Blessed by the Lord

Before I begin this blog, let me tell you that this morning at about 8:00 AM, the first pigeon egg hatched.  Here is a picture of the little fellow and his mom. (How do I know it is a "he"?  I don't.  I'm just just making that decision.)

Earlier this week we were interviewed by the Europe Area President, President Kearon.  He is so very nice and sincerely interested in us Senior Missionary Couples.  He thanked us for our willingness to sacrifice this time in our lives; to leave those whom we love so dearly - our children, grandchildren, siblings and others; to live in a country where we don’t speak the language and are unfamiliar with the culture; to live in a tiny apartment.  We thanked him, but knew in our hearts that our desire to be here and serve the Lord was stronger than any sacrifice we anticipated.

He then told us something that came to us as a bit of a shock.  He told us that here in Europe, there are only half as many Senior Missionary Couples serving as in Europe as what is needed.  Half?  We knew that there don’t seem to be a lot of couples serving missions, but we didn’t know how great a need there was, and that is only for Europe.  What about the rest of the world?

If there is anyone reading this blog and is half way considering going on a mission, we want you to know that you are sorely needed.  The Lord has blessed you your whole life.  He is only asking for 6 to 23 months of your time for Him.  We’ve been out a short time and already we have seen marvelous blessings come to us, not to mention blessings for our family members back home.  It may not be an easy choice for you, but you will never regret your decision to come.

Let me share one small miracle we experienced.  Diane and I decided to fast about learning German.  I was struggling badly.  Since that day, I decided to increase my time of study.  In a few days I noticed that the little amount of extra time I’ve put into it, has resulted in me increasing my learning and comprehending 4 times more than previously.  In addition to that, almost every day, the Lord has placed us in situations that required us to speak German.  Until now, we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to look for or create those situations.