Written by Carter. No photos today.

A man who works at the Church’s area office in Auckland invited Faye, me and two other senior missionary couples to his home for dinner and a game of Pictionary this week. He and his wife are both from Australia, but have lived in NZ for 12 years. It turns out that he was missionary companion with John Fry, also from St. David! Small world! They have five children and are a “lovely” (NZ term I hear a lot) family. When he was growing up, his parents had the younger missionaries (mostly from the US) over a lot; I think he wanted to perpetuate that for his children…but with senior missionaries this time.

A pediatric kidney specialist who is also a member of the Church serves on a committee that is looking for ways to help meet the medical needs of people in the south Pacific islands. He contacted me on Facebook and I set up a conference call with the humanitarian services director here in Auckland. The Church is very “keen” (another NZ term I hear a lot) on contributing to projects where they can work with local partners to meet a specific need, while still helping people maintain as much self reliance as possible. He will get back with us when he has a specific project he’d like the Church’s help on.

I think I mentioned a sister missionary who was knocked down and bitten on the face by a dog several months ago. The scar is healing, but she has developed a keloid over part of it, which she may need to have cut out in a few months. I have been conferring with a US plastic surgeon, who recommended a couple of treatments that were a little different than what the NZ plastic surgeon was planning. English is not this sister missionary’s first language. Because of that and her young/inexperienced age, I felt like I needed to be with her at her appointment last week. I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. The doctor seemed a little annoyed at first that another doctor — and one from the US — was trying to influence how he managed her keloid. However, by the end of the visit, I felt like the Lord helped soften his heart somewhat. I think he could see that my requests were reasonable and that I was really trying to help her — just as he was. I’m sure her sweet, sincere demeanor helped, as well. He even asked her a genuine question about what her plans were when she returned home. I had a prayer in my heart before and during the visit, and afterward prayed in thanks for the Lord’s help.

As I mentioned last week, my sick missionary workload has decreased because of COVID-19. One project I started working on this week is translating my father-in-law’s (Cecil Richardson) journal from Spanish. He served in Mexico in the late 1950’s. He wanted to immerse himself in the language, so kept most of his journal in Spanish…which has made it inaccessible to most of his family. My brother-in-law (Jeff Shepherd) worked his “technology magic,” scanned the journal and sent it to me to translate. It has been insightful to see Cecil through his 20-year-old missionary eyes. Reading his experiences also remind me my mission to Venezuela as a young man.

I made a list of things that are actually better because of COVID:

• It has given me time to slow down so I can see what a treasure Faye (and her personality) is. When we served in Peru, a couple in their 80s had served 7-8 missions. Someone asked them what motivated them to serve so many. He said (perhaps only half in jest), “So that I can have my wife all to myself! When we’re at home, our children and grandchildren are clamoring, “Mom/Grandma! Can you help me with _____ ?” I can see a lot of truth to that! Being on this mission during COVID has been like a prolonged “marriage retreat”! We have spent more time together playing games, getting to know other couples, watching movies, discussing the scriptures, going on outings, praying together, etc. I feel like we have had a “strong” marriage, but I feel like the Lord has really blessed our marriage as we have served together. I would even say it’s in the “great” category right now!
• After watching Saturday’s general conference session in our flat, I had more time to reflect on what I heard and felt without the distractions that sometimes accompany having other people around. I almost always enjoy being around other people…but it’s also sometimes nice to be just Faye, me and the Lord.
• President Nelson said, “General conference last April was viewed by more people than any preceding it, and we have every expectation that will happen again.” COVID eliminated a lot of the competition for people’s time. Perhaps the overall adversity associated with COVID has turned people’s thoughts and hearts more to God, as well.
• When COVID broke out, Faye suggested that we start saying a kneeling prayer before eating lunch…and we have mostly continued that habit since then. We have been praying together a lot more in general since COVID started, which has turned our hearts more to Him.

Elder Andersen’s April 2020 general conference talk on “Sacred Memories” really touched me. Since then, I have made an effort to record much of my life history, especially sacred experiences. Several of these experiences have been appropriate to record on Family Search and/or share with my family. Doing this has brought me abundant blessings. Elder Rasband said this in October’s conference: “I promise you as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ that as you strive to redouble your righteous efforts, you will feel renewed in your devotion to God the Father and Jesus Christ, you will feel an abundance of the Holy Ghost guiding you, you will be grateful for your sacred covenants, and you will feel peace knowing you are ‘recommended to the Lord.'” I testify that all of these blessings have come to pass in my life. I acknowledge the Lord’s abundant blessings in response to my often-feeble efforts. Admittedly, I do not live in a COVID “hot-spot.” However, I still feel more peace than I think I would be feeling had I not been following the promptings from April’s general conference.

In Elder Bednar’s talk, he mentioned a family where a child had passed away, At the funeral, the father said this: “I want you to know that as far as the gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned, our family is all in. We are all in.” I couldn’t say it better. The same is true for me and my house/family: We also are all in.

Two hundred years have now elapsed since the Restoration of Christ’s New Testament church was initiated by God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Millions throughout the world have embraced a knowledge of these prophesied events. I gladly declare that the promised Restoration goes forward through continuing revelation. The earth will never again be the same, as God will “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).