Random Acts of Kindness

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Last Saturday morning, March 22, I woke up with a very stiff and sore neck. I could not move my head more than about 10 degrees either direction. I really struggled through the day. On Sunday, I attended sacrament meeting and then went out and sat in the car during the other meetings because I was in such discomfort. The only relief I got was sitting with my head against a headrest.

Not very flattering, but the hot pad felt good

Sister Gonzales referred me to her Chiropractor and I was able to get in for an appointment on Monday. Needless to say, it has been a painful and difficult week as he has worked to get me some relief. He has done a marvelous job and I am better now than I have been in months relating to movement and pain in my neck and back. I was so bad on Monday when I first went in that he could not make any adjustments at all. He did some massage, heat treatments, and electrical stimulation. When I called to make the appointment, the receptionist explained the billing procedures to me. When the doctor met with me to tell me his proposed treatment plan, he said, with missionaries there is no copay. We will accept whatever the insurance pays as total payment. I told him that I have not met my deductible on my insurance and he said, that is fine. I was so touched by his kindness, caring, and wonderful treatment. Friday, RoLayne and I were sitting in a restaurant, just getting ready to pay the waitress when a couple came by on their way out and dropped a $20 bill on our table and said, dinner is on us tonight. I have never seen them before. This was just another random act of kindness. The missionaries are really loved and cared for here in Sierra Vista.

We had a wonderful Institute class this week with six soldiers in attendance.

Institute Instructor in action

Associate Institute  Instructor and pianist

They are a delightful group to teach and work with. They are so appreciative of everything that we do.

 We continued missionary vehicle inspections this week with a trip to Benson to inspect the St. David zone vehicles. Once again, we bumped into President and Sister Killpack. They probably think we are stalking them.

We did get some sad news this week. If you remember, about Christmas time we had a mission conference and I mentioned Sister Larson, whose husband is President Larson, second counselor in the mission presidency.

President and Sister Larson (center) at Christmas Missionary Conference

She spoke to us and talked about her journey in life and how she had planned a trip to a certain location and that her destination had been altered. She was suffering from pancreatic cancer and passed away last week. She was a very dear soul and will be greatly missed.

Sister Heninger is having garden withdrawal pains. I think she is going to plant a patio garden in front of our apartment. She will probably also be stopping by the Kovacs on a regular basis to help pull weeds.

Service Men's Group Support staff with a soldier. Group Leader and Sister Kovacs, a Soldier, Assistant Group Leader and Sister Gonzales, and the Heningers,

Young lady came as a battle buddy two weeks ago. This week the missionaries started teaching her the discussions

Except for having a pain in the neck this week, (RoLayne would probably say except for me being a pain in the neck), this was a wonderful week and we are enjoying the association with everyone down here. It is always great to hear from family and friends, so don’t forget to drop us a line from time to time.

Birthday Celebration and Baptism

Saturday, March 22, 2014

This has been an eventful week. Sunday was High Council Sunday. We had two brothers from the stake who came to speak to the soldiers. The brother who came with the high councilor to speak gave a wonderful talk about his experience of going into the Marines and not living the gospel. He told how he was unhappy with the way his life was and subsequently how he got his life back on track. It was inspiring and probably hit close to home with some of the soldiers. Attendance was about average. We did have two female soldiers who are not members of our church attend at the invitation of one of our soldiers. He was teaching priesthood//Relief Society and did a great job. He is a convert and bore a very strong testimony of Joseph Smith and of eternal marriage. He is a priest and is working to take his wife and two sons to the temple. We have 4 new soldiers that I hope will be able to attend tomorrow.

Monday, Lori’s family came down from Tucson to celebrate Ben’s 8th birthday.  We went to Tombstone and had a great time with the kids. We attended a wild west shootout. It was not the shootout at the OK corral, but a comedy based one. It was a bit corny, but the kids really enjoyed it. They had their pictures taken with the stars afterward. 

Threats before the shootout

Shootout

Bad Guy

Grandkids with the stars of the show

We had lunch at the local park, played some miniature golf, before heading back to Sierra Vista. The kids played ping pong at our complex clubhouse, grandpa is still the family champ as he barely defeated his 8 and 11 year old grandsons. Another year or so and I am sure I will lose the crown. That evening Lori and Dusty took us all to the Golden Corral before they headed home. It was great to spend a day with family.

Tuesday was spent at the Turnaround Point. It was a very slow day, then our appointment for the afternoon fell out on us.

Missionaries singing "Called to Serve" for Sisters who prepared and served lunch

Sierra Vista Zone March 19, 2014

Wednesday, we drove to Tucson and met with two other Zones in a Zone Conference. It was really inspiring. They invited two recent converts to come and be part of a panel. The mission president asked several questions of the two members, then opened it up to the missionaries to ask questions. It was very touching and the two sister members were great. We then had some instruction from the Zone Leaders followed by a lunch prepared by the local stake Relief Society. The conference was held at the Rincon Stake Center which is Lori’s stake. Some of her friends helped with the meal. Following the meal, President Killpack spoke about the doctrine of repentance.

I spent much of Thursday preparing for our Institute class which was enjoyable and I think a success. We only had 4 soldiers but we are happy they came and we had a very frank and spiritual time together. RoLayne met a lady in the complex who saw the picture of Christ in our window and asked her if we were Mormons. She said that she would like a picture of Christ so RoLayne took one over and visited with her on Friday. The lady has been to our church in the past and said that RoLayne could bring the sister missionaries over to visit and read together. She is a Catholic and I think she is lonely. She lost her husband several years ago and still really misses him. I think the doctrine of eternal families may touch her.

Today we drove to Tucson again to attend Ben’s baptism followed by a nice lunch at Lori’s home. Dusty’s parents were able to drive down from Kanab so that was really nice. Following lunch, we chatted for a while then headed home to prepare for Sunday.

Newly baptized grandson

Cousin Walt

Saturday, March 15, 2014

It is hard to believe another week has flown by. This week was pretty routine as weeks here in Arizona go. The wind has picked up and blows almost every day. They say it blows pretty much all spring. It can be a bit annoying as the dust blows around with gusts well over 40 MPH at times. Still, it is not blowing rain or snow around so we are dealing with it.

Three New Soldiers

Last Sunday we had three new soldiers attend church for the first time. It was nice to meet them. They seem like good young men. One is a fairly new convert and has a young family. He is anxious to take them to the temple so will be working with the bishop to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Two are returned missionaries. We are excited to work with them. I also just received notice from a couple of senior missionaries at other bases that we have 4 more soldiers coming. They just keep coming and going. We love meeting new soldiers.

Thursday, we started our Institute class on Post. Unfortunately, the army had other plans for our soldiers and most all were in a lock down situation and unable to attend. We will try again next Thursday. There were several who really wanted to come but were unable.

Friday, I took a few hours off and went to the local golf course for a round of golf. They paired me up with a gentleman name Walt.

My new friend, Walt Henninger

As we talked I discovered he is the other Heninger in Sierra Vista. He said that he has never met another Heninger or "Henninger" as he spells it. We had a good time and talked a little genealogy along the way. His family immigrated much later than ours and settled in San Francisco. 

Friday night was the Coffee House activity.

The Coffee House Ladies and their Beef Stoganoff

The attendance was down as one entire battalion of soldiers were called in to do drug testing and could not come. It was unfortunate as a group of ladies had made beef stroganoff for all.

Jo, the miracle Lady from the Chaplain's office and Sister Heninger

It was nice to have Jo, the lady who works in the chaplain’s office and who runs the whole affair back for the first time in several months. She was out with two major surgeries, one to remove a large, 40 pound cancerous tumor, and another to replace her hip. We refer to her as our miracle women. She is a really sweet lady and helps us a lot.

Huachuca Ward Youth Rummage sale

This morning the Huachuca ward had a pancake breakfast and rummage sale as a fundraiser for the youth summer camps. It was fun to watch the youth run the activity with minimal oversight by the leaders. All things were sold by donation based on what the folks were willing to pay. There were a couple of groups that I think were professional garage sale participants who picked up large quantities of stuff. Hopefully, they paid reasonable prices so the youth made some money. RoLayne bought some handmade blankets and pottery. More stuff to bring home. We may need a moving van before we are done.

Well, that is about all that I can think of for now. This was not a great teaching week as our appointments fell through and soldiers were not able to attend Institute class, but we had a very spiritual district meeting with our missionaries. We hope all of you have a great week.

Dedications, Graduations, Tranfers, and Inspections

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Last Sunday we had a very special opportunity here in Sierra Vista. We took six of our soldiers to the Stake Center to attend the dedication of the Gilbert Temple. There were no church meetings held in Arizona, except for the dedication. It was a spiritual feast as we had the opportunity to hear President Monson speak to us. It was a deeply touching talk.

We got approval this week from the Chaplain’s office to begin an Institute class on Fort Huachuca. We plan to start next week and are hopeful that this will give us another touch point with the soldiers. Thursday was a day of mixed feelings as we watched 3 of our fine young faithful soldiers graduate and head off to their next assignments. Some are members of the National Guard and will be headed home, while others head off to Monterey, California for linguist training. One of the soldiers who left us this week is a young Hawaiian named Jahdi (pronounced JD). 

Soldiers who graduated this week, (soldier 2nd from left is still here) This was taken on their arrival. Far right is Jahdi

 

Soldier from Hyrum, Utah receiving his diploma

Jahdi, as they marched away from graduation

 

Wife and daughters of graduating soldier

He has faithfully attended church for the 5 months that he has been here and we have come to love him dearly. He is not a member of the church but you would never know it by his demeanor, his dress, his behavior, or his participation. He is headed home and plans to be baptized when he gets home. He sent me a text thanking us for what we have done and telling us he will let us know when he is baptized. He and his buddies have really added to our joy in this calling and they will be sorely missed. This is the first group that Sister Heninger and I have worked with from arrival to graduation.

Tuesday, following our shift at the Turn Around Point, we had an appointment to teach a sister in the Huachuca Ward who has been less active for more than 40 years. She is a sweet lady who was offended by some church leaders many years ago. We had a nice discussion with her and she opened up to us and shared the details of why she fell away from the church. She had a very difficult life, all her children have left the church as well. As we talked, I found that her heart has softened and she desires to change. I asked her if she could do it over, would she do anything differently. She said, "yes, I would not have left the church over this and perhaps my children would have stayed in the church." It is very sad to see how she let another person's words or behavior adversely impact her and her children's spiritual lives and possibly their salvation by being offended. As best I can determine, what happened to her was awful, however, she made the choice to be offended by it and leave the church. She still believes the church to be true and understands now that her choice to be offended was a costly one.

None of us is perfect, and we must always be vigilant, acting in love at all times toward one another. We should strive diligently not to offend others. On the other side,  we need to develop a strong testimony based on solid gospel principles and not on a personalities or friendships. People are imperfect, gospel truths are not.

On a positive note, this sister told us the story of her nephew, who was living an immoral and rather raucous life but was introduced to the gospel by his boss. As a result, he married his girlfriend, joined the church along with his wife, and has subsequently baptized his wife’s parents. He and his wife are now sealed in the temple and were recently baptized for the deceased parents of the sister we are teaching. It is a miracle. This sister, their aunt, is so proud of him for the life changes he has made.

We hear miracle stories every week as we meet with the missionaries in zone and district meetings. At this week’s zone training, I had the opportunity to role play a bishop and conduct a mock ward council. It was a familiar role a lot of fun. Hopefully, it was helpful to the cause. I have said it before, but it is so true, these young missionaries are amazing young men and women! We completed another round of apartment inspections and the missionaries have gotten the word. The apartments were very neat and clean, just like Sister Heninger likes them.

This week was also transfer week. This time we had only 5 missionaries out of 20 transfer.  All missionaries in our zone that were here when we came have now transferred out. It is amazing how these  missionaries hit the ground running in their new areas.

We love the work and we especially love the area here. The weather is wonderful and the people are great. By the way, we also love to hear from home, so please do not hesitate to drop us a note. You can either respond on this blog or you can send us an email. Our email address can be found on the ward website. We are grateful to those who do write us a note from time to time. Take care and know that we think of you often and love you.