14 October, 2013

I have been behind, (duh) on keeping everyone up to date on Claire's mission.  So I'll try and do an adequate summary.

She entered the MTC on August 21.  She had a great companion Sister Anderson. Their time together was wonderful & too short. They travelled to Nevada on Sept 3.
She has been in her 2nd home of Nevada for 6 weeks. Time truly has sped by!!!
Her companion there is Sister H.  They get along very well. I'm so happy for that.  They have a great group of helpers in their ward.  We have had contact with 3 individuals from the ward who have assured us Claire is fine and well.  They love the missionaries and are taking good care of them.  I want to share two excerpts from this weeks letters. The first paragraph is from her letter to Jeff, the second paragraph is to me (Jamille). Piece them together. It's a great story. I love missionary experiences.:

"...Then yesterday there was a sweet lady we've been meeting with as often as possible. Probably one of the most powerful women i know and her husband passed 3 years ago. Since then she's been struggling  with bills and what not, but always seemed happy and just trying to push on. well yesterday I felt prompted  that we need to stop by and visit right then. We had planned to visit her sometime yesterday but not till later on. I told my companion 'hey lets visit Chris' She said "we will later... after lunch". I got frustrated and before I knew it or thought, I said 'I have a prompting, we need to visit her.' Thank goodness we did cause.. she was taking apart her house and taking pictures down and stressed to the brim.  We listened to her and let her vent. It was quite overwhelming but she needed to get out her feelings. This week we plan to go help her paint and clean so then we will slip in some upliftment and such :) "


"It is very true that we need to teach with the spirit for sure! I know that stories and scriptures we share without the spirit present aren't effective at all. It's hard to listen to people talk about how they don't have anyone there for them, and just don't take the opportunities to Pray! Heavenly Father is Always there for Us!  I mentioned that to her and she shut it down which was hard. She said 'Well God Sees me. He sees what I'm going through why does it matter. I'm sorry to shut you down but I've tried everything he doesnt listen to me"...but.. I just kept trying to listen to her and the spirit for guidance. She was talking about how her kids don't take time to talk to her or stop by and help her with things. And then I got this big overwhelming prompting to share with her. 'Chris, I have a prompting to share this with you. God is our father. You are a mother and you want to hear from your children. you want to know what they have been up to how they are doing. Well, Chis, Heavenly Father Loves you and wants to Hear from YOU.(I pointed) He wants to know the desires of your heart and the heartaches. It's so important to Him to know," and she was quiet. She didnt have anything else to say, and then we left her with a prayer. :) It was a powerful moment and I am so grateful that you and dad have brought me up in this gospel! I am grateful you have taught me I have a Heavenly father who LOVES ME! & Cares about me and ALL is children :)"

Called to Serve

Well, nine months and a few weeks ago we welcomed Elder Colby Sanford back home from his mission to Taiwan Taichung for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Two days ago we sent out another missionary.  This time our third-born child, 19 year old daughter, Claire Sanford is the missionary.  She currently is in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT.  On September 3 she will travel to her mission area named: Nevada Reno.  

There are several ways to keep in contact with our Claire bear.  I'll post the addresses in here and on the sidebar, too.  Log on to DearElder.com and you can write her messages that are delivered daily (except Sunday) in the MTC. Her mission has a blog, too.  If you choose to contact her by email, know she only gets 30 or 60 minutes a week (depends on her mission rule which we don't know yet) to check, read, and respond to them.  

She'd really like "snailmail letters" a lot. Whatever you choose, choose something.  We need to show our love and support to our missionaries near and far.  


Sister Claire Sanford
SEP03 NV-RNO
2009 north 900 east, Unit 166
Provo, UT 84602

claire.sanford@myldsmail.net

Nevada Reno Mission

Sister Claire Sanford
1146 Prater Way
Sparks, NV 89431

www.NevadaRenoMission.blogspot.com

No fainting!!
Colby came home.  It was absolutely the VERY best thing next to the birth of one of my children-- seeing him again after a long 25 months!

So, here it is 5 months later. We had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's day, Pi  day, St. Patrick's day, and in a few days it'll be Easter.  Claire's birthday was in there, too.

Life happens.  It's good and lovely!!!  I feel so blessed.  I need to put a bunch of photos up, but I can't right now.   So, here's one for now.

This time tomorrow he'll be home. I wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight? I'd love to skip work tomorrow to continue sprucing up the house.  Tomorrow is going to seem longish I fear...at leastuntil we see and retrieve Colby.  I'd better try to sleep!

Rhyme for a time

A few days ago I woke and was thinking of Colby's return from his mission. I was giddy, so I shared the thought on my Facebook status. "Oh thank heaven, we're down to seven"  I'm now kinda obsessed with the silly little game of sharing my lack of literary skill.  It's been fun and I 'll keep it up. It is obvious that I spend a good chunk of my weekdays with Kindergarteners. Life is to be enjoyed!!  Here are the Status that are terrible/silly rhymes about Colby's return date:

7- Oh thank heaven we're down to seven.

6 - Time ticks, now we're at six....

5 - Jump & jive, he'll arrive in five.

4 - How many more? You guessed it, 4!! :D

3 - Momma said it yesterday: "whee, only 3"...can it be?? Slap my knee.

There are still a few more days, then I will stop it with the terrible rhymes.  Probably.

13/14 October, 2012

 Well, as expected, I had a wonderful time at conference. In my notes, I put stars next to my favorites that I need to look up and study as soon as possible. Dieter F. Uchtdorf Sat. morning, Robert C. Gay Sat. afternoon, D. Todd Christofferson Priesthood, Jeffery R. Holland Sunday morning, Daniel L Johnson Sunday afternoon. One of my questions was how do I take what I have learned and become and make it stick in my old environment? I not only got answers on how to do it, but as I consistently thought of the question that I had, I received a desire to do the things that I needed to do. And I just need to say how much I love David A. Bednar. He speaks clearly and powerfully and is organized in every single word that he says. 

 Other than that, This week was pretty intense. We went on 3 companion exchanges. I am continually impressed by the quality of the missionaries in my zone. They really are all top notch. Elder Woolsey, who just moved in, is a new senior and district leader in a new area and he is doing really well. He is very crisp. That is just the word that comes to mind. Sharp.

 One of our really great investigator friends came to english for the first time. His English is actually pretty good it turns out. Every week, I teach the Advanced English which turns out to be just practicing our conversation. Anyways, he came for his first time and despite his super good english, he didn't have an english name. So I wrote three names up on the board that sounded kind of like his Chinese name and gave him the option. He picked Logan. Good name. He is really cool and has big thick rimmed glasses. He is actually from the place that my companion Elder Bailey just came from. He is progressing along quite well. 

It is always an interesting experience to teach somebody who has no belief in God and see them slowly start to believe as they do the things that we ask them to do. It may take awhile longer before he is baptized, but he has started to make that change. It really is a feeling. And it comes over time by exercising faith. I am grateful that I have had a chance to meet this cool kid, Logan. 

 My companion and I have a chance to go up to the North to do a training on the culture of our mission. There is something that we say. it is "You2 Ban4 Fa3". It pretty much means, there is a way. When we are faced with difficulties, we often say "you ban fa" and then find a way to make things work. This is a way to display faith. The presentation is going to be pretty fun and intense. We put together a monologue from the scriptures and are also giving them a book mark with the definition of "you ban fa". Elder Bailey owned a business before coming on his mission, so it is really fun to do presentations with somebody who knows what he is doing. 

 I hope you have a wonderful week!

-Elder Sanford

Wasn't General Conference glorious!!!  As the word of the adjustment of missionary ages came out of the Prophet's mouth tears streamed down my face.  I love missionary work, it's near and dear to my heart!  Colby will be returning from Taiwan in a few short weeks.  With the change of ages Claire will be eligible to serve in February.  She'll finish her Dental Assisting Course in the summer, and then she wants to go on a mission.  I'm so excited for her. Logan will be going in 2 short years. (Looking forward it seems short, but while he's out it'll probably seem long.) He no longer will have to wait a year after his High School graduation until he's 19. Honestly, it's a blessing and answer to my prayers.  I've seen friends of Colby as they've waited until they turn 19 to go on the mission.  The waiting game has been hard on some of them.  Logan said, "I'd better start saving my money now."  He had thought he'd have a year after High School to work and save. I keep rambling.  I'm so happy!!!  Jeff and I both served fulltime missions.  As I heard Conference I felt the desire to get back out there.  We plan on going on a mission, but that'll have to wait at least 8 more years. We'll just keep trying to serve here where we are.  The Lord is good!  The Gospel is true!!!!


Colby's two year mark as a missionary is on the 13 of October. He returns the 6 of November. We are all anxious to see him.