COMO WARD

January 9, 2011 Sunday

Today we went to church in the Como Ward which is the one we live in. When we lived in this flat before, we were working the Jandakot Ward which is south of here. We don’t have a specific assignment yet but decided it would be good to go to Como. There are a ton of elderly people in it. I counted 6 families with Primary age kids. I didn’t see much in the way of youth. Two young men helped with the sacrament; the rest were older brethren. We were on the back row and a lady about our age came in and sat in front of us. Pretty soon she was doubled over. The next thing she turned and asked the elders for a blessing. All 4 of us went out (I didn’t know what was going on; but when 3 of the party get up and leave, number 4 doesn’t want to be left behind.) She has brittle bone disease and had casts on her ankle and wrist but was experiencing terrible pain in her stomach area and back and was feeling nauseated. Anyway, the guys gave her a blessing and then left. We were in the cultural hall and there were a couple of extra benches in there. She laid down on one of them and I stayed with her. We had a great visit. Her name is Samantha Davidson. She felt better in a while and said she would head to the doctor right after she spoke with the bishop. Sounded like gall bladder to “Dr. Porter.” She’s a widow and has one son who is 19 living with her.
In Relief Society, I introduced myself and a lady behind me (about my age) asked me where I am from. I told her Utah. She asked where; I said Clearfield. She replied, “I’m from Clinton.” For those of you reading this who are not familiar with north Davis County, Clearfield and Clinton are only separated by a street. Small world! She had served here as the mission secretary 4-5 years ago. While here, she attended the Como Ward. She was helping a sister move when she ruptured two discs. That was a Saturday. On Sunday, she told a brother in the ward she needed a blessing. He “snagged” a fellow passing by to help him. The passer-by sealed the annointing and in the blessing mentioned a couple of questions that she had. She ended up going home. Fast forward a year or so: She received an e-mail from this guy who had seen her address on a forward. He asked if she’d ever found the answers to her questions. She told him she hadn’t. About a month later she received an e-mail full of scriptures and quotes that dealt with her questions. They casually e-mailed for a long time and then things began to progress. She said she received her confirmation do in the Bountiful Temple that marrying him was the right thing to. This was a lady who had gone through 2 divorces and was never going to marry again. He had recently gone through a horrible divorce and absolutely wasn’t going to marry again. They were married on a beach in Hawaii so both families could afford to attend. They said the spirit at the wedding was unbelievably strong. Then she said, “He even took my name when we got married!” He had come from an horrible family background, and her dad (deceased) came to them and told him to do that. I think he will be part of her dad’s line in the eternities. Anyway, she loves Perth. They bought a condo in Hawaii so her kids can just fly that far to have a visit with mom. What a neat couple they are; it’s amazing when we let the Lord direct our lives. At some point he told her that as he gave her that blessing her whole life was opened up to him. And they had never even spoken to one another before that except for a “Hello” as they passed at church.
Nielsens had invited us up for dinner today. It was wonderful and then we went shopping at “Nielsens’ Used and Abused.” (Mission furniture stored in their garage) We picked out a new fridge, a nice bookshelf to replace the two crummy ones we have here, and a dryer. Elder Crawford will bring those down with his trailer. We brought home a heater (for winter—you take it when you can get it), a small TV, and a microwave. The microwave here is so old it’s turned yellow. Elder Crawford also brought us a new couch to replace the olive green velour thing we used when we were here before.
We’ve been cleaning like crazy for since Thursday. The inspection is on Tuesday, and that’s good because we still have a long list of stuff to be done tomorrow.