Week 72

As we drove the elders and sisters to Sister Ferrington's home for dinner last week we talked about Louisiana foods we'll miss when we go home.  Gumbo was high on the list.  We commented that you can make gumbo when you get home, but one elder said, "Yeah, but I like it when you can just go to people's houses and the gumbo is already there."  Sister F had prepared a huge pot of gumbo, and we enjoyed every bite!  For some reason (which no one has been able to explain) the two traditional side dishes to gumbo are either potato salad or baked sweet potatoes.  You put the potato salad in the bowl with the gumbo and either mix it in or sort of keep it on the side.  We've had sweet potatoes on the side a couple of times, but this was the first time with potato salad. 

Me, Sister Ferrington, Elders T'auraa and Waite; Sisters Woolley and Wright

Lots of folks around here have kumquat trees and either just eat them or make kumquat preserves.  Because I ate kumquats in Taiwan, and didn't know where else they grew, it was a fun surprise to find them here.  Sister Brown gave us some from one of her trees.

Home grown kumquats

We had a wonderful Temple Preparation class this week--one sister has her date to receive her endowment in March and the rest are working toward that (the brothers have to wait until a year after their baptisms, so late summer sometime).  We just love these couples and we love discussing the temple with them each week.  The last class is next week.

On Tuesday we had our 80,000 mile car maintenance done. That means we've put 40,000 miles on our car on the mission.  Kind of hard to believe, but so grateful for reliable, comfortable transportation.  In the afternoon we went to Marksville to visit some members. They make putting all those miles on the car worth it!

Wednesday was a busy day.  It started with our final interview with President Varner at 8:20 in the morning.  Zone Conference began at 10:00 (we helped a little with getting things ready for lunch between the end of interview and beginning of meeting).  It's a tradition that all missionaries going home before the next Zone Conference get to bear their testimonies near the end of the meeting.  However, since we would be leaving early to go to the prison, President Varner asked us to share our testimonies at the beginning of the conference.  We had tender feelings as we did so.

We zipped from Zone Conference down to Oakdale to meet with our wonderful inmates.  As always, they were grateful for the visit and we were all edified by our time together.  As we were leaving, one man said, "This is the favorite part of my week;" a sentiment they all share with us frequently.

From Oakdale we drove to Rosepine to visit the seminary class that evening.  The class only has two students, and it was amazing to see the transformation in the young man between our last visit and this.  He's absolutely turned on to the Book of Mormon and was so attentive.  It was great.  On our way there we passed a logging operation, which we've mentioned before as a major industry in central Louisiana.  Pretty interesting to watch.

So much logging and a couple of paper mills in the area

Thursday night we actually dipped below freezing, though we didn't stay there long and it's been back in the 70s this weekend.  It should start raining again tomorrow, and rain on and off all week.

One of the real treats that both paid and called seminary and institute teachers get every February is An Evening With a General Authority (via broadcast).  It was Friday night and Elder Bednar was the main speaker--though he used a less formal format than just delivering an address.  Prior to Elder Bednar, Elder Paul V. Johnson, the Church Commissioner of Education spoke.  I'll paraphrase one of the things he said that I've thought about since--Having the Liahona did not change the geography between them (Lehi and his family) and the Promised Land, but it did help them traverse it by the most direct route.  He said that while Lehi and his family were making the journey together as a group, they were also each experiencing an individual journey--they arrived at the physical location together, but their spiritual end-points were different.  He then quoted Joseph Smith, speaking about the progress of the Church in 1831,  "It was clearly evident that the Lord gave us power in proportion to the work to be done, and strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs required."

Elder Bednar responded to questions about receiving personal revelation and teaching our students about that.  Paraphrasing again, he said members of the Church who have the gift of the Holy Ghost and are trying to do the best they can don't need to focus on how to get the Holy Ghost to help us, we need to pay attention to what we do that drives it away (then stop doing that).  He said we don't need to "gear up" to receive revelation--having entered into covenants and by living righteously, we always have the Spirit with us.  He said, "You're living IN the revelation" even if we don't always recognize that.  It was a wonderfully uplifting and revelatory evening.