4.22.2013
Dear Family & Friends,
Today, Monday, is a beautiful sunshiny day. To look out the window is to see green grass that is now growing up everywhere, but it is also to see barren trees everywhere, with no sign of leaves yet. I suppose it is with the plants as it is with us; each one in its own time and season. We certainly find that with those we try to share the gospel with. Everybody must go through the readying process that they require. So, apparently grass is ready to grow, and the trees are still getting there. Have faith! Spring will yet come to Kenosha!
Kelly finds his Danish roots in Racine. Since the last writing we have been blessed by a short visit from Shelley and Kelly. Coordinating their visit with a business trip to Chicago, they arrived late Friday PM, 4/12. How wonderful to see family again! And to be able to visit in person! It was a stormy day, but we nevertheless took the short drive north to Racine along the Lake Michigan Circle Tour route. It was not a beautiful view, but the Lake was there. (Incidentally, the LMC Tour route takes interested persons on a 1,100 mile journey around Lake Michigan. It purports to be a wonderfully scenic drive, with tons of interesting attractions. Much is available on the Internet about it.)
In Racine we went to an authentic family owned Danish bakery, where we purchased a “Kringle” to bring back home to enjoy. Kelly was right at home in the bakery. The Jespersons are Danish. The Kringle is a delightful pastry, about 14” flat oval-shaped with hollow center, and made of secret recipe crust layers, filled with amazing combinations of fruit filling, and lightly glazed. Delicious, but also rich. Not for every day, but definitely for special occasions. Racine is known for their Kringles. They are in high demand during the Christmas season.
After getting our Kringle, we returned to the apartment to enjoy a nice home-cooked meal, visiting, and then partaking of the prize. Goooood! All of it, not just the Kringle. Vicki still does her magic in the diminutive apartment kitchen. As always, she is amazing! We’d hoped our guests would stay overnight and spend Saturday morning with us. But, alas, Chicago beckoned to them and they returned, very late to their hotel. It was wonderful to see them, but Saturday it was back to our regular routine.
MP Interview. Fast forward to Friday, 4/19. President & Sister Jones came to do interviews with our district. This was our first opportunity to visit with them personal like, since arriving the first week of January. It will be our last also. They will be going home the first of July, and President & Sister Cutler from SLC will be coming into the mission. It is always exciting to experience changes in church leadership. We do not know the Cutlers, but have heard great things about them. President Cutler will be the third engineer to preside over the Milwaukee Wisconsin Mission. President Jones told us that several general authorities, including a member of the Twelve, are coming to Milwaukee to do area priesthood leader training in June. He is trying to get SLC to agree to do an all mission conference in connection with that training. That would be awesome. We will see what happens. Incidentally, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square is touring the Midwest during June as well. We have invited Cecilia and her non-member friend, Teresa, to accompany us to the Milwaukee Theatre performance on Monday, June 17th. Cecilia is the recent baptism we are teaching NM lessons to. She is progressing very well. It would be an experience of a life-time for her and her friend to attend the performance. We’ll see how it progresses.
We continue fill our time with less active visits, visits to teach NM lessons, teaching our much loved Primary classes, giving service at the Shalom Food Pantry on M & W. We finally got to visit with the Racine Correctional Institution chaplain, Ray Cole, and the wheels are turning for us to perhaps do some “pastoral visits” with LDS affiliated inmates. Pastoral visits, we learned are one on one visits. A need and interest on the part of the inmates must be determined first. We prepared, in English and in Spanish, bulletin board announcement sheets for the inmates to make their interest known to Chaplain Cole. If that interest materializes, we will take the next step of arranging to make visits. When we visited the chaplain, we presented our clergy credential to him. He said we had already passed the background check and he did not really need to see our clergy license. So there you have it . . . . if you can pass the background check, you are in. If you cannot pass, your fishing/hunting license, driver’s license (even English), social security card, bar card (lawyer type), nor temple recommend will get you in, not that you really want in that place anyway. It’s okay!!! We will see how it progresses. (As a side note, church service to inmates is not a missionary responsibility, but a stake responsibility. President Jones reminded us that our mission is “to invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.” He said the inmates are not able to be baptized until they have satisfied their obligation to society. At one time the Church did have representatives serving the prison. But somehow that has been lost. Maybe we have no LDS affiliates in the prison. That would be a good thing.
The Basic Music Course. Vicki started the Basic Music Course instruction on Saturday, 4/20. She taught a lesson to the mother and daughter of our Hernandez family in Elkhorn. We returned to Kenosha and she taught a class of 5 youths and 2 moms from the branch in the afternoon. Vicki was pretty stressed out about how it was going to go, but it appeared to go well. It is a beginning. The course starts with the rudiments of music, then directing, then basic keyboarding. If some new blood can be developed to provide music and teach others to do the same it will be a great blessing for this branch. We are almost without at this time. We will see how it progresses.
Getting to know Eric. For the past two months we have been assigned as HT/VT to hna. Lupita Mancera in Racine. She was baptized in the branch about 2.5 years ago. Sometime thereafter she found Eric and they fell for each other. They moved in together. Now two years later they have two children, Emily, almost 2 and Zayra, born Feb. 1. Eric is a NM, also a non-divorced husband from a previous marriage. Obviously Eric and Lupita are not married, cannot get married until Eric gets a divorce from his previous wife. They are probably about 30ish in age. Lupita was so excited when we first visited her two months ago. She is feeling the Spirit again in her life after missing it for a long time. We go and teach her every two weeks. She has missed her contact with the Church and is excited to have it back. She realizes she has the dilemma of not being legally married to deal with. One of her first inquiries was about whether Zayra could be blessed in the Church if she and Eric were not married. Two weeks ago when we visited her, we felt impressed to ask if we could come back when Eric would be home and get to know him. She said she would ask him. She did. He gave his okay and we went to meet him on Tuesday night last week. We noticed the first time we visited Lupita that there was a candle burning in front of a picture of a young man. We asked about it and she explained that Eric’s brother was killed a couple of years ago in a shooting. The picture was of him. The Catholic way is apparently to burn the candle in front of the picture. Not sure what that is supposed to do, but it is what it is. So Vicki suggested that we go to meet Eric, get acquainted and then talk a little about the Plan of Salvation and how it applies to Oscar, Eric’s brother. Vicki was inspired to make that suggestion. I had other things on my mind that I had thought to talk to him about, like manning up and getting a divorce so he can marry Lupita. Anyway, I was wise enough to follow Vicki’s counsel. Eric was very receptive. We read from Alma 40 about where the spirits of all men go when we depart this life. His response was, “This is very interesting. I’d like to know more.” Perfect! So this week on Wednesday, we will return, with the elders to begin teaching Eric. Maybe Eric is ready to bloom spiritually?? Heavenly Father knows such things. We will see how it progresses.
Can Dominga learn to read? Dominga Morales, recently baptized mother of hno. Emilio Aquino, is in her mid-70s. She cannot read or write. Grew up in a tiny Mexican pueblo. She has a wonderful spirit about her. We gave her a Book of Mormon to hold close to her heart while she listens to the CDs of the BofM. The branch president called and wondered if we might be able to teach Dominga how to read. Well, who has a special education background and knows how to do things like teach people to read??? That would be Amazing Vicki. So she went to work to figure out some way to assess Dominga and then to see if she has the desire and the capacity to learn to read. Friday last week was the first lesson. Just like school, a lesson has homework that goes with it. So once a week a lesson and homework. We will see how it progresses.
German blesses the sacrament! German, Dominga’s son who was baptized with her, finally was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood by the branch president. (We thought his brother Emilio, and elder, and counselor in the branch presidency, should have been the one to ordain him, but . . . . ) Well, yesterday it was wonderful to see German come to church dressed in a white shirt (collared) and tie, and even slacks. He’s always come in jeans and T-shirt before. He was assigned to be at the sacrament table with his nephew, Giovanni, who is getting ready to submit his mission papers. Giovanni schooled German a bit before the meeting started. German did his part wonderfully well. What a joy to see the locals magnify the priesthood. It has now been a couple of weeks without missionaries at the sacrament table. That is a step forward for the branch in my opinion. Yea! We will see how he progresses.
As you can see we are continuing to enjoy the blessings of serving in the Lord’s work. We trust each of you is doing the same wherever you are. What a blessing to see the Lord’s hand in our efforts, not always the way we had anticipated. We are excited to be with family members for little Reed’s blessing in Snowflake AZ on May 5. What a wonderful blessing it is to have this marvelous family. Each one of them is a keeper! We love each of your dearly! Wyatt will be turning 12 in May and is readying to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained a deacon. Wonderful stuff is happening! How blessed we are!
Love to each of you.
Charles & Vicki
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