The San Diego Temple Open House is the talk of the Town


The Public Open House for the San Diego Temple just started last week.   Lots of volunteers help the large crowds visit and enjoy the refurbished beautiful building!!  And beautiful it is!!! It is such a landmark and a great blessing for greater San Diego!!!! (see pic).

We met a young sailor last week.  Kimberly works on Navy Base San Diego (one of the largest bases in the country).  She was a media referral and wanted to attend church.  We picked her up on Sunday morning outside the gate.  She was dressed like a sister missionary and carried a well marked bible.  She had attended services once in boot camp and was thinking...  She enjoyed Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society. After the meetings she had time to drive with us to look at the San Diego Temple (this was a few days before the Open House started) . (see pic). On Monday we took her to a Young Single Adult Ward FHE where she met and was fellowshipped by Ward members.  This week she met a set of Sister Missionaries at the YSA FHE and wants to attend the Temple Open House this week.  We feel that a loving Heavenly Father is guiding her to the restored gospel!!

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site is located in "Old Town" San Diego.  24 Sister Missionaries and two Senior Couples operate the tours and special events that take place there.  On Flag Day they hosted a special event honoring 4 retired military members of the community.  It was inspiring!  One of the honories was 104 years old and he stood for 5 minutes while we learned the highlights of his career and his life.  He then received a special medal and was made an honorary member of the Mormon Battalion.  (see pic). 

The military holds fast to honor and tradition. See pic of a retirement ceremony for a Navy Captain on the deck of the Midway.

Elder Peter Johnson of the 70, toured our mission and along with his wife (Stephanie) gave us wonderful instruction. The meeting lasted about 6 hours but flew by.  He then hosted a dinner for the Senior Missionaries and shared some interesting and inspirational insights.  He talked about how valuable Senior Missionaries are to the work and how the current group of Seniors serving worldwide are filling about 43 percent of the requested slots available for Senior Missionaries.  At the end of the dinner our Military Relations Missionaries who retired as military officers presented Elder and Sister Johnson and President and Sister Rascon with a Challenge Coin titled "The Whole Armor God".  It was a nice parting thank you! (see pic).

The transfer cycle for all missions occurs every six weeks.  In this mission there is a theme for every transfer that the Elders and Sisters study and speak about.  At the end of each transfer there are 10 or 12 missionaries completing their mission.  A meeting is held where each departing missionary shares a testimony of Jesus Christ.  The meeting is attended by the entire mission in person or by zoom.  The recent departing testimony meeting was extra emotional because 22 missionaries (Zone 1) are being annexed to the newly formed California Carlsbad Mission.  They were all in attendance and were up front to sing the mission song and wave goodby.  Fun Fact - the new Carlsbad Mission leaders are President and Sister Wallis.  President Wallis was the mission President that was shot during a home break-in in Mexico City last August.  Not sure if the church has a version of a Purple Heart?; but President and Sister Wallis are living a consecrated life!!

Other duties as assigned - Sister Peterson was asked to cook lunch for 100 missionaries during a new missionary training session.
The Cafe Rio style pork salads and burritos served in a round deep tin bowl were more than appreciated!!  Any time pork roast is pulled and seasoned at 1 a.m. it adds the flavor of love to the food!  The dressing was more than superb!  Dessert was the frozen sorbets served in a bowl derived from the orange, grapefruit, or lemon peel; or coconut shell. (Costco for the win) (see pic). 

Senior Missionaries have it pretty good!!  No two days or weeks are the same and being flexible helps us contribute to the great work of spreading the gospel!  The Stone cut out of the mountain without hands is indeed rolling!!!  Indeed the Lord is directing the affairs of the mission!!! At the end of some of the devotionals the President has us all shout HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

We love our family and friends and feel blessed to be here!!!!

Elder and Sister Peterson

 
Elder Jeff Peterson and Sister Tammy Peterson
Uploaded Image Uploaded Image Uploaded Image Uploaded Image Uploaded Image Uploaded Image Uploaded Image

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mission Update from San Diego

Image
A few more notes from the MTC  - The week we arrived,s there were 54 Senior missionaries and 300 young Elders and Sisters.  The MTC is very organized and we were inspired by the Senior Missionaries going all over the world and the young missionaries learning languages and headed to incredible places - indeed the gospel is flooding all nations! One Elder I met was on his 4th mission at the MTC. Elder Makai is in charge of greeting and loving and encouraging polynesian Elders and Sisters arriving for training from 20 different countries. He works the lunch room and the other gatherings and he always returned my smile with an even bigger one.  I included a pic of his infectious smile - my DNA test does not show any polynesian genetics but I really gravitate to my cousins through my connection with Jacob(Israel) through Joseph!!! This first week in San Diego has been fast and busy!  Training, orientation, service projects, meeting with members and military members, attending two ward sacra...
Read more

MTC Experience

Image
What a glorious week it was!  It was inspiring and motivating!  We loved experiencing it all!!! (However, I personally did not like to roleplay! 😅 Just saying!)  As we pulled in, we were welcomed by cheering younger missionaries.  Felt like VIP's.  Our housing accommodations were excellent, like a nice hotel room.  We were so inspired by all the younger Elders and Sisters who are going all over the world.  Elder Peterson loved visiting with the Mongolian bound Sisters and Elders.  Since he has been to Mongolia, he loved showing them that it was a balmy 5 degrees that day.  They are all so vibrant and positive.  They radiated the Light of Christ in their eyes.   Every devotional was so uplifting.  I got to participate in the MTC choir the night that Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke.  Music is always uplifting and emotional for me.  I can feel the Spirit through music.  Le...
Read more

Members of the Military Are Being Baptized

Image
We have enjoyed a couple of memorable weeks! We cover military members in the San Diego Stake - but most of the military families live in the San Diego 1st Ward and the Point Loma Ward.  The 1st Ward covers downtown and a number of suburbs and has 2 sets of Elders and a set of Sisters.   At Sacrament Meeting some of the Mormon Battalion Sisters and a Senior couple attend and a couple or two from the mission office.  So lots of Name Badges to sort through.  At the Point Loma Ward there is one set of Elders, another Battalion Senior Couple and a lot of visitors on vacation.   A lot of the single military members attend YSA Wards. There are 4 YSA Wards within the 6 Stakes in the greater San Diego area. Senior Missionary Couples are assigned to each YSA branch. The 1st Ward baptized Brenda and her 2 children on conference weekend.  In May she will be leav...
Read more