July 21, 2014

Howdy,

"That's why this building has been built to look so old."

We have had a fun week with being able to be with Dave, Heather, Landon and Dalten! We spent Monday getting ready for lessons for the week and moved a few things out of our place to the Institute apartment.  We are staying in a wonderful two bedroom apartment for the next month that is above the Institute to help out until the new missionary couple comes.  The timing is great because Heather and family were able to stay in our place while here.  They showed up Monday night.  Tuesday is a busy day for us.  We taught our Institute class and did our shift at the temple visitor's center.

 We were able to get time to go to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and then go through the tour at the Mormon Battalion.  Since we were the only ones on the tour at the time, Roger was able to join in with Sister Saathoff and "do his thing" with the first room.  He was a little rusty - we haven't done the tour in over four months but if you didn't know the tour you wouldn't have been able to tell.  It was fun but he didn't quite look the part with his white shirt and tie!

We always love going back there and hugging the Sisters.  It is getting so that we don't know about half of them now though.  We have been gone from there for quite awhile.  That is what happens on missions.  The missionaries come and get into your heart and then they go home and move on with their lives.  One of the sister missionaries Chantel Jarett, that we served with there at the Battalion just called me Saturday and told me that she is engaged!  While she was here, her district leader was a missionary in our ward, that we are assigned to, Reuben Johnson.  I kept telling her that I thought they would make a good match.  I told him too and when she went home they started dating!  I am quite proud of my matchmaking skills!  I think that makes me family and I can't wait to watch what they do with their lives. I love them both and wish the best for them.  

Tuesday night was a ward softball game that Roger needed to help the ward out with - missions can be so hard as a senior couple!  Poor Roger.  I stayed and went to the Tuesday night Institute class.  We are supposed to teach that class next Tuesday and we wanted to know where they get to in the lessons and how things go before next Tuesday.

Dalten as a soldier

We were able to get to the beach with Stewarts on Wednesday and then had to head off to plan and then to teach our ward Bible study class after.

Thursday they headed off to play on their own while we taught our Institute class and worked at the office.  There is getting less for me to do there but there is always a lot for Roger.  I have helped the ladies catch up on their things and we have actually prepared ahead of the game too.  So we are all ready for the 21 new missionaries who show up in two weeks.  There are packets of all kinds of things for them to sign and to read along with instructions and hint on how to be a great missionary here in San Diego.  Lots of different languages represented in the new missionaries - Tagalog, English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and Laotian.  Roger helps with getting the "needs" together for the missionaries and that is an ongoing job.  Each week the missionaries call in and have a list of the things they need.  Some of the items are for their apartments -everything from  a new blender because they blew up their old one - yup that really happened, to ironing boards, pans, etc.  They also call in a list of the missionary materials they might need - copies of the Book of Mormon, mormon.org cards, pamphlets etc.  It is quite a job and each Tuesday the zone leaders come pick up the things that they ordered.  It looks a bit like Christmas on Tuesdays at the office!

Anyone that comes has to have a card game
or two with us.  We had some good ones!

They also pick up all of the mail for the missionaries.  All the mail from their friends and family is supposed to go to the office and then we sort it in to the zone buckets each day so it can be taken out to each different missionary.  So if their family mails something that arrived here on Wednesday the missionary doesn't get it until the next Tuesday.  It is amazing to me to see all of the boxes of goodies and junk that is sent to the missionaries.  They say that Christmas is horrible!  I can only imagine.

Friday was a challenging day for me.  Not because I was so busy but because I wasn't.  Everything that I was supposed to do fell through.  There are days like that in my life but out here in the mission field it just seems worse.  We are supposed to stay busy doing good things.  I was going to help at the office but they didn't need me.  I thought that I would stay home and get some things done here but our Internet at the Institute wasn't working well and it made it really hard to get the things done I needed to.  I then was supposed to take 3 ladies from our ward to the family history center but one didn't get done with work in time and we had to cancel.  So I basically sat around all day waiting for things to happen that didn't happen.

This is a picture of Siela at the ward BBQ.
She is the onewho helped me make blankets for the
family babies and keeps bringing more
things to send to them.  She isn't a
member but come to all the ward parties!
She is an angel.  

Friday night was our ward BBQ.  Monthly during the summer, the ward has a BBQ at the shores of Mission Bay.  It is always a great activity to invite investigators to.  Very casual and laid back.  Lots of members came and we had several investigators there.  Afterwards the Stewart gang came over for one last card game.

Saturday we had Heather's family come over for the traditional crepe breakfast before heading off to Vegas.  It was sure fun to see them and hug them all.  It was hard to say good bye.  Roger did the laundry while I took the ladies to the Family History Center.  We got the apartment all put back together for Brett and Jen's family to come the next day and headed off for the Stake Pioneer Day Celebration.

That was a great event!  Lots of people came and we had many inactive and investigators there too.  Boy they will think that all the church does is play!  Roger said the opening prayer for the event.  They had BBQ beef from a great restaurant here in San Diego and then people all brought sides and desserts.  They had a jump house, and a live band.  They won't take over Cory's place in the band world but it was fun.  They were all grey haired and played stuff I know!  They were supposed to have a candy cannon but it broke so they had all of the missionaries at the count of three throw out candy over the hordes of children waiting.  I thought I took lots of pictures but they didn't come through I guess.  Can't find them.

Larry and Rita Nixon

One of the investigators that came is Rita.  Her husband, Larry is a member but has been inactive for a long time.  He joined the church while in boot camp but then left the church.  He was a army photographer and experienced and had to document so many horrible things while in the army he wasn't sure that God was someone he wanted to know.  He has gone through PTSD and has been depressed and for most of his life.  He and Rita were just married and they decided that life is good - they have both worked through so many trials.  Larry  asked Rita if she would like to investigate the church and see if she agreed and she said that she would like to do that.  So Larry got online and "ordered us up some missionaries!"  He said that FOUR HOURS later our two elders knocked at their door.

Amazing huh?  What happens is the second that the church gets the request - their address is put into the system and the missionaries who have the cell phone for that area get a text.  That quickly.  Kinda cool huh?  Rita is enjoying the gospel lessons and the people that she is meeting and has set a date for December to be baptized!  The elder's job is to teach the investigators and it is our job to help fellowship them.    Pray for Rita that she will keep the feelings that she is experiencing now and follow through with baptism.

  Sunday was a hard day for us.  It seems that both of us were exceptionally tired and eight plus hours of church are hard to get through when you are so tired!  But we did it and when we got home, Brett, Jen, Cayden and Ellie were here!

What fun!  We fixed a dinner and were able to play some card games before they left to go home.  Ellie played us a wonderful song on her guitar and Cayden played the piano for us.  Wow!  They are amazing and it just makes us so proud to hear how all their hard work - and their parents hard work has paid off.

We both tried to work on our lesson plans for this week but we didn't do too well.  Kept falling asleep so we went to bed by 10:00!  That is early for us but we were pooped.  Hoping for better concentration tomorrow!

This week scares us a bit with 6 lessons to teach but I am sure we will get through it.  There won't be much missionary work done this week.  Please keep praying for us.  We feel your prayers and are sustained by them.  Life is good.  We love our mission.