Getting Ready for an Arizona 'Spring'

It sounds crazy, but the gardeners planted the spring flowers on October 7th.  Everything is in readiness for the more moderate temperatures that have dropped into the 80's.  We're loving it!

The new flowers have also been planted around the reflecting pool outside the Visitors' Center.  I really appreciate how hard the gardeners work to keep the temple grounds beautiful year-round.

 New trees were planted to the east of the reflecting pool.  The trees in the planter boxes are awaiting their new home in the soil next to the walkways.  I love the variety of trees they have here.

We were sad to say goodbye to Sister Ibuyan who returned to the Phillipines on October 2nd.  Her companion, Sister Beaudette, gives her a hug.  We will miss Sister Ibuyan and her happy smile.

Our trainers do an outstanding job training the VC sisters to work with investigators who come into the center.  Elder Beckstrand takes the part of an investigator who is being led toward the path of conversion through using the 8 fundamentals in Preach My Gospel.

Each Preparation Meeting the sisters practice the skills that are demonstrated by the trainers.

Sisters Younce and Rios explain about the church to their new 'investigator'.

Sister Gordon and Hamstead also test their teaching skills on these young VC guests.  We have so many opportunities to use our missionary training every day.  It is such a blessing to work in a place where investigators come to us, rather than us trying to find them.

 

Between Visitors' Center shifts I have been working on a memory quilt which has all of the names of the missionaries who have served here at the Mesa Temple Visitors' Center.  This will be a treasure when our service here is finished.

Almost every night, and especially on Saturdays there are many volunteers who come to hang the lights for the Christmas Lights display.  It would be interesting to know just how many people contribute to this huge undertaking.

 October 8th we were thrilled with the arrival of 35 new missionaries from the MTC.  These enthusiastic young greenies bring such a wave of excitement to our mission.  It was especially nice to have so many sisters join our mission.

 When we first arrived in 2012 there were around 40 sister missionaries.  That number has doubled in the past few months, and that's just for the Mesa Mission.  If we added the additional sisters serving in Scottsdale, which used to be part of our mission, that number would be even higher!  Welcome to Mesa, you beautiful sister missionaries.  You will bless our mission so much!

We were fortunate to have a new sister assigned to the Visitors' Center.  Sister Taumarawa is from Kiribati in the Christmas Islands.  She has been assigned as an English-speaking sister while here in Mesa.

Sister Taumarawa will be trained by Sister Hamstead who has many months of experience in the mission.  They are already on their way to becoming a dynamic duo.

 

This past week the VC has hosted each of the zones in our mission to a two hour online proselyting training.  Sister Brownell and Longshore, our VC trainers, have conducted the training in all of the sessions, and have done an outstanding job.  All of the missionaries in the Arizona Mesa Mission are now 'good to go ' with online proselyting.  Yeah for this new blessing in missionary work!

 

Just as an item which may be of interest to former missionaries:

The zones in the mission have all been renamed.  The nine zones in the mission beginning with the October 9th transfer are:  Heritage, Sonora, Saquaro, Camelback, El Dorado, YSA, Toro, Superstition, and Sol Canyon.   Meanwhile, the work goes forward!  The Church is TRUE here in Mesa!  What a privilege it is to be part of this important work.