Elder and Sister Prater in Newport Beach, California Mission

 I write this blog for three reasons- to keep my friends and family informed of what we are doing, to encourage other seniors to serve a mission by showing them how easy and fulfilling a mission can be and lastly so I can print have this blog printed off at the end of our mission and have a scrapbook.  Therefore I add many pictures and items to this blog of things that I want to remember from our experience in the Newport Beach, California mission.  The month of September was a hard one emotionally for me as we waited for my brother's graveside at the end of the month.  We didn't seek out new appointments but actually stayed busy with all the appointments we had perviously set up- many which were service.  I am just going to share in this post what we did the week before and after my brother's funeral.  In a separate post I will share about the weekend we spent with family mourning the loss of Glenn and celebrating him.  So the service we performed the last couple of weeks

 This was a good week.   Things felt normal and we enjoyed many of our usual missionary activities including time in the Family Search Center and our weekly district meeting.   Our week started out with our monthly Empty Nest Family Home Evening.  Bro. Johnson, a newer member of our ward had a calling in public relations for many years in the church. He shared some of his amazing  experiences with us.   In the middle of the week, we were able to participate in baptisms for the dead in the Newport Beach, California temple.   After the temple we joined the other senior missionaries for a bonfire on the beach.  One of our favorite activities.  The Scotts and the Weimanns will be finishing up their missions in October and returning home, we will really miss them.  We finished up our apartment inspections for the transfer this week and visited some members.  On Friday, our son, Tyler had a lay over in San Diego so we spent the day with him.  We hiked Torrey Pines in San Diego with him.  We

 It has been just over a week that we lost my brother.  During that week we have had moments of grief but also moments of love and laughter.   In the New Testament, before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he wept.  Even though he knew he would be performing a miracle that would rise up Lazarus from the dead he still wept.  I know that I will see my brother again, and I know the atonement of Jesus Christ is very real.  Still I weep.  And at random times, I will continue to weep but I will feel my Savior's love, peace and comfort.  Glenn's funeral is still a couple of weeks away and I am looking forward to spending time with my other siblings as we honor his life.  We have been sharing pictures and we will soon be sharing stories of our lives together.  This is love.  This is good.  This is how we deal with our grief.  Another way that we deal with our grief is by serving.  We started out our Monday with helping Elder and Sister Scott and Elder Kearsley, refresh an apartment f