September 21, 2014

Sister Molly Munns - one of my very
favorite missionaries left on Tuesday
and came by to say good bye.  

Ok, as far as the mission goes, this week goes down as the busiest for me.  We really had a full week at the office!  I think all of us were a bit nuts and with good reason.  It was also the hottest week and about the hottest ever for San Diego.  We had temperatures over 100 degree for several days in a row!  That never happens here.

Monday was the day we prepare for P days.  We get all the needs of the missionaries that they have called in through out the week and put them together for them.  Monday is normally my busiest day.  This last Monday was also the day before departures of 22 missionaries and so it made things even busier with having to prepare all that needs to be done to get the missionaries off.  It is my job to make sure we have the flights of both the arrivals and departures and that we coordinate the trips to the airport to get them and pick them up and make sure they all get accounted for.  That might not sound like a huge job but it is and I have not done it before.  Then we had three groups of arrivals.  One from the MTC in Provo, one from the MTC in Mexico and one from Temple Square in Salt Lake.  All different times and different places.  18 new missionaries in total.  This week also was transfers so there were all the arrangements who will be with who and who will live where and who will have what phone number etc.  Roger has to do all of the behind the scenes work with getting new apartments in the areas where they are opening new areas and closing down apartments where they are closing areas.  That means moving lots and lots of furniture from one end of the mission to another many different time.  He usually gets a companionship or two to help him each time he goes to move so he isn't having to do it himself.  But he was plenty tired this week too.

Tuesday was P day for the missionaries so it is crazy with them all coming into the office to pick up the needs.  And because it is transfer day they were all there early to get "the envelope".  Each zone leader gets a letter that tells who needs to pack and will be moving.  Then each companionship that has someone packing, needs to go to the transfer meeting on Wednesday.  So it is a bit hyper in the office with them opening "the envelope" and then guessing who will go where etc.

Sister Bermudez and Sister Stephens
checking the mail to see if they
got anything!  

It was a crazy day with weather in San Diego Tuesday too.  There was a hurricane that was affecting our weather.  The mission home which is 15 miles from the office had strong wind and lots of rain that knocked out the power.  So it was over 100 degrees and there was no air conditioning in the President's home.  They had the eighteen new missionaries in their home for training plus the presidency their wives etc.  They finally had to move their meetings to the Institute building where there was power and air.  We had no problems with weather where we were.  It was just hot!

Sister from Fiji and Taiwan

Wednesday, I got to pick up two darling sister missionaries at the airport from the Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake.  One is from Fiji and one was from Taiwan.  They are called to serve in the Temple Square Mission and then each get sent to go Full Proselyting for two transfers (three months) out into other missions in the states.  These two are darling little fire balls and I am excited to see what they do here.  I brought them to the transfer meeting and then stayed to hear all of the new assignments and then took off for the airport again to take back Sister Ueno from Japan.  She has been here for her 3 months and was returning back to Temple Square.  I got to work with her and go on splits with her several times and will miss her.  She is a darling missionary.  When we got to the airport they weighed her bag and told her that it was 7 pounds over weight!  She had decided that she would pay the extra baggage until they told her that it was $100!  So we opened her bags there on the airport terminal floor and rearranged her heavy things into her carry on and the light things into her bag and finally got it down to 50 lbs.  Poor thing - she left me a little scared to be without a companion until she gets to Salt Lake carrying more than she ought to have to carry.

We were invited to the Tower's home for
dinner and
their darling grand daughter  was
there.  It made us homesick for
our own crazy grandkids!

Then when we get back from transfer meeting the real fun begins!  All of our phone lists, apartment lists, zone and district lists have to be changed and updated.  New missionaries need to be trained and trainers need to be trained how to train them!  It is quite a process.  We made several mistakes too.  Ooops!  We gave a phone to a set of elders who were opening a new area and when they activated their phone they found out that we had given them the number of Mandarin speaking sisters.  They were getting all these texts and messages in Mandarin.  They also deactivated the sisters phone so they couldn't use it.  It took an act of congress to unravel that mess.  We will try harder not to do that again!  Also, I didn't know that I was supposed to give the pin numbers for the new missionaries debit cards so they were calling all day asking what to do there.  It was a little bit of a zoo.  Roger had to drive to the desert - Brawley. It is several hours east of here and we had two new apartments that he had to take all the furniture, dishes, silverware, brooms, refrigerators, beds etc to.  That was a long day for him.

I went with many of the ladies in our ward
to visit one of our member who has moved.
Ivie in the one on the far right,  It was fun to see
her in her new place and visit with
the ladies.  

Then to make things even more crazy we started Zone Conferences on Friday.  So every other day for the next week and a half we will have a Zone Conference going on.  I was the only one that didn't need to be there to present anything so I stayed back at the office to get some things done and to hold down the fort.  Oh my, I just put out fires all day long!  Didn't get much of the stuff I should have gotten done done but stayed busy all day.

Each day we came home pooped.  It was so hot each day that I would jump in the pool and swim and Roger got to the beach for a quick surf several days.  We had dinner at a member's home one night and our Scripture Study class one night.  I went with some of the ladies in our ward to visit a member who has moved to Rancho Bernardo.  Ivie used to feed us each month so it was EXTRA sad to see her move!  She is a wonderful, strong lady who is a great example of enduring to the end.  We have also helped two new Senior Couples move in this past week.  Our helpers at the office have arrived!  Diane and Kenton Knorr.  Diane happens to be a really good friend of my cousin Jane.  We are excited to have them be in the office with us and help out - to say the least!!  Especially after this week...  The other one lives right with us in our complex here.  They will serve in the MCRD (Marine Base).

Debbie and the elders. Don't you love the cross?

I have to tell this one experience that happened at the base this last Sunday.  Alan, you might recognize Debbie Riggs in this photo.  Her husband is the Branch President there.  Anyway, they had two baptisms scheduled for recruits for Sunday but when they went to get into the room where the font was they didn't have the keys.  They looked all over the place and no one had an extra either.  Finally they about gave up but the Branch President insisted that they could find a solution.  They found another church on the base that had a portable font!  And wheeled it out into the courtyard!  And had the baptism right there for all to see that walked by!  When there is a will there is a way!

KK was in our Institute class this summer.  She is
a convert of about 9 months and just returned
to China.  She sent us a picture of a YSA
activity in China.  So cool to see the church
grow there!  

We feel so blessed to be here and be involved with the missionaries in helping the mission train keep running.  It is amazing with all of the mistakes we make that it is still running but the Lord is in charge and things seem to work out.  Not perfectly but they work!  We love our associations with those in our ward and area.  We love serving and helping and feeling like we are making a difference.  It is different to be in the office and sometimes I get bogged down with the tedious nature of what we do.  But about then missionaries will come in to the office and tell us what miracle or tender mercy just happened to them and we are renewed and strengthened.  They always tell us how much they appreciate all we do and that they love us.  That makes it all better too.  These missionaries are amazing and I am so honored to be working with and for them.  They are as the army of Helaman.  May the Lord bless them.

Thanks for your prayers.  We feel them and are strengthened by them.  We miss you!