Dear Family,
Another week has raced by. Monday evening we decided it would be good to get gas for our trip to the airport in the morning. While Dad was getting gas I went into Walmart to buy some legos for a 4-year old. They have a giving tree at Church and that is the one we chose to buy and then wrap and take back to be given to some 4-year old.
Dad volunteered to drive one of our visa waiters to the airport on Tuesday morning to save the President from having to get him to the airport for a 6 am flight. We dropped by the travel plans, a spare missionary cell phone and some reminders of what he needed to take with him the next morning. He was flying to Atlanta to get his visa although there is a consulate in Washington, D.C. The Church says that the consulate in Washington is hard to work with and slow, so they fly missionaries to other ones to get the job done. Washington, D.C. consulate must be pretty bad for the Church to spend the money for a plane ticket. The elders live in the same apartment complex as we do so it was an easy delivery.
Tuesday started really early for us because we had to have Elder Garcia at the airport at 5 am and it is a little more than a half hour to the airiport. We picked him up at 4:20 and were off. As we visited, I asked him if he had been born in the US and he said that he had, but his dad had been born in Guatemala and his mother in Mexico. His dad was taught the gospel in Guatemala as young man (17 if I remember correctly). He served a mission in Guatemala and was also able to have most of his family join the Church as well. After his mission he moved to the US and met and married Elder Garcia’s mother. Elder Garcia was called to the Mexico City West mission, but his visa didn’t arrive in time for him to go straight to Mexico from the MTC, so he was sent to the Washington D.C. South Mission. He was assigned to a Spanish zone and met a man while serving there. This man told Elder Garcia that he looked very familiar to him and began asking him about his name. He asked him if he knew a ______ Garcia and they discovered that this man knew Elder Garcia’s dad from when the man was on his mission in Guatemala. In fact, this man was the missionary who taught Elder Garcia’s father. What a coincidence(?) that is for these two to meet up out here. What makes the story even better is that the missionary who converted Elder Garcia’s dad had gone somewhat inactive over the years and Elder Garcia has been able to help reactivate him. This situation has certainly made the detour to his Mexico Mission worthwhile.
We came home and went back to bed for an hour or so before going into the office. We left the office a little early about 4:30 to get some rest because we were going to be up late picking up Elder Garcia from the airport. We got busy doing other things and didn’t get the nap taken. Elder Garcia had more stories for us on the way home. We asked him if he had been successful getting his visa and he said that he got it. We asked how all of the logistics worked out and he said that once he got to the consulate he met a worker there that was a Spanish member of the Church and he bought him lunch and took him back to the airport. Again, coincidence (?) Elder Garcia said how nice it was to have someone take him back because it was a little confusing to be there all by himself (without having a companion with him) and the big Atlanta airport. Isn’t it a wonderful thing to have brothers and sisters in the Church throughout the world! What a fun day for us. Since he got his visa he will be flying to his mission on Monday morning and we get to take him.
Wednesday was another busy day at the office. We get SO many packages for the missionaries especially with the Christmas season upon us.
By Thursday we had heard from Salt Lake that our Elder Garcia would be flying out Saturday morning so he could be in Mexico on Monday morning ready to go to his mission with all of the other missionaries that were in the Mexico MTC. So we had him and his missionary companions come with him when they got home to get his new travel plans and make final arrangements about what time to pick him up on Friday.
We are sweeping the entry way every day in an effort to keep leaves out of the office, but we aren’t completely successful. We still have to vacuum 2-3 times a day to keep the office presentable. It seems that all of the other roads’ gutters have been cleaned out—we are the only road that still has a gutter full of leaves that get tracked and blown into the mission office. We took our car into the shop in the morning to see if we could get it finished by evening. Our car groans at us in the mornings when it is cold and we try to turn the wheel. We tried putting more power steering fluid in, but didn’t fix it. We will have to get a new pump. They didn’t get it done and we had to get a ride home from the couple who live in the same complex.
Since they don’t go to the office as early as we do, we had a later start on Friday. It was nice to be going into the office when it is totally light. I was really ready for the week to be over and was looking forward to getting a little more sleep. I’m not sure that either of us was caught up from our early Tuesday morning and late Tuesday evening. We are just getting old.
Saturday morning came a little early, but we got Elder Garcia to the airport by 6 a.m. which was 2 hours before his flight. He was supposed to be there 3 hours early, but Dad couldn’t see why he needed to be there that early since it was not a foreign flight. He was flying to Miami then on to Mexico City.
Because Reagan Airport is so close to the DC border, Dad wanted to drive over and take a look at the national Christmas tree. There was little traffic in DC and we drove around the capital, Mall, White House, but could not see the lighted Christmas tree. We had a hard time finding the White House and never could get very close. They have it unavailable to traffic except for a couple of blocks away and there was no tree outside. Maybe they turn off the lights after midnight and don’t turn them back on. It didn’t look like I thought it would and what it appears to look like in pictures, but maybe we were not looking at things from the right direction. Anyway, we didn’t stay very long and went on home to take a short nap.
We did a little grocery shopping to get things we needed to make a salad for the dinner we had been invited to. The volunteer missionary who helps out in the office had invited the President and Sister Caplin along with all of the office couples to her home for dinner. She lives in her own apartment/home in her son’s home and it is very lovely in a beautiful area. Anyway we had a wonderful time and enjoyed everyone’s company.
Sunday came early—church at 8:30. We had a missionary leaving—on a two-transfer mission. I had never heard of that before, but wondered if it was like some of the service missions that they are starting to do now. Anyway, how wonderful that people can still serve and the service can be geared to their capabilities. The last speaker was a returning missionary just finishing up his mission in the San Jose California Mission. He was saying that the weather is wonder and that about 300 days a year the weather is in the 70’s. He made me a little homesick—if this were summer it would be a lot homesick, but the weather here has been really nice so far. The second hour was spent explaining how the lessons for Sunday School would work at the beginning of the year. It seems like it could be challenging to have a theme or some kind of cohesiveness when so much of the lesson will be given to having the class share things they have learned in their study over the past two weeks. I guess that I see the challenges just because changes are sometimes hard for me. Then our Relief Society was on serving with Joy. For me it came down to always remembering who we are serving and when we love the Savior and love as He does then service will be an outgrowth of that love and we will have joy. It was excellently done and gave me real pause for thought on how and why I serve.
My ministering person at my request found things that can be done in a close proximity at this time of year. A local Baptist church does a Going to Bethlehem at their Church which is 1-2 minutes from the Mission Office depending on traffic. It is mostly an in doors production but very enjoyable. They do have some live animals, but not the camel or donkey. My ministering sister picked Dad and me up and then we went to the office to get the other couple who were getting teaching supplies ready for the missionaries. We drove to the church and then went in and sat and listened to the music being performed in their sanctuary. Some of it was less traditional, but the words were still very good at making me think of the Savior. I kind of enjoyed it even if it was a little country. Then our group’s turn came and we went out into the foyer to get our coin to allow us to pay our taxes to get into Bethlehem that was set up in the basement. They had done a very nice job with different activities that might be in the ancient city. One girl was sitting with a chicken on her lap with others in cages by her side. Then we came up out of the basement and went outside to see the nativity where a real baby Jesus was fast asleep in the manager—even in the quite cold weather. He was bundled up well and looked very comfortable. After leaving the nativity scene we passed by some goats and then turned to go towards the Church. Right at the corner there was a dad kneeling down in front of his little boy while the boy was throwing up. I had to laugh as I heard the dad say to the mom, “he’s okay, he’s okay” It sounded like a dad to me saying, “walk it off”. As I said, I couldn’t help chuckling as I skirted the little family. From here we went back into the church where they had punch and cookies for everyone to eat. It reminded me of Bethlehem in Santa Clara, but, of course, there were no singing angel singing “Gloria, Gloria”, nor Mary riding the donkey, or the camel and wisemen, or flame throwers and the play in the back. It was very nice, though.
In the evening we went to the mission fireside where a couple of the new converts tell their conversion story as well some who has come back into activity. It is very uplifting to hear how they came to find the gospel, the joy it brings, and the power of the Book of Mormon. The music at this last fireside was very nice and we went home feeling truly “edified and uplifted” by the music and testimonies of those who shared.
We hope Aunt Barbara continues to heal quickly and are grateful for her wonderful attitude. What an example she is for us. If praying for missionary opportunities gets me a broken leg, I may not pray for that—just kidding. She says that now she has a lot of people to talk with. Always making lemonade out of lemons, but what a good example for me.
It has been a wonderful week and we are grateful to serve. We think of you often and pray for you always.
Sending our love to you,
Mom
Another week has raced by. Monday evening we decided it would be good to get gas for our trip to the airport in the morning. While Dad was getting gas I went into Walmart to buy some legos for a 4-year old. They have a giving tree at Church and that is the one we chose to buy and then wrap and take back to be given to some 4-year old.
Dad volunteered to drive one of our visa waiters to the airport on Tuesday morning to save the President from having to get him to the airport for a 6 am flight. We dropped by the travel plans, a spare missionary cell phone and some reminders of what he needed to take with him the next morning. He was flying to Atlanta to get his visa although there is a consulate in Washington, D.C. The Church says that the consulate in Washington is hard to work with and slow, so they fly missionaries to other ones to get the job done. Washington, D.C. consulate must be pretty bad for the Church to spend the money for a plane ticket. The elders live in the same apartment complex as we do so it was an easy delivery.
Tuesday started really early for us because we had to have Elder Garcia at the airport at 5 am and it is a little more than a half hour to the airiport. We picked him up at 4:20 and were off. As we visited, I asked him if he had been born in the US and he said that he had, but his dad had been born in Guatemala and his mother in Mexico. His dad was taught the gospel in Guatemala as young man (17 if I remember correctly). He served a mission in Guatemala and was also able to have most of his family join the Church as well. After his mission he moved to the US and met and married Elder Garcia’s mother. Elder Garcia was called to the Mexico City West mission, but his visa didn’t arrive in time for him to go straight to Mexico from the MTC, so he was sent to the Washington D.C. South Mission. He was assigned to a Spanish zone and met a man while serving there. This man told Elder Garcia that he looked very familiar to him and began asking him about his name. He asked him if he knew a ______ Garcia and they discovered that this man knew Elder Garcia’s dad from when the man was on his mission in Guatemala. In fact, this man was the missionary who taught Elder Garcia’s father. What a coincidence(?) that is for these two to meet up out here. What makes the story even better is that the missionary who converted Elder Garcia’s dad had gone somewhat inactive over the years and Elder Garcia has been able to help reactivate him. This situation has certainly made the detour to his Mexico Mission worthwhile.
We came home and went back to bed for an hour or so before going into the office. We left the office a little early about 4:30 to get some rest because we were going to be up late picking up Elder Garcia from the airport. We got busy doing other things and didn’t get the nap taken. Elder Garcia had more stories for us on the way home. We asked him if he had been successful getting his visa and he said that he got it. We asked how all of the logistics worked out and he said that once he got to the consulate he met a worker there that was a Spanish member of the Church and he bought him lunch and took him back to the airport. Again, coincidence (?) Elder Garcia said how nice it was to have someone take him back because it was a little confusing to be there all by himself (without having a companion with him) and the big Atlanta airport. Isn’t it a wonderful thing to have brothers and sisters in the Church throughout the world! What a fun day for us. Since he got his visa he will be flying to his mission on Monday morning and we get to take him.
Wednesday was another busy day at the office. We get SO many packages for the missionaries especially with the Christmas season upon us.
By Thursday we had heard from Salt Lake that our Elder Garcia would be flying out Saturday morning so he could be in Mexico on Monday morning ready to go to his mission with all of the other missionaries that were in the Mexico MTC. So we had him and his missionary companions come with him when they got home to get his new travel plans and make final arrangements about what time to pick him up on Friday.
We are sweeping the entry way every day in an effort to keep leaves out of the office, but we aren’t completely successful. We still have to vacuum 2-3 times a day to keep the office presentable. It seems that all of the other roads’ gutters have been cleaned out—we are the only road that still has a gutter full of leaves that get tracked and blown into the mission office. We took our car into the shop in the morning to see if we could get it finished by evening. Our car groans at us in the mornings when it is cold and we try to turn the wheel. We tried putting more power steering fluid in, but didn’t fix it. We will have to get a new pump. They didn’t get it done and we had to get a ride home from the couple who live in the same complex.
Since they don’t go to the office as early as we do, we had a later start on Friday. It was nice to be going into the office when it is totally light. I was really ready for the week to be over and was looking forward to getting a little more sleep. I’m not sure that either of us was caught up from our early Tuesday morning and late Tuesday evening. We are just getting old.
Saturday morning came a little early, but we got Elder Garcia to the airport by 6 a.m. which was 2 hours before his flight. He was supposed to be there 3 hours early, but Dad couldn’t see why he needed to be there that early since it was not a foreign flight. He was flying to Miami then on to Mexico City.
Because Reagan Airport is so close to the DC border, Dad wanted to drive over and take a look at the national Christmas tree. There was little traffic in DC and we drove around the capital, Mall, White House, but could not see the lighted Christmas tree. We had a hard time finding the White House and never could get very close. They have it unavailable to traffic except for a couple of blocks away and there was no tree outside. Maybe they turn off the lights after midnight and don’t turn them back on. It didn’t look like I thought it would and what it appears to look like in pictures, but maybe we were not looking at things from the right direction. Anyway, we didn’t stay very long and went on home to take a short nap.
We did a little grocery shopping to get things we needed to make a salad for the dinner we had been invited to. The volunteer missionary who helps out in the office had invited the President and Sister Caplin along with all of the office couples to her home for dinner. She lives in her own apartment/home in her son’s home and it is very lovely in a beautiful area. Anyway we had a wonderful time and enjoyed everyone’s company.
Sunday came early—church at 8:30. We had a missionary leaving—on a two-transfer mission. I had never heard of that before, but wondered if it was like some of the service missions that they are starting to do now. Anyway, how wonderful that people can still serve and the service can be geared to their capabilities. The last speaker was a returning missionary just finishing up his mission in the San Jose California Mission. He was saying that the weather is wonder and that about 300 days a year the weather is in the 70’s. He made me a little homesick—if this were summer it would be a lot homesick, but the weather here has been really nice so far. The second hour was spent explaining how the lessons for Sunday School would work at the beginning of the year. It seems like it could be challenging to have a theme or some kind of cohesiveness when so much of the lesson will be given to having the class share things they have learned in their study over the past two weeks. I guess that I see the challenges just because changes are sometimes hard for me. Then our Relief Society was on serving with Joy. For me it came down to always remembering who we are serving and when we love the Savior and love as He does then service will be an outgrowth of that love and we will have joy. It was excellently done and gave me real pause for thought on how and why I serve.
My ministering person at my request found things that can be done in a close proximity at this time of year. A local Baptist church does a Going to Bethlehem at their Church which is 1-2 minutes from the Mission Office depending on traffic. It is mostly an in doors production but very enjoyable. They do have some live animals, but not the camel or donkey. My ministering sister picked Dad and me up and then we went to the office to get the other couple who were getting teaching supplies ready for the missionaries. We drove to the church and then went in and sat and listened to the music being performed in their sanctuary. Some of it was less traditional, but the words were still very good at making me think of the Savior. I kind of enjoyed it even if it was a little country. Then our group’s turn came and we went out into the foyer to get our coin to allow us to pay our taxes to get into Bethlehem that was set up in the basement. They had done a very nice job with different activities that might be in the ancient city. One girl was sitting with a chicken on her lap with others in cages by her side. Then we came up out of the basement and went outside to see the nativity where a real baby Jesus was fast asleep in the manager—even in the quite cold weather. He was bundled up well and looked very comfortable. After leaving the nativity scene we passed by some goats and then turned to go towards the Church. Right at the corner there was a dad kneeling down in front of his little boy while the boy was throwing up. I had to laugh as I heard the dad say to the mom, “he’s okay, he’s okay” It sounded like a dad to me saying, “walk it off”. As I said, I couldn’t help chuckling as I skirted the little family. From here we went back into the church where they had punch and cookies for everyone to eat. It reminded me of Bethlehem in Santa Clara, but, of course, there were no singing angel singing “Gloria, Gloria”, nor Mary riding the donkey, or the camel and wisemen, or flame throwers and the play in the back. It was very nice, though.
In the evening we went to the mission fireside where a couple of the new converts tell their conversion story as well some who has come back into activity. It is very uplifting to hear how they came to find the gospel, the joy it brings, and the power of the Book of Mormon. The music at this last fireside was very nice and we went home feeling truly “edified and uplifted” by the music and testimonies of those who shared.
We hope Aunt Barbara continues to heal quickly and are grateful for her wonderful attitude. What an example she is for us. If praying for missionary opportunities gets me a broken leg, I may not pray for that—just kidding. She says that now she has a lot of people to talk with. Always making lemonade out of lemons, but what a good example for me.
It has been a wonderful week and we are grateful to serve. We think of you often and pray for you always.
Sending our love to you,
Mom
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