Fred and Paula’s Most Excellent Adventure

 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted. Matthew 5:13 Fred and I are finding a balance between working during the evening and nights with Japan and during the day with Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission.  The first week we worked too much and became overly tired.  This is when I found this scripture while reading during my daily study.  The Lord needs us to share his light with others.  We can't do that if we wear ourselves out.  This week we had better balance.   Celebrating 37 years of marriage this week. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.   Proverbs 3:5-6 We are trying to be patient but are so excited to go to Japan.  In the meantime, we are enjoying spending time with our families on the weekend.  We have lived away for 35 years.  It's nice to be back home.   Mom and me

  Gravity Hill Salt Lake has a gravity hill in the canyon near the capitol.  It is an optical illusion.  The road looks like it is going “down” in the canyon but the road is actually going up.  The way the road sits next to the mountain and the surrounding land causes the road to appear as if it is descending. I was unaware of this hill.  The first time we cycled this hill, I became frustrated because I was having difficulty “going downhill”.  I thought, “I am so out of shape!  I can’t even ride downhill.”  I wanted to give up and quit the ride.  Fred told me we have to be going up.  “Stop pedaling and see what happens.”  I couldn’t believe it because your eyes deceive you.  It was very strange.   Of course, I have made a spiritual parallel.  I am a missionary after all.  Life can be like this.  We might be struggling with difficult things.  It is easy to become discourage and begin to lose hope.  We see others around us that appear to be doing just fine.  We think, “What’s the matter

This week we took a Family History training for all missionaries working in the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission.  It was 8:00 to 3:00 each day.  We learned so much about family history and how to preserve and research records.  Here are some of the fun tips we learned. Sign in to FamilySearch.org🠚Activities🠚Where are you from? I learned that my ancestors orginate mostly from Iceland and the United Kingdom. Fred's ancestors come from Germany and United Kingdom Activities🠚 Compare a Face I learned that I look most like my Grandmother, Bernice Dame.  I found this interesting because my family has always told me that I looked like her and had many of her same personality traits.  Grandma Dame died when I was a toddler so I don't remember her. Fred learned that he looks most like his Grandfather, Fred Rutschow.  This is the person he was named after. There are many memories submitted under our ancestors including pictures and written memories.  Family Search is a free website

 This week we were formally introduced to the missionaries in Japan.  We created this video for the introduction. We also did formal Jiko Shokai (Introductions) for our English Connect Classes.  These classes are taught by the missionaries teaching English to the Japanese people.  They are held during normal day hours for Japan.  We are awake in the middle of the night, several nights a week. 😴  These are pictures that we used to explain who we are. We are enjoying our mission and trying to be patient as we wait for the borders of Japan to open.  Your prayers are appreciated!!