7.24.2013
Dear Family & Friends,
I
apologize for letting time get away from me when it comes to writing letters
home. I see it’s been a month since our last one.
This one will obviously need to be a catch up letter.
La Familia Hernandez. Probably the
sweetest experience for us since coming to WI was accompanying the Hernandez
family to the Chicago Temple on June 29th. They had
prepared themselves well. For at least two weeks prior, every
prayer offered by a member of that family, whether at home or in public,
included a sweet plea to Heavenly Father to bless them to go to the temple on
June 29th to receive their endowments and be seal together as an
eternal family. It turned out that we drove them (5) together with
hna Flores, the escort for hna Hernandez. It was a busy day at the
temple. At just after noon, when we arrived, we took some pictures
of the family on the temple grounds. There was a Primary group on
the grounds from a Spanish-speaking ward in the Chicago area. It
appeared they were having a special Primary activity day at the temple. Vicki
took the the children and explored the temple grounds, fountains, etc., while
hna Flores and I accompanied the parents into the distribution center to
purchase garments and temple clothing. That took a good 45 minutes.
When we went back outside to find Vicki and the children, they were
eating sandwiches and paletas, while drinking juice. It seemed that the Primary
group from Chicago had extra and had offered it to the children.
What a life saver that was. Heavenly Father’s hand was in
it.
After a little cleaning up, we went into the
temple. A member of the presidency met us. The
children were taken off by temple workers to the children’s center, where they
happily spent the next few hours. I accompanied hno
Hernandez and hna Flores accompanied his wife. A
Spanish-speaking temple worker was also assigned to each of them.
First they were taken by the ordinance sister who had to verify all the
family information on the recommend. Turned out the sister was a
member of Kenosha 1st Ward and a friend of hna Flores.
Next came las ordenanzas preparativas (initiatory). The
member of the temple presidency then came to give hno Hernandez his orientation
and instructions. He asked that I go along to translate.
Wonderful to be present to hear that information again. Hna
Hernandez was getting her information from the assistant matron at the same
time. Finally we were ready for the endowment session.
It was in Spanish. Vicki used headphones. The
branch president and his wife and the first counselor came to be there with the
Hernandez. There were a few other Hispanic sisters on the
session. After the session, and a bathroom stop, we were taken to
the sealing room. The sealer assigned was an Anglo brother who did
a very nice job. His wife was present. She speaks Spanish pretty
well, a convert, learned Spanish on her own taking classes. They
are getting ready to serve a mission she said. Of course the
highlight was when the three children, all dressed in white, were brought in,
(Alexandra (10), Jose (6) and Erick (4). The sealing of the
children was so sweet.
The children were taken back to the children’s center,
and the parents back to the dressing room to change. Hna Hernandez
had brought her wedding dress, and it still fit. She had added a
white jacket to make it work for the temple. We changed and went
outside and again took pictures for them. When we finally got into
the car to head back it was 4:30. The branch was planning a party
for them. It got started a little late, but it happened.
Lots of food, a tres leches cake, music, dancing. It
appears that the Mexican as a people dance a lot better than they sing.
What an awesome day. What a privilege for us to be a part
of it.
We attend mass. 6.30.2013. Some of you may recall
that Theresa Setter, music director of St. Mary Catholic Church accompanied us
to the Tabernacle Choir Concert in Milwaukee. She had a marvelous
experience. On the way home she told us about her various choirs
at St. Mary. Her men’s choir was going to perform “Battle Hymn of
the Republic,” one of the signature hymns of the Tabernacle Choir. She invited
us to come and hear them. It turned out to be a very nice
experience. Mass was to begin at 9 am. Theresa was
waiting for us at the west door 15 minutes before the start. The
old church is huge inside, but beautifully decorated with typical Catholic art
and statues. We felt rather over-dressed when compared with the
regulars there in their casual attire. She did a beautiful job of
briefly explaining what the service would consist of and how we should respond
as. Very nice. The last feature number by the choir
was “Battle Hymn.” They did a great job, considering their
numbers. The pastor gave his sermon about being good
neighbors. The ushers did the collections three
different times, as called for by the pastor, using long handles with fish net
sort of things to reach way down the pews. At the end of the
service the pastor invited all visitors to stand. Gave a special
welcome, said he hoped we’d taken advantage of the passing of the collection
bag. The congregation gave an applause for us.
Following the service all the choir members came and personally greeted
us, as well as the accompanist and her family. We thought what a
nice job Theresa did to make our experience a pleasant one. A good
example of what we should do when we invite a nonmember to church.
Theresa’s sister sat with us during the mass. She expressed
her interest in attending an LDS service with her children.
Hopefully she will have that opportunity.
Meeting President & Sister Cutler. 7.2.2013.
The Milwaukee South and North Zones had the opportunity to become acquainted
with our wonderful new mission president and his wife on Tuesday morning.
After a brief video introducing them and their family members, some of
whom live in Wisconsin, They did a beautiful job of teaching the doctrine of the
family, tying it to the doctrine of Christ, and reminding us that our purpose as
missionaries is to find those whom the Lord has prepared to learn these precious
doctrines, and prepare them for baptism. It was a wonderful,
spirit-filled meeting. What a blessing to see how the specific
priesthood keys for the gathering of Israel are passed to each new mission
president. We certainly sustain them and feel a great love for
them and from them. Ten days later we were blessed to have the
Cutlers come to Kenosha to do interviews with the Spanish-speaking
missionaries. We were so grateful for that
experience to get to know them on a more personal basis.
Other catch up happenings. Vicki
continues with her teaching of basic keyboarding. The numbers of
students keeps growing. It is a blessing for Vicki.
So much of the time she is in the background while I am teaching in
Spanish. This is all hers, and she does a great job with
it. We are teaching the temple preparation lessons to a terrific
young man who has been called from the Branch to Minnesota to serve a
mission. What a well-prepared young man. He has also
asked Vicki to teach him keyboarding. He has a good previous music
background and is picking it all up quickly. The Hymns Simplified
book is very helpful to him.
Last
but not least. I will include here the e-mail sent to our
family members on 7.15.2013. As you will see, the contents of the
e-mail have pulled us together as a family, and perhaps set us on a new
adventure –
