went with zone leaders, and I went with two of our Sister Trainer Leaders, Sister Earnhardt and Sister Frandsen. It was great to be out with them. We taught 3 different lessons--one to a gal who is a member but has been less-active, but is wanting to come back into full participation. The other two were nonmembers who are investigating the church. It is always great to see the missionaries give the lessons they have prepared, and to see them share their testimonies of the gospel and of the Savior. All of the women were wonderful women, and you just want so badly for them to feel how the gospel could bless their lives. I'll be anxious to hear how they progress.
Then on Thursday we held a Mission Leadership Council with Brother Hemingway and Beeston. They did most of the teaching and training at this council, and all of it came from Preach My Gospel. We have been emphasizing Preach My Gospel the past transfer in our mission, and trying to get our missionaries re-focused in this inspired book. So, this was great to have Brother Hemingway just train from it. He shared wonderful experiences he has had being out with missionaries all over the world, and also shared so many insights from Preach My Gospel that we can use to be better missionaries and bring more people to Christ through baptism. It was a great MLC, and the missionaries went away from it so inspired and motivated! We want so badly to find more people to teach and baptize here in our mission, and we know they are there if we will work hard and exercise our faith to find them. We also discussed that we need to involve the Lord more in every decision we make as missionaries, and have the faith that He will guide us. Too many times, we want to do it our way, and we don't rely on His guidance. So, we are going to continue to implement the things we have learned into our Zone Training meetings, district meetings, and zone conferences. We are so excited to raise our vision of what this mission can do! We want everyone to know what we know, and have the happiness we have because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sunday we drove to Drumheller to meet Elders Smith and Crockett so Steve could do a baptismal interview for their investigator. It was great to meet with them for a bit after the interview and talk about the work in their area. Drumheller is about 90 minutes from Calgary, and it is a city known for its' dinosaur findings. We feel like there is so much potential in that area! We can't wait to see what these two elders can do.
We've been having crazy weather! One day will be warm and sunny, and then the dark storm clouds will roll in and it will rain and hail so hard!! In Drumheller they have had 28 of the past 31 days with rain. There is nothing like a thunderstorm here! I kind of like it when I am inside and can watch it!