The Articles of Faith and the Temple

I can't remember if I mentioned that our ward no longer has Sister Missionaries serving in it.  They were pulled; I imagine my companion will not let me blog about that.  But what I can say is that we inherited a somewhat recent convert who meets with the missionaries without her husband in the home, so the Elders (who are still in our ward) cannot visit with her.  She received the New Member Lessons after being baptized, but has struggled to stay committed, so the Sisters were starting them over when they left.  

As we met with her the first time I could hear in my head part of Elder Perry's talk about The Articles of Faith from the October 2013 General Conference.  Craig and I decided to start our lessons with her by reviewing those.  I thought it would take a week or two, and just give us a foundation.  We try to keep our visits to an hour, and the most we have been able to discuss is three in one visit, though usually only one or two.  It is amazing how much truth and depth are in those few simple statements.  I have been so grateful to study them, and talk about their meaning, and point out how they clarify the difference between our religion and others.  I am grateful that I memorized them when I was young, and have been able to refer to them so many times in my life.

On another subject:  In our mission the young Missionaries get to go to the temple once every six months.  Our Zone's appointed session was 7:00 a.m. last Friday.  I will admit we were not really anxious to get up at 4:45 in order to pick up some Sisters (from another Ward!) that had called and asked to go with us, and get there in time to be ready for that session.  The cute sisters came out to our car that morning so excited and enthusiastic.  I commented to one of them that her hair was especially cute and she admitted that she had gotten up an hour early to fix her hair extra nice to go to the temple.  Because we can go when we want, and had actually gone the week before, we had looked at that early hour as a bit of an inconvenience; yet they looked at it as the opportunity that it is, and the way we should always look at it!  It is always wonderful to go to the temple at any hour! 

I have to say, Fortaleza had way better photo ops than Orlando.  There is a picture of this Orlando temple at the top of the blog, but this is the other side, which we hadn't seen till we followed the anxious sisters around, as they wanted to take pictures here before we took them out for breakfast and then home on Friday!

We had people come to Church today who we visit regularly, who have not attended Church since we arrived here in Orlando.  We are grateful for any progress that we can witness!

The Gospel is True.  We are Blessed to be Missionaries!  We Love You All!