The highlight of this past week
may have been celebrating Valentines Day with Sister Johnson. We just relaxed a
little and reflected on the wonderful experiences we are having and the
wonderful people we have met. It was also pasty making week. We have three more
opportunities and then it is over. While working at the Senior Center we
invited some of the other workers to our Mormons Next Door presentation next
month. We had a nice little conversation about religion. Nothing, to our
knowledge, changed. We are thick in the middle of planning for that event. The
truly great part is how excited and animated the branch has become. They are
truly rallying around the event with stories about invitations they have given
and expressions of excitement for the possible results. This kind of enthusiasm
is a new and welcome feeling.
With the Lord’s inspiration and
the Spirit’s help we were able to finally finish the assignment of branch
families into Home Teaching districts. The newly called president was seemingly
paralyzed while trying to figure out how he was going to make sure everyone in
the branch got a monthly visit. He was fixated on the inactive, the missing and
moved members. We were finally able to move beyond those feelings by helping
him realize we just needed to start with those who were active and less active
and make a plan to get to the others as we could. I can see why I was called to
this position. I have been able to really help set the home teaching up due to
our commitment, when we first arrived, to visit everyone listed on the Branch
roster. No righteous or right activity goes unnoticed or unused in the economy
of the Lord’s plan.
Sister Johnson is using Preach My
Gospel principles and knowledge in teaching the youth Sunday school class and
is being rewarded with small successes. Based on her experiences with that
small class up until now, she’s excited.
We had other wonderful visits
with our “regulars” as well. Dennis Klingman is well on his way to total integration into the Branch. He gave a great lesson on Sunday. The Carlson family is more and more receptive to the baptism of their daughter. Br. Peters is asking more questions from his reading in the Old Testament and seems to be more at ease with the idea of membership. We have received permission from the Branch and
Stake Presidents to establish a Face Book presence for the Branch. The less
active son of the former 1st counselor has agreed to administer it.
We will help set it up and establish guidelines for its use. Face Book is a
very important resource for the members of the branch due primarily, we think, to the
travel distances involved. We think this additional resource will become a
valuable communication tool for Branch leadership. At least we hope so.
Still smiling,
Elder and Sister Johnson
P. S. We've had a short visit from a classmate of one of our granddaughters Allie Johnson. His name is Flat Stanley and we have been introducing him to the culture of the U.P.
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| Flat Stanley is excited to try a pasty. A favorite of the local residents. |
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| The game of cribbge is a favorite pastime of Upper Michigan residents. |
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| Flat Stanley found out that it snows a lot this far north in the United States. |
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