Listening to voices from the Past

Sunday, December 15, 2013

I have been listening to conference talks while I walk for the past few weeks. This week, I have been listening to talks from 1983 and 1984. It is so refreshing to listen to apostles and prophets who have passed from this life but whose messages are as powerful and timely as any we hear currently. I have particularly enjoyed October 1983 talks by Neal A. Maxwell, (Joseph the Seer), James E Faust (The Keystone of Our Religion), Von J. Featherstone (Called as if he heard a voice from Heaven), and Bruce R. McConkie (What think ye of the Book of Mormon?). These were wonderful thought provoking talks that testified to me of the divinity of the work we are involved in.

This week we received another new assignment. We will be inspecting vehicles in two zones. This will involve missionaries in Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Douglas, St. David, and Benson. We are working on the logistics of that. It will be fun to meet and get to know more of the missionaries, although I am not sure how excited they will be to see us. Yesterday, we got up early and drove to Tucson to see our grandson Zachary get to fly as a reward for some work he did in school. They have a program at the airport that supports some of the local schools. The pilots volunteer their time and they have some sponsors that support the program. It was really fun for him and it was fun for us to spend a couple of hours with Lori’s family.

Zack in the Copilot Seat

Zack and Classmate with their pilot

Our big excitement this week was that the water heater in the apartment behind us started leaking, came under the wall and soaked part of our carpet. Fortunately, we noticed it and reported it to the management office before it leaked too much as they may not have found it for a long time as the apartment is vacant.

Transfers were this week and we got 5 new missionaries in our zone of 20 missionaries. It always keeps things interesting and keeps the missionaries on their toes. We got a new Zone Leader who has been out for only 10 months. He seems like a sharp young missionary.

I had the opportunity to teach our combined Priesthood Relief Society this week with no notice, as 5 of our soldiers were not able to come to church as they were tasked with cleaning their weapons during church time. They did get done in time to come and enjoy the delicious ham dinner that Sister Kovacs and Sister Heninger prepared for the soldiers. This is the last Sunday we will meet with them this year as they are out of class from 19 Dec until 2 January and they will all be going home on leave. As you can imagine they are all really excited about that.