Dear Family,
As I look back on the week it seems that last Sunday was three weeks ago. We have been up early every day and late to bed every night with lots of good things in between. Last Sunday evening (after writing my letter) we went to the new member/returning member fireside that we have the Sunday before transfers. What an uplifting evening that is to be able to hear the conversion stories of these people. As we see the missionaries interact with their friends that they have taught the gospel to, we can see the bonds of love that are so strong. We also get ideas of how we can fellowship people to help them return.
Monday morning came bright and early and we were making final preparations for transfers that happen on Tuesday. The new missionaries that come to our mission, come on Monday evening. Dad had volunteered us to take the pictures of the new missionaries with the Mission President and his wife and get them, along with a short note, to the parents. In the age of instant information, some of the mothers had expected a picture of their child meeting the Mission President at the airport. When the Mission President’s wife didn’t get a picture off to them until a day or so later, we got a few calls at the Mission Office asking about the pictures. In order to take a little stress off her, we were going to do it. We went to the Mission Home and helped get things ready for dinner while waiting for the missionaries to arrive. It was so fun to see their bright, if not a little tired, eyes and feel of their excitement. After interviews and dinner, both Dad and I took pictures of the missionaries with the President and his wife. When we were all done with pictures, we handed our phone to a missionary and had them upload their picture and send a short message to their parents. In about 15 minutes we had all of the messages sent and even a reply or two back to us. Getting to mingle with these wonderful missionaries is such a wonderful opportunity and to feel of their goodness is an inspiration to me.
Tuesday was transfer day and things get a little bit crazy. We had new areas being opened up and some being combined because of the changes in missionaries. We got lots of new Spanish speaking missionaries, so we needed a new Spanish area and we lost a lot of sisters who are the ones handling the YSA areas. That makes changing all of the phones, apartments, and cars a little bit challenging. This is the meeting that Dad is in charge of the luncheon so we have lots of fun getting that all set up. The local missionary who works in the office wanted to cook something for lunch since we had a fairly small group of missionaries coming in this time. We would only have to feed between 30-40 people, so she baked homemade rolls and did a pasta dish (zitty) with Italian sausage and tomato sauce. As we were keeping it warm, the smell was appreciated by all.
It is always a little hard to go back to the office and get into the routine of doing the office work especially when we have so many missionaries coming through the office. We usually don’t have any missionaries in the office, but they had to come and exchange their gas cards and get the new ones activated from the office phone. Later that evening (10:30 pm) Dad got a call from the mission president asking about the itineraries of the outgoing missionaries. The previous secretary liked to do things well in advance and had done all of the packets for the missionaries before we got here. Salt Lake, in the mean time, had changed three of the missionaries’ itineraries. Dad had gotten the changed plans to the parents, but didn’t realize that the ones in the missionary packets had the old ones in them. So the Mission President wanted us to make sure that all of the parents had the correct information and we went back to the office to take care of that. Dad sent email to all of the parents and I got to call them and make sure that they had the right time to meet their children. What a joy it was to talk to these parents and hear the excitement and joy in their voices when they talked of their returning missionaries! They all had the current times and all was good AND I had the privilege of talking with them and expressing our gratitude to them for sharing their children with us. When I got home I was so filled with joy that I had a hard time settling down and going to sleep. I thought, “who needs drugs to get a high when you get to do what we just did.”
Wednesday was a day of trying to get ready for the big rent payment and missionaries asking about their area adjustments. It still kind of amazes me that our mission alone spends over $172,000 on housing costs a month. The mail is really coming in. We are having the senior couples in the mission coming into the mission office at least once a week to get the mail and get it delivered to a zone assigned to them so that we can get around in the office. We know that Mondays are big days, but all of them this week have been big—60 or so packages plus letters.
We are still trying to manage WES from here and find that some weeks are better than others. Dad has to spend more time that he would like in the evening working with the guys at WES. He would like to see if he can put a time limit of 2 hours on the work and see if with the limit it will force him to work more focused. It is a little like church meetings that don’t have another meeting coming right after the one you are in seem to go on forever. When there is a deadline (like Sacrament Meeting) then all of the business gets done in the time allotted.
Thursday I spent much of the day trying to get the formulas on a spreadsheet I use fixed. For some reason when I transferred information from IMOS to the spreadsheet, the columns weren’t matching up. Since I’m not an expert on excel, the housing secretary had to help me figure out what was happening. He is able to trace the formulas better than I could because the formulas were still on he worksheet. Mine just had !#REF! and I didn’t know where the columns were pulling information from. How thankful I was when we were able to get that straightened out—at least most of it. I still have a little bit more to do. Sister Caplin came in to the office to get the Christmas gifts for the missionaries ready and the other two office sisters helped her. I was a little too deep in paper to come out to help, but it sounded like they were having a wonderful time.
Friday was another day trying to get things done after transfers. Transfers don’t affect Dad and me as much as the other two couples, but things still weren’t back to normal. It was probably all of the time spent on fixing formulas on the spreadsheet. Sister Caplin came in to finish up the gifts and I decided that finishing up the rent would take more time and concentration that I had at time on Friday afternoon. It seemed a lot more fun to help with the Christmas gifts. We traded cleaning days with another couple in the office because they were out furnishing a new apartment and we thought it was silly to have them come back just to clean. We told them we would do it for them. Actually, Dad got stuck with much of it because I was working on the gifts. He is a good guy!
Saturday we went back in to the office so I could finish up the rents and push the button for approval. I worked an hour and then we left to go to the ward’s Christmas brunch. We had a nice brunch, visited with ward members, and listened to lots of music shared by ward members. Then we went back to the office to finish up.
While we were there Dad got an email from President Caplin that I am going to forward to you. A little of the background for this—Dad has been rewriting some of the letters that go into the missionary packets because President Caplin wanted to have his touch on them. When there is a baptism the convert is asked to write their conversion story and send a copy of it to the mission office. We have about 25 baptisms a month and we get maybe 1 a month. When Dad started rewriting this letter, he thought he might give them some ideas of what they could include giving them an idea what a conversion letter is. It went from a 1-2 line request to a 6-inch explanation. Then he got to thinking about the power of the conversion story for the convert. This could be the first page of his spiritual journal—something they could use later in life when they needed a boost. Then he thought of the missionaries who did the teaching and how much they would like to have that story for themselves. The ripple effect would get even larger when shared with the Stake Presidents who then would experience on a closer level the change that comes to peoples’ lives. They would probably share these letters with the high council and they might get more enthusiastic about missionary work. So with this thought in mind, Dad wrote an email to President Caplin and the attached email chain is what Dad received back on Saturday morning. He is SO excited about the working with the missionaries and being able to teach and train them. Dad is so good about seeing the bigger picture of things.
We had time to run an errand and then it off to a baptism in the Mount Vernon area. The chapel is about 1 mile from George Washington’s Mount Vernon home and the view from the windows in the church are lovely. After the baptism Dad shared with one of the missionaries about getting the conversion story from the person baptized today.
We did our grocery shopping and then went home to fix dinner and get ready for Sunday. What a full day, but such a good day.
Here we are back to Sunday. Church today was a musical meeting and this ward is filled with musical talent. It was wonderful. Then we were taught about the “North America Northeast Area Plan 2019”. It really enforced upon my mind the importance of deepening of conversion to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the gospel if we want to be able to endure to the end. It was very well done.
This afternoon we have been invited to a member of the ward’s home for dinner and then we will go to the stake center to listen to the Washington, D.C. Temple Choir.
We love you lots and pray for you always,
Mom
As I look back on the week it seems that last Sunday was three weeks ago. We have been up early every day and late to bed every night with lots of good things in between. Last Sunday evening (after writing my letter) we went to the new member/returning member fireside that we have the Sunday before transfers. What an uplifting evening that is to be able to hear the conversion stories of these people. As we see the missionaries interact with their friends that they have taught the gospel to, we can see the bonds of love that are so strong. We also get ideas of how we can fellowship people to help them return.
Monday morning came bright and early and we were making final preparations for transfers that happen on Tuesday. The new missionaries that come to our mission, come on Monday evening. Dad had volunteered us to take the pictures of the new missionaries with the Mission President and his wife and get them, along with a short note, to the parents. In the age of instant information, some of the mothers had expected a picture of their child meeting the Mission President at the airport. When the Mission President’s wife didn’t get a picture off to them until a day or so later, we got a few calls at the Mission Office asking about the pictures. In order to take a little stress off her, we were going to do it. We went to the Mission Home and helped get things ready for dinner while waiting for the missionaries to arrive. It was so fun to see their bright, if not a little tired, eyes and feel of their excitement. After interviews and dinner, both Dad and I took pictures of the missionaries with the President and his wife. When we were all done with pictures, we handed our phone to a missionary and had them upload their picture and send a short message to their parents. In about 15 minutes we had all of the messages sent and even a reply or two back to us. Getting to mingle with these wonderful missionaries is such a wonderful opportunity and to feel of their goodness is an inspiration to me.
Tuesday was transfer day and things get a little bit crazy. We had new areas being opened up and some being combined because of the changes in missionaries. We got lots of new Spanish speaking missionaries, so we needed a new Spanish area and we lost a lot of sisters who are the ones handling the YSA areas. That makes changing all of the phones, apartments, and cars a little bit challenging. This is the meeting that Dad is in charge of the luncheon so we have lots of fun getting that all set up. The local missionary who works in the office wanted to cook something for lunch since we had a fairly small group of missionaries coming in this time. We would only have to feed between 30-40 people, so she baked homemade rolls and did a pasta dish (zitty) with Italian sausage and tomato sauce. As we were keeping it warm, the smell was appreciated by all.
It is always a little hard to go back to the office and get into the routine of doing the office work especially when we have so many missionaries coming through the office. We usually don’t have any missionaries in the office, but they had to come and exchange their gas cards and get the new ones activated from the office phone. Later that evening (10:30 pm) Dad got a call from the mission president asking about the itineraries of the outgoing missionaries. The previous secretary liked to do things well in advance and had done all of the packets for the missionaries before we got here. Salt Lake, in the mean time, had changed three of the missionaries’ itineraries. Dad had gotten the changed plans to the parents, but didn’t realize that the ones in the missionary packets had the old ones in them. So the Mission President wanted us to make sure that all of the parents had the correct information and we went back to the office to take care of that. Dad sent email to all of the parents and I got to call them and make sure that they had the right time to meet their children. What a joy it was to talk to these parents and hear the excitement and joy in their voices when they talked of their returning missionaries! They all had the current times and all was good AND I had the privilege of talking with them and expressing our gratitude to them for sharing their children with us. When I got home I was so filled with joy that I had a hard time settling down and going to sleep. I thought, “who needs drugs to get a high when you get to do what we just did.”
Wednesday was a day of trying to get ready for the big rent payment and missionaries asking about their area adjustments. It still kind of amazes me that our mission alone spends over $172,000 on housing costs a month. The mail is really coming in. We are having the senior couples in the mission coming into the mission office at least once a week to get the mail and get it delivered to a zone assigned to them so that we can get around in the office. We know that Mondays are big days, but all of them this week have been big—60 or so packages plus letters.
We are still trying to manage WES from here and find that some weeks are better than others. Dad has to spend more time that he would like in the evening working with the guys at WES. He would like to see if he can put a time limit of 2 hours on the work and see if with the limit it will force him to work more focused. It is a little like church meetings that don’t have another meeting coming right after the one you are in seem to go on forever. When there is a deadline (like Sacrament Meeting) then all of the business gets done in the time allotted.
Thursday I spent much of the day trying to get the formulas on a spreadsheet I use fixed. For some reason when I transferred information from IMOS to the spreadsheet, the columns weren’t matching up. Since I’m not an expert on excel, the housing secretary had to help me figure out what was happening. He is able to trace the formulas better than I could because the formulas were still on he worksheet. Mine just had !#REF! and I didn’t know where the columns were pulling information from. How thankful I was when we were able to get that straightened out—at least most of it. I still have a little bit more to do. Sister Caplin came in to the office to get the Christmas gifts for the missionaries ready and the other two office sisters helped her. I was a little too deep in paper to come out to help, but it sounded like they were having a wonderful time.
Friday was another day trying to get things done after transfers. Transfers don’t affect Dad and me as much as the other two couples, but things still weren’t back to normal. It was probably all of the time spent on fixing formulas on the spreadsheet. Sister Caplin came in to finish up the gifts and I decided that finishing up the rent would take more time and concentration that I had at time on Friday afternoon. It seemed a lot more fun to help with the Christmas gifts. We traded cleaning days with another couple in the office because they were out furnishing a new apartment and we thought it was silly to have them come back just to clean. We told them we would do it for them. Actually, Dad got stuck with much of it because I was working on the gifts. He is a good guy!
Saturday we went back in to the office so I could finish up the rents and push the button for approval. I worked an hour and then we left to go to the ward’s Christmas brunch. We had a nice brunch, visited with ward members, and listened to lots of music shared by ward members. Then we went back to the office to finish up.
While we were there Dad got an email from President Caplin that I am going to forward to you. A little of the background for this—Dad has been rewriting some of the letters that go into the missionary packets because President Caplin wanted to have his touch on them. When there is a baptism the convert is asked to write their conversion story and send a copy of it to the mission office. We have about 25 baptisms a month and we get maybe 1 a month. When Dad started rewriting this letter, he thought he might give them some ideas of what they could include giving them an idea what a conversion letter is. It went from a 1-2 line request to a 6-inch explanation. Then he got to thinking about the power of the conversion story for the convert. This could be the first page of his spiritual journal—something they could use later in life when they needed a boost. Then he thought of the missionaries who did the teaching and how much they would like to have that story for themselves. The ripple effect would get even larger when shared with the Stake Presidents who then would experience on a closer level the change that comes to peoples’ lives. They would probably share these letters with the high council and they might get more enthusiastic about missionary work. So with this thought in mind, Dad wrote an email to President Caplin and the attached email chain is what Dad received back on Saturday morning. He is SO excited about the working with the missionaries and being able to teach and train them. Dad is so good about seeing the bigger picture of things.
We had time to run an errand and then it off to a baptism in the Mount Vernon area. The chapel is about 1 mile from George Washington’s Mount Vernon home and the view from the windows in the church are lovely. After the baptism Dad shared with one of the missionaries about getting the conversion story from the person baptized today.
We did our grocery shopping and then went home to fix dinner and get ready for Sunday. What a full day, but such a good day.
Here we are back to Sunday. Church today was a musical meeting and this ward is filled with musical talent. It was wonderful. Then we were taught about the “North America Northeast Area Plan 2019”. It really enforced upon my mind the importance of deepening of conversion to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the gospel if we want to be able to endure to the end. It was very well done.
This afternoon we have been invited to a member of the ward’s home for dinner and then we will go to the stake center to listen to the Washington, D.C. Temple Choir.
We love you lots and pray for you always,
Mom
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| Arriving missionaries at the Mission Home. |
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