Sunday, August 23
It seems the mission meetings never end!  But they are sooo inspirational!  We had a 6 hour zone conference on Thursday - it involved a lot of training about missionary work.  Much of the training was provided by young elders and sisters. There was also training on use of automated tools being used by the missionaries. (Each missionary is provided an Ipad and the Church has developed tools for the Ipad to assist in teaching and record keeping.)  I think this mission may be a pilot test on this before it goes world wide. As senior missionaries, we have to provide our own Ipad.  But we can use the same tools as the other missionaries.

The elders in our district referred us to a Navajo woman who wants to meet with the missionaries.  Her husband is working out of town, so she does not want to be taught by the elders.  She has agreed to have us teach her.  We taught her a lesson on Saturday and had a very good visit.  She wants to continue meeting with us.  We asked her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it.  We told her she is facing one of the most, if not the most, important decisions of her life.  And she needs the Holy Ghost to let her know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Gospel.  She works on Sundays and is unable to attend Church.  But she is very sincere and we believe she will eventually be baptized.  She has 4 children - two of them eight years or older.  She lives in a nice neighborhood in St. George.  She is a graduate of Dixie High School in St George.  Her mother died about 3-4 years ago.  She said her mother told her if she ever felt alone to call the Mormon missionaries.  This is what led to her call.

We also met several other Paiute members on the reservation. Many of them live in very humble circustances (10-12 people in a small house 2 or 3 bedrooms). Also,a Navajo man came to our Gospel Essentials SS class this morning.  He was the only one in the class - which was good because he just needed someone to talk to about family and health problems. The native American people we have met are very open in their conversations - they do not put forth a facade - they tell it like it is. We listened and then with the assistance of a bishop's counselor, Larry gave him a blessing.  It is gratifying to feel we are tools in the Lord's hands in helping lift the burdens others carry.
We love this work!
We pray the Lord's blessings be upon our family and friends!