Transfers, Training and Clean Up

This past week was very eventful and busy.  We sent 10 faithful missionaries home and received 24 new missionaries.  We are so glad to have them!  Some went directly from meeting their trainers to the Temple site to work on clean up there.  

Testimony Meeting With Outgoing Missionaries

A Special Dinner Is Held To Honor Returning Missionaries

New Missionaries Arrive At Airport

New Missionaries Prepare to Meet Their Trainers and Start Their Missions

New Missionaries Look At Houston Temple

This Is The Goal For The People They Will Help Become Disciples

New Missionaries and Trainers - An Impressive Group!

Sister Peterson and New Companionship As They Depart For Their Area

Saturday, the Houston area was visited by 5 General Authorities and Sister Franco of the General Primary Presidency.  Elders Ballard and Rasband of the Twelve were accompanied by Elders Uceda, Cornish and Gifford Nielsen of the Seventy.  Their purpose was to learn about the cleanup efforts and what we can do better/different to prepare and serve in the future.  But more importantly, they came to support the Saints, missionaries and those impacted by the storm and flood.  Each General Authority went with a local authority to visit work sites Saturday.  Sunday, they each attended sacrament meetings attended by thousands. 

I had the privilege to tour Saturday with Elders Uceda and Cornish and Stirling Pack who oversees cleanup operations.  We visited areas around the Barker and Addicks Reservoirs that were only recently accessible.  I saw many great missionaries working their hearts out.  The missionaries have been such a blessing to those impacted by the floods.  At one site, the Mighty Brenham Branch was there with a great group of men, women, children and missionaries.   The home owner they helped was so grateful and said he will never forget the workers.  He took their names down so he could keep in touch with them.  He invited us to have a prayer together and as we held hands in a circle, he offered a beautiful, heartfelt prayer to Heavenly Father.  He prayed saying that he knew there was a plan for us and asked for help to see that plan.  We took a picture together on top of a pile of rubble that was previously his tile floor.  Everyone there felt the spirit of love and charity.  Tears were shed and embraces were had with deep feeling. 

The Brenham Branch and Missionaries On Top of Rubble Pile

Home Owner At Top Was Profoundly Grateful

Missionaries At The Houston Temple Grounds

Performed Over 600 hours of Work Last Week

This Trio Companionship Is Powerful

60 Missionaries Worked Two Days On Temple Grounds

Elders Devyn Cornish and Juan Uceda, of the Seventy,

Meet Missionaries Working On Flooded Homes

An LDS Chapel Was Flooded, But Repairs Are Underway

Addicks Reservoir Remains Flooded, Near Many Homes

Last night, the General Authorities and Auxiliary leaders shared some thoughts with the members who were most impacted by the floods.  There were several hundred people at the Hafer Stake Center.  The message was one of hope in Christ.  He can help us through all things.  What is it we hope for?  Moroni 7:41 tell us that answer.  “And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.”  This is our message to people.  We can overcome all sufferings in this life through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Elder Ballard taught an important principle as well, and that is that our sufferings refine us and help us become who the Lord wants us to be.  He told the story of a young man in Elder Ballard’s ward who had lost his mother and he blamed God.  Elder Ballard invited him in to visit with President Spencer W. Kimball.  President Kimball had many afflictions in his life.  He had heart surgery (President Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve was his surgeon), he lost part of his voice when he had to have his vocal cord removed, he had many other afflictions, yet he was called to be the prophet.  He told this young man “None of us wants to suffer, but through my suffering, I have come to know God.”  

A highlight of the week was a special zone conference.  Elder Uceda was gracious enough to accept an invitation to join us and spoke for nearly 2 hours.  The missionaries learned many great principles including how to help others become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Elder Uceda, One of the Seven Presidents of Seventy, 

Has Missionaries Gather Around To Teach Them 

How To Pray With Investigators

Each of Our 12 Zones Held Breakout Sessions To Discuss How

To Find People To Teach

Missionaries Were Served a Delicious Lunch

 

Getting A Mission Photo

President Peterson and Assistants

THM Storm Recovery Update 9/10 11:00 pm CT

Saturday and Sunday most missionaries were out cleaning up or giving service in other ways.  All I have seen this weekend have proper attire and are following safety precautions.  We continue to see the hand of the Lord in helping those who were devastated by the flooding.  Hearts have been lifted and hope has been restored.  There was a work crew of almost 20 missionaries working with Sister Peterson and me today in a poorer part of town.  The residents of a humble home were 80 years old and the matriarch of the family is very sick.  They were overwhelmed with how quickly this large group came in and remediated parts of their home and cleaned out a garage that needed cleaning.  They became our best friends and we theirs.  We worked shoulder-to-shoulder, shared our lunch with them and snapped photos.  Elder Devyn Cornish of the First Quorum of Seventy and Elder Daniel Jones of the Seventy paid us a visit at lunchtime to share some thoughts and say thank you to the missionaries on behalf of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve.  As they spoke, the 80-year-old man, Joe, had tears in his eyes.  He knew the Savior loved him and had sent us to help restore his hope.

Tomorrow is a much needed day of rest (P-Day).  Then we start in to transfers on Tuesday morning and receive 24 new missionaries on Wednesday.  These are busy times in the THM but we are happy doing the Lord's work and serving others.  I will probably not update the blog for a few days with everything happening this week and since the unusual routines and dangers of the storm have both subsided.  If parents have any questions, you can certainly email me.

-  President Peterson

Preparing to remove damp drywall from garage

This kitchen sink and counter was removed

Elders Cornish and Jones address missionaries

Removing paneling in garage

Missionaries listen intently to Church leaders from Salt Lake City

Missionaries eat lunch and take a break

Newspaper found in garage 

THM Storm Recovery Update Friday 9/8 11:00 pm CT

Today we held district meetings around the mission and planned where we'd go work tomorrow and Sunday.  Most missionaries are serving with their wards and stakes unless they are going outside the mission, then the missionaries will find work within the mission boundaries.  We received a call today for 14 missionaries to go to the Emergency Operations Center to assemble wheel barrows.  The missionaries were there within an hour and did a fantastic job putting together many wheel barrows that will be used in clean up.   Some missionaries have received boots and there are some more on the way.  I am told there are some decent boots at Walmart for $25 or parents can send boots.  We held a conference call this evening with all zone leadership to reiterate safety guidelines and ensure that proper equipment is worn at all times.

Here is another experience shared by some great missionaries from this week:

"We had received an assignment from the stake to help out at a house. When we arrived with a few members from the ward, we saw that the house had already been finished. So we left and drove down the road a little bit. Our young men president decided to stop and say a prayer to see if there was anybody else we could help on the street. We all said a prayer as a group and immediately after finishing the prayer we looked up and saw a man walking towards us. He asked us if we were volunteers and we said yes. He said that his house was the only house on the street that hadn't been worked on yet. The whole street was almost all finished except for his. We were able to do his whole house over a span of two days. Afterwards he all shook our hands with tears in his eyes and thanked us for the work we had done. He said that he felt God's love from us and now knows that God watches over each one of his children. We know that Heavenly Father will always lead us to who needs our help and need to feel God's love in certain times of their lives."

Have a great weekend!

-  President Peterson

THM Storm Recovery Update Thurs. 9/7 11:00 pm

Missionaries in the THM are getting back to proselyting and teaching when they are not doing service.  We are working to balance our efforts so that we can make the most of the time and resources we have.  Many missionaries I have talked to are loving the service but they also value the structure of being a missionary.  This includes daily personal study, companionship study and planning.  We will be introducing some more protocols and modified schedule next week to create this balance.  

This weekend coming up will be another where we provide clean up for thousands of affected homes.  We expect to have 10,000 volunteers coming from other stakes in Texas.  There have been many logistical plans made to accommodate them and when combined with the local members and missionaries, a lot of great service will be rendered.  The THM missionaries will stay in the mission boundaries, even if their local wards are traveling to areas further out.  There is plenty to do in our stakes.  

We are hearing many experiences of the work crews and missionaries giving hope and inspiration to those we are helping.  We are starting to compile some of those experiences.  I'd like to share a couple of them tonight from our wonderful missionaries.  

"After talking to a man that we did service for we asked if we could say a prayer because he was going through a lot and he replied by saying that he wasn't in good standings with religion but that he didn't mind. After concluding the prayer the man looked at us nearly in tears and thanked us. Then he asked if we would be able to meet with him after we finished the service because he has always wondered if God is truly there. We know that the Lord will help us find His prepared children through everything that has happened."

"After spending a few days helping a couple with their house, we had a chance to talk to them about the gospel. They are Buddhist, but the wife told us she that the Mormon Helping Hands was an answer to her prayers, so she knew God was real. They came to church the next day and told us it felt like family and they were going to come here forever. We know without this disaster we never would've met them. Heavenly Father truly prepares His children through all things, including disasters."

Tomorrow we will have our district meetings all over the mission and counsel together on how to answer the questions of the soul for Houstonians as we meet them in service, on the streets, and at their homes. People have questions about life's purpose and where we go from here. Many will be prepared to listen to the answers from the missionaries. They have the Solution. 

- President Peterson

THM Recovery Update Wednesday 9/6 11:00 pm CT

The missionaries continue to amaze me.  Today, I was in between a conference call with the other mission presidents discussing clean up protocols and going to the Bear Creek and Houston West South Zones to interview missionaries when I received a call from the CEO and President of NAM.  She said they were swamped with people coming in for disaster relief in the way of foodstuffs, clothing, diapers and short-term financial assistance and needed some help unloading trucks and interviewing potential candidates for financial help.  She asked for 50 volunteers to come to their site within an hour and to have 100 more volunteers each of the next two days.  I sent out a text message to our zone leadership and then went to my interviews.  I asked the first counselor in the Texas Houston Mission presidency, Charlie Broadbent, to see if he could organize the responses from the missionaries, answer questions and organize the day.  After my interviews ended at 5 pm, I was informed that we had 46 missionaries there helping and we have over 100 shifts filled (some missionaries filling two 3-hour shifts per day) each of the next two days.  I know that this service will go along way in sharing the light of the restored gospel as NAM is supported by 25 local church organizations and the director will certainly mention this effort to her constituents.  

I stopped by the new LDS Emergency Response Control Center today which is set up in our soon-to-be Deseret Industries location.  I picked up 180 yellow mesh vests, 150 pairs of gloves and 50 protective eye goggles.  As the clean up work continues, it will be important for missionaries to dress appropriately.  They will need the vests so they can be washed out each night.  Their clothes will need to be washed after each muck-out job to clean out any unwanted bacteria.  The stakes have offered to have the Relief Society clean the missionaries' clothes with a special detergent mix that will kill bacteria.  Missionaries who have not had their tetanus shot in the past 10 years are being required to get that or not go into flooded homes.  We are working to have the missionaries procure long pants (they can get them at a thrift store or you can sent them from home) and work boots.  If you can send them boots, that is great, and if not we are seeing about getting them some.

We continue to see miracles and are finding new investigators even through the distractions of flood clean up.  There are 24 new missionaries coming our way next Wednesday and only 8 going home so we are opening new areas and calling many fine missionaries to serve as trainers for these new missionaries.  It will be a busy September but we are ready to take on the challenge because we have the greatest missionaries in the Church.  Thank you for raising and sending them!

-  President Peterson

Below are pictures of one of our Spanish zones out helping this week