Love of God

I John 4:7-11 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of god; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifest the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." At this special Christmas season may we all feel of the love of our Heavenly Father and share our love with all those around us.

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Thanksgiving Daily

Alma 34:38 That you contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that you receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you. I love this scripture, because it says wherever we our in our lives that we should give thanks daily for what the Lord has given us.
Highlights of the last two weeks: 1. We had a big mini youth conference on the 22, that we were in charge of the morning activities. We played some fun games, had a motivational speaker, and the seminary teachers planned scripture mastery games. We all enjoyed ourselves. 2. My Dad came for Thanksgiving and we loved having him here. It really helped the homesickness. We had fun volunteering at the school on Grandparents day, went to a baptism, he came with us to our Institute class, went to Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, Hot Springs and ate a lot of good food. We also took turns giving out pass along cards. We talked in three sacrament meetings this month, Gordon, Nebraska; Young Single Adult Branch in Rapid City, and Sturgis, South Dakota on living in Thanksgiving Daily 4. Mark and Susan, the investigators that we have had the opportunity to help teach with the Elders were baptized on Nov. 29. What a joy that was. Now, we get to follow their growth in the gospel. Mark is excited to get the Priesthood. It is such a blessing for us to be here! Our love to you all!

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Thankfulness

I can't believe it has already been three weeks since I wrote in our blog. Time flies when you are having fun. I guess one of the highlights of the last three weeks was our coordinator, Brother Fisher and his wife Liz came to Rapid City to see how we were doing. They live in Minneapolis. We had a nice visit, they liked our apartment, and then we drove up to Hill City for dinner at the Alpine Inn. They went walking with us the next morning at Canyon Lake Park, not far from our house. Before we left on our mission, a lady from St. George called and said she was going to the Rapid City, SD mission also. However, she was not coming until November. We had the opprotunity to pick her up from the airport, and since her companion was not here yet, she stayed with Elder Hinton and I for the weekend. Her name is Laura Cooper. We had such a fun time getting to know her. She is so strong in the gospel and will be a great missionary. She has had a difficult life, but has overcome many challenges. Her son served a mission and was sent home early because he had cancer. He died at the age of 25, that was when Sister Cooper decided to change her life around. It is amazing how people touch our lives for good. Sister Cooper will be serving in Fargo, North Dakota, so I don't think we will be seeing her much. Meeting and getting to know her made me realize how quickly we judge other people. In Alma 41:14-15, it says, "Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethen; deal justly, judge righteously and do good continually; and if you do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; Ye shall have a righteous judgement restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again." For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justtifieth him not at all." We are in Chadron, Nebraska at the moment. We had a rewarding spiritual day with the good people in Gordon, NE. We spoke in their Sacrament meeting, then had a potluck dinner, then went to their home and had an awesome lesson on the parables of Christ. We will go to and early morning seminary class tomorrow, then drive to Alliance and go to another one, visit a home study class on the way. We love our job!! Have a good week. We love you all!!!!

Real facts of mission life

We have had a busy two weeks. We went to Nebraska last week and visited most of our teachers there. What a blessing they are to the youth of the church. Each with there individual strengths and personalities. I had to laugh in one of the early morning classes in Chadron. The teacher was giving an excellent lesson on the parables in the New Testament. Most of her students were answering her questions and looked like awesome perspective missionaries as they were bearing their testimonies, but there was one girl who had her blanket wrapped around her and the hood to her sweatshirt pulled over her head. When she was asked a question her reply was, "I don't know." Pretty soon she was asleep. After class, I asked, "does her parents make her go to seminary?" The teacher's reply was, "yes, they do, and she is my daughter, and we are worried about her." She is a senior in high school. I just thought isn't that the way life is. All you can do is laugh. We also gave the Nebraska teachers an inservice lesson on Thursday night. Three out of the five showed up. We have one teacher in Alliance, that is single, and is a foster parent. She takes these children and cares for them, and also works with the parents, so hopefully they can get their act together and take their children back. She has a three year old and a three month old baby. The baby's parents just wants her to have the baby, because they can't handle any more children. I am amazed and the love and compassion that this person has. We enjoy going to Nebraska! We came back just in time to find out that they had changed Alleshia's baptism to Friday evening instead of Saturday. Alleshia is a single mom with two little girls. She is what missionaries call a "golden contact." The sister missionaries taught her. I was able to go a couple of times. Her baptism was super. We also had a baptism this Saturday. Tyler, one the Young Adults in our Institute Class was rebaptized after a year and a half. He is 26. We are so proud of him and the choices he has made. This week we volunteered at the Elementary on Monday, the first and fifth grades. We love working with the children. We visted our teachers in Hot Springs, and Spearfish. What a neat way to start a day, with lessons about the Savior. After the lesson, we usually go out to breakfast, then take the long way back to Rapid City. We have seen a lot of the Black Hills National Forest. We found a hidden waterfall, Roughlock Waterfall, on the way back from Spearfish. It is a tough job! ha ha. The facts of mission life as I see it are: That this is Christ's Church, the scriptures have become delicious to me, that God and Christ loves and cares about us, and wants us to succeed, God and Jesus created a beautiful world, My companion and I have the wonderful opportunity to experience these testimony building experiences together as our love for each other deepens, the youth of the church are beautiful, prayer is the souls sincerest desire, grandchildren's letters are the best, we do not fully understand the whole picture, but if we follow God's plan we will be able to return to Him, if you eat too much food, you will get fat, exercise is good for the mind and the body, your favorite missionaries will eventually go home, or get transferred, (they are all my favorite), our apartment and the laundry will always need to be cleaned and washed, we need to get dressed up everyday with nylons and a tie. We love our mission. We had Stake Conference today, and Pres. Dunn had some good things to say about faith. Faith involves determination and resolve. We are in the Lord's debt. We must continue sacrificing, for we owe the Lord everything. Put faith in the Lord, and He will move the mountains for us and part the sea, we don't have to. Faith is necessary for us to succeed. He wants us to have all of the blessings that He has to offer. Exercise your faith and improve our lives. Be upon your knees and ask how we can improve ourselves to enjoy all His blessings. Have a great week, we love you all soooooo much.

Highs and Lows

The highs of the last two weeks helped us remember why the gospel is so important in our lives. We went to the baptism of the Fisher family. It was the mom and her two oldest daughters that were 9 and 11. We weren't involved with the teaching of this family, but their baptism touched my heart and spirit. The happiness that showed on their faces was truly touching. We had a wonderful day on Sept. 30. We attended our first district meeting, where we were uplifted and the joys of serving the Lord. That evening, we taught our Institute Class on Dating Standards, then again last night on Chastity. The course is Eternal Marriage. The spirit is there and we discuss these important priciples to the youth of the church. Two members of our class are in the Air Force here. The girl has been to Irag. Some of them have grown up with each other. One has been in the church for about two months. There is a couple that is dating, and are serious about each other. We have about 12 students. We really enjoy teaching them. We are setting up an Institute Class on the campus of the School of Mines this week. We will be teaching The Pearl of Great Price. Also, I had a visit with the Sinus Dr. again. It has been 5 weeks since I saw him last. I have had no medicine, they wouldn't give me an antibiotic or Predisone because they said that it only makes me worse. So, I have taken nothing, because the medicine they prescribed my Insurance Company didn't want to pay for. Dad and Pres. Beau gave me a blessing at the beginning of my sickness. I told the Doctor that I was better because of prayer and that blessing. He said, "I'll accept that." He wrote "remarkable recovery" on his sheet. We went with Elder Wallace to see an investigator, Mark. Mark was scheduled to be baptized on his birthday, the
10th of Oct., but he somehow had his feelings hurt by something he overheard, so we went with Elder Wallace to see what we could do. We had a wonderful discussion, the spirit was in that room. We ended with Elder Wallace and Elder Hinton giving him a blessing. We had an appointment the next day to meet with his wife. We went to that appointment and no one was there. We have not heard from him since. (disappointment) We loved General Conference. My favorite was the Saturday session. I went on splits with the Sisters while Elder Hinton went to the Priesthood Session. Alleshia is a single Mom with two of the cutest girls. We made arrangements for her baptism this weekend on the 11. She is so excited. She has been to church serveral times and wants to make some changes in her life. The little girl's father, not her husband, didn't want to stay with her anymore. We started volunteering at the Elementary School that is close to our apartment. We work in two 5th grades and two 1st grades. One girl in the 5th grade came up to me and pointed to my badge and said, that's the church I go to. We only go on Monday's, but we will enjoy it. Another joy was that we have received mail from our grandchildren. Emma, Elijah, Drake, Makenna, Ty, Aaron, Jennica, Larissa, & Ashton. We have them all hung up on our wall by the kitchen table. Thank you, we love them. Another joy was that we received a phone call from Amber telling us she and Jeremy are going to have a baby in May. Like Grandpa Leavitt says, you can never have enough grandchildren, or great grandchildren in his case. We are excited. Another disappointment is Pine Ridge Home Study Class is having a struggle getting started. We are going to speak there this Sunday. It is two hours away. Pray for us that we will know what to speak about. Because of trials in our lives, I have chosen this scripture to share with you. D&C 58:2-4 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in this life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore, the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand." I love you all. The Lord loves you. The gospel is true.

Off to Minnesota

This past week included a trip to Bemidji, Minnesota. We had a CES missionary conference there. It was really a great conference but it was a long ways to travel, about 12 hours. We left home Wednesday afternoon and drove to Bismarck, North Dakota were we spent the night. The next morning we met Elder & Sister Johnson who are CES missionaries in Bismarck. We rode with them to Bemidji and really enjoyed getting to know them. On the way we stopped in Jamestown, ND were we saw 3 very rare white (albino) buffalo, the worlds largest buffalo (a huge statue) and Louis Lamour's writing shack. We were a little late getting to the conference but they waited for us. There was a couple from Duluth, MN, a new couple that just recently came to Souix Falls, SD, Bro. & Sis. Fisher (our area coordinator) and Bro. Mcdonald our area director. Our meetings were really informative and spiritual. After our meetings we went out to a really nice restaurant for dinner, then back to the hotel were we were all ready for a good nights sleep. Fri. morning we continued our meetings until lunch time. After lunch we had our pictures taken with Paul Bunyan and Babe. Then we drove to the Itasca State Park where the headwaters of the Mississippi river are located. We were able to walk on a log across the river. It was really quite beautiful there - some of the leaves had started to change colors. After that we were off on our trip back to Bismarck where we stayed Fri. night. We got up Sat. and attended a session at the Bismarck temple. We really enjoyed it. Before we left Bismarck we went to the state capital and they have a state historical museum which we thoroughly enjoyed. After we finished there we ate lunch and headed home.

Our week of firsts

We started out the week by being invited to the Beau's home for dinner. What an awesome family. They are so much fun!! There is Pat, Gayle, the Dad and Mom, Sara, Emily, Katie, and Rebecca. President Beau is on the high council and over the Seminary and Institute Programs. He has made us feel supported, loved and is grateful for the service we render. He is a great person to have around. Tues., we had our first Institute class. I knew no one would show up. We had six students and it was a lot of fun. We are studying Eternal Marriage. It is fun getting to know these young adults. We went to Nebraska for the first time to visit the teachers there. We attended one Institute Class in Chadron, then went to Gordan to visit a new homestudy teacher. Thursday morning we were up at 5:00 am, to visit and early morning seminary in Chadron, at 6:00 and off to Alliance to visit another early morning seminary. We weren't able to make it to their class in time, but we did meet the students, and gave them a hug, and gave an inservice lesson to the teacher. Then, we were off to Hemingsford to meet another home study teacher. Chadron is about 2 hrs. from Rapid City, that is where we stayed at a hotel. The rest of them are about 50 miles apart. It is a good thing we are enjoying it! The teachers are so dedicated and committed to this wonderful seminary and Institute Programs for our youth. Some of them brought their blankets and a McDonald Breakfast to Seminary. I was impressed at their dedication and for their desire to learn of Christ. It certainly strenghed our testimonies just to be around them. We taught our first inservice lesson to all the teachers of our Stake. We have 13 teachers, early morning and home study. From Nebraska, Pine Ridge, Hot Springs, Hill City, Belle Fourche, Phillips, to Rapid City. We had 10 teachers come. Our lesson was on Teaching by the Spirit. It went really well. We are so thankful for the Lord's spirit that guides us each day. Each day that I am here, I feel thankful for being here in the South Dakota, Rapid City Mission! We love you all, and miss you terribly. Your scripture is taken from 2nd Nephi 2:6-8 Wherefore redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law,unto all those who have a broken heart, and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. Wherefore, how great to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

mission experiences

We stopped at Mitchell, SD on the way home from Minn. The corn palace is famous because it is made of parts of corn and the cob. It is bigger than I thought. We also visited a prehistoric Indian village that they are still excavating. It was fascinating. The sisters and Elders came over to our apartment and made orange rolls. Elder Geiger's mom sent him a recipe. They are a lot of fun to be around. The sisters have been coming over for lunch occasionally while they are tracting in this area. Sister Bowles is from South Jordan, Utah, Sister Holt is from Fairbanks, Alaska. We love them! We went to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to take teacher materials. We met Pres. Kingi and Martyna is the home study teacher. We gave her an inservice lesson at the church in Pine Ridge. They are fun people. Pres. Kingi actually lives in Rapid City, but drives to Pine Ridge everyday to teach school there. Then again on Sunday to be Branch President. It is a 2 hour drive. We drove to Hill City to give Teacher Materials. It is by Mt. Rushmore. What beautiful scenery, lakes, forests, and lots of grassland. They have a dinosaur museum in Hill City. School started this week, so we went to early morning seminary -6:30 am - and visited with the three Rapid City teachers. We have a lot of computer work that we have to do, especially at the beginning of the school year. We have our first inservice on the 13. We also had our first Institute Social Tuesday night. We had to make all the arrangements, and buy food for it. We had a barbecue, and it was a lot of fun. We would have liked to have more youth out, but in the mission field, you are happy for what you get. We also went with the missionaries to visit some investigators. We always enjoy that. I have been sick again, but they have a Sinus Institute here in Rapid City, so maybe we will be able to get to the bottom of this. It was amazing how quickly I was able to get in. The Lord's blessings are always with us. We love all of you, and miss you. We love our mission. Each day is a new experience. Here is your scripture for the week. Moroni 8:17-19 And I am filled with charity which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation. For I know that God is not a partial God neither a changeable being;but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity. Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.

Getting in the groove

We had a good trip to Minneapolis. We had some good training. We aren't overwhelmed, but we do have a lot to learn and do. We will just take it one bite and a time. Our coordinator, Bro. Fisher and Liz, his wife treated us royally. They even took us sightseeing. We went to the Grand Mall by ourselves the afternoon that we arrived. It is huge. We only bought a magnet and went to dinner. The Fishers showed us the city. It is beautiful and clean. I had forgotten Brandon served his mission there. They encourage us to go sightseeing as we travel. So, on the way back home, we stopped in Mitchell, SD. We spent about 3 hours there and saw the Corn Palace. It is a building made of corn - husks, cobs, etc. It was cool looking. Then, we went to an Indian ruin that they are still excavating that is over a 1000 years old. Anyway, we got back Thursday evening. We went to another baptism on Saturday. Russell Longwolf, he is 10 years old. I couldn't help but think about Adam's baptism. The children are members of the church, but the mother isn't yet. She needs to work out some things first. We sure love these baptims, and working with the Elders and the Sisters. On Sundays, the Stake President asked us to go to the Singles Ward, and we are enjoying that. They had a youth fireside that night, and we spoke on the importance of Seminary. It was fun, and we had a good turnout. Afterwards, we handed out the materials to the Volunteer Seminary Teachers. Not all of them were there, so we will have to go to those places this week and give them their materials. Pine Ridge is the farthest, about 80 miles. We will go to Institute Class tomorrow night and see what they want to study after school starts. Then we will take over teaching the class. We will be a lot busier after school starts, after Labor Day. We love you all. Thanks for the comments. Here is you scripture until the next time.Galatians 22,23,25,26. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness, Temperance, against such there is no law. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another envying one another,

South Dakota here we come

We have not had the internet since we arrived in South Dakota. I will try to bring everyone up to date. On the way to Casper, Wyoming, we stopped at Martin's Cove. We didn't realize it, but it is in our mission. They have a nice museum there. We didn't have time or energy to go on any treks. We stayed overnight in Casper, and arrived in Rapid City about 4:00 the next day. The office couple were there to meet us and took us to our apartment. It is on the 3rd floor. Luckily it has an elevator. The sister missionaries lived there before. It has two bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and of course a living room, kitchen and a small patio on the back. It is quite nice, we are enjoying it. We are making the spare bedroom into a CES office. The full time coordinator for CES was transferred to Montana, so I guess we are it. We met the mission president, Pres. Cannon, and the Stake Pres. and his counselors. Everyone here is sooooo nice and seemed happy to have us here. We will teach an Institute Class on Tuesday evenings and we will be going to the Singles Ward on Sunday's. We have met with the volunteer Seminary teachers, and we will be doing some inservice for the new ones. Also we will hold an inservice meetings once a month for all the seminary teachers. We went to our first baptism on Saturday. Princess, a 15 year old Native American was baptized. It is a lot of fun working with the elders and sisters. I made cookies and we took a plate to everyone on the third floor in our apartment building along with a pass along card. We were able to meet almost everyone. A lot of our building is made up of Widows. They are pretty nice. We are speaking in a Youth Fireside on the 24th, then again in Sacrament Mtg. in the 2nd ward on the 31. Currently, we are in Sioux Falls staying overnight. We are on our way to Minneapolis where our CES coordinator lives for two more days of training. We will be going back to Rapid City on Thursday. We are seeing a lot of pretty country. There are fields of Corn, Soybeans, Sunflowers, and we saw deer, a lot of black angus cows, and of course a lot of grassland, and rolling hills. We love our mission! The gospel is true! We love you all! Here is your scripture until the next time. Therefore, ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; and whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name that your wives and children may be blessed. (3rd Nephi 18:19-21)

Wrapping up the MTC

We are in our final week (3 days) at the MTC. We were able to spend the weekend in Salt Lake with family. On Saturday morning we met Betsy & Mike and Kristi and Matt at the Salt Lake
Temple and attended a session. Having been married there it was a neat experience for us to be there. Later in the evening we all met at Betsy's for a family dinner. Along with the others, Shelly and Stephanie, her boy friend, Regina & Joe and Hannah, Jeremy & Amber and the kids, and Angela and Michelle and Grandpa were all there. We had good food (Mom's fried chicken and potatoe salad and lots of other goodies) and good company. It was really fun getting together one last time. Sunday we spent with Dad, going to church, dinner and using Grandpa as a guinea pig for missionary discussion for family home evening - then back to the MTC to find that we were locked out of our building. It was like being late for dorm hours in the olden days. This week we are having CES training then Wed. evening we will stay with Dad and then head for Rapid City.

Missionary Training Center--_

MTC-Elder Hinton and I, Sister Hinton have been in the MTC three days now. The first day was just orientation. Tuesday and Wednesday have just been awesome. We taught the first lessons oon the Restoration of the Gospel. We taught these lessons to a pretend investigator. I received a strong witness as I taught the Joseph Smith Story. I was crying the rest of the day, the spirit was so strong. Elder Hinton does better at giving the lessons, but I am learning and coming along. Today, we taught an investigator about the Plan of Salvation. He told us about his wife of 64 years, and about her death. The spirit here is peaceful and we are excited to be here. We like the food, too much of it. We have met a lot of people who know people we know. This is something we have looked forward to all our lives. Our dream is coming true. It is everything we hoped for and more. We love the gospel, and want all of you to know that it will bring you true happiness, if you follow the Lord and try your best to do what He says. He loves us and we should show our love for Him by the way we live our lives. Here is a scripture to get you through the week. D&C 130:20-21. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated --
And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. We love you all!!!! Thank you Andrew for you special message. We love you too.

We were set apart as missionaries Tuesday Night. Pres. Chandler set Harold apart and gave him a wonderful blessing. He has been our friend, bishop, and a true spiritual leader. He talked about how he and Tammy looked up to our family when they first moved to Hurricane. We really love him and his family. Pres. Lundeen set me apart and gave me a beautiful blessing. Angela and family, Lori, Brandon and family, and Dustin were there. Afterwards we went to Angela's house and had dinner. Then they gave us the most awesome gift. Most of the kids went in and bought us a digital picture frame. It is a good size too. Lori bought the frame and Angela put all the pictures on it. It is of all the grandchildren, children, pictures of Zion, Cane Beds, Kolob, etc. We love it! I couldn't help but get weepy. Thank you kids. We love you very much. We went to Cane Beds for the last time yesterday. I thought it would really be hard, but it wasn't. We are sooooo ready for our new adventure and to serve the Lord. I just hope I can get use to wearing knee high nylons!!!!

farewell

We had our farewell talk Sunday. Our subject was from an article in the July Ensign by Elder Johnson on Coming to know for ourselves. We talked about how we can get and keep our testimonies strong. Harold and I spoke together. It was a lot of fun, and we felt like we were in heaven with a lot of our family and friends there. All of our children were there except for Dustin and Jeremy. They both had emergencies to attend to. The grandchildren sang "Nephi's Courage." They did such a good job. My Dad, and both my sisters were there. I was so touched . Betsy's husband, Mike and Stephanie, my niece were there also. Harold's cousins were there Alta and Elva and their families came from Las Vegas. What a beautiful memory that we will never forget. Saturday, we had a dutch oven cookout at Cane Beds. Jeremy and Amber made a special trip from Salt Lake just to spend a few hours with us. Jeremy even helped cook, and then he had to be in Salt Lake by midnight to go to work. Everyone showed their love for us in many different ways. We will leave a week from this Saturday. We need to be in the MTC on the 28th of July. We will spend a week and a half there. We are so thankful for the gospel and our precious family and friends.