April 26, 2014

Happy Birthday Alan!  And congratulations Kira and family.  Kira just had our 39th grandchild!  That is hard to not be there for those things.  We love you all.  Well, another week and it always seems like I was just writing yesterday instead of a week ago.  We are still struggling to stay busy each day but things are in the works to be cleared and working soon.

Sunday was Easter and was a little bit sad because the Easter bunny didn't come.  We just went to church, came home and heated up left overs.  Really, it was a good day.  We had our Filipino lady we found last week come.  We were able to introduce her to the bishop and introduce her to people.  She is a bit sad that our ward doesn't have a group of Filipinos in it.  Her last ward did and they were able to have  classes in a group of their own in Tagalog.  We will have to work hard to help her feel at home there.  She brought her daughter who isn't a member yet and we tried to get her to come to Young Women's but she was too shy.

Yumm - Mud Pie on the Pier!

We decided since we aren't that busy that we might as well use our P day this week to really have some fun.  So we took off for our favorite little beach town, San Clemente.  We had a gift card for a free dinner at the Fisherman's Restaurant on the pier so we figured we could use that too.  It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cold.  I read and enjoyed relaxing on the beach and Roger enjoyed the surf.  We had dinner and then went to see our dear friend Delores LeSuer.  Her husband died a few months ago and we wanted to visit with her.  It was a great day and we were able to unwind a bit.

Roger's Favorite Beach - happiness!

Tuesday is our day to serve at the Visitor's Center at the San Diego Temple.  It was a beautiful day again.  I just have to take pictures as we walk around the grounds talking to people.

What a beautiful temple!

Our view from our little Visitors Center

We enjoy being there.  For the first hours or so there really weren't many people that came by and then things picked up.  We were able to talk with a couple from France for quite awhile and then spent a lot of time talking to two African Americans.  They had seen the temple from their hospital room and decided to drop by and see what it was before going home.  They had lots of questions and one of the men at the end asked if we could have a prayer with them.  He held out his hands for us to hold hands as we prayed and then he took a turn, his dad took a turn so then I did too.  It was sweet and a great spirit was there.  That night we went back and finished off the temple sealings we had on our ward sealing assignment.

We had set it up to start at the mission office on Wednesday but they called and told us to come Thursday and Friday.  So we took our time getting exercised etc and then took off to visit a member of our ward who is in the mental hospital and took her some lunch - it was her birthday and then we had an amazing thing to go to....... a baptism!

Our Elders before the baptism!

It is the first baptism in a year in the ward and then had one the year before.  The lady who was baptized a year ago had an ex boyfriend who she introduced the gospel to and our elders have had the fun experience of teaching him.  He has had drug problems and has been sober for 5 years.  He soaked up the gospel and was so happy!  He bore his testimony after he was baptized and it was actually amazing.  He really has a strong testimony and is excited to experience more.  

 After the baptism we were able to go with some sister missionaries to visit with a lady who is getting ready to be baptized on May 17th.  Her husband is deployed on a submarine and will be back a few days before then.  He almost joined the church when he was 18 and then backed out.  A wife, two kids later he picked up a Book of Mormon while on the submarine and felt the Spirit of that great book and started studying again.  He told his wife and got the sister missionaries over to study with her and they are both so exited.  It was so fun to be in her home and feel her joy as she reads the Book of Mormon and learns it's lessons.  We are most often talking to people who are less active and really aren't that excited to talk gospel subjects or if they do they have many concerns and challenges with the things we talk about - if we even get that far.  It was a nice change to just be able to experience it all.

Thursday was our first day at the office.  We got there and the couple we are helping were so thrilled we were there.  He is in charge of the cars in the mission.  Over 90 cars to make sure they are running right, cleaned, inspected, oil changed, fix accidents etc., and then do extensive reporting on it all to church headquarters!  He came about 2 months ago and had some computer imputing to report repairs and upkeep on cars to the church.  He had just not been able to get in to it and it was piling up on him - among other things.  We were able to go in and work together to get the one report done and papers filed.  We left him a happy man that afternoon.

We then came home and I had a sweet little lady come over and help me make some blankets for the newest babies in our family.  She heard me say months ago that I didn't think that I would be able to get afghans made this year for the babies and she has all of this fleece that she has been saving for years.  She said that she would help me make blankets for the babies but we didn't get together until now.  She is not a member of the church.  She comes to all of the parties and events our ward has but never comes to church.  She is over 70, never married, no kids, and lives what could be a very lonely life.  But she makes sure that she talks to all around her, serves in any way that she can and talks to God every chance she gets.  She wears an angel pin on her shoulder every day to remind her of the angels around her.  It was sweet to make the blankets and talk to her about her life and get some insight into why she is like she is.

Friday was again at the mission office.  It was good to be there and to enjoy the missionaries as they come through.  We were again set to work doing things that have been piling up and clearing the minds of the other couples there.  We are hoping to be able to get so that we know enough that they actually dare leaving for an afternoon and getting a bit of a break every now and then.  They work so hard.  Dinner that night was at Phil's BBQ.  We have been hearing about it for awhile and got invited to go to dinner with Roger's friend from Burbank who is now a stake president in the area.  They brought along a couple who served in their mission when he was a mission president in Mexico City many years ago.  They gave us a lot of ideas of how they did things and it was a nice evening.  Yup, the ribs were great!

In between all of these things we fit in trying to visit people in their homes - inactives, new move ins, ward members etc.  That is hard work to find people home and is a bit frustrating at times.  But I heard a quote that I keep reminding me to think about so that we keep going:  "Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens."

Love you all.