All Mission Conference

Hey All,

We had 4 members of the quorum of the 70 meet with us last Saturday, including Pres. Snow. We almost had Elder Andersen of the 12 come as well. We are a truly blessed mission. They said we're still #1 for the biggest increase of baptisms in the entire world. :) Yeah! It was a spiritual feast.

Patriarchal blessing! Woot! go Josh – I’m way proud of you!

Missionary week for both Jenna and Josh -- It's a great opportunity for learning. Try to set goals for yourself about what you want to learn from this experience. Whether it's something to help you to prepare for a mission, or some other goal in your life. It will help.

:( No Father and Sons campout getting cancelled because of rain... That's really sad. I always enjoyed those. Hopefully they'll postpone it until I get back! ;-)

Keep it up everyone! School's almost out!  Endure to the end!!

I'll be writing Ben today.

Hopefully you wont get swamped keeping my website up-to-date Dad.  <<Editor’s note – he guilted me into getting all these updates done >>

Dad’s Questions:

1. There's only me and my comp in my current apartment. Which I probably prefer.
2. Our set of apartments is a gated community. We hardly see anyone, and it's pretty secure. The area round about is pretty nice considering that we're so close to the bay. It's refreshing. It's also very hilly. It's just slightly reminiscent of North Carolina.
3. We have the car everyday, but we do some really good exercise at the church in the mornings with early morning basketball, etc. I'm keeping myself in shape.
4. I don't have any interesting pictures, but I'll have some soon.
5. I hear that there are scary things that happen on those streets, but I haven't seen or felt anything to make me worry. For the most part gangs don't trouble us anyway. I'm not worried, but I'm not going to do anything stupid.

Story of other missionaries:

Elder Ames and his companion were zone leaders here in Vallejo and they were walking around talking to people when a group of 10 year old kids come out of nowhere and surround them, and ask them what's in their backpacks. I don't remember if the kids were armed, but what Ames said was that he knew that someone was teaching these kids how to be gangsters, and it was probably older siblings. So even though they could have fought off those kids, he didn't want to have any really dangerous people after him. :) crazy huh?

I heard this quote at my last Zone Conference, it's pretty powerful. I love Elder Holland. I can see him being apart of the first presidency someday:

Elder Holland from an MTC Devotional Address on January 11, 2011.

“We can get better at this. We can do better at this. We can grow into this. But it is going to take a masterful, modern, twenty-first century, last and greatest of all dispensations, kind of missionary to do it. And I love you for accepting the call. I love you for believing and knowing that you can do it because this is God’s work, the Spirit of the Lord is the key, essential, ultimate, ingredient.

The Spirit of the Lord itself will pronounce that gift upon your head and endow that mantle of authority upon your shoulders, from the first day, from the very first day! If you are as honest as we are pleading with you to be, in a day when you have got to be the best missionaries this Church has ever had. That’s what you’ve got to be.

We have a world in trouble. If we understand these scriptures it’s not over yet. You are God’s answer. You’re the hope of Israel. You are the hope of Israel. And you’re nineteen years old, or twenty or twenty one or twenty two or whatever. I stand all amazed at what a missionary is in this Church! What God would somehow know and have the confidence to believe could be done with people like you and people like me. Its a marvelous work and a wonder.”

Well everything's going great! And I love Vallejo! I hope everyone's doing well!!

Love your missionary,

Elder Richard Mackelprang