More Miracles

Today we watched the Sunday conference sessions and loved the whole conference so much.  We thought we'd heard about and/or listened to all the "good parts", but there was still so much new and exciting and revelatory.  And I loved having a weekend with no talks, no trips to baptisms and lots of quiet time.  Stewart still met with missionaries both days.  This afternoon he visited a missionary who desperately wants to be transferred back to his former area.  He went from the best part of the mission to the most humble--but also the most receptive--and he's a little freaked out by the poverty.  Understandably.   We're hoping for a miracle to change his perspective.

Tuesday morning we returned from Manila in plenty of time to greet the departing missionaries, scheduled to come at 2pm.  I was preparing, and Stewart was exercising when three missionaries arrived  3.5 hours early!  What???  We've had them come an hour or two hours early, due to traffic, but this is the record!  I got to know them really well in the hours we visited together.  Later, Stewart finished the interviews and we had our departing discussion, then a nice dinner, all at the mission home.  The senior couples join us for that and for the testimony meeting afterward.  We are blessed that they take shuttle vans to a hotel near the airport so they don't have to go in morning traffic. At the last minute we realized an elder who leaves at 7:30pm was being picked up for the airport at 3:30 am!  He was sad not to leave with the other missionaries, but we're so thankful he didn't have to be alone in the airport for 16 hours. He spent the night and left the next afternoon.  So thankful for that little miracle.

Delivering sister to her new apartment.

Exit Night Dinner

New missionaries in cultural hall.

Departing Group

Hannah in Singapore.

Matching ties -- one elder sewed all these ties.

That day Hannah flew to Singapore to spend the week with Derrick & Julie and Dan & Amy and their families--she's having a wonderful time!

The next morning the shuttle vans leave the MTC early in the morning -- 6am --with the new missionaries coming to the mission.  Since the traffic is going the other way, they sometimes arrive before 7am.  We greeted none new missionaries: from Tonga, Kiribati, Brazil (first time!) and the Philippines.   The new missionaries this time seem really well prepared and very happy to be here.  While the assistants and office couple and I do their orientation, Stewart interviews them.  This time when he announced the companionships the Spirit was so strong and I felt he was so inspired in his decisions--I could hardly hold back the tears. It was a miracle.

One of the sisters from Tonga has never worn shoes in her life, and there are no shoes big enough for her in the stores here. Tomorrow she's going to a little shoemaker shop near the mall that makes custom shoes.  I helped drive another Tongan sister and her trainer to their apartment where they dropped off her things and immediately went out to contact people.  She's been serving in Tonga while waiting for her visa, and couldn't wait to get out and work.  A miracle!

I'm really happy that this is such a boring letter.  Stewart trained the new leaders and we had MLC and lunch in between where we ran out of food, but we quickly picked up 50 hamburgers and fries from McDonalds that disappeared instantly.  When Elder Oaks referred to "small daily miracles" in our lives, I know I see these every day.  So many times Stewart is patient and kind with the missionaries and knows exactly what to do to help them. Friday night he  taught with some elders a professor and his live-in girlfriend the importance of marriage, and she agreed--after 11 years together and two children -- to marry him. Another miracle.

Much love,

Mom