Our Two Deacons

Kindnesses and generosity come to us, as missionaries, from many sources, as we serve the Lord. Compensating blessings come to us and to our family at home. In Feb. we enjoyed greatly our visit with Elder Renlund of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife, Ruth, as we toured our mission area together. It was a great blessing and lots of fun to be with them.

One day we mentioned that we had two grandsons, Michael and Ethan, who would turn twelve in the next couple of weeks and would receive the priesthood. They're our first grandsons to receive the priesthood and it would be hard for us to miss this special time with each of them.

Ethan, who lives in Utah, would be ordained the Sunday before General Conference. A few minutes after our discussion, Elder Renlund asked if we thought that Ethan and his father would like to experience Ethan's first Priesthood Conference together in the Conference Center. He suggested that he would be willing to give his own tickets to conference to Ethan and his dad so that they could have this special experience. Having no son of his own with whom to do this, Elder Renlund said that he would be pleased to do this for Ethan and Ryan. We were amazed and thrilled by the offer. This week, Ryan and Ethan went together to pick up the tickets for Conference at the Renlunds home in Salt Lake. It was really exiting for them to go together to meet Elder Renlund and thank him in person for his kindness.

Ethan at the Conference center

On Sat. night Ethan attended his very first general priesthood meeting in the Conference Center. It was an experience that neither he, nor his dad, will ever forget. A great blessing came to them because of Elder Renlund's kindness and our opportunity to be with the Renlunds.

The story of Michaels's first General Priesthood Meeting after being ordained is an equally wonderful story. He lives in Arizona and was invited by his extended Tassainer family to take a little vacation in Mesquite, Nevada on conference weekend. It's always great fun to be with the Tassainers, but Michael made the decision to stay home so that he could go to his first Priesthood Conference. What a great young man he is to make such a mature and righteous choice. He went to priesthood conference with his step-dad, Marvin Pearce. Michael, too, had a great experience. He commented on the talks and said that he especially liked the talk on patience because that was something that he needed to work on. What a great kid!

These are two great, new, young priesthood holders. We are so blessed to be their grandparents and, although we were not there to be with them for these special occasions, we feel that the Lord is giving our family extra blessings while we're away.