February 28, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Things seem to be getting a little busier for us all the time, and that makes us happy.

This week we are starting another service project. We have volunteered at an elderly housing facility to help some of the residents write their personal histories.  We hope it that will be meaningful for them, and it should be a rewarding activity for us, too. We love hearing about peoples’ lives and their experiences. It always cultivates a deeper love for people when we learn about their struggles, challenges, and accomplishments. The solemn realization is that only recently they were actively working or raising families or going to school like the rest of us. It should be a fun service to do. We will keep you posted.

Sometimes there is more scenery on the walls in Kansas than there is on the highways. 

When we attempted to leave our meeting with the facility manager, our poor old buggy would not start. It had to be towed to the shop where it received a new starter. We were lucky that we were not in the boonies. It could have been much worse on several levels. 

You know that we have been delivering meals to shut-ins two days each week. Now on Thursdays we also help prepare the meals and clean up afterwards.

Last week was our stake “Fill the Temple Day” at the Oklahoma City Temple. We were able to go and do two sessions. We also had some time to spend with our friends from home, Ralph and Lorlinda Hackett, who are monthly temple workers there. It was great to visit with them and catch up.

With the Hacketts at the Temple.

Dinner with the Hacketts after the Temple. 

 We have continued to teach Julie Reed from Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Two weeks ago we invited her to the Saturday evening session of stake conference in Wichita, and she met us there. It was a 90 mile drive for her.  Elder David L. Evans of the Church’s missionary department was presiding, and it was a very, very spiritual meeting. We could not have asked for better speakers that evening. Everything said was so touching, and Julie felt the Spirit as well. She commented about how people shared their personal feelings and testimonies, and she was touched by it.

After the conference session we went to "Five Guys" for hamburgers with some other members of the branch. It was fun, and it was Julie’s first opportunity get to know some of the members. It was even better that we were in a more casual setting. Everyone here is very welcoming and friendly to her. As we mentioned before this is a very missionary oriented branch, and that sure makes a big difference. You feel loved and accepted instantly. All we have to do is teach the gospel, and the Spirit does everything else. We love it that people can decide for themselves if the church is true. Our part is to just share what we believe. The Spirit is the Testifier of truth. 

Our branch president, Carson Hopkins, with us at Five Guys.

We were also fortunate to have Elder Evans spend a whole day with all of the missionaries in Wichita on the Friday before the conference. What a spiritual feast that was. We learned a lot.

This week is transfer week. One of the missionaries, Sister Bringhurst, that has been serving here in Pratt will be going home. We will miss her and are anxious to see who will be coming in her place.  After our District Meeting last week in Hutchinson, we all went to Olive Garden for a “farewell” lunch. Elder Gorden ordered her a special dessert which made her happy. Then the restaurant made it complimentary which made Elder Gorden happy. The Hutchinson Elders were showing us some cool photos of places to see there, so we found one of those sites and made a few pictures of our own. Hutchinson is a little over an hour north of here.

We went to see the movie “Risen.” It is about the Romans attempting to find the body of Christ to prove that His resurrection was a scam. After searching every home and digging up every dead body in Jerusalem, the soldier leading the search ends up seeing the Savior and spending some time with Him and the eleven apostles. It is “historical” fiction, and some allowance can be made for that, but the depicting of events was disappointing. Most upsetting to us was the irreverent treatment of the apostles as boisterous buffoons and the dialogue which had Jesus and others making statements that were either blatant revisions of scripture or entirely made up. Needless to say, we did not like it at all. If you have not seen Risen save your money.

There is a sweet family of eight in our branch. They have all four of us Pratt missionaries over every Thursday evening for dinner. This last week we thought we were on Beale Street in Memphis! She served some of the best BBQ ribs that we've had in along time! She cooked them in the oven in a turkey bag! They were delicious. We always look forward to going to their home, and it is consistently delightful. He is a podiatrist here at the local hospital. Their last name happens to be Gordon. 

Brother Gordon, Elder Gorden, Sister Gorden and Sister Gordon. 

We are anxious for our three new grandbabies to arrive. We can't seem to part with our phones - not wanting to miss that call from Tyler or Rifka saying " this is it, we’re leaving for the hospital."

We saved our best news for last. Our friend Julie was baptized last night by Elder Gorden. It was a very sweet baptismal service. In fact, we can not imagine how it could have gone any better. Elder Gorden conducted the meeting with about 25 people attending. Our Sunday church services have attendance of 50 to 60 including over 20 children. Only 3 kids were at the baptism, so you can see that most of the branch came. We had five non-members there, three of whom are also investigating the church. A fourth was a friend of Julie’s from Oklahoma, and she requested a visit from the missionaries in her area. After the service, Elder Gorden asked one of the visitors what he thought of the meeting. He said, “Did you feel that? God was here!”

Baptism of Julie Reed on Feb 27, 2016

Julie is going to be a good member. She has been well taught and has done a lot of study on her own. She has a spiritual witness of the things she has learned, and she is committed to making a change in her life. Today, Elder Gorden confirmed her in sacrament meeting.

We hope everyone is doing well. The weather is beginning to get nice with a touch of spring here. Take care, be good to each other, and keep in touch.

We love you. Happy Leap Day!

Elder and Sister Gorden

February 7, 2016

Hello from Kansas,

We hope everyone is doing well today and had a great day at church. Life for us is busy here in Pratt. The Branch President gave us some more assignments today, and that always helps to keep us engaged. This little branch is very missionary oriented and that is exciting.
The sister missionaries met with us tonight at our house for a coordination meeting. (Dad is the Branch Mission Leader.) Mom made a chocolate fudge pie, and they loved it. We have noticed that missionaries are always hungry (for some reason), and it is fun to feed them.
We enjoyed our visit back to Rogers and Memphis two weeks ago. It is always great to be with the family and visit our mothers (and eat some real barbeque). Three sweet new babies are growing and will be joining the family soon. We are very excited to say the least.

No matter how you spell it, Grandpa loves his Suzies.

We have a true investigator that we are teaching. Her name is Julie Reed. She is soaking up all the lessons and receiving answers to her prayers to confirm that what she is learning is true. It is a wonderful thing that people do not have to take our word for it - they can pray to know if it is of God. Julie wants to be baptized on February 27! It has been very rewarding to see her progress. She is planning on coming to Wichita Saturday night for the adult session of Stake Conference. Then on Sunday she will join us for the morning conference broadcast in our building in Pratt. Next week will be the first Sunday since we have known her that she will not have to work. She is a cook at Sonic in a very small town called Medicine Lodge south of Pratt. She has started asking her boss for Sundays off, and hopes it will be permanent. 

Julie drove into Pratt Thursday evening for a tour of our church building, and she seems to be comfortable and excited about all we are teaching her. Please keep her in your prayers as she prepares for baptism. We have given her two “insulation” lessons to help her be on guard when Satan tries to interfere. Isn’t it interesting that only this church gets so many attacks to prevent someone from becoming a member or from going to the temple for the first time or from being sealed together as husband and wife for all eternity? We certainly had our share of that kind of adversity back in 1982 when we were baptized and later went to the temple. Julie will be an asset to this little branch, and it will be nice to watch her as she continues to learn and become truly converted unto the Lord.

District Meetings are fun, and sometimes we go out to eat afterwards. 

The sister missionaries are teaching a man named Tommy, and they have included us in some of the lessons. He is asking great questions and learning as much as he can. Tommy attended Elder Gorden’s Sunday School class today about the Fall (of Adam and Eve).  He was marveling at the doctrine and soaking it up like a sponge. We really like him. It is so fun to see the joy that comes to people when they discover eternal truths.

Sometimes we visit people who have dogs and cats! 

We have another general authority coming to the mission. Elder David F. Evans of the First Quorum of the Seventy will be spending the day with the missionaries on Thursday and Friday this week. Friday is our day, and we will drive to Wichita for a meeting from 9:00 to 4:30pm. Then on Saturday and Sunday he will preside at the Wichita Stake Conference. It has been a rare treat to have so many General Authorities come to speak to us and shake our hands. This mission has had three Apostles visit in the last two years. With the enormous growth of this worldwide church it is almost “statistically impossible” for that to happen. Elder Evans is currently serving as Executive Director of the church’s Missionary Department.

Sister Gorden & Lisa Schmidt enjoyed serving chili at the Red Cross Blood Drive

We continue to volunteer in the Pratt community, but everyone seems to be so well-staffed that opportunities are more scarce than we expected. We are still delivering meals to shut-ins, and next week we will start helping with the food preparation, too. There was an all-day blood drive recently, and our church was in charge of feeding everyone that participated. 
At testimony meeting in church today one of the elderly sisters told about how reading the Book of Mormon for the first time many years ago had brought about a change in her behavior. She noticed that she was not angry with people anymore. She was no longer yelling at her children. She was more peaceful and much happier. We close this letter with our testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. It changes lives. It changed ours.  

We love you all, and we thank you for your prayers. Take care of each other, and let us hear from you.

Mom and Dad