University Ward

We attended the University Ward meetings again today.  In the Sacrament Meeting, the second counselor spoke on the Godhead.  He was injured in an automobile accident when he was 10 and is in a wheelchair.  He bore a powerful testimony of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, our Savior.  He talked about how he has come to know about them through his challenges and acknowledged that all that is good in his life comes from them.

There were six investigators attending meetings today.  I had another interview after the block of meetings, so there will probably be some baptisms soon.

Later in the afternoon, we attended a baptism in the Cortez Branch.  Four children were baptized, at least two of them having been taught by the Sisters Jahnel and Smith, the Sister Missionaries.  It was interesting to see the great affection that the children in the branch have for the Sister Missionaries.

History Day

We continued to work on the mission history in the morning.  The Sarasota Sister Missionaries had asked us to meet them at the Sarasota building at 1 because they were meeting a male investigator there.  We drove to the building and had a nice visit with the Sisters but the investigator never came.  They tried texting and calling him but no response.  Unfortunately, that is not an uncommon experience for the missionaries with people just not doing what they agreed to do.

The rest of the day was a continuation of the mission history work.  Renee has completed a general outline of events for 2015.  She then prepared a more detailed draft January, and we emailed it to President Cusick for his review.  While waiting for his response, she received a copy of the Irvine California Mission history from our friends the Orgill's who are presiding over it.  Their history is much less detailed than what Renee has been preparing, so perhaps we need to modify our approach.

In the evening, we visited a less active family who live near us (2 miles).  We had a pleasant visit including with their 16 year old son who is not a member.

Busy But Not Very Productive

We started the day by driving to Port Charlotte to drop off a lease and check to the office of an apartment complex.  The plan has been to move another set of missionaries to Port Charlotte -- there were two sets there until recently.  However, President Cusick has been wondering whether that is the best place for another companionship or if they would be more productive elsewhere.  In the meantime, President Healey had agreed to a lease on another apartment.  So we are stuck with the lease if Pres. Cusick decides against assigning more missionaries to Port Charlotte.  At least we will have to pay for a couple of months rent before we can break the lease.

Since we were in Port Charlotte, we arranged to meet the Hardy's for lunch.  They are a senior couple assigned to the Port Charlotte Ward.  As most MLS assignments, they are seeking out inactive and lost members.  They report that they are having some success and are teaching a family who are progressing toward baptism.

We returned to Sarasota, and Renee continued working on the mission history.  She is sort of going blind on this though we do have some general instructions from the Church Historical Department.  While she was working on that, I slipped over to my neighborhood barber to have my hair cut.

Dental Day

It was dark and stormy as we drove to the dentist in the morning.  The only bright ray of hope is that Renee is in the final stages of her dental work.  They took an impression of how the crown will fit over the implant.  We return in 3 weeks for hopefully the final work.

It continued to be dark and stormy for the remainder of the day.  Again, that wasn't too bad, since we were in our apartment while Renee worked on preparing the mission history reports.

The space where a tooth used to be.

The smile with the "filler tooth."

The "flipper" bridge to fill in the empty spot.

Work in Our Apartment

I started the day by delivering the remaining two gas cards for the missionaries.  It was a rainy day, so hopefully they were able to make good use of their gas cards.  As I was returning from the deliveries, I stopped at Mixon Fruit Farms.  They have a small citrus fruit processing facility and a large visitor center and gift shop.  I purchased some Honeybell Oranges which are actually a cross between a grapefruit and tangerine.  We had read about them.  They have the size of a grapefruit and the taste and sweetness of a tangerine.  They are very juicy and tasty.

The rest of the day we spent in our apartment.  Renee has been asked by President Cusick to prepare a mission history.  Apparently this has not been done though the missions are expected to submit an annual history report.  So Renee is trying to recreate what has been done before we arrived as well as what has been done since.  It was a good day to stay inside because it rained all day.

District Meeting and Cancellation

We attended the Sarasota B District Meeting in the Sarasota building today.  The focus of the district meeting was inviting people to attend church meetings.  This was one of the themes of the instruction by Elder Kopischke last week.

I had an interview scheduled in Brandon for this evening.  However, the interview was cancelled -- for the second time.  Hopefully it will be rescheduled.

It was just as well that the interview was cancelled.  I received a call from Pres. Healey who was delivering gas credit cards to the missionaries.  Several of their cards had expired, so they have been unable to buy gas for their cars.  The new cards were to have been sent overnight last week.  However because of the snow storms around the country, they were delayed.  So we drove part way to Tampa to meet them and pick up the cards for the Sarasota missionaries.  I delivered two this evening and have two more to deliver tomorrow.

P-Day

It was quite cold this morning.  OK, since it is Florida, it was only chilly.  When I went out to jog for my exercise, it was 38 degrees.  I wore my jogging gloves and jacket and was quite comfortable.  I even ran at a faster pace than usual.

After completing our cleaning in the morning, we drove to a couple of birding spots in the afternoon.  I have been to both of these before, the Celery Fields and the Venice Rookery.  There weren't many birds at the Celery Fields.  This is the nesting season for birds at the Venice Rookery and there were many birds there.  The Rookery is a small island in the middle of a small lake.  It was interesting watching the birds fly to pick up twigs in their beaks and return and put them on their nest.  The birds were not bothered by all of the people watching them.  One great egret walked, sauntered, right by me.

Wood Stork at the Celery Fields

Great Egret at the Venice Rookery

University Park Ward

We attended the University Park Ward again today.  I think we will attend there for the next couple of weeks and then start our rotation again.  Since we started focusing on University Park Ward, the Sarasota Stake has lost two units to the organization of a new stake in the Orlando Mission.  Sebring Ward and Lake Placid Branch were moved into the new Vero Beach Stake.  So we will not have the 90 minute drives to the middle of the state to visit those units.

Following the regular block of meetings, I had a special considerations interview.  As is always the case with these interviews, this is a person who is trying to make significant life changes.

After returning back to our apartment, we received a call from Pres. Cusick.  He asked us to do some additional work on the JustServe service effort.  We scanned the lists again to see if there might be anything our missionaries could do and found a couple of potential projects.  I also prepared a list of general requirements for projects and more specific limitations for the types of projects for missionaries, such as no power tools.

Special Meetings with Elder Kopischke

We started the day with a special MLC with Elder Kopischke and Elder Thompson, our area authority.  It was an excellent meeting.  Elder Kopischke praised the missionaries for what they have been doing.  He suggested that the missionaries focus less on just contacting and teaching lessons and more on bringing investigators to church meetings and engaging members in the teaching process.  He emphasized that we are not just teaching lessons but we are trying to build the Church.  He indicated that the missionaries should try to teach families.  He said the Church does not need more part-member families.  He pointed out that we can burn out the members by expecting too much of them.  He said we should not "kill the cow that we want to milk."  This is a good approach because some of the missionaries have become too competitive in teaching lessons and teaching more than others.

In the afternoon, Elder Kopischke addressed a special 5 Stake Ward/Stake Council meeting.  At the beginning of the meeting, he asked the 5 stake presidents and Pres. Cusick for one statement of their concerns about ward councils.  He then started addressing each one, but the discussion blurred between them all.  He discussed how everyone in ward council should participate, especially the sisters.  Ward councils should focus on individuals and families.  He said that we should not attempt to talk about everyone and everything at each ward council.  We should be united and noted that it is "more important to be united than to be right."  Again, he emphasized that we should focus on families and work toward bringing all of the family members into the Church.  It was an excellent meeting.

The Special MLC attendees with Elder Kopischke in the center and Elder Thompson (r).

Inspections and Instruction

We drove to Tampa to inspection two apartments.  Each of these apartments has Sister Missionaries.  Not surprisingly, the apartments were in quite good shape.  Not perfect, but nothing significant to report.  This makes Renee happy because she doesn't like having to report that missionaries' apartments are in need of cleaning.

We drove to the Mission Office and went to dinner with Sis. Tollerton and the Healey's.  We went to a Greek restaurant which is not my favorite.  Renee and Sister Healey were disappointed, so perhaps we will not be going there again. :-)

We then went to a YSA Fireside where Elder Erich Kopischke of the First Quorum of Seventy spoke.  He had just visited a young man in the hospital.  The young man was severely injured in a motorcycle accident while he was waiting for his mission call.  He has now received his call, but he is basically comatose in the hospital with and his recovery uncertain.  Elder Kopischke spoke about why the Lord allows bad things to happen to good people.  He quoted some scriptures indicating that our afflictions are consecrated to our gain.  We need to endure to the end, making the best of our situation regardless of what it may be, and as we read in Revelations all of our tears will be wiped away by our Savior.

Apartment Day

We didn't have any assignments today, so we worked in our apartment.  Renee finished submitting reports on the apartments we have recently inspected.  I updated this blog.  I also finished organizing our financial records in preparation for having to file our tax returns.  I am still trying to figure out which of our expenses are deductible and which are not.  With the number of senior missionaries, one would think there would be some type of tax guide available, but I haven't been able to find anything like that.

Zone Conference and Church Worldwide Missionary Broadcast

The church had scheduled a worldwide broadcast for all missionaries today.  President Cusick received permission to have all of our missionaries gather together at the Brandon Stake Center to watch the broadcast.  He took the opportunity to provide some instruction to the missionaries including introducing the new standards for excellence.  He emphasized the purpose of the standards, as noted in Preach My Gospel, is to raise the missionaries' vision and increase their faith.  The new standards are 60 lessons per week, 21 new investigators each week, 12 dates set at all times, 20 referrals a week, 6 investigators in Sacrament Meeting, and 2 baptisms each month.  He noted that it was not likely that each missionary would regularly meet all of the standards each week.  He read a letter from a missionary who taught 250 lessons last week, so the missionaries know the teaching standard is reachable.

The Worldwide Missionary Broadcast was excellent.  The program emphasized that the missionaries' task is to teach repentance and baptize converts.  The speakers/presenters were Elder Oaks, who now chairs the missionary committee, Elder Bednar, Elder Anderson, Elder Clayton, Elder Nielson, Sis. Oscarson, and Bp. Waddell.  Hopefully it will motivate the missionaries to work harder, and perhaps more importantly to allow the Holy Ghost to direct their work.

Sarasota Zone

Lakeland Zone

St. Petersburg Zone

Shopping and Apartment Inspections

We drove to Palm Harbor to complete the shopping needs with the Sisters from last week.  It took two stores and some time, but I think we have it done now.

While driving with the sisters, we were stopped at a red light.  While waiting for the light to change, the car stopped in the lane next to us was rear-ended by an apparently distracted driver.  I was glad that the distracted driver was not behind us.  A small miracle.

We then drove to the Hudson area and did two apartment inspections.  One was maintained very well.  The other not so much.  For the apartments that need help, Renee is to email the district leaders, zone leaders, sister training leaders, and President Cusick.  The missionary leaders are to follow up to make sure that the apartments are cleaned as needed.

P-Day and a Cancellation

We started the day with our normal preparation day cleaning.  My tasks are dusting and vacuuming.  Renee has the high skill tasks of bathroom cleaning and mopping.

We planned on driving to Brandon for a special considerations interview this evening.  However, the family is out of town, so the interview was postponed.  Since we had some unexpected time, I decided to do the next best thing -- getting my car washed.  It has been over a month since my last car wash, and the car was very dirty.  The full-time missionaries are supposed to wash their cars every week, so I haven't been setting a good example.

Special Regional Conference

Today we were able to participate in a special regional conference broadcast.  The broadcast originated in Church headquarters and was broadcast to 16 SE states and 105 stakes.  The broadcast was shown in two (maybe three) buildings in our stake.  The first 30 minutes of the meeting was under local control with a high counselor assigned to speak.  The last 90 minutes were speakers on the broadcast, Elder Whitney Clayton, Sis. Linda S. Reeves (counselor in General R.S. Presidency), Elder Ronald A. Rasband, and Elder Robert D. Hales. We had not participated in such a conference format before.  We were told that a similar conference has held last year.

I missed the first part of the conference, the local high council speaker.  When we got the the Sarasota building, I was asked by some Sister Missionaries if I could go pick up an investigator.  They had arranged for a member to pick him up.  However, they had confused the times, so he was still waiting for a ride to the meeting.  So I drove almost all the way back to our apartment to pick up the investigator.  He has been meeting with Sister Missionaries off and on for a few months.  Hopefully he will start progressing.

The big topic of conversation among the missionaries was the tornado and high winds in the area overnight.  We slept through everything.  However, the missionaries have the NOAA weather radios which sounded an alarm in the middle of the night.  There was a tornado touchdown in the area which destroyed a mobile home and killed two occupants.  There was also a lot of branches blown down, but I haven't really seen a lot of other damage.

Baptism Day

We drove to the Riverview Ward for a baptismal service for the sister and two sons whom I interviewed earlier in the week.  It was a nice service.  Because all of the stakes will participate in a special regional conference broadcast tomorrow, the decision was made to do the confirmations in the same service.  Elders Knowlton and Durrant who have been teaching the family performed the baptisms and confirmations.

We then returned to Bradenton for another baptismal service.  We discovered there were actually two services scheduled at the same time in the building.  The Bradenton Elders and Palmetto Elders both had investigators to be baptized.  For us it was a dilemma because we wanted to attend both services, but we couldn't be in two places at the same time.  We decided to attend the Palmetto service because we knew both of the people being baptized; the husband and daughter of a sister who was baptized three weeks ago.  The brother had not been interested in the church but allowed his wife and daughter to be taught.  He came to his wife's baptism and I could see that he listened intently.  Following her baptism he started participating in the lessons.  The 12 year old daughter was the one who was first interested in the Church.  She read the Book of Mormon in four days.  The wife and mother gave the talk on baptism for the service.  He invited his best friend and family and his sister to attend the baptism.  Perhaps there will be more baptisms in the family.

In the other service, the talk on baptism was given by a sister who was baptized a little over a month ago.  And I understand that she has been fellowshipping the sister who was baptized.

It is great seeing these new members becoming immediately involved with assignments in the Church.

Basically a P-Day

Our only appointment for today was a hair appointment for Renee.  It takes us about 30 minutes to drive to where she has it cut, and the whole process takes about 90 minutes.  So I drop her off and then try to find something to do in the area until she is finished.

Today I drove to an area called the Celery Fields.  There are a lot of birds that congregate there because it is a restored area on ponds.  I have been there a couple of time before to take pictures of birds.  Today I was able to take some pictures of Roseate Spoonbills.  This is the first time I have been able to get a picture of this bird species.  They are interesting because of their pink coloring and their flat bill.

Roseate Spoonbill

More Interviews

We spent some time in our apartment this morning catching up on a number of details -- making an estimated tax payment, recording financial information, posting pictures to this blog, etc.

In the afternoon, we drove to Riverview for a special considerations interview.  The person I needed to interview is a mother with two children.  All three have been taught by the missionaries and are planning to be baptized.  So in addition to the mother, I interviewed the two children.  One of the missionaries who has taught them is the district leader, so a zone leader normally would have interviewed them.  Since I was there, we decided that I could go ahead and interview all of them.

Car Is Finally Fixed

The biggest accomplishment for today was getting the rearview mirror in my car repaired.  I have been driving without a rearview mirror for about a month.  I felt like I was driving half blind.  The correct part finally arrived at the dealership, and it probably only took them 10 minutes to reinstall the mirror.

I also met Bishop Leedom to have him sign the Baptism and Confirmation Record for Bro. Bischoff.  The submission of this record is what triggers the creation of a Church Membership Record.  We need to get a membership record number for Bro. Bischoff so that he can create an account on Family Search and begin researching his ancestry.  The ward will have a temple excursion next month, and hopefully he will be able to go and do baptisms for some of his deceased family members.

District Meeting and Shopping

We started our day by driving to the Clearwater/Palm Harbor Wards' building for a district meeting.  The St. Petersburg North District meets there.  The missionaries are given a district meeting outline, and they are good at following it.  Sometimes, too good.  They don't want to deviate from the outline even if the missionaries are engaged in a good discussion on a specific topic.  But I suppose they can't be faulted for trying to be obedient.  The topics for this week were on planning and obedience.  They have had training before on these topics, but repetition is good and new missionaries are regularly arriving.

We then took two Sister Missionaries shopping.  They needed some additional clothes and better shoes.  Women's shoes are not designed for walking.  As one of the sisters said at at recent training meeting, "I just assumed that my feet were supposed to hurt at the end of the day, and then I got some shoes with adequate arch support."  Many of the Sisters wear flat soled shoes with no support at all.  It took all afternoon, but Renee was able to help them find some good shoes and mission appropriate blouses and skirts.  I drove them around and then sat and studied.

University Park Ward Empty Nesters

We did our normal P-day apartment cleaning today.  Then we prepared a lesson for the University Park Ward Empty Nesters group.  Bishop Leedom had asked us to teach about sharing the gospel with friends and family.  After finishing our preparation, we decided to do some grocery shopping, get gas, etc.  Unfortunately that took longer than expected, so we were about 20 minutes late to the Empty Nesters.  Bishop Leedom was worried and had tried to call, but he didn't have our phone number.

At the conclusion of the lesson, he asked if we could do that again in a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting on the 5th Sunday in January.  I'm not sure that is a "reward" for our lesson.  But perhaps we can help the ward members step up their missionary efforts.

University Park Ward and Baptism in Brandon Ward

We attended the University Park Ward again today.  We will be attending here for the next couple of weeks to hopefully help avoid any more issues between the members and the missionaries.  In some ways the missionaries are pushing the members to go faster in missionary work than the members are willing to go. 

The Elders had an investigating couple attend all of the meetings today.  They just met the couple this week but they seem to be progressing rapidly.  The challenge is the couple is homeless, so they have a number of challenges in their lives.  The gospel can help them if they are willing to accept it.

In the afternoon, we drove for a baptismal service in the Brandon Ward chapel, the same building where we were last night.  Again, the baptism was for a sister whom I had interviewed.  In addition, three of her children were baptized.  The baptisms were performed by the bishop and another brother from the ward.  There was a large group from the ward who attended, so hopefully this family will be well fellowshipped.

Baptism in Seffner Ward

This afternoon we drove to the Seffner Ward to attend a baptism for a sister whom I interviewed a few days ago.  She had several family members attend the baptism, so hopefully there may be additional baptisms in the future.  She was baptized by the bishop who noted that this was the first time he had conducted a baptismal service while being dressed in white baptismal clothes.

I quite enjoy conducting interviews and then being able to attend the baptismal services of those I have interviewed.  It is great being able to witness God's children making the changes in their lives that He would have them make.

Mission Leadership Council

We drove to Tampa to the Mission Office for the monthly Mission Leadership Council.  These are good meetings that include the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders to discuss issues relative to the mission.  As usual, there was some discussion of the topics for the coming month's district meetings.  President Cusick asked for them to suggest topics for an upcoming meeting that Elder Kopischke, a Seventy and member of the Southeast Area Presidency will be holding with stake and ward councils regarding missionary work.  He wanted to know the missionaries' perspective on what the members could/should be doing better.  The missionaries generated a good list.  My contribution was for the wards to assign home and visiting teachers to new members.

The most intense discussion was a continuation of last month's discussion on standards of excellence.  These are the standards that the missionaries should be working toward for baptisms, investigators attending church meetings, etc.  The most contentious is the number of lessons taught each week.  The current standard is 20, and some missionaries believe that is too high.  However, in recent weeks, some missionaries have taught over 100 lessons.  Last month they talked about raising the standard to 45 per week.  After much discussion, the missionaries recommended raising the standard to 60.  However, it was not unanimous.  Some of the missionary leaders were concerned that having a high standard will not motivate rather will depress some missionaries.  So there was good discussion about how to train the missionaries to understand that the standards are there to raise the missionaries' vision and help them understand what is possible.

Busy But Not Productive

We drove to Brandon for the oral surgeon to check on how Renee's mouth is healing.  It is fine.  So we drove for an hour each way for a 5 minute checkup.

We returned, and I took my car in to have the rearview mirror repaired.  The mirror fell from the windshield a couple of weeks ago.  They needed to order a replacement part.  Unfortunately, they ordered the wrong part, so we still don't have a rearview mirror.  They ordered a different part, but it won't be here for a week.

New Missionary Training

President Cusick met with the newly arrived missionaries and their trainers this morning.  Rather than wait until later in the day, He announced the companionships right away and then had the companions sit together during the remainder of the day.

We had the usually administrative details to complete.  Renee was involved with the medical interviews because Sis. Alexander is with a daughter-in-law who just had a baby.  We continue to be amazed at the number of missionaries with health challenges. 

I think the new transfer process was OK.  It isn't as efficient as the old process with the transfer meeting.  But it complies with the directives from the missionary department.  It better work well because we may be receiving 30 new missionaries at our next transfer in 6 weeks.

After returning to Sarasota, we helped the Sisters who have been assigned to the Cortez Branch move from their apartment in the Beneva Branch.  They needed to move a bed and had arranged for a brother from the branch with a truck to help.  Unfortunately it was raining a bit, so they had to move in the drizzle.  Hopefully the bed didn't get too wet.

Transfers and Arriving Missionaries

President Cusick has received instructions for how transfers are to be conducted.  This necessitated some changes including not holding a transfer meeting.  I thought this was an efficient way for transfers.  However, Pres. Cusick needed to develop a different process.  So the missionaries were informed yesterday evening who was being transferred and where missionaries would be.  The missionaries being transferred or receiving new companions came to the Mission Office in the morning.  Everyone attended a district meeting.  Immediately following the district meeting, missionaries matched up with their new companions, moving luggage and bicycles, and headed on their way.

The missionaries who will be training stayed at the Mission Office for some training and then proselying.  The stayed overnight at the same hotel as the arriving missionaries.

We had 12 missionaries arrive in the afternoon -- 10 Sisters and 2 Elders.  One of the Elders is from England, our only British missionary.  This seems like a good group of missionaries.  They will need to to replace the group of missionaries who left early this morning.

Elders Casperson (f) and Rees with their luggage.

P-Day and Departing Missionaries

Most mornings, I jog for exercise.  The weather has finally started to cool off a bit with the temperature dropping into the low 50s overnight.  That makes for brisk jogging.  At least according to my GPS device, I am jogging at a faster pace, which is good.

We started the day with our usual Monday morning activities, cleaning the apartment.  I am surprised at how much dust I vacuum up each Monday.  Our carpet doesn't seem dirty, but I guess there is more dust in the air than I think there is.

In the afternoon we drove to the Mission Home to meet with the departing missionaries -- 8 Sisters and 1 Elder.  There were actually 10 Sisters scheduled to depart, but two returned home last month because of health challenges.  This is a good group of missionaries.  We know all of them and have had close relationships with several of them.  It is hard to see them leave, but we know it is time for the next season in their lives.

Pres. and Sister Cusick and the departing missionaries in the Mission Home.
1st row:  Sisters Reed, Yellow, Day, Tawzer, Baugh, Paulsen
2nd row:  President and Sister Cusick, Elder Marsden, Sisters Foderaro, Coleman

University Park Ward

We attended the University Park Ward again today.  President Cusick asked us to attend just this ward for the next few weeks.  There have been some conflicts between the missionaries and the ward council members.  I think this is mostly due to a lack of effective communication.  Everyone wants the same goals, to teach the gospel to others.

Yesterday two Sisters transferred to University Park Ward from Lake Placid.  So we now have 7 missionaries in the ward -- the three Elders, two Sisters, and us.  We overwhelmed the rest of the ward council when we met this morning.  However, everything seemed fine.  The Elders apologized for any problems they may have created, and the ward members seemed ready to move on.  Hopefully everyone will learn and move on.

In the testimony meeting, the five full-time missionaries and Renee bore testimonies.  I guess it was a missionary dominated meeting.

Another Day, Another Interview

We drove to Brandon today for another special considerations interview.  This is my third interview this week.  The good part of this is that there are three people who are trying to make changes in their lives.  The bad part, if there is one, is the driving required to get to where the interviews are held.

New Year's Day Cleaning

We met the trio of Elders from our apartment complex at another apartment to help them clean.  Sister Missionaries will be moving into the apartment tomorrow.  Pres. Healey gave the Elders the assignment to make sure the apartment is clean.  One of the trio of Elders lived in the apartment, so it is fair that he be asked to clean it.

Between the Elders and Renee, and my excellent supervision, we were able to really clean the apartment.  Hopefully the Sisters will like their new apartment.