Day 100-Milestones, Mulberries and Cups-07-05-06
Today is a milestone. That is what it is. Looking back at the first hundred days of my mission, I can’t believe how fast they’ve gone by. I couldn’t have asked for a better day than today to celebrate the 100th day since starting my mission. The weather is perfect.
Today is Thursday. We went to the Herndon Seniors Center for service. Normally, we go there on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but last Tuesday was the 4th of July, so the center was closed. We postponed our service hours this week until Thursday.
Normally, when we go there for service, we help out in the computer room. (In my case, talk about the blind leading the blind) Elder Davis is great, though. He’s a computer wizard.
A quick story… A couple of weeks ago the Senior’s Center held a 50’s music day. Elder Davis and I were upstairs in the computer room. We had the best seats in the house. We were able to help a few people that day, but when the program started, most people were there to watch the show. The best thing is that over half of the seniors there are from other countries. They were hearing most of these songs for the first time. They had the Senior Chorus singing such favorites as, “Davy Crockett”, “That’s Amore”, “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?”, “Rock Around the Clock”, Elvis’ “Hound Dog”, the classic, “At the Hop”, plus many others. There is always something fun going on at the senior center.
And there was something fun going on today. We were headed up to the computer room when the director of the center called us. She wanted to know if we could help her in teaching an English class to some of their Chinese guests. We said that we’d be happy to help.
When we got to the classroom, we introduced ourselves as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We told them that we were here to help them learn English. Mrs. C, the center’s director, used Elder Davis as an object lesson. She asked how he broke his arm. She then wrote ‘broke’ and ‘arm’ on the board. He told her it was because he fell off his bike. She wrote ‘fell’ and ‘bike’ on the board. She asked Elder Davis how he fell off his bike. He told her that he fell when he was trying to grab a mulberry off a mulberry tree and lost his balance. She wrote ‘grab’ and ‘mulberry’ ‘tree’ and ‘balance’ on the board. Then she had a review for the class.
“Elder Davis fell while riding his bike. He lost his balance while trying to grab a mulberry from a mulberry tree. When he fell, he broke his arms. The next time Elder Davis wants a mulberry, he should get off his bike first and then pick some.” I was laughing silently. It was pretty funny. Elder Davis just stood there and smiled. Today really could have been called, “The Day of the Mulberry, Part 3”, but I thought better of it. All in all, I think it is pretty funny how things work out. Good missionary memories.
Today we taught one of our best lessons EVER! We taught D and B, A’s cousins. We taught them the first lesson with ‘cups’. Whoever thought up the cups lesson was truly inspired. For those of you who don’t know, the cup pyramid is a teaching tool to show how the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ is set up.
You have the Twelve Apostles as the foundation, with all of the doctrines of Christ on top of them, with Jesus Christ being the head of the Church.
The bottom twelve cups are the apostles. When I make up my cup set, I want to have a picture of the 12 original apostles on one side and on the other side, the apostles now. The Apostles of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry are: Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
The next part of the pyramid is the doctrinal principles of Jesus Christ. On one side of the cup, I’ll have pictures showing the principle, i.e. Prayer will have a picture of a person praying. On the opposite side there will be the scriptural references about the principle. The different doctrines are, Prayer, Faith, Repentance, Atonement, Baptism by Immersion, Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Sacrament, Fasting, Tithing, No Paid Ministry, Temples, Missionary Work, Revelation and Priesthood. Then you have the head of the Church. During the time of Acts in the Bible, the head Apostles were Peter, James and John. Have a picture of them on one side, the First Presidency of the Church today on the other side. And at the head of the Church is Jesus Christ. His cup is upside down so it can sit on the top of the pyramid. On the other side I might have a picture of the First Vision, I don’t know.
D and B could feel the spirit during this lesson. So could I. We told them how important Revelation and Priesthood are to Jesus Christ’s church. B really got excited. “So these men are God’s prophets for all of Christianity?, he asked. “Yes, I said, but not everyone accepts them as prophets of God yet. That is why we go around and preach to people who believe in Christ as well as people who don’t. We want to tell everyone that believes in Christ, the He has called a prophet on the earth once again to unite us all in one faith.”
B said that was the greatest thing that he had ever heard. He wants to learn more about the church, but he is just visiting here in Virginia. He is flying back home tomorrow to his home state. We were able to call him tonight and give him the churches information where he lives. As it turns out, there is a ward building 2 blocks from his house! How about that?!!! We passed his information along to the Elders where he lives. They will be contacting him in a day or so. Is this a great church, or what?
Today is Thursday. We went to the Herndon Seniors Center for service. Normally, we go there on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but last Tuesday was the 4th of July, so the center was closed. We postponed our service hours this week until Thursday.
Normally, when we go there for service, we help out in the computer room. (In my case, talk about the blind leading the blind) Elder Davis is great, though. He’s a computer wizard.
A quick story… A couple of weeks ago the Senior’s Center held a 50’s music day. Elder Davis and I were upstairs in the computer room. We had the best seats in the house. We were able to help a few people that day, but when the program started, most people were there to watch the show. The best thing is that over half of the seniors there are from other countries. They were hearing most of these songs for the first time. They had the Senior Chorus singing such favorites as, “Davy Crockett”, “That’s Amore”, “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?”, “Rock Around the Clock”, Elvis’ “Hound Dog”, the classic, “At the Hop”, plus many others. There is always something fun going on at the senior center.
And there was something fun going on today. We were headed up to the computer room when the director of the center called us. She wanted to know if we could help her in teaching an English class to some of their Chinese guests. We said that we’d be happy to help.
When we got to the classroom, we introduced ourselves as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We told them that we were here to help them learn English. Mrs. C, the center’s director, used Elder Davis as an object lesson. She asked how he broke his arm. She then wrote ‘broke’ and ‘arm’ on the board. He told her it was because he fell off his bike. She wrote ‘fell’ and ‘bike’ on the board. She asked Elder Davis how he fell off his bike. He told her that he fell when he was trying to grab a mulberry off a mulberry tree and lost his balance. She wrote ‘grab’ and ‘mulberry’ ‘tree’ and ‘balance’ on the board. Then she had a review for the class.
“Elder Davis fell while riding his bike. He lost his balance while trying to grab a mulberry from a mulberry tree. When he fell, he broke his arms. The next time Elder Davis wants a mulberry, he should get off his bike first and then pick some.” I was laughing silently. It was pretty funny. Elder Davis just stood there and smiled. Today really could have been called, “The Day of the Mulberry, Part 3”, but I thought better of it. All in all, I think it is pretty funny how things work out. Good missionary memories.
Today we taught one of our best lessons EVER! We taught D and B, A’s cousins. We taught them the first lesson with ‘cups’. Whoever thought up the cups lesson was truly inspired. For those of you who don’t know, the cup pyramid is a teaching tool to show how the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ is set up.
You have the Twelve Apostles as the foundation, with all of the doctrines of Christ on top of them, with Jesus Christ being the head of the Church.
The bottom twelve cups are the apostles. When I make up my cup set, I want to have a picture of the 12 original apostles on one side and on the other side, the apostles now. The Apostles of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry are: Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
The next part of the pyramid is the doctrinal principles of Jesus Christ. On one side of the cup, I’ll have pictures showing the principle, i.e. Prayer will have a picture of a person praying. On the opposite side there will be the scriptural references about the principle. The different doctrines are, Prayer, Faith, Repentance, Atonement, Baptism by Immersion, Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Sacrament, Fasting, Tithing, No Paid Ministry, Temples, Missionary Work, Revelation and Priesthood. Then you have the head of the Church. During the time of Acts in the Bible, the head Apostles were Peter, James and John. Have a picture of them on one side, the First Presidency of the Church today on the other side. And at the head of the Church is Jesus Christ. His cup is upside down so it can sit on the top of the pyramid. On the other side I might have a picture of the First Vision, I don’t know.
D and B could feel the spirit during this lesson. So could I. We told them how important Revelation and Priesthood are to Jesus Christ’s church. B really got excited. “So these men are God’s prophets for all of Christianity?, he asked. “Yes, I said, but not everyone accepts them as prophets of God yet. That is why we go around and preach to people who believe in Christ as well as people who don’t. We want to tell everyone that believes in Christ, the He has called a prophet on the earth once again to unite us all in one faith.”
B said that was the greatest thing that he had ever heard. He wants to learn more about the church, but he is just visiting here in Virginia. He is flying back home tomorrow to his home state. We were able to call him tonight and give him the churches information where he lives. As it turns out, there is a ward building 2 blocks from his house! How about that?!!! We passed his information along to the Elders where he lives. They will be contacting him in a day or so. Is this a great church, or what?
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 12:51 PM
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