Off to Ski-ville

We will be serving at the Family Tree Center in Park City for one week starting Sunday (tomorrow). We have had this assignment twice before and it is one of our favorites.There is an apartment in the same building for the senior couple which is quite comfortable. We will help people do introductory searches for their ancestors. If they need the experts, we send them down to Temple Square to the Church Family History Center. Today we saw Joe and Rachel McCullough. What a wonderful surprise for all of us. They did not know where we were exactly so were not looking for us.

We wish you a good week. We have seen miracles in the last 10 days. We are grateful to see the beautiful Salt Lake City Temple everyday. We think of our friends at home often and pray for your well-being. Thank you for your kind support.

(no skiing for us)

A Leap of Faith Needed

I had a great conversation with a couple (our age or a little younger) just after they watched the totally inspired movie, Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. Their hearts were so open and yearning for answers to questions. They asked really good questions about prophets and revelation; about temples and families. Everything was so respectful; it was a pure joy to share my testimony and answer their questions. The explanations I was able to give were clear and easy for them to understand. He asked about my education, thinking that might be why I could speak in such a clear way. I said that it was certainly God who was helping them to understand and helping me to speak with clarity. They were still hesitant to have missionaries come to their home, but committed to let them in if they dropped by. You know who is in charge now. I know it will happen. The So. California missionaries who allow the Spirit to lead them to that house will have a very sweet experience! The only downside of this Mission is that we don't know the end of the story. We are often among the visitor's first contact with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . . . . . but what a privilege!

The Cold Shoulder

Yesterday we took a tour with 25-ish girl in a sun dress. She sounded slightly reluctant to take us up on our offer to show her around, but came any way. We went to the Christus first and she seemed to feel good about that. I asked her what her religious background was and she said it was Christian but now Buddist. We then went downstairs to talk to her about prophets, revelation and the restoration. I asked her if she knew about the OT prophets.She said, "I was raised Christian, I know about the OT." OK, on to the NT apostles. She already knew about that. "I want to learn about what I don't know". OK. "Well here we have a display about Joseph Smith and his experience. YOu can see a short video about it." That went well. She said, "This sounds like Christiantiy. How do Mormons connect with Christians?" "Well, we are Christians!" I said. "Just let me hear about the Book of Mormon, what about the weird stuff about that book?" OK. "Well this is an ancient record of .......and it comes with a promise that you can know if it is true" . We read Moroni 10:4-5. "Hey, I'm not interested in this hardcore conversion stuff! I just wanted to learn a little about the Mormon Church!" she turned and walked away without even a good-bye. Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!!! "ok see you later", we said shrugging our shoulders.