We have had a busy and enjoyable week. In addition to our regular service at the Turn Around Point, we did three days of vehicle inspections with travel from Benson to Bisbee and Douglas. The missionaries are doing a good job keeping the Lord's vehicles in good shape considering they are almost all "teenager drivers." The church has some strict rules on the operation and maintenance of the vehicles, with regular inspections for maintenance, damage, and cleanliness. All in all they do a good job.
Today, we had the opportunity to attend a presentation by a man from Tucson on the Mormon Battalion. It was quite informative and very interesting. He was a 5th great grandson of one of the participants.
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| Presenter on the left dressed in Mormon battalion dress, the man on the right is a descendent of a Dragoon |
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| They demonstrated their weapons for us as well |
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| Man and weapon |
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| Firing the muzzle loader weapons |
Today was a busy day for us. RoLayne and I were the speakers in Sacrament meeting. We spoke on missionary work, surprise, surprise. Following the meetings in the Huachuca Ward, we went on Post for the Service member meetings. We hold a one hour sacrament meeting followed by a 10 minute break and a 50 minute Priesthood/Relief Society combined meeting. We have recently received some new soldiers on post but have not seen them at church yet so our attendance was down today. I had the opportunity to teach Priesthood/Relief Society as well. It is nice to relax now for a little bit and type out a few thoughts for you. This next week will be interesting. Tomorrow, our new mission president and his wife arrive and the Killpacks head home. Wednesday, we will meet the new president in a multi-zone meeting in Benson. We are excited about that. I am sure the young missionaries are excited and nervous. We will be inspecting all the missionary apartments in the zone this week in preparation for transfers next week, so, the work continues. We are still having fun!
I want to share a thought with you before closing this blog today. The Lord is hastening the work. Finding people to teach is a much different situation than it was when I served my "youth" mission. We spent day after day knocking on doors looking for people to teach. It was not very productive. With technology and the instant awareness of the church in so many ways publicized in both positive and negative light, it places a larger burden on each of us to be "spiritually aware". The Lord is preparing people to hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all his representatives. We have opportunities on a regular basis to share the gospel. If we are not spiritually aware, we will not recognize these opportunities. If we are not prepared, we may recognize the opportunity, but will miss it because it passed too quickly. We must be spiritually aware and prepared, only then can we be successful instruments in bringing souls unto Christ.
Here is a simple example of how this can work. About a month ago, we were having lunch with some other missionaries at a local buffet. A lady approached a senior missionary and asked him if he had a Book of Mormon she could have. He said, of course and gave her one. If he had not been prepared, it may have ended there. He simply asked, would you like to have the missionaries stop by and teach you? (Pretty bold, right?) Well, she said yes. I got her information and gave it to the sister missionaries in our complex as the lady lives in the sister missionaries ward. The last report that we have is that the missionaries continue to teach her and she has committed to baptism. That senior missionary was spiritually aware and prepared. Will you be spiritually aware and prepared the next time you have an opportunity?
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