Did I See His Hand in My Life Today?

[November 3-9, 2015]

We had a missionary Family Home Evening this week, and the topic dealt with this video clip of a Conference talk by Elder Eyring. The talk was in the October, 2007 conference:

O Remember Remember

The gist of the clip, and the talk, is that we need to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness in our lives. He relates how he would write in his journal each night, and ask himself the question, "Did I see His hand in my life?"

In my personal journal, I'm going to try and be diligent about doing that as well. We have had so many experiences here just four months that I have tried to document, and truly want to remember. Some of those may influence this more public history of our mission as well.

For instance, I was at the front desk of the temple last week, and a gentleman asked if anyone knew Elder Lyon. Hmmm.... Coincidence?

I reported that I thought I knew him, and asked the gentleman's name. He told me he was Cecil Mendez, and that his father, who is now 85 and lives in Santa Cruz, was Alvaroa Mendez (I'm taking a shot with the first name spelling - I never recorded his name in my journal), who lived in Pocoata (9 miles outside of Punata) when I was there.

Cecil was only two years old at the time, so he didn't remember me, but his father had heard that I was here and sent him asking. We used to walk the 9 miles or so to their home every couple of weeks to visit them. He came to church nearly every Sunday - I don't remember much about his family, though.

After moving to Santa Cruz, he was called as a Stake President, and his family are all still active and faithful. Here's a picture of him at their home in Pocoata, I think, along with Hna. Lopez, her daughter, Hna. Sanchez, Elder Tapia, and (I'm assuming), some of Hno. Mendez's children.

Hno. Mendez, Hna. Lopez and Claudia Ivana (Bebita), one of the Mendez children,
Elder Tapia, another Mendez child.

The road leading to the Mendez home in Pocoata, 1975.

I sent my regards to his father. Hopefully we can cross paths and share remembrances sometime in the future.

Later in the week, Molly and I were assigned to work in the Baptistry. An older gentleman and his wife came, each with the name of a family member they had come to do the work for. From what I gathered, it was his father and mother. He was quite feeble, but was determined to do this work. Neither he nor his wife had received their endowments, yet, so I'm assuming they were new members - baptized themselves within the last few months.

It is such a testimony to me to see the faithfulness, desire, and diligence of these good members to do the work for their families so they can be sealed together forever.

I don't know how much I am necessarily contributing to these good people by being here and serving, but they certainly strengthen me and increase my faith and testimony. Molly and I are both so grateful to be here serving in the temple at this time.

As for the more mundane details of the week to note:

Tuesday 3 November 2015

We heard today that Sawyer's ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) had risen from zero to 500, with normal being greater than 1500. We hope this is an indication that his bone marrow is responding.

Wednesday 4 November 2015

We went to a place called "Sole Mio" (yes, that is spelled correctly) for pizza for lunch today. It was pretty good - not perfectly like back Stateside, but adequate. We really don't mind the lack of availability of stateside food, for the most part. It is "just food" after all.

Friday 6 November 2015
Since Molly and I are both using Personal Historian for our journaling, it became apparent that having a second laptop for Mom to use would be a good thing. So, we bought another Lenovo - a cheaper model - for her to use. I'll upgrade it to Windows 10 before we load much of anything on it.

Saturday 7 November 2015
At the temple, Mom and I got to both work in the baptistry. There were over 30 youth, with about 10 endowed adult men to help. That made it go very smoothly.
Sunday 8 November 2015
Both the Rosedal and Linde wards had their Primary programs today. It was fun to see all these cute children singing and performing (literally) for their parents. It's cute to see how similar the Primary children are to the children back home. It was fun for us to see both of these wards' children, and the sweetness and love that they exude.

We got more news about Sawyer - he was having stomach pains on Friday, so they were doing an abdominal ultrasound. The doctors think they may have to remove his gall bladder. His Grandma Wiggins indicated that if they did that, it was likely that he wouldn't go home until after the end of the year. She said he wasn't in pain today, and that his spirits were good today. We know that the best that can be done for him is being done, and that there is a plan in all of this.