A Flood Instead of a Drought

    What?  It rained in San Diego?  In May?  Yes!  So much so that we got a flash flood warning last evening because so much water was pouring out of the sky.  In contrast, there has been no flood of missionary teaching appointments the last few weeks.  Kind of like California, we and our 4th Ward Elders have been experiencing a bit drought.  But like the unexpected rain, people interested in learning the gospel are once again appearing.
     When things do get dry, we try to carefully plan, looking at past records, deciding who is best to visit again.  After a month here we got smart and created a master list of everyone we have had any interaction with.  That includes letters sent, calls made, visits to gated apartments, actual visits with human beings and teaching opportunities.  When I make a new entry it brings a little of that joy referred to in D&C 18:15 to know that we've been working diligently and had some success. Above, Bruce is sitting at our kitchen table going over records while I interrupt our planning meeting to play photographer.
     However,  even when the appointments are down, we have standing appointments every week to teach an Egyptian Muslim, a single adult nurse who is working his way back to full activity and an inactive man who wants to become active again.  For each lesson Bruce comes with a detailed outline of what we are covering in the Book of Mormon that day.  Hopefully one day they will study those outlines and realize the gems contained therein.  Also, for the past month we have taken a young man, a native of India, who joined the church in January, to the temple to do baptisms each week.  We've also taken him to tour the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center, to see "Meet the Mormons", and  introduced him to Institute.  Hopefully he will discover that there is much more to this church than what he knows in San Diego 4th Ward.

    When not out teaching Bruce spends many hours at his little desk pounding away on the keyboard writing down insights he has gained as he pours through the Book of Mormon once again.  His favorite part of this mission is the opportunity to study and outline his thoughts and then teach. As he shares insight into the doctrine his companion takes the practical side of things.  How do all these lessons apply to us here and now?
     Just opposite him in this picture is a very small desk where I sit with my back to him with my laptop and scriptures open.  Besides studying topics suggested in Preach My Gospel, the everyday work goes on at that little desk:  correspondence with family and friends, tracking our mission labors, planning music for the Mission Firesides, making calls, sending texts and even ordering tickets for a July 4 Concert.  Yep.  We senior missionaries play too.  Five couples are going to the San Diego Symphony concert on the Embarcadero on the bay to celebrate Independence Day.  And lest you think that is the only time we will play, check out these less than stellar photos.

     On a sunny, warm late afternoon some of the senior missionaries had a bonfire (as they put it) at the beach.  We added hot dogs, chips, soda, plenty of marshmallows for s'mores, some singing and lots of visiting.  It was well past dark when the party ended.
     The young man next to Bruce is a convert of about a year, in the Navy, and very committed to living the gospel.  Sister Thompson, from Jackson, Wyoming in the yellow and Sister Parkin, from Utah in the blue serve in the office with their husbands.  Below is Elder Tanner, from Fillmore, who with his wife, lives upstairs from us, Sister Storrs , from Price, who is the better half of our "trailer trash" couple (they live in their 5th wheel in the RV Park), and Sister Barlow, married to Bruce's cousin.  The Barlows serve in a YSA Ward, the Tanners, like us are MLS missionaries and the Storrs work with military families.
 
 

There are times when we truly see the hand of the Lord in our lives.  When we submitted our application to serve we did not request a place of assignment.  Receiving the call to the San Diego Mission seemed logical because of medical needs.  However, when President Schmitt asked me to be responsible for the music at the Mission Firesides there was immediate confirmation that the Lord knows me.  Now, as time has passed and we watch others in various assignments, we know this is exactly where we should be. We are learning to truly love our unique ward with so many challenges but with leadership that is committed and really cares about the members here. We are having many opportunities to share the gospel, perhaps more than in any other setting.  We appreciate our good elders who anticipate at least an adequate rainfall of people seeking to know truth even when to us it appears we are heading into an irreversible drought.  We'll keep praying for rain; of both kinds.