A Thanksgiving Day to Remember

Our friend, Laurinda Williams, who is a client of ours at the Employment Center, was the first to invite us for Thanksgiving so we had the privilege of going with her to her non-denominational church, Hope and Life, to help assemble meals to distribute to those in need. Pastor Tony's parents live in Grandview down the road from home in Washington.


Laurinda with Sister Peterson and I are creating "pulled turkey". There were 521 meals prepared...all the trimmings. There were tables and tables and tables with people working on ladling food into styrofoam containers.


We drove caravan style with two large trucks to an apartment complex housing refugees from many countries.

We are sorting donated clothing.....bags upon bags upon bags. The community is wonderfully generous with their donations and the receivers were very appreciative. This lady in the photo is going to come in to our ERC to get help finding employment. I learned later that some picture of me sorting clothing was on the evening news...I hope they got a great shot of my name tag! It was an honor to be with all of these fine people who did so much good this day for those in need.

Felix is a family friend originally from Puerto Rico...a fine man and stalwart friend to Laurinda. Sherrie is a talented friend who sewed Laurinda's window coverings. She also made much of the meal this day...delectable. She also is a foster mother.


Back at Laurinda's home for a delicious Thanksgiving meal: turkey, ham curried chicken, rice and beans, collard greens, spicy green beans, sweet potato soufle, stuffed mushrooms, 3-pepper salad, corn bread, black bean salsa, costa rica punch, lemon cake, chocolate cake....yes, really! All of that! We were supposed to walk half-way around Stone Mountain, but ended up saving that for another day. We did bring the two copies of the Book of Mormon that Laurinda requested. I missed being with my family today....but since I couldn't be home with them, I was most grateful to be here in Atlanta, with some of the best people I know, doing good and making great memories.

Gladys Knight McDowell!

Friday and Saturday nights we took investigators to a series of firesides presented by Gladys Knight and her Saints Unified Voices Choir. It was a fabulous experience and gauging by the audience's reaction there will be many who will join the church, especially among the African Americans present. The missionaries were gathering request cards right and left and I am assuming it was because the testimonies Sister Knight and her husband, William McDowell, bore were so powerful and convincing. It was a privilege to be a part of it all. Two of our investigators filled out cards, one is waiting until after her finals mid December, and the other two asked us to bring copies of the Book of Mormon to Thanksgiving Dinner! This is thrilling!
Elder Gonzales, our Area Authority said that all senior missionaries are to be at Zone Conference, so that is where we were this past Wednesday. From President Satterfield: In training years ago when he was a member of a Stake PResidency, there was an Area Seventy doing the training who had accomplished some stellar successes when he was a STake President. Afterwards, President Satterfield went up and asked him how he did it...what was the magic bullet? His response: "We only did exactly what they asked us to do."
From Sister Satterfield on the power of being positive: Two frogs were hopping through the forest when they fell into a pit. They started hopping with all of their might trying to get out. Another group of frogs came and looked over the edge, and upon seeing the depth of the pit, yelled out, "Why don't you quit wasting your time trying to hop out of this pit....you will never make it...why don't you just lay down and die! One of the frogs believed them, quit trying to get out, laid down and died! The other frog hopped even harder. The frogs above yelled to him...you are crazy punishing yourself like that...you are never going to make it. Just give up, yell the frogs...you are going to die no matter how hard you try. Well...that frog finally was able to get out of that pit! When asked why he didn't believe those frogs who told him it was impossible for him to get out, he responded, "I am deaf. I thought they were cheering me on."

The Happiest Day of My Mission

Yesterday, November 12, 2011 at 11:00, two wonderful people were baptized...Catherine Herbst and her son, Justin. There are no words to describe the joy I felt seeing them come up out of the waters of baptism, new people who are as clean and pure as the day they were born. A new life and a new start...they were glowing. You have to be older and have heard and seen a lot of people's life stories to appreciate just what it means to have your sins and guilt washed away...to be truly repentant and forgiven...to have hope that you can have a different life from the one before, especially if you have been a victim of abuse or have made poor choices. Change, purity and happiness are a real hope and I am grateful for this precious gift for each of them, all made possible by Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness and Redemption, and the Savior's role in accomplishing the love and mercy of the Atonement. After the baptism we took Catherine and Justin, Elder Nelson and Elder Salomonson, and Rahab Bola who was going out with the missionaries, to Hibachi Grill Buffett for a celebration Luncheon. Elder Nelson is an exemplary missionary. In a matter of fact way he said in response to the conversation at our table, that there is not one day of his mission he would live over --that he has given his best every day. It is the "two years to serve, and the rest of your life to think about it" mentality....no regrets. Saturday was a glorious day and one I will cherish always.

The Week in Review

Another one of our Career Workshop candidates found work....but it has been a long two months of hard work on Sasha's part. She got her dream job through networking as the workshop teaches since it is the number one way people get jobs....hand offs! So thrilled for her and appreciative of her saying that learning there are methodical steps a job seeker has to take to find that job made the difference for her. Laurinda found a part time job, Pamela got school funding through the DOL's Workforce Investment Act....my first referral and she actually received money! We reworked Bola Bosomba's resume and wrote a nice cover letter and....he has an interview MOnday morning. This is a man who is working on his second MA degree --this one in Public Health. He is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and there worked for the government in the Dept. of Family Services educating families on the prevention, cause and treatment of HIV/AIDS. He once saw a man in the final stages of AIDS who was convinced that he was ill because of evil spirits and was seeking a cure through a tattoo. This had been Bola's motivation to do something about educating his people. We worked up a Curriculum Vitae for an internship with W.H.O. so he can be actively involved in that work once more. Sister Peterson missed two days of work as she was very sick with a cold but is starting to mend. I received special Heavenly help Friday evening and it went like this (from my journal): Sister P has been sick the last two days and I stayed after work a bit to make a phone call and to print some things out, when the phone rang. It was Daryl, my supervisor, saying he had left his coat in his office. He asked how long I planned to be there and I said as long as he needed me to, so he called his wife to see if she could pick up his coat on her way home from work, but I am supposing she had already left for home, since Daryl said he would be driving back to get it and would be there in about an hour. I suggested I meet him halfway, which we did as he was almost to Alabama. I said a prayer and asked for protection, to be able to find the meeting spot (the GPS was with Sister P) and to return home safely. It was bumper to bumper traffic going and coming, but I found the right exit and met them just fine. On the highway heading home with the traffic still heavy I saw out of the corner of my eye a car moving right into my lane. I screamed and instinctively moved into the left lane without even looking. Fortunately, Heavenly Father was protecting me as no one was in that lane to the left or I would have been sandwiched. So grateful...I am still saying prayers of thanks. Saturday morning I was cleaning toilets at the church and in walks Bola to mop the floors behind me! I gave him a big hug and then met his wife, Balonda, who was standing behind him. It's such a great life with all of these good people around you to go through life with! The best for last....Catherine and Justin and the missionaries met at our apartment for lunch and two discussions so they can have their last one Tuesday before their baptismal interviews on Thursday with the Zone Leaders, then their baptisms on Saturday at 11:00. Much credit has to go to Elder Nelson who has his own story to tell, but who is my hero. He genuinely loves the people, knows the scriptures like the back of his hand, and brings the spirit to the discussions. He is also exactly obedient. One Saturday C & J and the elders were invited to our apartment for lunch and a discussion and were to be here at 2:00. The elders were here on time, but C & J were held up for an hour. Elder Nelson and his companion stood on the porch on a chilly day until C & J arrived because the mission rule is: If there is a woman in the house but no male age 12 or older, the elders may not enter, even if the two women are missionaries and old enough to be his grandmother! We would never ask them in knowing the rule, and they were content to be on the porch while we stood in the doorway and made our plans for the discussion. Obedience yields power! I also have to give some credit to Mormon.org. Catherine said to me when she arrived that on the way over Justin said that he was not ready to commit to baptism and needed more time to think about it. I had my laptop on the counter and was listening to MoTab and had the screen on lds.org. Elder Nelson clicked on Mormon.org, and I suggested he show Justin the video clip of Kevin, the professional skateboarder who is also the son of a single mom and....a Mormon. Justin seemed very surprised that a skateboarder (as he is too) could be a good Mormon. Justin had said before that he didn't feel like he fit in. He also watched a segment on a professional female world champion surfer...she too a Mormon, naturally. Next thing we know, Justin is committing to baptism and gave a beautiful closing prayer. I feel so incredibly blessed to know these two wonderful people who are about to be blessed beyond their wildest expectations...joy for each of them. This is why I am a missionary.