Tonight Mark was set apart as a full time missionary. Amazing that we now have TWO full time missionaries in our family. What a blessing that is. Here are some of the points I remember from the blessing Pres. Brinkerhoff gave.
· Blessed with humility and charity. Mark will love the people he serves, regardless of their weaknesses and imperfections.
· Mark will be courageous and bold in sharing the gospel. He will be able to say things and extend invitations through the Spirit that he would otherwise not be able to say.
· He will be blessed in his ability to learn Spanish, but even more important he will develop a stronger relationship with the Holy Ghost. This will be key to his missionary success.
· He was encouraged to counsel with his family and share both the good experiences and the challenges so we can strengthen him.
· He was admonished to communicate regularly with his family, especially his mother. Good call President! 😊
I know there was more, but those are the parts I remember. Before he was set apart, Pres. Brinkerhoff asked Julie and me to share one thing that we love about Mark. I talked about his integrity and the fact that I trust him completely. Julie shared how much Mark loves people, even those who are hard to love. He tries to help people. And she said something really great – the gospel is his culture. I can't think of a better way to describe it. After the setting apart Pres. Brinkerhoff asked Mark to teach a principle to the family, and he taught us about faith. Then we came home and had ice cream! Yummy.
Because of the COVID19 restrictions, we could only have 20 people at the setting apart, and our family makes up half of that number. That meant we got to stream it via Zoom, so Scott, Rachel, G&G Woodward and Steph and McKay all got to join too. That was nice. David, Lisa and their kids were here, as were Dad, Mom and Randy, and Mark's best friend Justin. It was a terrific experience; I realized a couple times while we were there that I had a big smile on my face.
In other news, I got quite a bit done at work again today. Having the lobby closed lets me get quite a bit more done with fewer interruptions. We are trying having someone assigned to the phones, and that seems to be helping too. I need to solicit feedback from my tellers who are answering the phones to see how they think it's going.
Neil had a filling fall out of a baby molar a couple weeks ago and it's been bothering him on and off ever since. Today we finally were able to get him into the dentist, and we discovered that his permanent tooth was growing up under the baby tooth. That's what pushed the filling out. Dr. Griffiths just pulled the baby tooth out, because it was starting to get loose anyway. That's way better than needing a root canal!
Tomorrow is another full day as I finish getting ready for Board meeting on Thursday.
Thankful: I am thankful for missionaries. I'm grateful for the service my parents gave as they were released from their 23-month mission yesterday. I'm thankful that Jessie is serving. I love being able to pray for her every day. And I'm thankful to add Mark to the ranks of Payne missionaries serving the Lord. I've been eagerly looking forward to having TWO missionaries out at the same time. This is a first for both Julie's family and mine, and it makes me want to shout hallelujah!
Ministering: Today I felt ministered to by Pres. Brinkerhoff. It was nice to see him again, and I look forward to the time when we are able to resume our high council meetings. He's a strong servant of the Lord, and I love the testimony he shares and lives. I am ministered to by the faithful people I am surrounded by.
More later…
Nathaniel making friends with Mr. O
A small selfie with our newest missionary. If you look closely you can see the missionary name tag he is borrowing from Grandpa until he receives his:
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