MISSIONARY EPISTLE

WEEK ENDING 11 SEPT 2016

Elder Larry and Sister Bev Elkington

Monday evening was Heritage Park Branch Family Home Evening at Anasazi Valley. Much of Monday was spent preparing food to take to FHE.  We ended up trying a new recipe for burritos.  Those who tried them really liked them.  The children from the Reservation wanted to take the leftovers home. 

Tuesday we acted on President Saling’s request to oversee the needs of one of the families.  We went to the Bishop’s Storehouse and got a load of food for the family. (It literally was a load – there was no more room in our Toyota Highlander). We visited 2 families and then spent the rest of the day preparing for our “Talks” at the Live-at Home Missionary Zone Conference to be held on Wednesday. We had been asked to tell about our mission – our experiences are quite different from the other couples.  Instead of working with all the wards in the stake, we devote our time to working with the Native Americans. We explained the background of the Heritage Park Branch and that it serves Native Americans throughout Washington County. 

There was a lot of interest in our presentation and one of the couples phoned later in the week to ask about the meeting times for the branch.  They said they were teaching a Navajo couple who want to attend the Heritage Park Branch. We hope they follow through with their interest and attend.

Wednesday evening we took 2 of the boys from the Shivwits Reservation to scouting at the Heritage Park Branch.  Participating in these activities is helping them become more comfortable in the Branch.  Hopefully, it will lead to a prolonged commitment to activity in the Church.

We visited Sister “M’s” family several times during the week.  On Friday we had a pizza party at our home for Sister “M’s” grandchildren that have been attending Church.  They are very receptive to our teachings and attend church regularly now.  We had all seven of them to the pizza party – which included pizza, fruit and ice cream. We also showed a Church video and discussed it.

Sunday Elder Elkington spoke in sacrament meeting on keeping the Sabbath Day holy and on the sacrament.  We also had 14 people (that we have been working with) at Church.

We have been trying to be more aware of our physical limitations – we’ve needed a little more sleep the last couple of days.  It doesn’t look like next week will be any easier – it starts with us helping prepare food Monday morning for a Missionary Zone breakfast.