The House of the Lord

What a wonderful week this has been!  A tradition here in the California Santa Rosa Mission is to have all the missionaries worship in the House of the Lord followed by a testimony meeting, dinner and activities.  

Half the mission attended on Wednesday (the Pac 4 Zones as we call them - Woodland, Vacaville, Fairfield and Napa) and the other half on Thursday (the 4 coastal zones - Eureka, Ukiah, Santa Rosa and San Rafael).  Since we are in Santa Rosa we attended on Thursday.  To prepare for these trips, President and Sister Quinn held beforehand a mission-wide zoom conference call concerning the temple.  The spirit was so strong as they reverently spoke of the temple and worshipping in the House of the Lord and bore their testimonies.  This took the place of the normal zone conferences that are held every six weeks.

The mission hired buses to take us to Oakland.  Once we arrived we had time to walk the temple grounds, take pictures, etc.  During our session a small miracle happened; Sister Cawley was paired at the veil with her friend Jennifer Collins from the Solemint Ward!!  She has not seen Jennifer is several years.   That was a wonderful surprise reunion.  

We wish we had a camera inside the Celestial Room. When we entered the room, the vision of seeing it filled with all the missionaries we love so dearly overwhelmed us.  We have the same feeling when we see family members and friends there.  Truly it is a window into the celestial kingdom. 

After we arrived back at the stake center the missionaries held a testimony meeting.  Traditionally, all those completing their missions next transfer are invited to bear testimony and then opened up to all others.  Our good friends the Nate's leave toward the end of January having completed 18 months.  The Nate's serve with us in the office with Elder Nate as Finance Coordinator and Sister Nate as Mission Secretary.  For the past couple of weeks they have been instructing Elder & Sister Miller in their duties.  The Miller's were asked by President Quinn to transfer from the Ukiah Zone as MLS missionaries to the office.  We will be sad to see the Nate's leave but happy to have the Miller's whom we love be with us.

After the testimony meeting we had Panda Express brought in (which we, along with another senior couple picked up).  After dinner, gifts were passed out to all missionaries which included a mission T-shirt.   Bingo prizes were also handed out.  The missionaries then participated in an activity where each would hold a numbered chime which they struck according to a chart.  The music was traditional Christmas carols and it sounded really good - they did a great job!  IN all it was a wonderful day.

Oakland Temple

Our trusty steed with Elder Miller in foreground

On the bus headed for the House of the Lord

Elders Welling, Marchant, Young, Finger and Harris at the Temple

Sisters Jackson, Harolden and Richins at the Temple

Sisters Pilling, Risser, Weller, Bartlett and Adams

Sister Rupp, Longhurst, Dunlap, Foster, Steinfeldt and Cawley

A spiritual gathering

Showing off the new mission T-shirt; Sisters Stevens, Proffitt and Brinkerhoff 

with Elders Young, Welling, Reese, Baugh Wilson, and McIntyre

Ready for the Christmas party

Video (hopefully it works) of the missionaries playing the chimes

Playing the chimes

Our Sacrament Christmas program - the Foothill Park Ward is very talented

While vacating a missionary apartment we found this note.  

We don't know who wrote this, but Sister Bailey (whoever she was) 

certainly left an impression.  The note is incomplete so you all can fill in the rest.  

This is the bottom of a lamp shade.  

The missionaries love writing their names on furniture.  

We have seen many desks and tables with many names on the bottom.  

We saved this lamp shade and placed it in the housing garage.