Thursday, Oct 30

Today was a very interesting day! We woke up and just puttered around and talked about our Branch Halloween Party last night. We felt it was lots of fun and we took the opportunity to do missionary work. We had a place with the ward missionaries in the Relief Society Room. We had purchased treats and asked them questions about the pass along cards, having to do with the Gospel. If they knew the answer, they got to keep the pass along card and then got a treat too. We had a lot of less actives as well as non members. The Pass along cards were pictures of the Savior, The Salt Lake Temple, CHrist appearing to the people in America and Christ and the Children. It was a great opportunity to share the Gospel and they loved it. Many came back several times.
We had Nachos and rooms with games in them. There was also a hay ride going on in the parking lot. The kids were dressed very cute. We had a goodly number of people there.

So this morning Elder Whiting were talking about the party and all of the things we still had to do to get ready for the clean the church breakfast. We had a couple of calls and were just puttering around when we all of a sudden realized that this was our last day to teach Bob Cornell his last lesson before his baptism. (Bob has been alone for five days because his wife flew to Florida to see her sister who passed away yesterday.) This was an important week to remember him. At this point we had about five minutes to get there, I was in my pajamas, we didn't have a lesson prepared for him and our minds were on other things.

We flew into motion. Elder Whiting called Bob and told him we were running a few minutes late. I threw my clothes on and got ready. We booked it to the car and made it in ten minutes. We were only about a half an hour late, that's not bad. We hadn't prepared a lesson, so we just went with the spirit. We ask him if he had any final concerns or questions, talked to him about the importance of the Book of Mormon in learning and teaching others. We talked also about how the church would go forward until it filled the whole earth, and how this was susch an important time for him. The spirit directed us and it was just a great experience. We were elated and Bob is very excited about his day!!! It is so meaningful to have the spirit direct us even when we are not totally prepared. It's like having a best friend with you all the time.

On the way home we went by the church to put a new belt on the vacuum that was not working, so we would have it for Saturday morning, clean the church." When we got there and walked in we realized that the whole church had not been locked up over night. The three main entry doors were left open and the door into the parking lot for Trick or Treating was also left open. We were shocked because many lights were left on and the Library was also left open. Elder Whiting fixed the vacuum, I cleaned out the baptismal clothing shelves and organized them, we turned off the lights, checked all the doors and came home. It seems like the people in this branch are not taking the responsibility they need to take. This is at least the second time this has happened.

We finished planning the breakfast and decided to have doughnuts and orange juice instead of a big breakfast. This way we will not have a big mess to clean up and it will be fast. If everyone comes that signed up we will have the church finished in 30 minutes. Elder Whiting and I made some cards and laminated them in the library so everyone can get their job quickly and get done.
Tomorrow I will give everyone a quick call and remind them to come. It has been a good and busy week. Time goes by quickly when we have so much to do.