Elder Stafford - Pics

 

Weekend Explorations

We are running out of time!  Some of our favorite areas will close soon for the winter. Also, I have been really sick this week and needed to get out of the house for a bit.  So we decided to head to our favorite new spot to do some more exploring.  We have been out this way 4 times now and each time we manage to see new wonderful things!

We saw a herd of deer, we went up some steep climbs, we found some fun sticks and Harry Potter wands, we met some rangers and were given a cool new map, and we even hiked a bit to check out some of the areas.  Near the end of our adventure we saw a very steep hill and decided to try it out. We got to the top and found we had taken the back way up to the top of some ski runs, complete with chair lifts and amazing views!  We worked our way down and found at the base that we were at the Kelly Canyon Ski Resort.  We met the owner and learned all about ski classes.  Fun!  I adore my family!  There is no one else I would rather spend the day with!  We miss the two older kids and look forward to the times we get to spend with them as well!

 My goofball!

Remembering the Good Times

This was picnic on a mountain day. Best date ever! I worried that photos of Richard would always make me sad. But I like to be reminded of the happy memories. There are so very many of them! Grateful I took a moment to capture this one. I miss my husband.

Returning with Honor

Today we will welcome Elder Stafford back into our home and our daily lives.  He has faithfully served the Lord and the people of North Carolina for the past six months.  I am so proud of him and his ability to continue working hard even when things were so difficult for him. He gave everything he had and that is what a mission is all about!

We talked to his Mission President yesterday and he told us what a diligent and obedient missionary Jacob is.  He assured us that Jacob will receive a certificate of completion. He also told us Jacob will continue to be a missionary for the rest of his life. I know this to be true, as Jacob was an amazing missionary even before he left for North Carolina. 

We are so excited to see Jacob again after all this time. We are proud of him and his service. The kids look up to him and have expressed their desire to follow in his footsteps and serve missions themselves one day!

I want to let Jacob know how much we love him!  We could not be prouder of him and we are thrilled to welcome him home! 

Congratulations Elder Stafford, for returning with honor!

Elder Stafford Letter

Linville Falls

Here are some pictures I took last week. We hiked at Linville falls with an investigator named Amy.

Elder Stafford Letter

 I'm really excited for general conference. Did you know that conference speakers can now give their talks in their native language, so we might listen to President Uchtdorf speak German. During that weekend, we will spend all day at the church watching sessions, and it will be the only time that we can be out past 9:30 because the priesthood session ends at 10pm here. So, the first session will begin at noon.

Last Wednesday, we helped the Jenson family herd some cows, including a couple of donkeys and a 1500 pound bull. 

From, Elder Stafford

Cuties

Elder Stafford

I hope things are going well in post-graduaton life.

I had a great birthday. Sisters A and E (Sister missionaries in Morganton) called me in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. Sister Craven (President Craven's wife) also called me to wish me a happy birthday. My birthday was filled with miracles. We've met with an investigator for the first time in two months, we've found a new person to teach at chick fila; we are teaching him through Facebook. The Brletich family organized an ice cream social that evening. I really didn't think about myself at all on my birthday and just focused on helping other people come closer to Christ. The Penningtons (Brother Pennington is the ward mission leader, and he is a fantastic mission leader) also gave me a chocolate cake.

Yesterday, I went to the best testimony meeting I've ever been to. I went up to bear my testimony and challenge members to do missionary work. We have teams with members every Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the bishop felt that the members can do better at helping us.

On Saturday, we've met with a couple who are investigators by the name of R. W. and R. T. They both love us and appreciate the visits. They have a desire to come to church, but they both have health problems. He has severe arthritis, but he continues to serve people by serving in resting homes. He owns two resting homes in Morganton. She is bed ridden. She has seizures; it's not epilepsy seizures, it's a seizure that locks up her whole body and she describes it as a full body cramp, and he has to be there to give her a shot when that happens. She said it was the most painful thing she ever endured. We promised them that we will keep visiting, even after they get baptized.

Here are a couple of pictures that my trainer took. They day before transfers, we went zip-lining in Lenoir as a district activity. A member in Lenoir owns a zip-lining course and he let us use it for the day. Out of all the name tags in the picture, Elder Jackman, Elder Shumway, and Sister Ekins got transferred. Elder Morrow is the district leader and is training Elder Nelson. Sister Rendon is training Sister Dahle (she is from Sherwood, Oregon!!)

Today we are going to Lenoir for a Zone activity, we are doing the same thing as the last Zone activity.

I hope you have a great week.

From, Elder Stafford

Elder Stafford

I did get the package a couple of days ago. Thank you very much. I love everything about the package, especially the minionary twinkies and the yoda t-shirt.

I'm getting along pretty well with Elder L. We didn't have to feed ourselves for dinner for the entire week.

It was great that you got to meet Bishop and Sister Austin. They told me all about the visit.

Thanks again for the package!! :D

Elder Stafford

Graduation...Finally!!!!

Elder Stafford

 I am still in Morganton, but Elder J will be transferred tomorrow. Normally, I won't know who my new companion is, but I found out who he is. His name is Elder Lyman and no it's not Alex Lyman. Yesterday we went to a family members house named the Wheelers. Brother Wheeler gave both Elder J and myself a priesthood blessing. If missionaries eat at the Wheelers, Sister Wheeler won't let them leave unless they bring some food from the pantry.

Right now, we have six people with baptismal dates. When I first came to Morganton, we had almost nobody to teach, but now we filled our teaching pool and have six people with baptismal dates.

I sent Annalina and Joseph with a letter and a couple of drawings that they'll like.

I hope you get to meet Bishop Austin, because I gave him my memory card. Bishop Austin told me that BYU Idaho was flooded. I hope the school is still okay. And congrats for graduating!

From, Elder Stafford

Internship Fun

Friday morning we took Richard to the airport. He was flying to Denver, then on to North Dakota for several weeks of training for his new job.  The kids were feeling a bit blue at the thought of their Daddy being gone. So I took them to work with me!  We went to the new building and played with some of the residents.  We brought puzzles and got a couple of the men to come out and join us putting them together.  First Harold arrived and Annalina and Shauntelle (my intern partner and dear friend) helped him with that.  Joseph and I walked down to Aden's room and asked if he wanted to join us. He said no, but wanted to show Joseph a bunch of his fun photos.  Giant fish he caught up in Alaska and pictures of him on his quad just a few months ago.  After that we headed back to the dining room and before long Aden came with some more of his puzzles and Joseph and I worked on it with him.  Both men got a little tired, but neither wanted to go back to their rooms.

I am so amazed by my children.  They were both so excited to go with me.  They were both patient and kind to these two elderly men.  Harold repeats himself a lot, but Annalina played along with him each time.  And Joseph was so sweet. He would pick up a puzzle piece and point to a certain area and say, "I think this might go somewhere over there" and then he'd hand it to Aden.  Aden would then find where it belonged.  At one point Joseph went to the piano and played a couple of songs he knows. We were there for about three hours and the kids loved it. When we got home they asked when we could go again. 

Today was my last day as an intern.  They were getting ready to play bingo in the old building and I went to the new building to get Harold and Aden and take them over to play.  Harold has Alzheimer's, and was very concerned about the time and about his daughter coming to visit him. He said he didn't want to go, but Hillary, the manager, asked me to see if I could get him to go. He doesn't get out very often.  This sweet man reminds me so much of my father. I asked if he wanted to go and he said no. I told him it would be fun and he asked if it was just elderly folks who would be there.  I told him mostly, but I was going to be there too.  He then told me that if I was going, he would go too.  So I walked them over and they had a great time.  Harold won several games, but was very concerned about the time and missing his daughter if she should come by.  I just reassured him each time that she knew where we were and would come find him. 

Although my internship was not all I had hoped it would be, I did enjoy getting to know some of the sweet residents.  I will miss them and will do my best to get over to visit them from time to time!

Elder Stafford

Here are some pictures that my companion took. I still can't figure out how to upload photos from my camera, so I'll just send my SD card when I get the chance.

A couple of the pictures are most of our district in a Zone activity at Bo's in Lenoir. One picture is of our whole district, Elder D and Elder S (the missionaries on the far right) are the Zone leaders.  The rest of the pictures are of us with a part member family.

L is an investigator that the past couple of missionaries have been working with. We are very careful with him because he can get offensive when we give him a baptismal date. He knows he wants to be baptized, but we think what's holding him back is that he has a step-son on a mission right now and we think that L is waiting for him to get home so that his step-son can baptize him. In the mean time, we are developing friendships with him.

One of the pictures you see is of Elder J and myself standing in front of the oldest church in the U.S.  Anyway, because of how humid it gets during the day, I would consider NC being extremely hot. We do have AC in our apartment.

We are working with two gentlemen by the names of T and J. We found T through tracting, he was really interested in what we believe. T is a Pentecostal, he does have a couple of issues with the religion such as they believe in a trinity. We met with T again last Friday and that's where we met his friend J. We taught them the Restoration. T asked if he could have a Book of Mormon because he would love to read it, he also wanted to come to church with us to see what it was like. T did not come to church yesterday, but hopefully we will see him at church this Sunday. We invited T and J to be baptized and they accepted it! If they progress and keep the comittments we invite them to do, they'll be baptized on August 3rd and confirmed on August 10th.

I'm excited for you to be graduating. I hope you get to meet Bishop and Sister Austin while they're in Rexburg.

The ward here is like a big family. Even though we haven't gotten any referrals from them, they try hard to do missionary work, they love to go out with us on teams.

A couple of weeks ago, Brother Mears asked me for your cell number because he wanted to text you to let you know how good of a missionary I am. I didn't know it.

From, Elder Stafford