Well, last Sunday was so much fun! My sister Kim and her husband Tom surprised us with a visit! Oh I just wish we could have played at the beach with them a few days too! It was fun to catch up and to play some cards with them. We went to our Stake Conference and came home to eat dinner before heading off to the Single Young Adults Conference. But just before we were leaving Kim and Tom said they could come by so we stayed here and got to see them. It was just like a "day of rest" and was really fun to be able to relax a bit. Yay!
It was a great stake conference. There was a beautiful lady who is a convert that spoke. She told about how she was acquainted with members when she was in high school and respected them. She asked them many questions about the church and they were always kind and answered. Then when she went to college she worked with several members. Again she asked questions and they were kind and answered. But no one along the line ever invited her to anything! She said that she didn't look like a typical member of the church and maybe they didn't believe in her. She finally went to the church to see if she could find someone to teach her and no one was there. She was driving away and felt so sad that she couldn't find anyone there when she saw about 35 missionaries come walking out of the church. She turned around excitedly and ran up to them excitedly asking if someone would teach her! They all were pretty excited and just hoped that she lived in their area! She wished so badly that someone along the way had invited her to be taught - she would have done it and it would have saved her many years of pain and sorrow. It was a real testament to me that we need to make sure that we don't miss the opportunity to invite someone. They might say no but we won't know if we don't ask.
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| The Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park |
Monday was P day and I was able to get a swim in while Roger went to the beach to exercise. I got a few things done around the apartment, we studied for our classes that are Tuesday and Thursday with the Mesa College kids and our class Wednesday night with the ward, got some bills paid, bought a washer for the house in Orem, got some groceries etc. That night for Family Home Evening with the YSA ward was at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. It has one of the largest outdoor organs in the world and every Monday through the summer they have FREE concerts - just the right price for struggling missionaries and students. It was fun to be there with the kids, on a perfect San Diego evening, hearing beautiful music outdoors!
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| Some of our wonderful institute kids! |
We have to be at the mission office for our class on Tuesday by 10:00 am and that is just enough time to get a bit of exercise in before the class if we get up and get going in the morning. Class was good with the three regular kids. One of the girls is a leader at Young Women Camp this week so she won't be there till next week. We have just enough time after class to talk with the kids a bit before taking off to the Temple Visitor's Center for our 12-3 shift. It was another beautiful, perfect day at the temple and it was fun to walk around and visit with those who come to see the temple and the grounds. I talked with three different couples on their honeymoons who came to do a session. Lots of families come by who are here visiting from Utah and Arizona. I also talked with three different missionaries who have their calls and are visiting temples while waiting to leave. I was able to talk with one couple who had lots of questions about the temple and what we do in there and why they can't go in and walk around. People just don't understand that - and also why it is closed on Sundays. We were trying to decide if we should go to a different place this Tuesday for dinner than the regular but why mess with WONDERFUL! So we stopped off at Rubios for our $1.50 fish tacos! Yummmmm! Every other Tuesday at the 12th ward we have a Missionary Correlation Meeting with the elders, mission leader and leaders in the ward at 6:30. The 12th ward has a good handle on helping the missionaries. It is cool how when the missionaries mention someone they are teaching, the leaders come up with someone in the ward to pair them up with - to go visit them with the elders etc. That makes such a difference with how the investigators feel about things. Good job 12th ward! We went home tired and fulfilled.
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| San Diego Fair |
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The food offerings were unending and unbelievable - artichoke sandwich?
garlic battered mushrooms? shrimp chips? |
Wednesday was a treat for us. One of the members in the 10th ward invited us to go to the San Diego County Fair with them. They had some free tickets and wanted to treat us! What a fair! It was huge. It was amazing all of the things there were to eat, all of the rides that they had brought in just for the fair, the entertainment and all of the talents they showcased there. It was a beautiful day and so much fun. We always feel so humbled when others want to show their appreciation to the missionary force by doing something nice for us. Wow. We got home and had a quick nap, did some finishing touches on our lesson for Scripture night and took off again. We had a good class. We have decided to study the Pearl of Great Price since that is what we are already teaching the Institute class on. Everyone was excited to study it and we had great participation and good people there. We love these people.
Thursday was Institute for Mesa college kids and we had several of the kids brought others and we had 5 kids there. It was fun to have a few more and to have their insights on what we were studying. After class we stayed and helped out at the office. I was so excited because I took such a great video that I was going to share with you all. But then when I went to look at it I didn't really get it. I just have a still photo. Our 12th ward elders were in the office and Elder Soffe (the senior elder in charge of cars) Elder Goeringer and one of our students gave a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner with waxed papers and forks. I think there are times when it is necessary to be a little foolish and laugh! We love these people!
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| Oh this doesn't do it justice. If only I had the video! |
Friday we were able to exercise and get to the office for our afternoon there. Everyone is getting ready for the new mission president. He is arriving on Saturday. He will meet with the outgoing president for two hours Saturday morning and then meet the mission office people and the assistants and then he had them plan visits so that he can spend his first day in the mission teaching. His name is John Schmitt and he is a lawyer from Texas. His wife is a medical doctor and they have four kids that will be coming along with them! Should be different than what we have had. We know that he will make changes but no one knows in what way so everyone is just waiting to be surprised. Should be busy in the next few weeks figuring things out.
We went to the temple today - on Saturday and did a session, visited some people and came home to plan for next week's lessons and get organized. Sunday was our usual marathon. Lots of church and meetings preparing for next week's visits etc. Our stake has been chosen to be a pilot stake for the new teaching program for adult curriculum. It is basically the same program that the youth have been doing and we are to start that program next week. We have been given a website to go to and teachers and students are to go there regularly and report how they fell about the difference. Should be interesting. I have been asked to teach Relief Society on the 13th so I will have to figure it out fast. We put a roast on before we left to church and decided that we should try to share it with someone so we invited our 12th ward elders over to eat with us. They came willingly and were pleased to have a Utah Sunday meal. Roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, vegetables etc.
It has been a good week. We are feeling good about the classes we are teaching. We love so many people here and see why we are here often. There are people with situations that we have been through and understand better than others so we can be helpful. We are doing so many things that we enjoy and that help us feel needed here. Thanks so much for prayers on our behalf. We love you all and miss you so very much!
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Walking Abby Road - you have to be a Beatles fan
to understand this. |
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| Chocolate covered Bacon! No |
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| More food! |
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