Dear Family,
Here it is another week gone by. It has been a good week and a busy week. Many new experiences and growing ones.
This was transfer week and with that comes a lot of activity. We were losing 28 missionaries this transfer and that meant lots of exit interviews with the President. He does those at the office and that means lots of missionaries (exiting ones as well as their companions) in the office. It is fun to have their exuberance and goodness there, but it is a little harder to concentrate and get things done. We had 10 interviews on Friday and then 10 on Monday. Dad and I went over to the mission home around 7 to help put the finishing touches on the dinner for the 20 incoming missionaries. The 10 sisters arrived before the elders, so we got them started eating and President took one sister at a time for a 5-minute interview. He and Sister Caplin had determined that with a 5-minute interview that would take at least 1 hr and 40 minutes to get the interviews done. These missionaries have been up since about 3 a.m. and traveling all day and are tired, so we try to get them fed and off to the hotel as soon as we can so that they are ready for their 1st training meeting the next morning at 9:30. About the time the elders arrived, the sisters were through eating and we got the elders going. President kept going on the interviews and tried to grab a bite to eat in between. He finally got the interviews done and then we got a group picture of the sisters with the mission president and his wife and the counselors and wives, then a picture with the elders and the mission leadership. We then took pictures of each missionary with President and Sister Caplin and then had them text their family to let them know that they had arrived safely. It is so fun to get responses back before the missionaries go out the door for the hotel. These missionaries are so excited to put to use what they have learned in the MTC and a little nervous too.
Tuesday we waited at the office for one of the senior couples who said they would watch the office while we went to Train the Trainer meeting. Dad is in charge of the luncheon for this meeting and has wisely delegated the planning of the luncheon to the service missionary who works in the office 3 days a week. She loves to cook and it shows by the luncheon she does. We do the shopping for her and then I help with the set up and food prep that happens the day of the luncheon, but she often spends the week end cooking and getting ready. I love this meeting because we get to see who the companions will be for the new missionaries and President often shares some of the revelation that he has received when making these assignments. I think it is very advantageous for these missionaries to know that they are not just randomly assigned to someone, but Heavenly Father knows them and what they need and where they can be most helpful. One of the new elders is from Costa Rica and is the first missionary in his family. When he was 11 the missionaries came to him home and he immediately wanted to be baptized. The missionaries told him to read the Book of Mormon and that he needed to hear the discussions. He said yes he would do that, but that he wanted to be baptized. He knew it was true. His mother was against the Church and said he would have to wait at least a year. He did and was baptized. He began taking his younger brother to church with him and the little brother was baptized. He then started taking his older brother to church and he was baptized. His younger sister was next. His mother began to feel she needed to know what her children were getting into and was baptized a year after Elder Espinoza was baptized. Elder Espinoza told his father that he would be a bishop some day—he said “I don’t know what a bishop is, but you will be a bishop some day.” Elder Espinoza then told us that some people say that things are impossible, but he knows that nothing is impossible with God. He told us that his father is his bishop right now at home. “Nothing is impossible.” Elder Espinoza came to the US for a year and learned English—his English is VERY good. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next two years.
We got the luncheon cleaned up and then packed our car with the luggage of three visa water missionaries who were flying out to Phoenix so they could spend the day at the consulate on Wednesday to get their visas and then fly to Ecuador on Thursday. We are getting to know our way to the airports in the area pretty well. After dropping them off at the airport, we went back to the office to see what we could get done.
I spent the evening getting our own personal bills taken care of, so it was a pretty productive evening.
Wednesday was a catch up day at the office. With being gone yesterday and not much getting done either on Friday or Monday, I needed to put on my blinders and ear plugs and get busy.
In the evening we took the Nielson’s out for a good bye dinner. We will really miss them for they have taught us a great about quiet service and love for the missionaries. We could tell the missionaries loved both of them dearly and respected them. This was largely due to their love for and service to the missionaries. Their service was done quietly and not done for all to see. What a great example they have been for us.
Thursday Dad spent the morning delivering loaner phones to the new visa waiter missionaries. They had been instructed not to bring phones because the countries they are going to won’t have phone service that they could use. In the early afternoon a sister companionship came in and said President Caplin wanted to meet them there at the office. They were a little early and he runs a little late most of the time, so I told them to make themselves comfortable and enjoy either a muffin, fruit snacks, or an orange while they waited. President Caplin came out of the office and asked me to come with him outside. With a little bit of privacy, He asked me if I would be able to come and sit in on the interview. It was an interview of a delicate nature. I think that Sister Caplin usually sits in on those, but she was not there. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but was happy to be of service. There were some things that had not been taken care of before coming on the mission and he talked to her about this. I was so impressed with his kindness and hope for the future for her while explaining things to her. He then turned to me and asked me to make some comments on what he had said. What a pleasure it was for me to bear testimony of the love of our Father in Heaven for each of us demonstrated by his gift of the Savior and the Atonement. I was able to testify that because of the Atonement we can be forgiven and our sins can be forgiven and forgotten and it will be as though they never happened. Though our sins be as scarlet, they can become white as snow. We can become new people—better than we are right now. As we are forgiven there will come to us a peace. I don’t know if I did her any good or not, but the Spirit witnessed to my soul that what I had said was true and my testimony was strengthened. I am grateful for that experience to share my testimony.
Friday was a gray day with snow coming in the afternoon. It was kind of quiet after all of the comings and goings of the past week. I did get an envelope back with two rent checks and two utility checks marked “undeliverable”. I don’t know why this month they weren’t deliverable when they got there last month. Anyway it had taken over three weeks for them to make their way out and back to us. Dad and I drove them out the leasing office and asked them if the address was right. It was and since they could see that the check had been mailed on February 17th he was going to get the late charges reversed. Dad then asked him about ACH payments. It looks like we might be able to do that and if we can, then the rent and the utilities will be paid electronically and never get lost in the mail again!!! We are going to work hard to see how many places we can get this done for.
In the evening we went with the office elders to teach a lesson to a single lady they are teaching. I really like the lady and would love her to have the gospel. She lost her husband about 4-5 months ago and I want her to know of the possibility of having her family in the eternities. The lesson was a little different because her 10-year boy wanted his ipad and was pestering his mom all during the discussion. They also had a large lab who was pretty active. When a collar was put on him, he settled right down and laid quietly. But the boy kept coming and taking off the collar so that the dog would start jumping on people and being disruptive. We will have to figure out something to keep the boy entertained in the future.
Saturday we had planned for working on our taxes—what a fun job??!! It is a little harder because many of our deductions got left home in the files. We will be able to go on line and get most of the stuff, but the searching just takes a bit more time. We have had to take money out of our 401K to help WES out this last summer and we will have taxes to pay on that.
We went to pick up the sister missionary to take her to the airport and then went and did a little grocery shopping on our way home.
We spent some more time on the taxes and both of us have assignments to get information for our taxes. We will be glad when all of this gets figured out because they aren’t fun to do.
Today was a good day at Church and it is good to meet with good people who are trying to do what is right.
We are glad to hear that Bryon is doing better as well as LeeAnn and Deb. Glad, too, to hear that Barbara is getting up and around and able to be back at the temple. Keep up the good work. Know that we love our family and pray for you daily.
Sending my love,
Mom
Here it is another week gone by. It has been a good week and a busy week. Many new experiences and growing ones.
This was transfer week and with that comes a lot of activity. We were losing 28 missionaries this transfer and that meant lots of exit interviews with the President. He does those at the office and that means lots of missionaries (exiting ones as well as their companions) in the office. It is fun to have their exuberance and goodness there, but it is a little harder to concentrate and get things done. We had 10 interviews on Friday and then 10 on Monday. Dad and I went over to the mission home around 7 to help put the finishing touches on the dinner for the 20 incoming missionaries. The 10 sisters arrived before the elders, so we got them started eating and President took one sister at a time for a 5-minute interview. He and Sister Caplin had determined that with a 5-minute interview that would take at least 1 hr and 40 minutes to get the interviews done. These missionaries have been up since about 3 a.m. and traveling all day and are tired, so we try to get them fed and off to the hotel as soon as we can so that they are ready for their 1st training meeting the next morning at 9:30. About the time the elders arrived, the sisters were through eating and we got the elders going. President kept going on the interviews and tried to grab a bite to eat in between. He finally got the interviews done and then we got a group picture of the sisters with the mission president and his wife and the counselors and wives, then a picture with the elders and the mission leadership. We then took pictures of each missionary with President and Sister Caplin and then had them text their family to let them know that they had arrived safely. It is so fun to get responses back before the missionaries go out the door for the hotel. These missionaries are so excited to put to use what they have learned in the MTC and a little nervous too.
Tuesday we waited at the office for one of the senior couples who said they would watch the office while we went to Train the Trainer meeting. Dad is in charge of the luncheon for this meeting and has wisely delegated the planning of the luncheon to the service missionary who works in the office 3 days a week. She loves to cook and it shows by the luncheon she does. We do the shopping for her and then I help with the set up and food prep that happens the day of the luncheon, but she often spends the week end cooking and getting ready. I love this meeting because we get to see who the companions will be for the new missionaries and President often shares some of the revelation that he has received when making these assignments. I think it is very advantageous for these missionaries to know that they are not just randomly assigned to someone, but Heavenly Father knows them and what they need and where they can be most helpful. One of the new elders is from Costa Rica and is the first missionary in his family. When he was 11 the missionaries came to him home and he immediately wanted to be baptized. The missionaries told him to read the Book of Mormon and that he needed to hear the discussions. He said yes he would do that, but that he wanted to be baptized. He knew it was true. His mother was against the Church and said he would have to wait at least a year. He did and was baptized. He began taking his younger brother to church with him and the little brother was baptized. He then started taking his older brother to church and he was baptized. His younger sister was next. His mother began to feel she needed to know what her children were getting into and was baptized a year after Elder Espinoza was baptized. Elder Espinoza told his father that he would be a bishop some day—he said “I don’t know what a bishop is, but you will be a bishop some day.” Elder Espinoza then told us that some people say that things are impossible, but he knows that nothing is impossible with God. He told us that his father is his bishop right now at home. “Nothing is impossible.” Elder Espinoza came to the US for a year and learned English—his English is VERY good. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next two years.
We got the luncheon cleaned up and then packed our car with the luggage of three visa water missionaries who were flying out to Phoenix so they could spend the day at the consulate on Wednesday to get their visas and then fly to Ecuador on Thursday. We are getting to know our way to the airports in the area pretty well. After dropping them off at the airport, we went back to the office to see what we could get done.
I spent the evening getting our own personal bills taken care of, so it was a pretty productive evening.
Wednesday was a catch up day at the office. With being gone yesterday and not much getting done either on Friday or Monday, I needed to put on my blinders and ear plugs and get busy.
In the evening we took the Nielson’s out for a good bye dinner. We will really miss them for they have taught us a great about quiet service and love for the missionaries. We could tell the missionaries loved both of them dearly and respected them. This was largely due to their love for and service to the missionaries. Their service was done quietly and not done for all to see. What a great example they have been for us.
Thursday Dad spent the morning delivering loaner phones to the new visa waiter missionaries. They had been instructed not to bring phones because the countries they are going to won’t have phone service that they could use. In the early afternoon a sister companionship came in and said President Caplin wanted to meet them there at the office. They were a little early and he runs a little late most of the time, so I told them to make themselves comfortable and enjoy either a muffin, fruit snacks, or an orange while they waited. President Caplin came out of the office and asked me to come with him outside. With a little bit of privacy, He asked me if I would be able to come and sit in on the interview. It was an interview of a delicate nature. I think that Sister Caplin usually sits in on those, but she was not there. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but was happy to be of service. There were some things that had not been taken care of before coming on the mission and he talked to her about this. I was so impressed with his kindness and hope for the future for her while explaining things to her. He then turned to me and asked me to make some comments on what he had said. What a pleasure it was for me to bear testimony of the love of our Father in Heaven for each of us demonstrated by his gift of the Savior and the Atonement. I was able to testify that because of the Atonement we can be forgiven and our sins can be forgiven and forgotten and it will be as though they never happened. Though our sins be as scarlet, they can become white as snow. We can become new people—better than we are right now. As we are forgiven there will come to us a peace. I don’t know if I did her any good or not, but the Spirit witnessed to my soul that what I had said was true and my testimony was strengthened. I am grateful for that experience to share my testimony.
Friday was a gray day with snow coming in the afternoon. It was kind of quiet after all of the comings and goings of the past week. I did get an envelope back with two rent checks and two utility checks marked “undeliverable”. I don’t know why this month they weren’t deliverable when they got there last month. Anyway it had taken over three weeks for them to make their way out and back to us. Dad and I drove them out the leasing office and asked them if the address was right. It was and since they could see that the check had been mailed on February 17th he was going to get the late charges reversed. Dad then asked him about ACH payments. It looks like we might be able to do that and if we can, then the rent and the utilities will be paid electronically and never get lost in the mail again!!! We are going to work hard to see how many places we can get this done for.
In the evening we went with the office elders to teach a lesson to a single lady they are teaching. I really like the lady and would love her to have the gospel. She lost her husband about 4-5 months ago and I want her to know of the possibility of having her family in the eternities. The lesson was a little different because her 10-year boy wanted his ipad and was pestering his mom all during the discussion. They also had a large lab who was pretty active. When a collar was put on him, he settled right down and laid quietly. But the boy kept coming and taking off the collar so that the dog would start jumping on people and being disruptive. We will have to figure out something to keep the boy entertained in the future.
Saturday we had planned for working on our taxes—what a fun job??!! It is a little harder because many of our deductions got left home in the files. We will be able to go on line and get most of the stuff, but the searching just takes a bit more time. We have had to take money out of our 401K to help WES out this last summer and we will have taxes to pay on that.
We went to pick up the sister missionary to take her to the airport and then went and did a little grocery shopping on our way home.
We spent some more time on the taxes and both of us have assignments to get information for our taxes. We will be glad when all of this gets figured out because they aren’t fun to do.
Today was a good day at Church and it is good to meet with good people who are trying to do what is right.
We are glad to hear that Bryon is doing better as well as LeeAnn and Deb. Glad, too, to hear that Barbara is getting up and around and able to be back at the temple. Keep up the good work. Know that we love our family and pray for you daily.
Sending my love,
Mom
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