Elder and Sister Prater in Newport Beach, California Mission

This week we enjoyed time with the family, trips to the temple, service work, lunches with friends, pickleball, a lesson on making stained glass lanterns, family history work, helping with setting up a missionary apartment, a visit to San Diego and a wonderful baptism.  Our Sunday dinners with our son, Mike and his family will be some of our favorite mission memories.  We have loved learning how to make stained glass lanterns from Marvin.  We always find satisfaction in helping to prepare new apartments for the young missionaries.   Exploring our mission and the beauty around us is always a pleasure.  This week we visited Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.   We had the privilege of being able to attend the baptism of our good friend, Bryan.  His wife and son were baptized in our ward a year ago and then they moved to a near by city.  In November, Elder Prater baptized their second oldest son so imagine our joy when we got the word that Bryan was ready to be baptized.  It was a jo

 In the April 2020 General Conference, Pres Nelson said  The Lord's work in the church is moving forward at an accelerated pace- the church will have an unprecedented unparalleled future.  The fulness of Christ's ministry lies in the future.  These are exciting times and when serving as a missionary, one can see how the Lord is hastening his work.  What a joy it is to be part of this great work and help gather Israel.  How have you seen evidence of this accelerated pace?  Having fun with another senior missionary couple was a great way to start our week. We went with Elder and Sister Spencer to Leo Carrillo Ranch Park, checked out the view at the Flower Fields again and finished off with lunch in the Oceanside Harbor.  A highlight of our week and our mission, was to attend the temple with our friends, Kathleen and Jay.  This past week we got to participle in the sealing ordinances of Kathleen to her deceased parents and other close family members.  Part of our purpose as Member

The good and bad of serving a mission is that you meet and love so many people. The good is that you come to love them and the bad is that you know you will have to say good bye to them at some point.   This week we said good bye to a lovely lady who we have served with in the Family Search Center.  We have enjoyed getting to know her these last few months.  She is not a member of our church but loves family history and was willing to work in the center to help others.  We will miss seeing her every week.   Carolyn Jorgensen, Gillese Embry (she is taking a break from working in the center) Myself and Elder Prater I know in the coming weeks we are going to have to say good bye to many more that we have come to love, including some young missionaries this week because it is transfers.  We had the opportunity to feed a companionship of three sister missionaries this week.  When they found out Elder Prater likes to BBQ they asked if they could have some of his BBQ before Sister Thomas goe

 The majority of our week we spent getting all our apartment inspections done.  We have a shorter transfer of five weeks so we wanted to complete the inspections as soon as possible.  We were very pleased with the condition of the apartments and how hard the missionary worked to keep them clean.  Elder Prater and Ellis  Sisters Wright, Thomas and Perez  Elder Prater and Carlson  Next week we will announce the winner and have a nacho lunch for the missionaries.  Elder Prater fixing a garbage disposal  I shared one of my favorite scriptures at our inspections.  As missionaries we strive to hold up the light which is Christ unto all we encounter. Sister Kearsleys, Elder Kearsley, Elder Prater and myself, Elder and Sister Snyder, Elder and Sister Hughes, Sisters Carters, Elder and Sister Crawford, Elder and Sister Clauson, Elder and Sister Cooper  We also had another senior bonfire as we say good bye to the Kearsleys and Hughes at the end of their mission.  We will miss them very much.  As

  Our district- Sister Thomas, Perez, Wright, Elder Stevens, Carlson, Ady, Prater and Jessop  It has been awhile since I have gotten a picture of our district, it seems like the transfers which are every six weeks go by so fast and than we have new missionaries to get to know.   Senior missionaries have the flexibility to be able to leave their mission for family reasons.  We had the privilege of going to Utah for our nephew's wedding.   He and his new wife were sealed in the Jordan River Temple which is where Elder Prater and I were sealed.  We are so blessed to witness this sacred ordinance and spend time with family.   The bride and groom  My brother Gordon and his wife, Allison, my sister Gail, Elder Prater and myself and my brother, Dard Allison, Gordon, Dard, Gail, myself, Joe, my brother Brian and his wife Pam On the way home from the wedding, we stayed in St. George to spend Easter with my sister, Joyce.  Myself and Joyce  Enjoy this message from our First Presidency- This