Veintenueve - Marzo - dosmil y quince (29 March 2015)

Yes, I bore my testimony in Spanish today. Yes, I was nervous, but I did it. So this will be a short simple post on the blog, but I wanted to write it down. After all this is my journal sort of. Here it is, it is simple but it worked. Buenas tardes, me llamo Elder Slade, estoy feliz de estar con ustedes hoy. Yo quiero dar  mi testimonial, se que Jesus es El Cristo El Hijo del Dios viviente. Se que el evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero. Se que mi Padre Celestial nos bendice cuando guardamos Sus mandamientos Y se que esto es es verdadero proque siento El Espiritu Santo. Estoy agradecido por el evangelio, estoy agadecido por El Salvador, estoy agadecido por mi mision Y mi familia. Amo El Salvador, amo la familia. en el nombre de Jesucristo amen. By the way this was without crib notes. Les amo and until next time mantenerse fiel.

22 March 2015 Elder Kopischke and other items that pale in comparison.

Well, the zone conferences are over for a quarter, they are fun but busy. Employment is doing better than I can expect, meaning the Lord is carrying the load.. again. It seems when we hit a wall, the Lord opens a window and blesses more lives. Looking at it at a superficial point of view, as of now about 45 or so candidates have found work. I don't have the exact number because I had to erase one side of the chart to make more room. However as I have said success isn't measured by shear numbers, but by how each stake/ward is doing as a team. OK here it is, and I am jumping ahead, to what Elder Kopischke taught at our mission conference. If you remember when we arrived here no one was in the employment office for about 6 to 7 months. It has been suggested that senior couples,willing to serve, are getting harder to find. So I suspect that we may not have someone to relieve us when we leave. I had hoped to help train someone. We need to, with the help of the Lord, establish a working program before we leave. Fast forward to the mission conference, Elder Kopischke, is teaching the missionaries, all of them, all 230+. He says write down a question you have, anything you feel you need help with and see if it is answered today. 230+ missionaries writing down a question? Can they all be answered? Mine was, as well as everyone I asked. No fooling! This was mine "how can I get the Lords plan, regarding employment, moving according to His plan".  This is what came to me.
I applied it as a missionary for future use. The work is the same.
1.You may be a great missionary, but when you are no longer here what happens to the work?

2. We need to set a plan in place. It's the plan (Lords plan) if followed that works, not really the missionary.

3. Who will continue when you or any missionary is long gone?

The members and leaders of the stakes and wards. They will carry on, they will look after the sheep. That's the answer, the time will come when the missionary will rely solely on member referrals. The employment candidate will need the nurturing of the ward and stake leaders. The missionary will be a resource. When the members have so many referrals they will need the help of the missionary to teach new member discussions, or the candidate needs development resources or extra attention. We learned that we need to open our vision, see beyond what we see now. Anyway it was great, something else I learned is when you read in the Book of Mormon and it says I write an hundredth part, I know how that is. I couldn't write all I learned or what was said, I just have to try to remember as best I can. Now for a couple of picture to lighten the day. Every Sunday, or anytime we drive to or from Lancaster SC we pass this old 1950? or so Ford pick up off the side of the road, by a barn. I used to have a 1950 Ford pick up back in 1969. It was my first vehicle I bought myself. I paid $190.00. It ran! Anyway I wish I had this one to rebuild with Farmer.

Love to you all and keep the faith,

catorce -Marzo- dosmil y quince 14-March 2015 (I am trying to learn Spanish)

I have been trying  to learn Spanish, I don't think I mentioned that earlier. I have been taking lessons from the MTC senior language program. It is slow going because I don't have anyone to talk with on a regular bases. It all started because we had several Spanish speaking people come into the office, as well as sign onto ldsjobs.org. I felt I needed to learn some Spanish to help them. I enjoy the learning, but don't feel it is coming along fast enough. I have decided to, besides attend our little branch in Lancaster, attend the Spanish Branch at least twice a month. We'll see how it goes. I wanted to write a little about zone conferences starting up again. I help Elder Hunt with his responsibility inspecting the mission cars, it makes the work easier and I enjoy the missionaries. Anyway one of the responsibilities is checking the cars i.e.; are they clean, washed, and organized ( the trunk is suppose to be clean and organized. The three pictures below show what they look like, one of these pictures is not like the others.

Hmmm?

We do have fun while we work, It really is a great experience

If you remember previous posts I always lined the cars in some order either by Make or model or color, I backed them in certain ways. This day Elder Hunt started parking the cars when we were done, I said that's not going to do, so with his permission I re-parked the cars..

New Ford Fusion leads the way, (also belongs to the Welcome Ward Sisters)

then snakes around the poles. I told Elder Hunt and Elder Urban "don't worry I left enough room between the cars that even my 16 year old granddaughter could get out without hitting anything". Then again it is my granddaughter.

Elder Urban checking my handiwork.

Welcome Ward Sisters. Sister Knight, Sister Jacot and of course Sister Phillips.

They are a dynamic trio. They have strong testimonies, great lessons, motivated and adorable to be around. Somewhere there are 3 young men who will find these young return missionaries and will have their lives changed forever. 

Elder Couch and Elder Brogoon. 

Elder Couch is a crack up, he has a laugh that is contagious. Once he starts you can hear him all over the building. I think everyone gets around him to make him laugh, it's funny and lovable. Don't get him started in the chapel.

 Lastly these two are Elder Hunt talking to the missionaries about their responsibilities with the cars, 

with President and Sister Craven listening intently to what he is saying. I would too. One time I told Elder Hunt "you just called them pigs, without actually calling them pigs." There is a story with that, he said to the missionaries, I knew an elder who had this calling, he would walk back and forth telling them they were pigs, but I'm not like that. It was funny and not mean spirited at all. Elder Hunt truly loves the missionaries.

The work is wonderful whether in the employment center or just helping out. I am grateful to be here .

Until next time, keep the faith.

3 March 2015 Transfers, mission conference, workshops and other items that enter our lives on this mission.

A lot has happened here in the North Carolina Charlotte Mission ( NCCM).  Really, it seems like something is going on quite regularly. I can hardly imagine how fast time is zipping by. That being said, I love every minute of it. It is an experience never to be forgotten. Ironically I hope I can remember all the details. I can remember President Alston telling me, when I was serving as a bishop, to be thankful for every minute. I did and it still seemed like it wasn't enough. How could I love a ward so big, so many youth (84), but I did, it was all consuming. That's what is going on again. It is incredible, we love it! Every transfer we see young elders and sisters who love each other, with Christ like love. They watch as companionships move, closeness separated. Then all of a sudden new companionships are formed new true friends made. Again, no one stands alone, there is always someone there to lend a hand. Last transfer one senior couple, one who we became close to, Arizona residents (Heber, Mesa) left for home. Good friends, great missionaries we will miss here but look forward to reuniting with later. Elder and Sister Reidhead, pictured below.

The next few pictures are from the transfer, new missionaries coming in and more seasoned missionaries going home.

 New

 Seasoned

transferred 

Transferred from our complex 

  Sister Ofisa (left) transferred to Lancaster Branch with Sister Pulley (middle) 

Sister Knight (right) transferred to Welcome ward in High Point Stake.

 Sisters arriving at the mission home preparing to leave in the morning headed home

 We love you

Well done thou good and faithful servants

And you too, Elder Urban

 Somewhere

 Along the way

 We found snow 

in the South

Three times in 2 weeks actually.

 These two pictures are where Elder Hunt and I swept snow to clear a place for Elder Gregory A Schwitzer when he came to Charlotte for a mission conference.

 But the star was Sister Craven, who had foot surgery and needed assistance into the chapel

That's Elder Urban pushing and Elder Schwitzer behind and right.

 Missionaries waiting for instruction (about the new iPad program). Actually we had already been using iPad's for about 18months as a test area.

 Elder Schwitzer teaching

 Our own (Saguaro Park Ward) Elder Herr (left) and his companion

 Lunch break

And finally Sister Phillips (great and special friend) with Sister Perez

What about the workshop? We taught a workshop in the High Point Stake. I wanted to add this because that's what we are here for, employment. Things are amazing in the employment side. When I think we have hit a wall and nothing is happening the Lord sends people with more job opportunities and more job seekers. We have 100 names to work with. As Always some are serious and some not so much. I learned something today as I was talking to a candidate. She had lost the centers number and email because her phone had crashed. She needed some help and I didn't know it because I hadn't heard from her in awhile. This happens when someone doesn't log on in 60 days. I figured she was doing OK and I didn't worry about her. I sent a group email, which reached her and she called as soon as she got it telling me that she had lost all the information, and thanked me for sending her a email so she could re-connect with us. I liken this to someone we think is on the "do not contact list" we say we can't contact them because they don't want contact. When sometimes someone just thought that and placed them on the list and no one goes over to find out why. Then we find out they are just as disappointed no one has reached out to them. We never know until we ask ourselves.

Anyway We invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Until next time keep the faith.