Dear Family,
Sorry that I am so far behind in my letter writing. Life has been VERY busy the last three weeks and letter writing got shifted off the stove—not just to the back burner.
The week started off on Monday with a quick tour of the mission office for the Chases before they left to do their final day of site-seeing in the Washington DC area. Then we were left to see about getting caught up with things and make final preparations for the new missionaries coming in later today. I needed to make sure all of the missionaries had their MSF cards (debit cards) and that I had all of the PIN numbers available to give to them. We only have 13 coming this time so it is easier.
Because there were fewer coming in, Dad didn’t have to go to the airport to help pick up. He came with me to help get the food. It was supposed to be ready for pick up by 4:30, but wasn’t ready until nearly 5. It was just our luck that the missionaries were early getting in and they beat us to the mission home. In the future we will have them get the food ready earlier—maybe shoot for 4. It was fun to visit with the new missionaries that evening and see their excitement and a little nervousness. One of the new sisters was a granddaughter of a former member of our stake presidency in the Los Altos Stake in California. It is a small world. With the earlier arrival and the smaller number, we had them all headed for the hotel a little after 8. That is much better than the usual 11:30 that is often the case.
Tuesday was Kent’s Birthday and Train the Trainer and the luncheon that needs to be done. We were having an early Thanksgiving luncheon with roasted chicken instead of turkey. What made it even better was we had it catered, so the prep was much easier. I went into the meeting where the companionships are announced so that I would know where to put the money for those new missionaries who didn’t get their cards.
We got back to the office around 3 and had to settle down and get things done. For me it is hard to leave all of the luncheon details and missionaries behind and come back and get my head wrapped around the details at the office especially when there are people coming and going and asking questions.
Wednesday was another day at the office. In the afternoon I received a call from one of the Elders who is from Costa Rica which is a non sustaining country meaning that many of them need help with some of their needs. He had talked with the President and wondered if he could get some warm boots for the winter. I told him that I would ask and get back with him. President happened to be in the office, so I relayed the message and he asked me if I would check with all of our foreign missionaries to make sure that they had sufficient clothing to keep them warm this winter, especially those on bikes. I wanted to talk with Sister Caplin to see if she knew of good places to shop or what she thought would be an appropriate amount to put on the cards. As I talked with her she told me of left over gloves, beanies, and scarves from donations last year as well as a “fairy” sister in one of the wards who gets these types of things for the missionaries. She was going to call two of the sister and I would call the elders to find what was needed as well as the sizes. It was our turn to clean the office, so we did that and went home. After dinner, I got all of the information on a spread sheet and sent it to Sister Caplin so she could go pick up the stuff and then she would bring it to me to get delivered.
Thursday morning Sister Larsen brought in a pillow and sheets for one of the elders from Japan who didn’t have any bedding. I was grateful that I didn’t have to go buy that. Sister Caplin was able to bring the gloves, beanies, etc. to the office (after I left) so we can get things delivered now.
About 9 we got a call from the housing secretary asking us if we could take keys to two elders who had left their keys in their apartment. We are so much closer to the mission office and the locked-out elders than Elder Larsen is, so we gladly did that. It was fun to take a key to them and have them SO grateful to be able to get back into their house. As we were pulling back into our parking space we looked at the clock and realized that we were back home before the Larsen’s could have made it to the mission office, so we were glad they called us to help.
Friday finally came! I got up Monday feeling like it was Friday, so you can imagine how long this week was. The office was really quiet because the other two senior sisters did the grab and go lunch for MLC; the housing secretary was out moving an apartment; and the vehicle secretary is back in a tucked away office. It makes for getting more done because of fewer interruptions.
We went and read the Book of Mormon with Nancy and enjoyed being able to do that. I think she appreciates us doing it and hopefully she will come to know of the truths are contained in it. We came back to the office to do a little bit more before we cleaned the office and left for the evening.
We had finished dinner and I was doing dished when our power went out. All of the apartments in our building lost power and when Garn talked with the power people it sounded as if it could be awhile before they got things fixed. We decided to do our grocery shopping since we couldn’t do anything at home. We got home and found that the lights in the apartments were on!! When I opened the door to our apartment and flipped on the switch, there was still blackness. It took another call and about an hour before we got our power back on. It did feel good to have the grocery shopping done.
Saturday was a planned day for kicking back. We went to a baptism of a mother and her daughter out in Gainesville, then decided to go to a family baptism of an Iranian family. It was the first family taught in Farsi to join the Church here in Virginia. There are other families baptized in San Diego where they have a ward and a branch. But here in Virginia the goal is to get a branch established. We have to be pretty quiet about it—no pictures posted etc.—to be a little protective of these people. It was a wonderful baptism, but it took multiple tries to get the job done. There was a leaky drain plug and the water was not very deep and the father was baptized 3 times; the mother 4 times (and she is afraid of water); and the daughter once. It was wonderful to hear the prayer in farsi so many times. Brother McKay who sat beside us and is the member on the high council in charge of missionary work said he was putting in a work order to get a new gasket for the font so that the water would not drain out before it was supposed to.
We came home and had a late lunch and then made soup for the senior get together on Monday and some chocolate coconut bars for a birthday celebration on Monday. The rest of the day we relaxed and enjoyed being home.
Sunday we had church, but only one hour. The heater was not working, so they told us to bundle up and come for sacrament meeting only. We get to be home again today!!
We love you all and pray for you,
Mom
Sorry that I am so far behind in my letter writing. Life has been VERY busy the last three weeks and letter writing got shifted off the stove—not just to the back burner.
The week started off on Monday with a quick tour of the mission office for the Chases before they left to do their final day of site-seeing in the Washington DC area. Then we were left to see about getting caught up with things and make final preparations for the new missionaries coming in later today. I needed to make sure all of the missionaries had their MSF cards (debit cards) and that I had all of the PIN numbers available to give to them. We only have 13 coming this time so it is easier.
Because there were fewer coming in, Dad didn’t have to go to the airport to help pick up. He came with me to help get the food. It was supposed to be ready for pick up by 4:30, but wasn’t ready until nearly 5. It was just our luck that the missionaries were early getting in and they beat us to the mission home. In the future we will have them get the food ready earlier—maybe shoot for 4. It was fun to visit with the new missionaries that evening and see their excitement and a little nervousness. One of the new sisters was a granddaughter of a former member of our stake presidency in the Los Altos Stake in California. It is a small world. With the earlier arrival and the smaller number, we had them all headed for the hotel a little after 8. That is much better than the usual 11:30 that is often the case.
Tuesday was Kent’s Birthday and Train the Trainer and the luncheon that needs to be done. We were having an early Thanksgiving luncheon with roasted chicken instead of turkey. What made it even better was we had it catered, so the prep was much easier. I went into the meeting where the companionships are announced so that I would know where to put the money for those new missionaries who didn’t get their cards.
We got back to the office around 3 and had to settle down and get things done. For me it is hard to leave all of the luncheon details and missionaries behind and come back and get my head wrapped around the details at the office especially when there are people coming and going and asking questions.
Wednesday was another day at the office. In the afternoon I received a call from one of the Elders who is from Costa Rica which is a non sustaining country meaning that many of them need help with some of their needs. He had talked with the President and wondered if he could get some warm boots for the winter. I told him that I would ask and get back with him. President happened to be in the office, so I relayed the message and he asked me if I would check with all of our foreign missionaries to make sure that they had sufficient clothing to keep them warm this winter, especially those on bikes. I wanted to talk with Sister Caplin to see if she knew of good places to shop or what she thought would be an appropriate amount to put on the cards. As I talked with her she told me of left over gloves, beanies, and scarves from donations last year as well as a “fairy” sister in one of the wards who gets these types of things for the missionaries. She was going to call two of the sister and I would call the elders to find what was needed as well as the sizes. It was our turn to clean the office, so we did that and went home. After dinner, I got all of the information on a spread sheet and sent it to Sister Caplin so she could go pick up the stuff and then she would bring it to me to get delivered.
Thursday morning Sister Larsen brought in a pillow and sheets for one of the elders from Japan who didn’t have any bedding. I was grateful that I didn’t have to go buy that. Sister Caplin was able to bring the gloves, beanies, etc. to the office (after I left) so we can get things delivered now.
About 9 we got a call from the housing secretary asking us if we could take keys to two elders who had left their keys in their apartment. We are so much closer to the mission office and the locked-out elders than Elder Larsen is, so we gladly did that. It was fun to take a key to them and have them SO grateful to be able to get back into their house. As we were pulling back into our parking space we looked at the clock and realized that we were back home before the Larsen’s could have made it to the mission office, so we were glad they called us to help.
Friday finally came! I got up Monday feeling like it was Friday, so you can imagine how long this week was. The office was really quiet because the other two senior sisters did the grab and go lunch for MLC; the housing secretary was out moving an apartment; and the vehicle secretary is back in a tucked away office. It makes for getting more done because of fewer interruptions.
We went and read the Book of Mormon with Nancy and enjoyed being able to do that. I think she appreciates us doing it and hopefully she will come to know of the truths are contained in it. We came back to the office to do a little bit more before we cleaned the office and left for the evening.
We had finished dinner and I was doing dished when our power went out. All of the apartments in our building lost power and when Garn talked with the power people it sounded as if it could be awhile before they got things fixed. We decided to do our grocery shopping since we couldn’t do anything at home. We got home and found that the lights in the apartments were on!! When I opened the door to our apartment and flipped on the switch, there was still blackness. It took another call and about an hour before we got our power back on. It did feel good to have the grocery shopping done.
Saturday was a planned day for kicking back. We went to a baptism of a mother and her daughter out in Gainesville, then decided to go to a family baptism of an Iranian family. It was the first family taught in Farsi to join the Church here in Virginia. There are other families baptized in San Diego where they have a ward and a branch. But here in Virginia the goal is to get a branch established. We have to be pretty quiet about it—no pictures posted etc.—to be a little protective of these people. It was a wonderful baptism, but it took multiple tries to get the job done. There was a leaky drain plug and the water was not very deep and the father was baptized 3 times; the mother 4 times (and she is afraid of water); and the daughter once. It was wonderful to hear the prayer in farsi so many times. Brother McKay who sat beside us and is the member on the high council in charge of missionary work said he was putting in a work order to get a new gasket for the font so that the water would not drain out before it was supposed to.
We came home and had a late lunch and then made soup for the senior get together on Monday and some chocolate coconut bars for a birthday celebration on Monday. The rest of the day we relaxed and enjoyed being home.
Sunday we had church, but only one hour. The heater was not working, so they told us to bundle up and come for sacrament meeting only. We get to be home again today!!
We love you all and pray for you,
Mom
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