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...

  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...

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.  Famil...

 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!!

  We have rode our bikes up City Creek Canyon several times for exercise.  The scenery is beautiful but the roads are steep.  This is a picture of the Utah State Capitol from this view point. President M. Russell Ballard President Dallin H. Oaks Elder Dale G. Renlund This week has been apostle week.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is led by revelation from a living prophet and apostles just like Christ’s day.  Living in Salt Lake City brings us in close proximity to the Prophet Russell M Nelson and the twelve apostles.  Last Sunday, we mistakenly went too early to church.   We ended up walking into the middle of a sacrament meeting.  We thought it was prelude music playing before our church started but it was actually an interlude piece.  It was hard to find a seat but we found one two rows from the front.  President Ballard was looking straight at us from the ...

We have moved to Salt Lake City while we wait for our visas to Japan. We are working remotely with the Kobe Japan Office from our third story apartment. The office is open from 6 PM to 3 AM our time. They are training us on our new responsibilities as office missionaries. We have already received assignments for evenings, nights, and early morning meetings. Flexibility is the name of the game. We wear church clothes everyday which creates all kinds of issues like wearing shoes that look good but we are still able to walk in them for miles.  How do you keep your good clothes clean while you cook and eat?  Our badges say, ”Elder/Sister Allan---Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” in Japanese.  I’ve learned two things about wearing this badge.   1.       People you don’t know come up and talk to you without you even saying anything. 2.      When you have the name of Jesus Christ on your name tag, you better ...

 Our mission training has begun via Zoom. We will be taking classes for the next two weeks. We are learning many things about being a missionary. Our goal is to help others come to Christ.   Japan borders are still closed. We will be moving to an apartment in Salt Lake City to wait for our visas. We will be working remotely with the office missionaries currently in Japan to learn our new responsibilities. We don’t know how long we will have to wait but we move forward with faith praying that God will guide us as we wait.