Elder James Boyer Is Off On His MIssion

   Elder James Boyer has finished Home MTC and departed for the Tampa Florida Mission. He will be gone two years and return in April 2024.

   His favorite scripture is Alma 36:3 which reads:  "And now my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust n God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."  

  We will add more information as he communicates his experiences.

Mothers Celebrated, Camp Money Earned, All In One Fun Evening.

     Bishop Holden overlooks the many goodies produced when Mokelumne River Ward held a bake sale auction and dinner to raise funds for Duty to God and Girl’s Camp. It was a massive success!

        The youth really shined with desserts that were both beautiful to look at and oh so yummy! 

   Ward members were very generous with their donations resulting in a significant amount of money raised. Brother Farlee did a fantastic job as the auctioneer and I think everyone would agree that it could not have gone better. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making such a memorable night such a success!

 

 

Youth Learn of Mission Experiences Throughout The World

 

Mokelumne Ward youth heard from five of our ward’s former missionaries. Sister Brown, President Means, Brother Nore, Brother Holden and Brother Daley all prepared a short presentation about serving a mission in their part of the world. The kids asked questions and ate treats from around the globe. We appreciate the time spent to enrich our youth.

YM-YW Enjoy Baptism Day at Sacramento Temple

 

     On Tuesday, April 26th, the combined Young Woman and Young Men were able to participate in temple baptisms. In addition, the youth were able to enjoy time together while playing games and eating a delicious meal on the lawn. The trip  ended  with a spiritual thought from Natalie Robison and a yummy dessert for the road. A truly meaningful and enjoyable experience was had by all.  A big thanks to the youth and youth leaders for all their efforts on a successful event.

Relief Society Sisters Get Organizing Tips

     Sister  Rebecca Simmons is a professional organizer with paying clients.  She was perfect for teaching R.S. sisters how to have a "House of Order."  Some of her tips:  (1) You probably won't ever use something if you've had it for awhile and have never used it.  (2) Stay in the room you're working on.  Don't go back and forth around the house. (3) Clear zipper file bags from Amazon are perfect for organizing small groups of things in a purse.  She had a sample for everyone to take home.  She spent about an hour giving all kinds of ideas and answering questions.  All sisters were given detailed handouts to take home.

   Sister Elizabeth Sprowls also had good advice on how to organize craft items--and she had hundreds of them in her craft room which is about 10x10 feet The walls are lined with shelves and cupboards filled with bottles, clear plastic boxes, and clear bags hanging from a rod.  She decorates tin cans which hold pencils, pens, and other items.  She has a clear canister for cookie cutters  All of these things are labeled.  The picture on the lower left shows a desk she made by putting a board over two small filing cabinets.  Elizabeth is very talented with crafts and will help anyone who is interested.  She will even share her many products collected over the years.  Both of these sisters are valuable additions to the Mokelumne River Ward sisters.

Primary Children Loved Their "Unbirthday Party"

    On April 1st the Mokelumne River Ward primary had an “unbirthday party." The event included pizza, cupcakes and games. The event was well attended with 70 primary age children there. There was even a juggling clown, Tim Shull. They played: Bean bag toss into the 10 plagues of Egypt, pin the animal on Noah’s ark, a relay game, musical chairs and ended with a story to help remind them that they are the light of the world. The lights went off, glo sticks lit and a dance party began. They finished the night with a cupcake. A great time was had by all!!

Relief Society Sisters Tackle a Big Job

 Mokelumne Ward Member Rex Barnes had been either in a hospital or in a rehab center for over a year.  The time finally came for him to sell his house and go to stay with a daughter in Montana. But the home needed to be cleaned out to make it ready for the sale so they could show the house.

      

   Under the supervision of Ardell Gillingwater, Relief Society Service Coordinator, the house was cleaned out and a garage sale was held.  In the collage above, in green plaid shirt is Brother Barnes' daughter Danielle who came from Montana to help. Pictured with her is Ann Grether who came almost every day to help.  In the top left picture is Liz Sprowls who also spend a lot of time on the project.  Others who helped were Lisa Holden and Tammy Woods. In the lower right picture the sister missionaries are having a cobweb celebration.  "It's a wonderful opportunity to get rid of cobwebs," said Ardell.  Anyway you look at it, a great service was performed.                   Above: Ardell poses with family in front of a nice clean house.                                                                     

Two New Missionaries

     The missionaries are always changing.  But this time we have TWO new missionaries.  We love our sister missionaries.  On the left is Sister Webb from Illinois  On the right is sister Garner from Rexburg, Idaho.  They are working hard to help us find new people to teach.

Maggie Jean McGhie Was Baptized

 MAGGIE McGhie had to wait through the holidays and a month long COVID illness in their family as they passed it around.  But the day finally arrived and Maggie was baptized by her father Skip McGhie.

On her baptismal day February 2022, 2022 she poses in the foyer with her father and her mother Julie McGhie.

Congratulations Maggie!

Mokelumne River Individuals Perform Service

    Joseph and Vickie Anderson had a neighbor who needed help picking oranges and citrus from his trees.  He needed help, but wanted to make sure what was picked was donated to non-profit agencies. Enter Cathy Leonard who works with many such groups.

    The Andersons headed up the project and were helped by Luis Gonzalez's brother-in-law from Ione, the Clegg family (Lisa, Arnel, Logan and Leanna.)  Cathy distributed fruit to Showered With Love, Lodi House, Loel Center, and Grace & Mercy.

   Leanna and Logan Clegg went with Cathy to deliver fruit to Sunshine Food Pantry in Galt.  Faye Gaines, the director there, was thrilled and impressed by the donation and work by these youth.

Relief Society Sisters Put LOVE into Baskets

 "Gifts from the Heart" was the theme of an evening planned by activity coordinator Stacey Kadlacsik (bottom left) and her committee. It was to be an evening of service and friendship.

   There were three activities.  (1) With the idea of filling three baskets, sisters were asked to bring three of the same gifts to go in the baskets.  It could include a favorite quote, poem, scripture, note of encouragement, candle, lotion, soap, beauty product, socks, music, pre-wrapped food item, candy, treat, etc. (2) Each sister wrote a letter for a resident of a local nursing home or care facility.  (3) A game was played that helped sisters get to know each other better.

    Sister Kadlacsik noted that the Relief Society presidency delivered the baskets to three sisters in the ward who would appreciate a little lift. The letters were delivered by RS counselor Tammy Woods. The get-to know-you game was fun.  Each person was given a page with a few questions about themselves which they answered. The papers were read and sisters tried to guess who it was.

Young Women Have "Chopped" Activity

     The Young Women had a combined girls activity called "Chopped."  The idea was taken from a TV show.  The girls were divided into 5 groups and each group was given six food items with which to create a dessert.  The items were raspberry pop tarts, popcorn, hot tamales (candy,) cooked tater tots, hostess snowballs, and circus cookies.  They could also use other basic ingredients such as eggs, flour, sugar, etc., but they had to incorporate the six items somehow.

The judges (left) choose Group #2 (below)as the winner.