Home Teaching

I suppose it's my turn to write in the blog. There are so many blessings & experiences that we are having lately. Sometimes I feel unworthy of it. I was assigned by one of the wards to train a new member of one week how to Hometeach. I know that sometimes I probably have not been the best home teacher, but so be it. I asked him to make the appointment & I would give a short lesson. We got in the car together, and I told him that we generally have a prayer prior to going, so we asked Heavenly Father to help us to be receptive to the Spirit as we visit this sister & her non-member husband. I found out beforehand that normally he disappears during visits from church members. We went & he came in, we got acqainted & it felt good. I started the lesson not knowing for sure what to say. We talked about leaving home when we were young & how we missed our families & were excited to return & then we compared this to the Plan of Salvation. They had both had that experience with their families. We talked about how it was important to be the best we can be here on earth so we can return to be with our Heavenly Father. Then we started talking about the Temple & he said he visited it during the Open House. He asked me what the oxen represented & I said they represented the 10 Tribes of Israel. Then he asked, "why oxen?" I told him that in the Temple & in life we are taught in symbols & Christ also taught in symbols. I said, "What does the heart represent", & he said love. As we get older we think of the heart differently. Some symbols teach us in different degrees & it depends on us & how we feel at the time. I asked him what he thought the oxen represented, and He said that he thought that the oxen lifted our burdens from us as we are baptized. I was so surprised that he said that, & he taught me something that night. He asked my companion to give the closing prayer, what a sweet prayer. Then I told him that he was a member of just two weeks. He asked us to come back and we thanked him and went on our way. On are way home the new member said that our prayers had been answered and that he was going to get them an anniversary card & send it to them after we both sign it. I feel blessed to have that kind of training from both a new member & a non-member.

This week we have three members of our Temple Preparation class coming to the Temple on Friday. We are so excited to have that experience with them.

A few days ago I recorded 2 cards that had been done & when I looked at the dates I was really surprised. Their birth dates were 1783 B.C. & 1483 B.C. We have been told that the Chinese keep excellent records especially for the men. I made copies of those cards because I wasn't sure anyone would believe me.

Last week we got to go down & touch the oxen. It was a special experience.

We are truly blessed to be in the mission field & to be a part of this work. We send our love.