SERVICE...THE HEART OF OUR MISSION

Querido Amigos y Familia,

DONATIONS TO THE HOMELESS:  In response to my request to other senior couples and family members we were able make a generous donation of Christmas gifts and children's toys to "Solutions for Change", a campus which houses and educates homeless families in North San Diego County.  There are major homeless encampments every where you turn in our area.  We had the opportunity to take of a tour of their facility and get an in-depth look at their program. We were given a tour by Karina, the mother of four who spent 5 years living in a tent in the river bottom.  We were so impressed by her transformation made possible through her participation in "Solutions for Change".  She is now a contributing citizen and has custody of her kids again.  We did a toy drive...and everyone was so generous!  Thank you all for making a difference.  The Spencer's joined us when we delivered the toys to their campus.

Donations contributed by Senior Missionaries

Fowers and Spencers donating TOYS to local homeless kids.

FAMILY HISTORY:  I remember the last day at the MTC in Provo.  We had a very good couple teach us how to use Family Search on our missions. I kept the presentation in the back of my mind thinking it could have possibilities.   Once we arrived in our field of labor we found ourselves tripping over the younger missionaries trying to visit the ward members.  With us there were 8 missionaries vying for visits to 125 members in the Vista ward.  It was near the same situation in our other Carlsbad ward, Buena Vista.  So we started offering to do Family Search with everyone we visited.  Slowly it grew.  We begun to find many unknown ancestors in a Mexico and El Salvador which thrilled the members.  This lended itself to return visits to find even more.  Most of the homes we visited initially they did not have FamilySearch accounts or had lost their passwords.  I made so many call to the password recovery center in Salt Lake that the operators had me on a first name basis.  We have helped several new members prepare and take names to the temple of their deceased ancestors.  This FamilySearch experience has deepened their testimonies and has brought them of the temple with the Spirit of Elijah .  Presently I have a spreadsheet of 31 FamilySearch accounts of all the people we have helped.

Elder Fowers and Bro. Gutierrez doing Family Search

FENDER BENDER:  When we first arrived in the mission we mentioned to each other, that SoCal traffic it would be a miracle if we made it through the mission without an accident. Well, we almost made it. Last week  Elder Fowers backed into a car that was in his blind spot.  The impact did quite a number on our left rear fender!  Luckily we connected with the Mexican underground body guys and will get it fixed for less than a hundred bucks. Incidentally, we did not have to look very far, there are large portions of Vista that are virtually 100% Mexican/Latino. It like living in a foreign country.

Whoops!

JULIO'S IS WALKING:  I has been 4 months since Julio got into that nasty accident and his recovery has been quite miraculous.  His is now able to negotiate stairs and walk with just the help of a cane.  He testifies all the time how God preserved his life.  He is back to church, and also starting back and some simple mechanic jobs.  He has a long list of people who have waited for him to repairs their cars.  He invited me over to his room that he shares with Cirilo and Roseno, his two brother-in-laws who are not members. Over the period of Julio's recovery I have developed a friendship with both of them as we have shared transportation responsibilities to therapy and doctor visits. Julio told me that Cirilo had been asking questions about the church and specifically wanted to know where in the Bible it mentions the Book of Mormon.  So tonight I took advantage of the captive bedroom audience and asked Cirilo if he would like his questions answered.  He consented, so sitting on the edge of the bed we began with a prayer and I started to teach.  After pointing out scriptures in Ezekiel and John that reference the Book of Mormon, I told then briefly the story starting with Lehi through to Moroni. "This book is about your people and it has been brought forth in the last days specifically for you to read, understand and grow closer to God and Jesus Christ."  I challenged them to read and find out for themselves.  They received the teaching well and even asked a few questions. A seed was planted.  We will follow up.

Julio with just his cane.  Such a miracle.

THANKSGIVING WITH BRAD'S FAMILY: We snuck away from our missionary duties to share Thanksgiving with Brad and family.  It was a quiet, happy day full of fun traditions, coloring contest, games, puzzles, cooking, eating, and catching up.  It is days like this that brings such a deep sense of blessed gratitude. 

Coloring Contest

Thanks Becky for the perfect Thanksgiving Feast!

TANYA'S TRAILER MAKE OVER: We have spoken about our friend Tanya in a previous blog post.  She lives in the trailer park where we do community service quite frequently.  Last post we shared how we fixed her broken water line restoring indoor water to her trailer for the first time in many years. But that was just the beginning. We have since gone inside the trailer and done the following: replaced two broken toilets, replaced bathroom and kitchen sinks, repaired two bath and shower faucets, replaced washer, dryer and stove range hood, and finally sealed a leaking window frame to keep out the rain.  A big thanks to Elder Prater who gave us valuable guidance. Before serving this senior mission, he was a 40 year journeyman plumber.  Actually I can not comprehend how this humble 65 year old lady from Thailand lived for so many years in this trailer without these basic necessities that we take for granted everyday.  She was so thankful and over joyed from our simple service.

Bro. Prater, our plumber hero during Tanya's trailer makeover.

A toilet that actually flushes!

Elders Prater, Spencer and Fowers installing washer and dryer.

Tanya and Sister Fowers

P-DAY ADVENTURE: Luci has been struggling with some kind of fever for several days, so thinking she is likely contagious, we stayed in our apartment. Finally after 5 straight days we decided to break out and take the local Sprinter train to Oceanside.  We wandered around for a bit and found an empty little fish house for lunch.  It was nice to be out in the warm sunshine. As we wandered about, we came upon the Tom Cruise house made famous by the first "Top Gun" movie.

 The"Top Gun" House, Oceanside

MYSTERY FOOD DELIVERY:  We had the weirdest thing happen a couple of days ago.  Elder Fowers was out teaching a lesson and I was home alone when the doorbell rang.  I went to answer the door and there was no one there, but there were 7 bags of groceries that had been dropped off at our door.  Elder Fowers came home just at that moment. Who would send us groceries? This was way too much for us to eat! Who would have sent them?  We began to think that maybe it was intended to be a donation for the homeless center we have been working with.  So about 10 minutes into our debate about what to do with the food, we heard another knock on the door.  It was a young couple from our complex that lived in the adjacent building. "Hey, did you have some groceries delivered to your door?  A...they are ours." After a rather awkward apology we helped them carry everything to their  home,  Apparently, the grocery delivery guys dropped them at the wrong door. Mystery solved!

Mystery food.

SCROOGE: We returned just last night from our first Christmas event.  All the girls in Brad's family were in a modified version of the Scrooge, put on by their local theatre group.  Becky played Christmas Present, Mallory was Agnes, Leah was Teddy the dog and Penny was Tiny Tim.  It was a great production and they are all so very talented.  This will likely be the last show we will see for a while.  We were able to enjoy four different productions during this past year.  It has been a wonderful blessing of our mission.  After the matinee, we went back to Brad's house to give a little service, to help build out the closet in their new bedroom addition.

Take a bow, Becky as Christmas Present

Mallory in her element.

A Family Affair

Theatre... A Family Affair

Closet Install

MARIA'S RETURN: Over the period of the last four months, I have been chatting with this beautiful lady during her journey back to Jesus Christ.  We have had many hours of conversation about the power of the atonement and the purifying process of repentance.  She has made so much progress and is fully committed to change. She invited me to join her during her appointment with the Stake President to be able to get her temple recommend renewed and return to the temple after many years. Clearly, this picture is evidence of the joy she felt with recommend in hand.

Con Mucho Amor,

Los Fowers