June 15, 2016

Dear family and friends,

This will be our last letter from the mission. It seems it has been a while since we last wrote. We have been going non-stop for the past few weeks. It is nearing the end of our mission, and things are getting busier and busier. We wish we could have been here in Pratt for our entire mission, because it is a great place and they are really putting us to good use.

Our house in Pratt. 

Since we last wrote we've had three new additions to the family. Rifka and Tyler brought us baby Annie on March 14^th (their first).  Caleb and Becca brought us baby Elizabeth on March 18^th (their fourth), and Jared and Courtney brought us baby Lukas on May 16^th (their fourth). We are so happy about these new babies and can't wait to get to know them better. Rifka and Tyler have also both completed college. Tyler received his Masters degree and Rifka completed her Bachelors degree. Congratulations to all of you. We're proud of all our family and everyone's accomplishments (especially our 17 grandchildren!).

Our Newest Babies.

Our Newest Graduates. 

We've had several opportunities for community service lately. Every year for the past 75 years Pratt has held a dinner in honor of everyone who is 75 years old and older. We were asked to help serve at this dinner. It was quite fun. There were about 350 elderly people there, and they really seemed to enjoy it. This annual dinner is always held during the week of the Miss Kansas Pageant, which always takes place right here in Pratt, Kansas. (Who would have thought?) So all of the Miss Kansas pageant contestants were at the Seventy-fivers’ Dinner. They were seated throughout the room sitting and visiting with these senior people. There were 36 contestants.

The Seventy-Fiver's Dinner. 

With Hannah Wagner, Miss Kansas 2015

The entertainment was a pop singer from the Seventies named Frankie Valens. He sang oldies like “This Magic Moment” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” He and Elder Gorden enjoyed visiting and reminiscing about the music business. 

With Frankie Valens 

We asked the lady in charge of the dinner if we could help her in any other ways. She requested that we take tickets for the pageant because the person she had wasn't available anymore. Naturally we said yes. So for two nights we took tickets at the only entrance to the auditorium. We counted our ticket stubs to learn that we had admitted about 500 ticket holders through our doors each night plus staff and other volunteers. We were wearing our name tags, of course, so we created a lot of visibility for the local church. Our branch President wants our church to be seen serving in the community so we were happy to report at Sunday’sBranch Council Meeting that we have been seen by many. 

The Miss Kansas Pageant was elegant and enjoyable.

Working at the pageant was also very fun for us and we were able to meet a lot of people. There are so many really nice people in Pratt. Because we helped out we were privileged to attend the Miss Kansas pageant for both nights of the preliminary competition. On the Saturday night of the finals we had out of town company.

Sister Gorden serving plates to the waiters at the event. 

We have written previously about our friends, Brad and Karen Beard, whom we meet in Lamar, Colorado at the beginning of our mission. They drove over this weekend to see us before we go home. It was great to spend time with them. They stayed in Pratt Saturday night and attended church with us Sunday morning. After church we had lunch at our house, and they headed back to their home in Syracuse, Kansas (on the Colorado border). 

After saying goodbye to Brad and Karen, we took off to Wichita for a devotional & testimony meeting hosted by the mission president. It was for new members and investigators. We had a new member, Kim, from the Pratt Branch that was asked to share her testimony, so we went with her and a few other members from our branch. We were able to hear some very tender testimonies. The gospel changes so many lives for the better when people come to realize what a blessing it is. 

At the devotional with Elder Hyer, Elder Melville, Skyler, Kim Nnabuike,
Tyler, Vanessa, Elder Gorden, Justus, Sister Gorden.

Kim was taught by the young Elders here, but she was struggling with several questions. Some of her questions were brought about by the mis-information available from local ministers and on the internet. We invited her and her daughter to dinner at our house, and we had a nice discussion that resolved her concerns. Three days before her baptism Kim asked Elder Gorden to perform the ordinance, but, sadly, her service was scheduled the same day as Tyler’s graduation, and our trip was already planned. We would have also missed Annie’s blessing in church the next morning. A few days ago, Dad told Kim that it was one of his biggest disappointments during the mission. She expressed that she was very disappointed, too. Kim is doing very well, and she will be a strong member of the church.

We made a new friend at the Apple Computer store in Wichita. After several casual discussions at the store, we visited Tony at his home and taught him about the Restoration of the Church. We will keep in touch with him after we are home, and, in fact, he may visit us in Arkansas after we are back. He made us laugh today when he said he was going to convert to Buddhism because he likes the idea of worshiping a deity the looks like him. Tony has a great sense of humor, and we all took an instant liking to each other.

With Tony Moreno in Wichita.

Since our last letter we have written and printed a complete Emergency Preparedness plan for the Pratt Branch. We headed up a major branch project to do a “Spring Cleaning” of our building inside and out. We were also appointed to learn and present the new program “Teaching in the Savior’s Way” to the Branch Council. It is an inspired method of helping our teachers become better teachers churchwide. Elder Gorden has played the organ in sacrament meeting and served as chorister during our Branch Conference. We continue to teach our classes on Sundays, and we still help prepare and deliver meals to shut-ins two days each week. Sister Gorden has also been busy helping two single sisters move, and she has been making cookies for just about everybody (and they love it!).

Having fun while moving Sister Chambers. 

Sister Chambers feeds us often, so we took her out for Mexican food. 

A man on our meal delivery route named Mr. Rayburne was the same age as Elder Gorden, and he was very lonely. Every time we took a meal to him, Dad would spend a few extra minutes talking to him and learning about him. He had been a truck driver and seemed to have had a very hard life. He had no family close. The last meal we delivered to him he did not answer the door, so Elder Gorden left his meal on the table as we are told to do. When we returned from our Arkansas trip we learned that he had been found dead in his bedroom the next day. It was disturbing news. 

Last week President Hopkins asked us to teach the Temple Preparation Classes to two sisters in the branch. We have already completed three of the classes. They are excited to learn about the temple and prepare to attend soon.  We intend to get all their lessons completed before we leave, so we are in high gear on that assignment. 

With our Relief Society President, Marlene Newell,
who insists that she PRAYED us to Pratt.

In addition to our other activities we have been asked speak in church next Sunday. So with that and lesson preparations our final days will be full, fun and busy. 

Thursday and Friday of this week we are going to make a trip to the Winter Quarters temple in Omaha. On the way we will stop to visit a few friends in Concordia for one last goodbye. 

The Sunflowers in Kansas. 

Several weeks ago we went to the Oklahoma Temple with a couple of zones in our mission, and it was very enjoyable. After our temple session the temple President spoke to us in a special meeting in the Terrestial Room. He addressed us for a while then took questions. It is unusual to have an opportunity like that. He was inspiring and profound. Many of the things he discussed were obviously too sacred for a letter like this. One thing we will share that seems appropriate is the comments he made about Jesus asking Heavenly Father to “take away this cup from me” (see Mark 14:36). In other words Jesus was asking to not have to endure the suffering that was before Him, but He was willing, saying,“nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He was asking: isn’t there some other way? We know that Eve asked a similar question when she was faced with the choice of eating the fruit to learn the contrasts of good and evil - or not eating and remaining in the Garden forever and without children. President Campbell wondered if when we were faced with the choice of leaving our pre-mortal life and coming to mortality on earth to be experience trials and be tested - or remaining in that heavenly home in spirit form never to receive a body - wouldn’t we have also asked, “isn’t there some other way?” 

We know that each of us did choose to drink from the cup that was given us, and we are grateful for this life on earth, for the blessings of the gospel, and for our knowledge of the Savior and His wonderful Plan of Happiness that allows us to return to Him. We are thankful for the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth and for the priesthood ordinances that allows us to be sealed together as a family for time and all eternity. We are thankful for His atoning sacrifice that gives us a way to be forgiven of our sins and be clean at the last day. There is no other way. 

The Savior lives, and the church is true. We do so appreciate all your love, prayers, and support. Remember where your greatest joy is. Take care of and love each other.

We love you.

Elder and Sister Gorden