This is an old story but the same one of how the time just flies by and the end is getting here much too fast. I had a day where I wondered if we had made any difference in this branch at all but then I stopped and thought of some of the things we have accomplished. I did a 72 hour kit thing for Relief Society, an awesome Christmas party, we are doing a primary program and we have done lots of temple work. Elder Fullmer has helped two families prepare for the winter both years by helping them cut and stack lots of wood. Sister Skeen said we might not have gotten any of her wayward children back into activity but we have certainly helped her family on the other side of the veil.
Wednesday the 25th we took Sister Hardman and Sister Skeen and went to the temple where we were able to do the work for Leroy’s brother, Sister Skeen’s sister as well as the sealing for John Milton Cunningham and his wives and children. He was married to Laura and they had a daughter and then she died, he married Annie and both her and their baby died and then he married Lucy who was Annie’s sister and had several children and we were able to get them all sealed except for one son who we will try and do before we go home. It was such a beautiful experience and Eva Mae was in tears and said she could feel them in the room as the work was done. I love doing sealings. It is just like adding links to a chain. I really want to get all the sealings done that I can before we leave as it is hard for those in the branch to schedule the extra time to do sealings. I am afraid when we are not here doing the scheduling the monthly temple trips might fall by the wayside.
Then the best part of last week was the temple trip we made with the Wilson’s and Sister Piatt. We were able to get 5 endowments done and then sealed Sister Skeen’s great great grandparents and then sealed 6 of their children to them. There are still two children we have to prove their information before adding them to the family. It was such a beautiful experience having Evan and I as parents and then having Tim, Cheryl and Fran as three of the children along with 3 other people all kneeling around the alter and connecting this family for eternity. We also sealed Cheryl’s brother and sister to their parents which she has wanted to do for several months. We have now sealed Sister Skeen’s great and great great grandparents and all their children and next week will finish the endowments and be able to seal her grandparents and their children. She wants me to try and find her family on the other side. These have all been on her father’s side but not much has been done on her mother’s side. A cousin of hers has tried to find connections but with no success. They were always told that her grandfather was part Indian but they don’t know for sure. It will be something for me to do when we get home.
This week we have another temple trip planned with one of the sisters who is 87 and has only been able to attend the temple once in the time we have been here. She is taking care of her invalid non-member husband and isn’t able to get away often but she called and ask if we could take her one more time. As it means getting more of the sealings done we are more than happy to. I also have two times set up with sisters to help them with family history as they try and learn more of the programs so they feel comfortable continuing on their own. Along with planned visiting and home teaching visits and district meeting the week will be gone again. Also on Saturday we have a meeting with a member of each of the general women’s auxiliaries and the sisters from all six stakes in our mission and as acting primary president I get to go. It all makes for another busy week.
Other than the temple trips I have been spending lots of time working on the primary program. We found out yesterday that two of the young people who were going to help are not going to be able to be there that Sunday so we are going to have to give the kids more parts and perhaps do more of them ourselves. Our newest convert who is just 16 and lives about 20 miles out of town told us yesterday that her mother doesn’t think she needs to come to church every Sunday and even though we offered to pick her up for the next few weeks her mother said she didn’t need to come that often. She was going to do a part for us in the program just to help out and she was excited to be a part of it. It is so hard to see her and feel of her enthusiasm for the gospel and her not be able to be a full part of it. Hopefully when she gets her driver’s license her mother will let her come on her own. Her family is also giving her a lot of anti-stuff but she just keeps reading conference talks to keep her spirits up.
That’s all the news from here for now. We haven’t been to see anything else as I just want to visit old cemeteries and Elder Fullmer would rather stay home than do that. There really aren’t many more things in our general area to go see so unless we go further afield we won’t be doing much more sightseeing.
We love you all. We love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the difference it makes in people’s lives.
Love
Elder and Sister Fullmer
