Last Sunday one of the member families in the branch invited
us to dinner. In talking with the daughter and asking her a little about
school, I was a little surprised to learn that she is the only member in her
high school. This daughter is the youngest of 13 children and the only child
still at home (she is the one Sister Anderson refers to as her adopted
daughter, because Sister Anderson was asked to attend a Mother Daughter activity
with her not long after we arrived) The youth in this branch need to be strong,
in many ways they are the pioneers for the Church in this area. Our small
Branch covers the entire county, so even though we have approximately 10 active
teenagers in the branch, they don’t all go to the same school. Since we think
of her as our adopted daughter, we try to attend some of this young lady’s
school activities.
Then sitting in church today, I observed a recently
reactivated young mother on the bench in front of us trying to keep up with 5
children all under the age of 8. This mother is married to a non-member who
does not have a job and is not really interested in the Church. The mom teaches
school and is the breadwinner in her household. I told this young mother that I
think she is doing a great job with all that she has on her plate and I am sure
the Lord will bless her and her family for her diligent efforts. This mother
and children were not active when we first come out on the mission. Then last
spring they moved from a neighboring town to Mound City. They actually now live
closer to the chapel than any other family in the Branch. We visited them
several times and took by some cookies and took in a meal shortly after the
delivery of a new child. We really didn’t do much because the husband was not
overly receptive to our visits. The mom initially started coming out
sporadically and bringing only one or two children. She would usually spend the
time in the sitting room for nursing mothers and then only stay for Sacrament
meeting. However, for the last two or
three weeks she has been coming with all of her children and sitting in the
Chapel for sacrament meeting and then having her children attend primary and staying
for the full three hours. She has been attending our gospel principles
class. The children are a great addition
to the primary and incrementally, little by little we are seeing the branch
grow.
