Sunday, 18 March 2018

Monday we drove the famous 17-mile drive here for diversion. A pretty drive through forests of large Cyprus trees and ponderosa pine, and along rugged coastlines between Pacific Grove and Carmel. It wasn't particularly warm and a little rainy at times, but pretty. Bishoprics of two different wards asked us to speak next Sunday in their sacrament meetings. This is a blessing in disguise, as it will get us introduced more to these wards in Monterey. We have spent most of our time reaching out to people who are less active. We've had some success, but some simply do not respond to calls, texts, or emails. However, one young marine woman accepted our invitation to attend sacrament meeting this coming Sunday. We also visited a young married couple--she is a new convert--and welcomed them and brought a loaf of bread to them. They said they would come to church, as well. This work is rescuing souls one at a time. We've come up with a plan to organize the YSA students at DLI (defense language institute) into fellowship groups by branch of service so that they can be more active in fellowshipping other LDS that fall between the cracks. Some of us met Tuesday night at the chapel annex and discussed this. Stephen's experience with addiction recovery is being well-utilized. We're helping the young missionaries teach a fellow struggling with alcohol and tobacco. He is working with three elders who struggle with self-abuse. Tuesday late afternoon a large cruise ship came into Monterey Bay for a brief stay. It left during the night and steamed away, perhaps to Hawaii or somewhere south. It was a floating city - quite interesting to see.
     Our Tuesday evening fellowship hour on-base is slowly growing in numbers. We are trying to get the students motivated to fellowship and reach out to other LDS who are less-active. They have access to them, as we do not. We did our bread project again on Wednesday and brought armloads to the senior center and the community center of our apartments. We ordered 51 honor coins to give to graduates. We have identified two families whose fathers are leaving on 4 month deployments, and have started addressing resiliency issues: how to prepare and adjust to separation. Thursday, we hosted missionary district meeting at our apartment and fed the 8 missionaries lunch. We also visited Isaac and Maegen Jackson. Isaac is the son of the Jacksons in our ward at home. He is leaving soon for deployment and she is going back to Utah during that time. We had a fun teaching appointment with the elders and an investigator named Chris. He is interested and we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. He has some addiction problems, and I prepared a short plan for him to follow with BM scriptures as references.
     On Saturday, we got together with the Gilberts (stationed in San Jose) and visited the Monterey aquarium. It was rather pricey, but the tanks and exhibits were interesting. We enjoyed getting to know the Gilberts better. We also had a missionary correlation meeting with the elders, sisters, and YSA ward mission leaders. Sunday was hard but a great day. I spoke in YSA sacrament meeting on patriarchal blessings, and, then, Elaine and I both spoke in Monterey 2 ward. These really seemed to break the ice with the members of both wards. They could feel our spirits and warmed to us considerably. We are grateful for the opportunity. We also met Bryce, a 19-year old investigator. He attended church meetings YSA and also the scripture study group in the evening at the Curtis home. It was a happy and good week. I've included several photos.
     We have met two young single men here who have ties to people back home. Wilson Rydalch is the grandson of Don Rydalch, a close friend and fellow coach at Ricks College with my father, Lowell Biddulph. Wilson just left the Naval Postgraduate School for a few months studying at the University in China. Jesse McDaniel is a student at DLI studying Madarin. He is the grandson of David Galbraith, a close friend from Provo, Utah and member of our Oak Hills stake. It is a small world.