Sword of Laban Part Deux

Sometime in the near future, the Sword of Laban is going to make its Mission Debut. What did the Sword of Laban look like exactly? Or better still, what do YOU envision the sword to look like? It did, after all, lop off Laban's own head, so it must have been fairly sharp. The hilt of pure gold, and the workmanship was exceedingly fine, and the blade made of the most precious steel. [1 Ne 4:9] In fact, the Sword of Laban is referenced a number of times in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. [Mosiah 1:16, D & C 17:1]

Swords make a great visual for relating stories and lessons and analogies. "His words were sharper than a two-edged sword" "The Pen is mightier than the sword" "The Sword of Justice" "

So it only seemed natural for Elder Wilson to decide he needed to procure a sword to use in his next training meeting. (Have I told you about the 'blood oath' yet?--oh boy)

The back-up sword came today. I have been wielding it around the office in my best Zorro impersonation. It looks cool, but the blade is not sharp, so I don't have to worry about injuring myself. (or Larry) It is shorter than the first one, and came with a sheath. Elizabeth Swan would be jealous.

And as a side note, Elder Wilson placed a Book of Mormon/D&C with the man he bought the sword from and he is reading it. Shweet!

Going...going....gone.....

Today was transfers. I usually don't think about transfers too much, since I was promised that I would keep my companion the whole time. (In fact, it was one of my conditions on coming here)
But today, transfers affected ME. Elder Hansen, my trainer, and Office Elder Extraordiaire, was made a Zone Leader and transferred to Auburn. Now I know how Elder Wilson felt when Elder Staples was transferred to Seattle. You have to be a grown up and figure things out for yourself. I'm not real good at being a grown-up. In fact I spend part of my time trying not to grow up. I guess the only constant in life is change. Thanks Elder Hansen for teaching me the ropes and never losing your patience. Ever.

Just another "P" day in paradise

Today Larry got up early (nothing new there) and did the laundry and washed the 'burb so we could spend some time exploring Issaquah. We started at the antique mall, checking for any cool old tools we might add to our collection. We didn't find anything this time, but Larry talked to one of the clerks there about the Book of Mormon. We decided to drive over to "old town' Issaquah, and take a walk down Front Street. It reminds us a little of the old part of Park City. We found a cool retro Shell Gas Station and took some photos there. The town has chunks of Granite along the street with cool stuff carved into the stone. We stopped in a quaint local Mexican eatery for a yummy early lunch, and then headed back to the burbie for a drive along Lake Sammamish. Lake Sammamish is a nice size lake with homes all along the shore except for where the State Park is. If you're interested in purchasing a home there, we saw a cute little A-frame fixer-upper on the west shoreline for a cool 3.4 million. Hey, the price includes 140 feet of lake shore! Bargain!! Let's buy Two!

March 18th-Our 34th Anniversary

The BEST part of what we have to show for being married 34 years is in this photo. Our wonderful kids and grandkids. Love is such an inadequate word at times like this. Webster needs to come up with a word that means more than love. That is how we feel about our kids. So on the eve of one of the best decisions we've ever made, I just want to tell my family "infinity plus infinity"

Serendipitous Day!

Sometimes we are content to go through life not really thinking out how this choice or that choice might have an effect on the universe around us. Such was yesterday, a regular Saturday, do the laundry, vacuum, clean the apartment, feed Gary, watch it rain.......

We decided to take a walk on the wild side and try to find the Costco in Issaquah. Off we go, in the pouring rain, us, the Suburban, and Sister Garmin to I-90 eastbound and Issaquah. (don't you love the name 'Issaquah'?) I am going to talk about Costco in a different post, however.

15 minutes into our shopping, almost done, and Elder Wilson's phone rings. On the line is Elder Wood and Elder Winterton. They ask "Where are you right now? Is there any chance you could meet us for a Church tour in Issaquah in about 10 minutes?" We tell them we ARE in Issaquah, at Costco, and nearly ready to leave the store. Incredibly, the Church is just a couple of miles away, and within 10 minutes of where we were. As is our usual fashion, we got a little off- route on our way to the church (hey, if you haven't been here, don't bash our map skills)

but arrived just in time to meet the Elders and their investigator, a single woman who was investigating churches looking for one that "clicked". It was great to be there in that teaching opportunity, and I was able to reassure her that if she really, truly, prayed about what she read, she would know it was true for herself. She would feel it, it would 'click', just like it did for me when I wasn't sure, and took the time to really pray about it so I could know if it was true. It was an amazing moment. The right words just came out of my mouth as I spoke to her.

I could tell it made an impact on her. Coincidence that we were at Costco at that time of day, in the same area of a huge suburb? I don't think so.

Elder Hansen and Elder Russell

No Mission Blog would be complete without Missionaries. Elder Russell (L) and Elder Hansen(R) are the Missionary equivalent of Superheroes. They help us with anything and everything in the Office Every day. So here's a big shout-out to our Office Elders. We love 'em!

Meet Elder Snow and Elder Mann

Snow and more snow....last night we needed to drive 2 Elders home to their apt in North Seattle by Lake Union. So we got them safely dropped off, then set about trying to find our way back to the I-5 freeway to come home (no easy task since we had let the office Elders borrow Sister Garmin)Thanks to our overworked guardian angels, we were able to get back on the freeway and make our way towards home on the 90. Well, it was raining lightly, no big deal here, until we got off the 90 by the Temple and started down 148th, where we ran into heavy snow and icy roads not unlike many great sledding hills. (Think sugarhouse park) Well, our apartment is off 140th, so to get there we needed to turn left or west on 8th st. When we got to eighth st, the police had it closed to traffic since no cars had successfully been able to go either up or down without jumping the curb. Being locals now (at least in our own minds) we decided to turn back and go down Main street and try reaching 140th from there. Keep in mind, slick roads, cars sliding sideways, Sister Wilson frantically telling Elder Wilson "SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!" even though we were only going 15 mph.

She may have even said something else, but we won't mention that here for obvious reasons.

We were relieved to make it home, and had just stopped shaking when there was a knock at our front door-- it was the Elders, who also had gotten caught in the snow, but undaunted, were still out knocking on doors. That's dedication!

Army of Helaman-Friday at Zone Conference

There's something about seeing all those young Elder's newly polished shoes lined up that was tender and touching; some well-worn from walking down rough sidewalks, going door to door, hoping to share some bit of good news with an open heart, youthful enthusiasm, strong convictions. Some new to the task, not yet softened by daily wear, the leather still firm in its shape, not yet broken-in by a strong gait. All bearing the signs of Missionary work. To the untrained eye, they might just be a row of shoes; to those who have trod this path, a testament to the Armies of Helaman, men and women, bringing the World His truth.