Dear Family and Friends,
This week we were way down in our lesson count. We were traveling and doing service. We were asked to help with the youth conference on Thursday and Friday. We brought our water balloon launcher with us from Utah. They asked us to build another one. They told us we would be doing the activity with 300 plus youth and that one wouldn't be enough. So we built another one. We ask for 1,200 water balloons. The director said she would do them the night before and asked if we could help. We have multiple taps at our complex, so we suggested she send the people to our apartment with some splitters, balloons, nozzles, and buckets. She said she wanted to meet at the church. When we got there all the supplies were carefully laid out in the hallway outside of the custodial closet. We checked to see who would be helping us and so we could take the things to our place. We found that there were a lot of people there, but there were a lot of jobs also. They had set it up so that you could rotate from job to job so one task wouldn't get to tedious. The only tap that worked for water balloons was in the closet. We put the splitter on and started in waiting for someone to rotate in. After a hundred balloons we went looking. We got a couple of people and did a couple of hundred balloons before they rotated out on us. A couple of more people rotated in and out. We had 600 done and everyone else was finishing up their jobs. Three of them took some balloons and took them into the kitchen to stretch over the faucets in there. We were given two kids to help us. They were pre-teens. We filled 100 with them fairly quickly. They would fill and we would tie. Then a couple of balloons burst. Some balloons leaked and the kids started to enjoy the work. Sister Sheffer had to start filling. Her hands were so sore that she often missed the tie and when she let go the balloon squirted all over her. This made the boys even more joyful to be there! They told her, "Look Sister Sheffer, you have a lake in your lap". Sure enough, there was a puddle on her skirt a couple of inches deep. She had to stand up quite a few times to send the lake on her skirt down the drain. She was so much fun to watch that when we hit 900 and the people in the kitchen came and told us they had 300, the boys begged us to do 100 more. Although we know they would have totally enjoyed it we were DONE. At the park we told the youth that the buckets that held the balloons were the spirit of Christ. The balloons were their testimonies and they were to send them out to the world. Other youth were to "catch" the testimonies and feel the coolness of the spirit. This would help their testimony and make them want to share. It was over 100 degrees that day. They loved it.
We couldn't help with the youth conference on Saturday because we had an all mission conference in Modesto. Only an Apostle can call an all mission conference. This is the third one we have attended in almost as many months. It worked out that we traveled over 300 miles that day. We live on the south end of the mission. Modesto is on the north. The mission president pulled all the missionaries south of Fresno on Friday night and had them come and stay with missionaries in Fresno or just north of Fresno. The zone leaders told us we could stay in the mission home, but that is only 50 minutes north of us. Elder Sheffer thought it would be easier to sleep in a bed he was familiar with and drive the extra time in the morning. So, we stayed south. It is an odd feeling to know that you are the only two set apart missionaries within a 50 mile radius, especially since we are used to having 20 of them all around us in our zone. You could actually feel a difference. We left just after 6:00 A.M. and had a wonderful conference with M. Russell Ballard. He shook our hands, gave us specific instruction and guidance, and answered questions before he left. After the conference was over a senior Elder grabbed Elder Sheffer and rushed him into a classroom to give a blessing. A young man was in a chair. The left side of his body had ceased up and he was struggling to breathe. Elder Sheffer quickly anointed and Elder Collin sealed. The boys breathing immediately eased. Elder Collin said, "Do we call an ambulance?" Elder Sheffer asked where the closest hospital was. He answered two blocks. Elder Sheffer told them to drive him there now. He was breathing better and driving him there might be quicker than making the call. We helped him out to the car and off he went. We followed with his things. After all that excitement we returned to the chapel and were asked to take elders home. They were from Lemoore, which was 30 miles west of where we lived. While in Lemoore we visited with Annette. She is the sister who was baptized in Visalia 35 years ago. We found the elders from Lemoore's plan book when we got to Visalia, so we ran to the youth conference and sent it out with a bishop from out there. We were up and going just after 5 and didn't get to bed till after 11.
We went bowling with the Elders on Monday. Elder Sheffer wanted to dice bowl at least one game and the sisters wanted to have the bumpers. The elders that played with us were given a hard time, but we enjoyed the game. Dice bowling is were you shake a six sided dice and each number has a different way of bowling such as backwards, laying down, and between your legs.
We Love you All,
Sister and Elder Sheffer
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