October 3

Hi Everyone,
     This week has been crazy busy.  That's good.  We finally got a fixed schedule for the Mormon Battalion.  That will help us with so many things.  We can plan better now.
     We work Sunday night, Monday middle of the day, Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  That gives us all day Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday for ward things, an actual P day etc.  Plus the time in between and before and after shifts the other days.
     We had to say good bye to two missionary couples this last week.  But we received two new ones!  We are gearing up for loosing SIX of our wonderful sisters at the Mormon Battalion in November too.  Oh it is hard, we have already grown to love them so much.  But going home is as much a part of this whole missionary thing as being here.  Learning to use what we all have learned here and be better is huge.

Roger, Sister JoAnn Jensen, Me, Debbie Bullock, Graham Bullock, and Elder Ron Jensen

     I had the fun opportunity to have dinner with Debbie Riggs Bullock and her husband this last week.  Debbie was my neighbor growing up and her family was my second family.  They had mostly girls and it was so fun for me to be there and get away from all of the boys in my house!  Her mom was so good to me when my mom died.  Debbie and her husband live here in the area and are doing a mission from home in the military.  I hear from all of the Senior Couples how respected and wonderful they are.  We were able to catch up and compare notes.  It was so fun to reconnect.  We rode up with another couple from the mission here and had a fun time with them too.

Sunset at the beach after dinner

     We worked at the Mormon Battalion during the Relief Society General Conference.  I was excited to hear that they were going to turn on the broadcast in one of the Theatre Rooms but soon realized that if there were sisters not doing much they needed to be the ones in there.  I can watch it later online and they can't.  So I have had to try to watch it in our "free" time!  What a beautiful conference session.  We are looking forward to watching conference with no interruptions!  We don't have to be anywhere then.  We are actually buying a roast, cooking it and having a real dinner Sunday because we will be here to actually cook it!  Yeah!
     Saturday we went to a Fam tour with the Professional Tour Guides Association.  It is a tour that one of the tour guides does for the other guides to show them new things and get them fam-iliar with new things.  We were in the downtown area of San Diego, by the Padres stadium, into hotels that over look the stadium, into restaurants and business there and ended up at the opening of the new library in downtown San Diego.  We were going to go through the library but the lines were amazingly long so we all decided there were better times to go.

The new, amazing library in San Diego! Yup that domed roof thing is a library!

The coolest little sidewalk garden in downtown San Diego.

Padres Stadium

     Sunday was ward council at 9, church at 11 to 2, drive home and fix a quick meal and eat it, change our clothes, drive to the Mormon Battalion by 4 and work there until 9, drive home and fall in to bed.  Monday was sleep in a bit, late breakfast, MB at 1 to 5, and home to get some things done.  Tuesday was Training Meeting at the MB at 8, a meeting with the director of the MB from 9 to 11:30, off to visit a lady in the ward who is in the hospital, and I can't remember what else. Wednesday was Roger's birthday - MB from 9-12, meet the elders from our ward and took them to Hometown Buffet for lunch and tried to encourage and help them, went to visit a couple who are both blind non-members to invite them to watch conference, a session at the temple and then home.  Thursday was MB from 9 to 12, a little bit of shopping and home, then back to the MB for a planning meeting at 6:30 to 8:30 with the director of the MB and others who have been called from the 12 stakes that are in our mission boundaries.  There are many big and small events planned for the next 6 to 8 months to enhance the Mormon Battalion experience and to bring attention to it.  We get to be a part of those things.  Friday - today was P day! We really enjoyed just playing - I guess we will have to fit in P day stuff in the rest of the week.  We went to the beach and enjoyed the day together.  Dinner and then visited with friends of Roger's and listened to part of the BYU game on the way home and after getting home.
     I hadn't been able to shop for anything for Roger's birthday (he is ALWAYS with me!) so I asked the Sister Missionaries to help me make it special.  They were so cute.  They made him an apple crisp and brought it to the MB that morning.  They hid in one of the tour rooms behind all of the rocks in there and then jumped out and sang Happy Birthday!  One of the sisters brought him a pumpkin cookie and they kept reminding him that it was his birthday all of the time we were there.  I am sure that it made his day!  I will post pictures as soon as I get them from the sisters.  I didn't have batteries in my camera that day!
     We are missing those back at home.  That is the biggest challenge of being here.  We love you all!