Conversions in the TMM

TMM Conversion Matters 1.28.19

In 1969 Jim left for his first mission in England. Because of the miracles of the Internet and social media, this last week a former companion (George Mower) connected with Jim once again. They traded missionary stories (from then and from now), and "Elder Mower" put "Elder Flanagan" in-touch with Barry Irwin, their first baptism together all those years ago. It has been very rewarding to renew both friendships and catch up on lives lived over the last almost-50 years.

Here in Laredo we spend our weekends at baptisms, confirmations, and ordinations. Most of the conversions are with young adults, and we find great joy in watching these young people grow in the gospel. I looked at our institute class on Thursday and saw an overflow of beautiful young people, most of whom have been in the church two years or less. Many of them have been baptized in the eight months we have served here. They know at least two languages each, and a few have served missions. A few students are missing from the ranks because they just left for the new semester at BYU, BYUI, or other universities. They are amazing, hard-working, faithful Latter-Day Saints. These are they who speak at sacrament meetings, bear testimony, give talks at baptisms, perform baptisms, administer to the sacrament, serve in callings, give rides to others who do not have transportation, and support each other on social media, texts, and invitations to activities. We love these kids!

Teaching a class with these young adults is inspiring. Often they are so new in the church that they have never even heard of the Doctrine & Covenants, yet they share stories and testimonies, work together in the scriptures to find the principles and doctrines, stand and teach (often in two languages), and translate for each other.

Our seminary students are no different. They lead the music, speak and bear testimony, use their priesthood to baptize and bless the sacrament, work to save money for missions, and come to 6:00 A.M. Seminary. We only have a few students in seminary who are able to come regularly, but we love them all and are so thankful we know such good people.

I know that many, many people in Laredo lead lives of desperation. Many are involved in criminal and illegal activities--But, those who fill the churches and those who listen to our Sisters and Elders make changes and strive to be good people. We are all, after all, "becoming." We are learning to be who God expects us to be. That means we have to be careful with these tender souls. Those of us who have spiritual strength must reach out to the spiritually weak and lift them up. We hope that those with courage and strength will reach out to us when we are the weak ones. We must watch the words we say and the actions we use to welcome and love each other. I hope we remember our own weaknesses so that we can be tolerant and kind. We need to reach out and lift up the arms that hang down (D&C 81:5) so that we can gather Israel and prepare the Lord's Kingdom. Patience, caring, and charity.

TMM Come Follow Me Matters

TMM Teaching Matters 1.21.19

One of the highlights of this last week was teaching primary in the Laredo 1st Ward yesterday. Jim and I taught seven girls from Come, Follow Me. I had over-prepared (20 minutes is NOT long!) but began by showing pictures on my iPad and having the girls tell what they knew from Luke 2 and Matthew 2. I really do not think I knew much at their age. Five of these seven could tell the whole scripture story, including Gabriel, Elizabeth, Simeon, Zacharias, the wisemen, the angels, the shepherds, and details that I learned in studying the lesson! Amazing families=amazing kids. These little girls were excited about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jim and I are still talking about this experience. I am not sure our seminary or institute students could have done so well. Impressive! It also taught us that the Come, Follow Me changes in curriculum and schedule are surely divine.

We traveled to San Antonio for Laredo Stake’s very first temple day. Our session was packed, and that meant several people (even though you do have to have appointments in SA) could not fit in the endowment session and ended up doing sealings and other assignments. They were not able to do the work for family names, though, because the temple was so busy with scheduled work. Being part of the new changes in the endowment was exciting and interesting. If you have not been, get to the temple as soon as you can and do an endowment session. The trip was wonderful (we love road trips!) and certainly worth the six hours of driving. We had actually planned to go to the temple the week before, but had forgotten our temple clothes. We rescheduled because the temple was so busy, and they have very few temple clothes available. It is always inspiring to be at the temple with these good, faithful saints we have come to love.

Missionary transfer day is tomorrow, which means that we will be making waffles for our new group on Wednesday. This is a fun tradition, passed down to us from the Scholes. It gives us a chance to meet the new missionaries and find out a little about them. We like to find connections, especially with those who are from Idaho and Utah. The old Coach Flanagan looks for those who ran track or cross country or love debate!

Our institute class was fabulous this week. The students prepared and then taught each other D&C 76, the three degrees of glory. It was inspiring and well-done. It was also a reminder to us that it is best if we can keep our mouths shut and let students learn from each other. That is VERY hard for two old talkers to do, but it is so much more effective for learning!

We had today off (with most of the country) for MLK holiday. We took the opportunity to rest and relax and didn’t even leave the apartment, even though temperatures were perfect in the mid-70s. Sometimes we just need a day like that. We did still have lots to do because we have a seminary lesson every day and a double institute lesson once a week.

Russell M. Nelson is truly a living prophet! We are amazed at the revelations that have come in the last year, and we are thankful to be serving a mission during this very special time in Laredo and all over the world as we prepare for Christ to come again to the earth! We love the Book of Mormon and other scriptures. We are thankful to be studying the New Testament together. We love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Matters of Learning in the TMM

TMM Matters of Counsel 01.13.19

This morning in seminary we were reviewing “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” and learning how to apply such acquisition as we consider Prophets and Revelation. The scenario the students were working with concerns changes in policy and programs. I thought it was very timely. When the Prophet spoke to us in San Antonio, he and Sister Nelson talked about how he receives revelation for the Church. They said that revelation comes in answer to questions taken to the Lord. Sister Nelson sometimes wakes to find President Nelson out of bed and in a private place talking to God. She knows that is the time to leave so the spirit can be unrestrained. President Nelson writes impressions he is getting on a yellow note pad. In the last year of his calling as a prophet of God: changes in the Sunday schedule, with an emphasis on teaching and learning the gospel in the home; when youngsters advance in the priesthood and YW; nineteen new temples announced (including the revelation for the Bengaluru temple, given to President Nelson the night before General Conference); all Sister missionaries can wear slacks; announcement of a new hymnbook and children’s songbook with an international congruence and extra music online; new manuals for gospel teaching; temple changes; and probably other smaller influences have come through our living prophet! Here are the three principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge (from Elder Richard G. Scott and taught in Come Follow Me): 1. Act in faith; 2. Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective; 3. Seek further understanding through divinely-appointed sources. A good reminder for all of us!

Elder and Sister Renlund gave valuable messages on Sunday in the Worldwide YSA devotional. You can watch it online on lds.org or YouTube’s Mormon channel. We are going to use the little video in that talk as a thought at district meeting this morning. We live at a miraculous time when we have the words of the prophets at our fingertips!

The gathering to watch the Renlund devotional was at the same time and place (the Los Presidentes chapel) as two baptismal services. Sitting on either side of us were two brand-new church members-- Jorge who had been baptized only the week before and Susan, with her long dark hair still wet from her baptism. Jim slipped out to join the ongoing baptismal service, but came back to the devotional because there was no room in the baptism. Every weekend there are several who enter the waters of baptism in the new Laredo Stake. Our missionaries are outstanding! One of Jim’s former students at Summit Academy will soon be one of them. Dani posted a message from Chelsey Erury that she is being transferred from Ecuador to the Texas McAllen Mission! She says, “If I have learned anything in life, it is that God’s plan is so much better than any plan we can have for ourselves, even if it doesn’t always make sense at the moment…” We think she will be a blessing to this mission!

The Sisters asked us to pick up Josie (investigator) for church again on Sunday. We happily did so! We had to stand outside the chapel because we were late and arrived during the sacrament. Josie quietly asked me when the next baptism would be. It sounds like she is ready. I told her that baptisms are scheduled all the time, and she is always welcome. Some people wait all their lives to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though her siblings and friends are trying to sway Josie’s resolve, she feels the spirit with the missionaries and members. She is not deterred by those in the great and spacious building.

We were so blessed this week to travel to Austin to see my cousin Susan, her husband Doran, and my Aunt Raeola who was visiting them. I might call it a “family-history” outing because we caught up on family comings and goings and stories about my grandparents and my mother. Aunt Raeola is my mother’s older sister by 18 months and turned 90 last June. Though she had to spend some time in the hospital last week because of some pneumonia, she was doing well. We went to dinner—THANKS, Susan!—and reminisced. Aunt Raeola said she was always a little jealous of Juanita, my mother, because everyone loved her so much. Her nickname was “Happy.” Raeola also said that she was very protective of Mother, and did not want her to marry my dad because Raeola had not met him and given approval as she was married and living in Arizona by then. Raeola also said that Mother was very quick to learn and could do anything that she put her mind to—quilting and sewing, artwork, decorating, etc. We remembered the time Mother almost drowned while swimming in the canal with friends when I was young. I reminded them that she was also an artist. She was a great teacher and story teller and always read to us children. I hope we will see Aunt Raeola again this summer when she comes to Texas!

It is a cold and rainy morning in Laredo, but we are warmed by the spirit. Meeting with our seminary students every morning is a great blessing—worth getting up at 4:30 for! Despite the challenges of learning in their second language, little time as members, or lack of family support these teens are amazing. Most want to serve missions. Most are determined build testimonies. Most are valiantly following the Prophet. We are thankful that our call to serve is to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

What Matters in the New Year

TMM Matters in 2019

Nothing quite like living in a border town! Last night we made a shopping trip to Sam’s Club, which is on the far west side of town. As we were already there, we decided to stop at a Walmart we had never been to before. (There are MANY Walmarts in Laredo.) It was a huge store, but we noticed several differences right away. First, almost half of the cars in the lot were registered in Mexico with day-pass stickers in the window. The store itself had a strange layout with a few refrigerated and freezer compartments down the center. There were many choices for groceries EXCEPT in these sections. We were there for some specific things, but we could not find fresh produce or meats. As we left, I was ready to speak to the checker in Spanish since I had not heard a word of English, but she took one look at us and switched languages. I told her with a puzzled look that we (after spending and hour wandering) were not able to find fresh meats or produce. She shook her head and said, “No, we don’t have those.” I am assuming that Mexican shoppers are not able to take meats or produce back across the border. Hmm. So, we stopped at the Walmart near our apartment on our way home to get sausage, lettuce, and coleslaw.

On our walk yesterday a young man came up to us and asked if we were planning to walk the path around the pond and wetlands. He then explained that a man was hiding in the bushes, acting very strangely and warned us not to walk there. The police had been called, so we chose to walk around the barrier to the sidewalk and home. (Remember our Ninja experience!) You never know what you might encounter in Laredo! The weather here is perfect, but even the beautiful parks and paths (and around our apartments) are littered with junk. Crews are out cutting weeds and cleaning up trash, but by the next day there are bottles, fast-food trash, and paper litter everywhere. I find it disturbing.
When we got home last night, Jim went outside with a broom and garbage can.

We attended two baptisms (and missed one other) last weekend. One was Jorge, a young, single adult, and Ana was the mother of another recent convert. The talks at Ana’s service were given by her daughter and grandchildren. At Jorge’s baptism talks were given by one of our YSAs who is waiting for a mission call and a YSA who is recently reactivated, and the baptism was performed by one of our faithful seminary students. It was also a blessing to hear five young men who are our seminary students bear testimony at sacrament meeting on Sunday. It is exciting to be a part of the Texas McAllen Mission as it grows and strengthens! Both of these converts were taught by amazing Sisters. The sisters asked if we would take Jorge to the temple to do baptisms because they have been helping him with his family history work. It is a goal to get new members to the temple as soon as possible.

We are among the millions who took the prophet’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. One beautiful seminary student bore her testimony of taking the challenge in the last two weeks of the year. She immersed herself in listening to and reading the book—averaging sixteen
chapters a day to finish by December 31. What a blessing! We had finished reading it early in 2018, read it again and finished in the summer; and doubled up to finish the great book on December 29. I don’t know how many times we have read the Book of Mormon aloud as a family, but we have probably finished it about 1 ½ or 2 times a year over the last 43 years or so. None of those times was as memorable or impactful as this last time! We took the time to reflect and discuss every day as we came to love this book more than ever. It is our testimony that it is truly the word of God, given to us as an immeasurable blessing in this time of restoration. It blesses our family. We started reading it again on December 29 after a beautiful day at the Salt Lake Temple for Colton and Anne’s wedding and a “family reunion” at their reception. We encourage all of you to join us in reading and studying the Book of Mormon daily to put Christ at the center of our lives.

We were waiting at the Dallas airport (and waiting and waiting) when a pilot engaged us in conversation. She told us that she is based in Salt Lake, lives in Tooele, and has a son who is preparing for a mission. People stop us everywhere we go—Sea World, Six Flags, elevators, streets, stores—because we wear a badge above our hearts that identifies us as willing representatives of the the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the great blessings of our mission.

We have had a long Christmas vacation, but we start seminary and institute again tomorrow. Hurray!

We watch wonderful people enter the waters of baptism and then come to church the next day to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Most do not have nice clothes or even transportation to get themselves to the services, but they come. They leave behind lives of chaos, often in gangs or crime. They come as they are, promising to do better. It reminds me of a print we have hanging in our apartment. It is of a Greg Olsen painting called, “Come as You Are.” It is of the Good Shepherd beckoning a black lamb. The Savior invites all of us to “come as we are” and find our way Home. It is a lesson of the Atonement—His great gift to us. Through His Grace we can become worthy. It takes a lifetime of choosing each day to repent and come to Him.