To all the missionary moms...

The mission is buzzing with anticipation

of the opportunity to call home.

Mother's day calls will be happening all over the world.

But I think mission moms are among the most deserving.

With faith they teach, train, and watch their children grow 

into servants of our Heavenly Father.

With faith they say good-bye for 18 months or 2 years.

With faith they await the weekly email.

With faith they pray for their sons and daughters, the investigators they are teaching, and the mission president.

With faith they send off packages not knowing if they will ever arrive.

With faith they mark off each day on the calendar.

With faith they wait to see what kind of man or woman 

will walk off that airplane.

Faith is an action word...

these faithful mothers MAKE things happen!

Through their prayers, their temple attendance, their service, 
their feeding the missionaries (as they hope their own will get fed), 
and their working with the missionaries in their wards.

A special thank you to all of our Missionary Moms
We love you and appreciate all you do to support your missionary.

Something good...

"The Sound of Music" continues to be one of my favorite movies.

I love the fun, the songs, the story.

One of my favorite moments is the song "Something good"

Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth

I am not sure when that moment of truth was

but I remember WANTING to be good.

I remember WANTING to be a worthy handmaiden of my Heavenly Father.

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

Surrounded by the other Mission Presidents and their wives

and sitting at the feet of our area presidency this week...

and being in video conference with one of the apostles of the Lord...

I again felt that same desire

I WANT to be good...I WANT to be better

The women I admire

 a short break before starting our meetings again

10 powerful couples who will complete their 3 year service this year

among them are 2 who were just sustained as area 70's.

One of the great blessings of missionary service is

the connection we will forever have with "our missionaries"

We were told that when assigning young men to their missions they are often assigned to a mission president...not just to a country.

We feel the weight of that calling on our shoulders.

We were able to visit with a few of our returned missionaries who live in Lima.

They are wonderful young men and will be blessed

because they did "something good" in their youth.

They served the Lord and the people of the Colombia Cali Mission.

 wow...they MUST have done something good!

With Joel Miranda, Jair Rivera, and Jherson Solórzano

Big shoes to fill...

Come on in Elders! Take off your shoes and have a seat!

(the light colored furniture and shoe polish do not like each other!)

And thus the Mission Leadership Council began.

They discussed what they had learned from Elder Bednar and what they wanted to apply.

They realized they have big shoes to fill to teach the way Elder Bednar taught

and to inspire the missionaries under their leadership.

 They shared, counseled, and planned

                                                      

They ate, visited, and re-committed themselves

 Mission Leadership Council

May 2, 2013

Front Row:  Elders Avalos, Rodriguez, Guerrero, Riepl, Alvarado, Calle, Rivadeneira, Menendez

Seated:  Hermanas Fuentealba, Medina, Pdte y Hna Prince, Araneda, Jacobo

3rd Row:  Elders Cordova, Alvarez, Zambrano, Borg, Aldunate, Perez, Stucki, Eliason, Montes, Rogche, Inga

Back Row:  Elders Valdiviezo, Cha, LaBar, Welling, Edwards, Novoa, Jensen

We love these capable young men and women...

with or without shoes, they stand tall in the service of our Savior.

Two by two...

"Let them go two by two, 

and thus let them preach by the way 

in every congregation, 

baptizing by water, and the laying on of the hands..." 

D&C 52:10

What really makes up a mission?

Companionships!

An area is as strong as the companionship.

During our interview cycle we interview one at a time

to strengthen them as they

leave two by two for another day in the mission field.  

Our assistants teach them two by two to help improve their teaching.

Here are some wonderful companionships from our last interview rounds
...we started early in April and finished up on May 1!

(my apology for a few pictures that just didn't happen!)

 

 

 Dr. and Sister Malouf visited us from Bogota in the middle of the interview cycle.  
Elder Malouf is the interim Area Medical Advisor.
He was AMA for 2 years from 2008-2010 and is just covering while 
Dr. Henderson prepares to be mission president and the new AMA arrives.
We had a delightful visit with them and they talked to many Doctors for us.

  Flying home from Pasto...exhausted!

 

The Buenaventura Elders had lunch with us before getting on a bus to head back.

 

 

 

Happy were we to arrive at the END...hopefully everyone learned something

that we could work on to do better these next 3 months!