Happy Mother's Day!

I think whoever decided Mother's Day should be on a Sunday knew what they were doing. It really makes this day even more special by attending church and all that goes with that. We attended one of the wards we have gone to before because we were hoping to meet up with the Bishop this time. The last time he was out of town. We are wanting to meet personally with all the Bishops, over time, to see how we can better assist the members. We have mostly nonmembers that come into the office and we know that they are important to the Lord too, however we desire to be able to do more with the members than we are currently doing. Anyway, back to church. The Stake Patriarch spoke after the youth speakers and expressed feelings of the faith and courage it takes for women to accept a proposal to marry and have children while knowing so little of what the future holds for her and her family. He also spoke to the children asking them to be more appreciative of what their Mothers do for them. He lost his parents at a young age and was raised by an Uncle, although he had to do much for himself. There was a beautiful musical number done by the primary, YMYW, and choir that made me think of home. The teachers were well prepared in their lessons and again I was reminded of how no matter where one goes, the church is under the direction of a Prophet and people love the Lord and want to do His work. The Sunday School lesson was onTemples and how temple work can keep us balanced and centered on our Savior and how we are empowered when we attend and that angels are with us to strengthen us and our families. It was all good as it always is.

Elder Avery went with Elder Davidson to South Padre Island to fish. It wasn't decided until 10:00 PM Friday night and they were leaving 5:00AM Saturday. Next time there is going to be nothing last minuet because I want to go. They saw dolphins, sea turtles and even caught fish. On the map this starts at Brownsville and extends to Corpus Cristi. This island is not very wide and has resorts at various places. It is about 100 miles from Mission. They went to a national wildlife refuge after they fished which has more variety of birds than any another refuge in the US. They even had Pahrangat valley on their list of wildlife references. What did I do? Got a long-needed hair cut and worked on a talk as we need to talk in two different wards the last two weeks of this month.

Because we never know who will come into the office from one day to the next, I can honestly say that every day is an adventure. We continue to have some volunteers that help us with the people. This last week we had the pleasure to work with a retired security officer who was referred to us by Brother Olsen who is his Home Teacher. Brother Alvarez is less-active and because he has had a hard time being retired, Bro. Olsen thought he would enjoy being an interpreter for us. He was a natural at making calls for us to see how people and their job searching was going. Because of his experience he was able to share incites that our younger interpreters lack. I think he enjoyed the time he spent and committed to come back next week. By-the-way, Bro. Olsen is Jenny Mathew's father; She lives in Panaca and is married to Shane.

Our supervisor, who lives in Houston, was in our office on Thursday and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent receiving more direction from him and sharing what we are doing and hope to do. Brother Stotts even took us out to lunch while we left Hermana Madrigal and Hermana Berhman in charge of the office. They are missionaries here and received permission from President Miller(mission president) to do service hours by helping us for a couple of hours one day a week.

We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday which is a choice experience to see these Elders present instruction. I really was in awe of their wisdom and abilities. President Miller was inspiring to watch as he led the missionaries in discussion on solutions, etc., while never telling them what they were to do. One of the discussions was on being without guile as they work together as companions. It is not about being right; it is about doing the right thing. It is hard to express spiritual things in words as I am sure you have experienced too. Some of these missionaries we have got to know quite well as they hold their district meeting every Tuesday in the building we are in. After their meeting they come in Elder Avery's office where they get a small candy bar that are kept in stock just for them. We also see many of the Elders on Mondays when they come in to play basketball.

It was a good week!

With love,
Los Averys