Jeremy's mission...

(Elder Hall, Elder Holahan, Jeremy, Elder Elias, Elder Seeley)

Jeremy just got back from a two week mission for our church. Traditionally boys who are 19 are asked to go to various places around the world at their own expense for two years to invite others to hear the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. If they want to know what we believe they teach them that we are Heavenly Father's children and he loves us, that He has always sent prophets to teach and guide us, that there have been several periods of apostasy where the Gospel has been taken from the Earth because people have rejected the prophets and become wicked. The last great apostasy was after Christ was crucified and His apostles were all eventually killed. The Gospel of Christ began to lose some plain and precious truths as the Bible was translated  over and over and principles were taken from it or changed because there was no prophet on the Earth to guide us. But God loves us and again gave us the fullness of the Gospel restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and we have a living prophet today who is Thomas S Monson. 

Jeremy is only 17 so this is just a two week experience to understand what the full time missionaries do and what he needs to do to prepare. He was a little nervous at first but these guys really took him under their wing and he had a great experience and learned to recognize the guidance of the Holy Ghost in teaching others. These boys are not the ones who convert people, they simply share the truths and it's the Holy Ghost that touches their hearts and that is how they know it's true. 

Jeremy's companions were some pretty neat guys. They were Elder Seeley from Missouri and Elder Holahan from Rochester, NY. Elder Holahan is very musical and plays the guitar and writes songs. He's older than most Elders, he's 26. He didn't grow up in the Church although he was baptized at 8 because his Dad had joined the church but he lived with his Mom, his parents are divorced, so he never went to the LDS church, he went to a Catholic Church with his Mom. When he was 22 he was diagnosed with Leukemia. He received treatment and went into remission but through that experience he took a look at what he really believed and found the answers in the teachings of the LDS Church so became active and wanted to go on a mission to share the Gospel even though he was at the top limit of how old missionaries can be. 

Another companionship Jeremy lived with in the same apartment was Elder Hall from Utah and  Elder Elias from the country Jordan. Elder Elias is the first missionary from the Middle East to come to America. I thought it was a small miracle that a 22 year old boy from Jordan could get a visa to even come here in the first place. I don't believe that there are missionaries in Jordan or in the countries around Jordan. There is the LDS Jerusalem Center in Jerusalem, across the River Jordan from the country of Jordan but I know the people there are not able to tell people about the restored Gospel unless they are asked questions. I guess the story is that this Elder found a flyer or some kind of paper that had some information about the church on it in the street. He looked up The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and got a hold of the Branch President (who is like a Bishop for a small group of members) and asked him to teach him about what we believe. I was actually surprised there was even a branch in Jordan but I guess when they say the church is world wide they aren't kidding. Anyway, he was baptized soon after and is now on his mission to share with others what he found. 

Jeremy has shared a few experiences. The second day he was with the full time Elders they were on their bikes, which is their main form of transportation, and they came to a fork in the road. Elder Holahan said "Brother Meservy you pick which street we should go down and use the Spirit." So Jeremy picked a street that felt right. They made their way from house to house on the street and Jeremy said everyone spoke Spanish...which these Elders don't...and he was a little frustrated. They were about to try another street when Elder Holahan saw a truck parked in a driveway with a Harley Davidson bumper sticker and thought that whoever lived there must speak English. They knocked on the door and told the man who they were and asked if he'd like to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man told them that he had just read some verses in the Bible for the first time in his life that morning and felt like it was not a coincidence that they knocked on his door so he wanted to hear what they had to say. 

Jeremy isn't a real talkative guy, like his Dad, so I'm sure there are a lot more things that he'll eventually tell me in the future but I wanted to share what he has told me so far. I'm so happy that he went. It has made a difference in him and he went from being a very logical, analytical thinker about the church to really understanding what the influence of the Holy Ghost feels like and now he knows in his mind and in his heart that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to us through God's prophets living today. 

Our first family camping trip...

Every year our friends, the Carters, go to Carpinteria State Beach to camp for a week. Last year some of our other friends, the Thomas' and Belews went with them and we heard all about how much fun they had. At that time Rich was not yet fond of camping, but since he is this year the Carters and Thomas' invited us to set up a tent on the Thomas' site and hang out. We didn't go for the week, only a few days...we have to break this new family camping thing in slowly...so we went Monday and came home Wednesday. We figured out the things we want to bring next time to make the experience a bit more convenient and fun...a rug for outside the tent door, a broom to sweep out all the dirt, our bikes to ride along the beach path, etc. But we were prepared enough to have a good time.

We actually bought a family tent several years ago. My attempt at being prepared just in case we ever went camping, which paid off quite nicely. We almost all fit. Five of us slept in the big room, Jeremy slept in the little room which is supposed to be an enclosed porch, and Jackson slept with his friend Brandon in his two man tent next  to us.

Monday was spent playing in the water and sand and digging holes and watching some dolphins playing near the shore. It was overcast but in the upper 60's which I thought was nice. Monday night we had a potluck diner with all the families and Rich and I headed to bed a little early to get the girls down. I woke up early Tuesday morning and everyone was still asleep so I put on my running garb and headed off down the path that ran along the bluffs. It was so beautiful. It was hazy and cool. Several bunnies crossed my path along with an army of snails. I felt like I was back home in Oregon it was so green and smelled so good. On my run I passed several rocky areas where a few early risers were out looking at the tide pools. Next I passed a sign for Tar Pit Park, the second largest tar pit in California next to La Brea. About a half mile past that was a Harbor Seal Refuge.

After another half mile I turned around to get back to camp to drag my kids out to see what I had just run past. I met Rich and the three little ones on a walk a little way from camp so I told them all about what we could see and ran back to get Jeremy and Gage. We all walked the path and saw the rocks with the tide pools.

Ally and Julia had fun seeing Starfish and poking at the Sea Anemones. (Yes I had to look that up to spell it right).

Julia would not stay out of the water! We walked up the beach to see the huge chunks of tar just sitting on the beach. It wasn't very  "pittish" but still pretty cool. The tar was leaking out of the cliffs along the beach. It was strange to see this naturally occurring.

After the kids poked at the tar we ventured over to the look out where we could watch the Harbor Seals.

It's funny how clumsy they are on the rocks but how graceful they are in the water.  We just played and explored that day. We drove up to Santa Barbara which was 20 miles away because the boys wanted to see if they could see any of the scenes from Psych, one of their favorite t.v. shows which is set in Santa Barbara. We didn't find anything in particular. That night we ate at a local little place called The Spot which was yummy. That night we went out to the beach to see the bioluminescent waves. This phenomenon happens when there is a "red tide" which I have no idea what that really means.  All I know is that when the waves break on shore at night the white water turns a glowing neon bluish green. It's so amazing to watch. We walked up to the water and when the kids drew in the sand with their finger the sand lit up the same way. Jeremy tried to take pictures but nothing really turned out since he doesn't have a night lens. I wish I had a picture!

The next morning the girls and I got up about 6:30 and went out to the tide pools and to see the seals again. We found great shells, a few sand dollars and even two seals that swam along in the surf next to us for a while. Rich and the boys met up with us to search for shells. Jackson found a big one intact which he was very proud of. Later we went back to camp and had a delicious pancake and egg breakfast cooked by Suzanne Carter and Cari Thomas. Then we packed up and headed home. It was a very nice few days away and we will definitely do it again next year but maybe for the whole week this time!