The Pendant Miracle: The Calverts are active in the community (Sister Calvert is Rotary president and on the Coast-Guard committee) and have recently activated. The church grounds were unlit and dark when Sister Calvert was carrying her huge jello salad to the Christmas party and she took a hard fall. She reassured everyone she was all right and her jello salad was shoveled up and thrown over a snow-covered embankment and the broken bowl and larger salad parts were thrown in the dumpster. Later she discovered that her necklace was missing, which was announced on Sunday morning. We asked her what it looked like. It was an irreplaceable hand-carved Russian pendant that was an anniversary present from her husband, very thin and about two inches high. We went out between meetings and, miracle of miracles, Richard spotted her thin silver chain in the lawn, about ten feet from her fall, but we couldn’t find the pendant. We decided that the pendant might be over the snow bank or in the trash with her broken bowl, so we and the Calverts went home to change after meetings so we could return and dumpster-dive, which we did to no avail. However, after carful search and a prayer from us, Brother Calvert found the pendant in the snow bank just above the drop-off. It was underneath the snow and the Calverts tearfully and thankfully testify that finding it could only have been an answer to prayer. We love for new members to have these experiences. We call Calverts new members, but they were both baptized at age eight. However, Scott has never held the Priesthood and Tambi stopped attending before age 16. Giving up coffee was their only real challenge and, thanks to Koreen Robinson for introducing us to Choffy, giving up coffee is not a problem for any of our investigators. The Calverts will be going through the temple as soon as Scott receives the Melchizedek priesthood, slated for May 2012 stake conference.
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| Scott emerging from the hillside WITH the pendant. Hero! |
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| Tambi and Scott |
We’ve been teaching Christmas stories and have personally learned much. We hope we can follow Mary’s (the Savior’s mother) example and keep all these precious things in our hearts (see Luke 1:39-53).
Saturday morning we volunteered at the library and had forty children and their parents attend our reading of Frosty-the-Snowman, magic show activity (starring potential-investigator, Dr. Fribush), and craft (we helped them make snowmen out of paper plates). Parents have stopped us on the streets with positive comments about our library program. Community service helps our missionary work in many ways.
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| Dr. Fribush doing magic tricks. |
We have two new investigators! They’re golden. We’re trying our best to measure up to the trust they so willingly give us.
We reached our goal of teaching 20 lessons in Sitka last week. People were happy to see us when we went to their homes with candy-sack invitations to the Saturday-night Ward Christmas party. The adults in the ward expressed a desire to have a party without kids, so we volunteered to take all the kids, age two and up. We matched up old to young and did indoor relay races. The kids raced to build snowmen from rolls toilet paper and then we had an indoor snowball fight out of balled-up paper towels. It was delightful pandemonium. The ward wrapped gifts for each child and after they were thoroughly worn out we put on a Rudolf cartoon for the last fifteen minutes. They were so exhausted they just raised their hands for popcorn refills.
We’re celebrating Christmas Eve with the Womack family and Christmas day with the Ady and Swanberg families. How blessed we are to know such great people.
We love you each and all, and wish you a wonderful Christmas.
Much love,
Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nan
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| Moon rising over Sitka at 3 p.m. Before 5 p.m. it's as dark as midnight. |
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