The story behind the pumpkin patch huge pile of pumpkins

What we thought was a huge pile of pumpkins

The truth is revealed!

Pictures from Thanksgiving, November 27, 2014 [Bob & Linda Crawford's house]

Pictures from Gary's trip to the organic farm November 3rd.

Spinach.

Place that the workers turn in the produce they pick.

Plowed field, ready to plant.

Workers in the field, picking romaine lettuce.

This is the brand of organic vegetables.

December 21, 2014

Well, we just finished transfer week again, and as usual, it was full of busy, long days, and not without a lot of stress on some of the days.  But, the week is done.  The next transfer, we should be training someone, so in some ways it is easier because of extra hands to get the jobs done.  In fact, President Mella pulled us aside one morning and said that even though we had volunteered that we could stay longer than our end day, that he has a couple of other plans in mind that he can implement so that we can plan on going home on our original release date, even if no one gets called to take our spots.  He will pull some other seniors into the office to be trained.  We still have time for someone to be called, it is just getting close now, which is why he has come up with “plan B”.  So, that is nice that we can plan now, and call and get doctor and dentist appointments scheduled for when we get back.

This transfer, we lost 20 seasoned missionaries, and received 8 new ones.  The good thing is that with electronic media these days, we can, and do, still keep in contact with those who have gone home.  It is always exciting to see a friend request on Facebook from one of our missionaries who have “returned with honor” after serving their mission.  We love hearing from them all, and seeing the pictures and hearing of the updates that occur in their lives.

I probably have mentioned this before, but the church building we have the mission office in is not in a great location.  We have had homeless people camped in the shrubs at the back of the parking lot before, and before the outlets outside the building were closed up, some used to camp right by the front doors of the church and use the outlets to charge up their cell phones!  Anyway, over a week ago, Elder Michie had noticed that the same car was in our parking lot every day, with a man inside.  He told me that he figured it was a homeless person, just sleeping in his car, but using the parking lot as his place to stay.  Because of the vandalism we have experienced to mission vehicles in the parking lot, and the theft that has occurred during meetings (people just come in the back doors and steal items left in the cultural hall), we are extremely leery of someone living in our parking lot!  Also, since UPS has just left packages at our door after hours, we are afraid that someone hanging around will start walking off with things that aren’t theirs.  Plus, there is the fact that it is posted that you aren’t to just stay there.  Anyway, Elder Michie told me I ought to call the police, which I did.  They said that if we asked the man to leave and he didn’t, then they could do something, but that they would send a patrol car around to check on things.  Elder Michie went out to ask the man to leave, and he was gone already.  The patrol car did come by, but too late.  However, the car was back in the lot the next time we were in the office.  This time, Elder Michie did talk to the man and asked him to leave.  The man said his car wouldn’t start, so elders went out and jumped him.  He still came back another day.  Anyway, on Wednesday, I was late getting to the office after helping with the morning transfer stuff, and when I arrived, there were about 6-8 police cars, a fire engine, and an ambulance!  I didn’t know what was going on!  I couldn’t get close to the office entrance to park because of all those vehicles, so parked on the far side of the building.  As I was walking to the office, I saw Lamar Stuart standing there, and he filled me in.  It turns out that a cop had come into the parking lot to check things, was parked away from that car, elders had come out to help the guy again, then the cop (who must have been checking things) found out the car was stolen, and went to get the guy, had him down, the guy was fighting him off, the cop dropped the handcuffs, still fighting the guy and demanding him to lay on the ground, which he wasn’t, warned him he was going to….I don’t know what he said exactly, but get rougher with him is what it amounted to….the guy still was fighting him, and the cop was having a hard time, I guess he slammed him down hard on the ground, one of our elders had to come assist the cop in holding him down, another elder helped in putting the handcuffs on.  Then the guy, because he had been slammed down, was bleeding, and started complaining he couldn’t breathe, so that is why the fire engine and ambulance were called in.  And I guess the other cops arrived when the first cop had a hard time getting the guy to cooperate….I don’t know the order of things here.  Anyway, one of the elders was talking about it later and said if the guy really couldn’t breathe, he wouldn’t have been able to talk like he was, so it was just an excuse.  Sister Michie was sitting in her car and saw a lot of what happened, and said she saw the cops pull out a bag of white powder from the car, so he was probably a drug dealer, doing his business in our parking lot!    Ah, such is the life in the big city!

And, another piece of excitement that same day….the facilities management team (FM) were also at the building, checking out a problem under the gym floor. They said it was like walking on a trampoline, and they figured there was a leak under the floor.  They got big fans in there to dry it out, hired a company to try to find the leak, and closed off the gym, the kitchen, and the bathrooms on the far side of the building.  I haven’t heard if they found the leak or not yet, but we have been told it could be 6 months till the building is fully usable again.  The bathroom on our side of the building is okay to use.  But, we usually use the kitchen and gym during meetings that a luncheon is served, so other arrangements will need to be made there.  Also, I don’t know what is going to happen to the Yerba Buena Ward that meets in the building, since they can’t use those areas.  I will let you know more when I know any more.

I mentioned last week that the woman being baptized was being done again on Tuesday evening because it hadn’t been done correctly on Sunday.   I told the elders we might not be able to make it, depending on how busy Tuesday was for us.  They said it was probably better if we didn’t go anyway, because then it made it less stressful for the man performing the baptism if less people were there.  So, we didn’t go.  The woman was baptized fine, but it was a different person performing the baptism, even though the man had driven down from Fremont (where they live) to try again to get it right.  And now we have feelings hurt……the couple didn’t even come to church today.  I feel bad for the man…..I had so wanted this to be a good experience for him in exercising his priesthood.

Today in church, I taught the lesson in Relief Society.  It was on Missionary Work.  It went over well.  It was something they all could relate to.  In fact, when we started the lesson, I pointed out that in that relief society room, only 1 person had been born in the church….Sister Shelton.  The rest of us were all converts!  So we got some discussion on their experiences, plus the experiences shared in the lesson manual.  I had made a poster to hang up on the chalkboard with a list of 6 ways to be a missionary.  I had copied it from the Vietnamese version of the lesson, but every time I write something in Vietnamese, they are so impressed!!  I said, I can copy anything, but don’t ask me to draw something!  These are letters, so it isn’t hard to copy.  But, they comment on me getting all the accent marks right on the words….still, not hard when I am just copying it!

I picked up Sister Ly for church today, and then after church we dropped her off at the church her husband attends.  Gary told me as we were driving that my phone was vibrating, so when we got home, I checked the message.  It was from President Mella.  Apparently this morning, 2 sisters had been in a meeting at their church building, and the one sister had left her purse in the car.  Well, thieves apparently checked out cars in the parking lot, saw the purse, and broke the back window of the car to steal it.  Inside the purse, for whatever reason, was an  elder’s wallet (this sister and elder are in the polynesian program).  So, I needed to run to the office and call the bank to cancel their MSF cards.  Luckily, it is late in the month.  Neither of them had much money on their cards.  The elder’s card had been fraudulently used, but the thief only got $3 and something off his card.

Oh, the joys of office missionary work!

Yesterday we got an invitation for dinner with the Michie’s today at 4, so we leave in a few minutes to go there.

Just got back from an excellent dinner at the Michie’s….ham, baked potatoes, cole slaw, asparagus, jello salad, and german chocolate cake.  It was yummy!  And so nice to sit and visit with good friends!

Oh, I forgot to mention something…..yesterday was the Yearsley family Christmas party back home, and afterward they were having a surprise 85th birthday open house for Gary’s dad.  We had hoped to be able to Skype with family, but it didn’t work out.  But, Gary had talked to his dad last Sunday, so he had that covered.

Upcoming events:

Wednesday we will be having a mission-wide breakfast, talent show, white elephant type gift exchange and some speaker or something.  This will be in the San Felipe building, where we meet for church.  The seniors are to help with the breakfast preparation, and are to arrive at 6:30 a.m.  I have Sister Withers, who used to work in the office, to cover the office that morning while we are out of it, to get the mail and packages that are delivered.  So, I will meet her at 8:45 to let her in the building.  Then, if any last minute Christmas boxes arrive for missionaries, she can call me and I will run and pick them up so they can be delivered to the missionaries while they are all together.

Thursday morning, we fly out to Houston for the purpose of being at Logan’s baptism on Sunday.  So, we get to spend a few days with all three of our daughters, who had already planned on spending Christmas together!  We will be flying home early Monday morning.  In fact, our flight gets in at 9:16 a.m.!  So, then we go straight to the office to work.  Because of being gone next weekend, I doubt I will put a blog entry on until we get home.

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas!  Remember the reason for the season!  And enjoy your time with family!

The poster I used in Relief Society....written in Vietnamese.

December 14, 2014

Okay, I have to back up here.  I forgot to put some things in last week.  And I don’t know how I forgot!  Friday, Dec. 5th was Gary’s birthday.  After work that day, we headed to Sizzler for dinner to celebrate.  When we got home, we saw that Shelley had sent me a message and wanted to Face Time.  So we did, and talked for a long time, even though she is 3 hours different time zone than us!  Hunter was even still awake to talk to us briefly!

Saturday morning, Dec. 6th, I had a haircut appointment before we headed to the Creche exhibit.  When we went grocery shopping that afternoon after we got home from the exhibit, we got ingredients so that I could make the Shreveport Gumbo that we usually eat during December each year….usually at Hope’s house when we are playing pinochle!  I planned on taking it to work to share with the other missionaries in the office.  I was thinking of taking it for Tuesday’s lunch.

Sunday afternoon, Dec. 7th, I decided it would be better to take the meal on Monday, so that I could have the time Sunday afternoon to start it…..it takes quite a bit of time to prepare, more than I usually have in an evening.  So I chopped up the veggies needed, browned the roux for the required 30 minutes, and mixed up everything except the shrimp.  Then let it cool and put it in the crockpot and put in the fridge.  We Face Timed with Kori and family that evening, so the kids could wish us both happy birthdays.

Okay, now to this week.  I got up the usual time on Monday morning, but instead of going to exercise, I showered and began the rest of the preparation to get ready to take the gumbo to work.  I made rice in my Pampered Chef microwave rice cooker, then put it in another crockpot to keep it warm at the office.  I put the shrimp in the gumbo, and got everything ready to load up in the car to take to the office.  When we got there, I plugged the crockpots in, cooked the gumbo on high for 4 hours, and turned on the other crockpot to low to keep the rice warm.  Well, that turned out to be not such a good idea….it was almost too hot for the rice.  Too bad I didn’t have another crockpot that had a warm setting!  So, I just turned it on and off at various times throughout the morning to keep it warm, but not overcooked!  Then the 6 of us in the office all had lunch……that included Sister Nedreberg, Sister Wilks, and Elder and Sister Conner.  It was a yummy lunch, if I do say so myself!  Way better than the packed lunches we do all the time.

Monday was my birthday, and I had several calls during the day…Morgan Bradshaw, Brandon Bruggeman, Karen Maughan.  I had the Viet elders, Elder Hullinger and Elder Golightly come sing to me.  When we got home from work, Scott called and talked with us.  Then we headed to Red Robin for dinner.  While there, Jeff tried calling, but I didn’t answer because it was so noisy I wouldn’t have been able to hear him.  On the way home, we called him and started talking and talked all the way home and even while we sat in our car in the parking lot.  When we got in the apartment, Traci and the boys called us.  We learned that for Tristan’s 10th birthday next Saturday, he chose to go help at a soup kitchen in the morning, because, as he said, they don’t have as much as he has.  Such an unselfish comment!  Way to go Tristan!  Of course, later in the conversation, he wanted to know why we had to miss 2 of his birthdays while on our mission!  Yes, he is still a kid!

We have had storm warnings for several days.  Wednesday evening it was supposed to arrive.  When we got up Thursday morning, it was still ok here, but the wind was, and had been, blowing.  We went to exercise, and I noticed that the apartment managers here didn’t heed the warnings on the news to make sure things were taken care of so they didn’t blow around.  The umbrellas at the tables by the pool hadn’t even been closed, and one of them had blown out of the center hole of the table and was on the ground blowing around.  After we got done showering, I turned on the news to check on the storm.  It was in San Francisco already, and moving south towards us.  As we left for work, the rain started, and it rained hard all day long.  There had been warnings of flooding and possible mudslides.  We did hear of areas that had flooding, and some of our elders told us that they had to help push cars out of flooded areas, with the water being almost to their knees….why people drove into that, I don’t know!  We learned that a Safeway store near the office had part of the roof collapse because of the rain.  We were fine.  The storm was to continue into the night, and still rain on Friday, which it did, but not as hard.  

It is really green around here now!  You wouldn’t know they had had a drought.  So different from last year when it was so brown everywhere.  

Saturday we slept in a little…we have been so tired.  Of course, sleeping in means till around 7:30.  After getting some laundry going, and starting on the grocery list, we decided to try calling Tristan to wish him a happy birthday, and we said we may be able to Skype with them later in the day, depending on our schedule and theirs. Tristan told us he was going to be going to a jumping place for part of the afternoon with a friend who had the same birthday.   Then, we went grocery shopping, and did laundry and cleaning.

During the afternoon, I decided to lay down for awhile and rest.  I could have fallen asleep, but luckily Gary came in and asked if I wanted to go to a movie or something.  I knew I needed to get up….too late in the day to nap….and we decided to go to a movie.  The movie we chose to see was the new Dumb and Dumber sequel.  We should have skipped it….most sequels just aren’t as good as the first, and this one was pretty crude.

There have been changes in the numbers of missionaries….not only here but all over.  This transfer is a big one for change.  We lose 15 sisters and only get 2 coming in.  Total missionaries going home this time is 20, with 8 coming in.  The numbers of all the missionaries is going down, but more so in the numbers of sisters.  We got so many when the age change happened, and now those girls are the ones leaving.  The numbers are leveling off now.  But, because of the dropping in numbers of missionaries, it is time to make adjustments in areas and housing.  President Mella and the assistants had a difficult time working through this transfer because of all the changes.   Gary is going to be closing 6 apartments now in places we won’t have so many missionaries.  He still has to open 1 or 2 in areas that have been crowded, and those numbers haven’t changed.  It will be a busy January for him.  We are still hopeful that we will get replacements.  However, it won’t be in time to do some of the work of closing and emptying out those apartments, so he has his work cut out for him.

This coming week is transfer week, so the Outgoing Devotional is this evening.  This transfer will be 7 weeks long instead of the usual 6, because of the adjustment for Christmas travel and this current one moved up a week.  The transfer just finishing was only 5 weeks long.  So, the next transfer is Feb. 4th.  For that transfer, we will have 23 going home and 9 coming in.  Another loss in numbers.

Today we had another baptism in the Vietnamese branch, with a meal afterward.  Church was kind of strange today, as the opening prayer was said by a recent convert, and he didn’t start it in the usual way, but it didn’t seem bad, considering he is just learning (and that is our estimation from listening to the translation).  Anyway, after the prayer was finished, the branch president was conferring with his counselor, and the next thing we know, the counselor gets up and says another opening prayer!  So, I guess they didn’t figure the other one counted!  The rest of the meetings went okay, then afterward, we had the baptism.  To start the baptism, the same recent convert who gave the prayer in Sacrament Meeting was the one to give the opening prayer for the baptism, and the same thing happened…he prayed, then the counselor prayed!  Strange….I don’t know what exactly happened, so I need to ask the elders.  It must have been something that we missed in the translation.

Anyway, I was excited that one of our recent converts was going to be doing the baptism!  I like to see them being involved and part of the branch instead of just sitting in meetings and not helping the branch to progress.  Anyway, I guess he didn’t get a lot of training on how to do the baptism, and it was done 3 times because each time some part of her was still above water.  The third time, they stopped, so we all figured it was finally done right. I even commented to Gary that when he baptized Kori, she had to be dunked 3 times.  Well, when the people changed and came back into the room, and it was time for the confirmation, the branch president was in the hall and motioned for either his counselor or the branch mission leader who was conducting the meeting….can’t remember for sure who it was….to come in the hall.  After a brief meeting, they came in the room again, and the next I knew, it was being announced that the closing song was next, and who was giving the prayer. We had no idea what was going on.  Then everyone went into the gym to set up for the little meal.  While there, the branch mission leader came and talked to us.  It turns out that even the 3rd time the lady was baptized, part of her was above water, and the missionaries didn’t know how to handle things without embarrassing the man performing the baptism or the lady being baptized.  So, what we have been told is that it will be redone on Tuesday evening.  I don’t know if the same man will be doing it, or someone else this time.  We were told what time to come if we can.  We said if we didn’t show up, it would be because we are in our busy week, and never can predict what time we will finish each day. 

Okay, that gets us to this point.  Gary plans on calling his dad today to wish him happy birthday, and then we will head to the Outgoing Devotional. 

I can’t remember, did I tell you all to look at the site, christmas.mormon.org and watch the short video?  I know I mentioned it on Facebook, but I don’t think I did here.  A good reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.  I hope that we can all remember the reason for the season, and not get caught up in the commercialism.  

Stay true to the faith! 

December 7, 2014

We just finished watching the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional.  We hooked up the computer to the TV and watched it there.  It is our family tradition to always make sure we watch this.  It is a great way to get the Christmas Spirit going……and we enjoyed it very much!

Last Sunday in church, it had been announced that there was going to be Christmas party in the branch on the following Saturday…..a big meal at noon.  This was the first we had heard of it, so we told them we wouldn’t be able to go, as we had already made arrangements to take Sister Wilks with us to go and see the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto on that Saturday, and wanted to leave in the middle of the day.  We had heard how nice this exhibit was, and hadn’t been able to go to it last year, so we for sure wanted to go.  We planned on inviting Sister Nedreberg too when she got back.  Anyway, I am not familiar with that area, and wanted to be driving in the middle of the day when I could find my way around, not after dark.  Especially if it kept raining!  

When Sister Nedreberg returned from her trip to Louisiana, we asked her, and she was glad to have a ride to go and see it.  So, we made plans to go at noon.  Luckily, the weather cleared up….in fact, when we returned home I noticed the thermostat in the car said it was 72 outside.

The exhibit was really nice!  They set it up in one of the churches up there, and it is up from Saturday till Wednesday.  We learned that the wards that meet in that building just attend other wards during that Sunday that the exhibit is up.  There are musical numbers going on each day too.  While we were there, a woman was playing Christmas songs on a harp….very lovely!

After we got home, we dropped the other two ladies off, and then headed home to change out of our dress clothes so we could go grocery shopping.  

I have to tell of a couple of things that happened this past week.  One day, we had a call from a missionary who had lost their keys.  What had happened, we learned, was that when they had come in one day, they put the keys in the door, had their arms loaded, got inside and shut the door, forgetting that the keys were still in the door.  By the time they remembered….and I don’t know if that same day or the next morning, the keys were gone.  They checked to see if they had been turned in to the apartment manager, but they hadn’t.  So, some quick things needed to be done, as on that ring of keys was the car key too.  So, they got a replacement key up to them (we keep extra car keys and apartment keys in the office because occasionally they lock them in cars or apartments), and then had the zone leader come over and trade vehicles with them, as they live a little ways away.  The car needed to be somewhere else, because whoever took the keys could now walk through the parking lot and just click the keys till he found the one it belonged to.  So that was taken care of.  Then, the apartment manager needed to rekey the door and get them the new keys.  The keys also included one to the laundry area, and their mailbox.  The policy is that when missionaries loses keys, when they get towed, when they get tickets—they are responsible to pay for them.  So, this missionary had to let his mother know.  I don’t know how that went about, but I imagine someone in the office called the mom to let her know.  That is usually what we do.  The mom called the office Friday morning, pretty worried about how she was going to come up with the money.  At that point, we had been told that the rekeying of the apartment, along with the new keys was going to cost $110.  We had already paid it, and so that just means the family has to pay the mission back.  To replace a key costs over $400.  The mom couldn’t believe it could cost that much, so Elder Michie agreed to call her back and explain why it cost so much.  When he finished talking to her, she again made a comment about how to afford all that.  He said to her that when families have problems like this, they should go to their bishop, as wards have a missionary fund they can draw from to help families out, and if the ward didn’t have enough, the stake also has a fund.  So, he said, you need to go and talk to your bishop.  She said, can’t you talk to him?  He said, no, it is your responsibility to talk to him.  She said, but he’s my husband!  We all got a chuckle over that one!  But I do feel for the family, and for the young man involved.  I think a lot of that young man.  Things like this happen…..they still are young when dealing with life.

Another experience this past week was Senior Family Home Evening on Monday night.  The new couple, the Conner’s, didn’t show up.  I kept thinking, did they forget?  Should I have said something else to them just before we left?  But we thought we had mentioned it during the day.  We didn’t have their phone number on us, so we couldn’t call.  Anyway, as we left, we consoled ourselves thinking that maybe a phone call came up and so they missed the home evening to talk to family or something.  We didn’t learn until the next morning what had happened.  They had gotten into a car accident on the way home from the office.  It was dark and raining, and as they were driving on Blossom Hill Road, getting ready to go onto the freeway (85), the car in front of them slammed on the brakes to avoid some people who were crossing the street right at the freeway on ramp!  So, the Conner’s slammed on their brakes and veered to the right, and for one second felt like they had just avoided a disaster, when they got slammed into from behind.  Sister Conner said she called 911, and was told by the dispatcher that the cops don’t come for accidents like that, since everyone was okay.  The girl who slammed into them, her car was undrivable, and had to have a tow truck.  She was very distraught, and Sister Conner was trying to console her, all the while the girl kept saying how sorry she was that she had hit them.  When the tow truck driver got there, Sister Conner was talking to him, saying she was surprised the cops didn’t come, he wasn’t surprised and was amazed when she said that back home in North Carolina they would,and she was saying that the people who had stepped into the road in front of them, crossing at an on ramp like that, ought to be ticketed because they had caused the accident.  The tow truck driver said that stuff like that happen all the time….some people look at it as a way to make a lot of money if they get hit.  So strange around here!  The Conner’s are okay, they were just a little sore at first, and they have to get the car repaired……but they are okay, thank goodness!

This last week we also had a guest speaker come to the MLC (mission leadership council—which consists of the Zone Leaders and the STL’s — Sister Training Leaders) meeting on Friday…….Steve Young!  I heard he was an amazing speaker.  He lives in Palo Alto I believe, and I have heard he is the Gospel Doctrine teacher in his ward.  Well, President Mella has known him for years, and so got him to come and speak.  After he spoke, the missionaries headed into the gym to get a group picture with him.  Gary came to get me, because I usually miss any group pictures while I am working in the office, and I always miss the group pictures at Zone Conferences, as I am the only one behind manning the office.  So, he figured I ought to be in one before we finish our mission!  We had been standing off to the side, and were told we weren’t in the picture, so we were working on scrunching in closer together when Steve grabbed us and moved us to the front, where we kneeled down by him!  Cool!  

Here is the group picture with Steve Young.

November 30, 2014

Last day of the month!  I know it is a constant thing we keep saying, but where did the month go?

Monday, normal work day, except Elder Michie was filling in for Sister Nedreberg as the vehicle coordinator.  She flew last Thursday to Louisiana to help out with a new grandchild.  He was able to fill in for her, as he has been assisting her for sometime.  When she got called to the position, I had made the comment that if I had been called, I would have turned it down!  It would be over my head to deal with cars, repair shops, and everything else the position entails.  She felt she was up to the task, but it has turned out to be pretty overwhelming, which is why Elder Michie has been assisting her.  He has a lot of knowledge about cars that is invaluable to her.

Tuesday we had missionaries in the office for interviews, plus the morning was the Advanced Orientation training for those who arrived a transfer ago.  So, plenty of missionaries in the office. 

Wednesday was a normal day.  President was out doing interviews in other areas.  Elder and Sister Michie headed to Napa for the Thanksgiving holiday to spend with with their son and family, so it was just Sister Wilks, Elder & Sister Conner, and Gary and I in the office.  It was pretty quiet in the afternoon, and we finally shut the office up at about 4:50 and headed home.

Thursday was a nice day!  We slept in an hour, watched some of the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, Gary watched some football.  I spent time getting the few Christmas cards we send out ready.  We just sent to our children and our parents.  Plus I had several birthday cards to get ready to mail…..December is a busy birthday month for us as well.  It was good to have some extra time to address and write notes in the cards, instead of always feeling so rushed.  We started getting ready at 3 to head to Thanksgiving dinner at Bob and Linda Crawford’s house.  We met Sister Wilks at the office and took her with us.  It was a very enjoyable evening, as it always is at their house.  Great food and great company!  Also present were two of the Crawford’s children and families, and the 4 Vietnamese elders and the 2 employment resource center sisters.  The daughter of the Crawford’s who was present is the one who lives in Klamath Falls and knows Susie!   We ended the evening close to 8, and headed for home.  We needed to get ready for work the next day, so couldn’t stay too late.  Oh, during dinner, we were talking how the employment sisters had Friday off and were heading to the temple.  They had invited Sister Wilks to go along, but as we had to work, she had said she couldn’t.  Well, as we sat there, I said, you know, I’m sure we will be fine in the morning. It will probably be slow, so why don’t you go ahead and go to the temple.  She was excited to be able to, so she took us up on it

Friday, as predicted, was pretty slow.  Which was good, since I was covering for Sister Wilks while she went to the temple.  I was able to answer the phone and take care of my work too.  Gary was in Salinas doing things pertaining to his job, so it was just the Conner’s and I in the office.  President Mella was doing interviews in Monterey.  When the Conner’s got ready to leave at 2 to head to a doctor appointment with a missionary, they expressed concern about leaving me alone in the office, but I told them it wasn’t a problem, I knew Gary would be back soon, as well as Sister Wilks.  In fact, they ran into Sister Wilks outside in the parking lot….she had just returned as they were leaving.  And Gary wasn’t too much later.

Saturday, we did our usual chores in the morning, starting with going grocery shopping right after breakfast to hopefully get done before too many people in the store.  The plan worked fine, but I don’t know about some employees around here….they wouldn’t be able to keep a job out our way.  The cashier was so slow!  She was busier chatting with the person ahead of us that checking out the food!  When it was finally our turn, we told her we would bag the groceries….we wanted to hurry it along!  Seriously, I don’t know how people like that even get hired, or keep a job.  When I say slow, I mean slow.  We got home to do the chores, and I needed to make bread.  Then, we left at about 3:40 to head and meet Sister Wilks again at the office.  We had planned on heading up to Oakland for a Christmas program in the auditorium on temple hill, and see the Christmas lights.  The program was really great!  But, it was raining when we went outside and saw the lights, so we didn’t stay long.  Just started for home.  Plus the drive was better than usual.  After the last 2 times of heading to the temple the usual way up 880, with all the traffic, and being in stop and go traffic heading home, we decided to go the other way up 680.  A little longer in length…..about 7 miles longer…..but the traffic moved so much easier that I think it was faster.  I don’t enjoy that road as well, though, as it is rougher and curvier.  But, oh, well!

Today, Sunday, it was raining again.  I guess I need to say here that it has rained more the last couple of weeks than it did the whole last year.  Last year at this time, we had the one rainstorm in October, then nothing else.  As I have mentioned before, they have been in a drought around here.  In February, all of the area had fasted for rain, which we got right after that, and then nothing much more till this fall.  And, we can see a difference.  Last year, the hills around here were brown until January.  This year, with the rain, they are already greening up.  Anyway, back to today.  Went to Church, during the last hour Relief Society and Priesthood were combined because it was the 5th Sunday.  Sister Shelton, Sister Janette and I were supposed to teach together on Music.  So, we started. Janette was to start and do the basic things about music, and I was going to teach them to conduct while Sister Shelton played the piano.  Well, Janette pretty much covered it all (no complaints here!), and even got into the conducting.  It is so much smoother when she teaches because she talks in Viet, where I would require a translator.  It was an informative meeting for the members of the branch.  As Janette had pointed out to me, they have never had any musical training whatsoever.  In Vietnam, the only people who would get music training would be from rich families, which none of these people would have been.  So, they needed to understand the basics of music to even sing the songs, and we wanted to teach them to be able to conduct if ever called to that position.

Now we are home, and have had dinner.  I made a pasta salad to take tomorrow night to Senior Family Home Evening, and will make a pan of brownies too in just a bit.  Can you believe that tomorrow is December?  

Oh, good news!  We learned from the Crawford’s on Thursday, that there may be someone from their stake who will be turning in their papers to serve a mission, and they plan on taking our spots!  So, it looks like we will be heading home in February as planned!  Nothing official on that yet, but hopefully things will move along and become official soon.  That was good news…….as we have only 11 weeks to go!  We will keep you all informed as we learn anything.

Thanks again to those who have written or sent cards!  Oh, and this is a reminder for my grandchildren……color us some Christmas pictures so we can hang them up to decorate our apartment for Christmas.  We have no other decorations.  

We have started gathering boxes from the office and bringing them home.  We will be boxing up some clothing items to mail home in a month, after the holidays are over probably.  We have bought some clothing since coming here, and we know we were loaded when we arrived, so we will have to send some home to have room in the car!

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Christmas message the missionaries are sharing this month, check out this site:  christmas.mormon.org

It is a short video clip reminding us all of the first gift of Christmas.  It is a very good message that we all need to be reminded of.  The church has paid for advertising on Youtube to advertise this video too.  I think it is next Sunday that it will be the main ad on the page.

So, my message to end this letter/journal entry today is this:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

Believe!

November 23, 2014

Almost the end of November….where did the month go?   I sit here and try to think what happened this past week, and can’t even think of anything that stands out!  Well, except for yesterday.  Our Vietnamese branch had a social yesterday…..Thanksgiving dinner!  And it was quite a feast.  About everything you would have at a regular Thanksgiving dinner, with also some Vietnamese food and even corn dogs and pizza!  Lots and lots of food!  I am glad the social began at noon so I had time for the food to settle before bedtime….I was stuffed, and I only took little portions of the food, and I didn’t even take some of everything!

Friday night after work, we came home and dropped off our stuff, got the grocery list, and headed to get groceries.  I was assigned to take sweet potatoes and rolls for the social on Saturday, and needed stuff for that. Plus, we hadn’t been shopping for awhile, since our Saturdays have been so busy the last few weeks, and tomorrow was out too.  We got home and just had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and that was about 7:30.  An hour later and we were getting ready for bed.  The hours go way too quickly!  When I got up Saturday morning, I started mixing up a batch of rolls to take.  I had also bought some, because knew I wouldn’t have the time nor the pans to make enough for the social…..or so I thought!  Turns out the Vietnamese people aren’t as big on eating rolls as it would be for a family party!  We had lots left over, and I was sending them home with people…starting with the Elders.  We had about half a casserole dish left of the sweet potatoes too…..guess they don’t really care for them either.  But, we stopped at the Michie’s…..they were going to a Spanish Thanksgiving feast at 7…..and gave them the rest of the sweet potatoes they could take for their dinner.

When we got home from the social, we had to get our chores and laundry done.  We pretty much skipped cleaning last week, and I hadn’t washed the sheets for 2 weeks since I didn’t have time last Saturday.  And, I hadn’t done the ironing for several weeks…..just been wearing the things that don’t require ironing during that time.  I don’t know why so many of my things need to be ironed!  But I am glad when I do the ironing so I have a little more variety in my clothing choices!

Saturday morning, we had a call from Sophie…..she wanted to Face Time with us, which we did, to show us her top tooth was out, and the one next to it was loose and would soon come.  I told her to learn the song “All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth”  so she could sing it to me when the other one comes out.

Saturday was also Christian’s 13th birthday, so we Face Timed with them that late afternoon to wish him a happy birthday.  I have 4 teenage grandsons now……crazy to think that they are growing up way too fast!

Just learned from Shelley today that Hunter, who has been in a little kids cross country group in their town (he is only 8, remember), just ran in a regional cross country meet and qualified for nationals, which they will pass on as it is in South Carolina and close to the time they are heading to Texas for Christmas.  He ran an 8:15 mile……WAY TO GO HUNTER!!!!   Shelley says he outruns her!

After church today, I needed to stay after for a bit……Sister Janette, Sister Shelton and I are doing the 5th Sunday lesson next week together (on music) and needed to coordinate what we are doing.

Last Thursday, Sister Nedreberg left for Louisiana I think it was, where she just got a new grand baby.  The mother had to have a C-section, so she will be gone for about 12 days so she can help some.  Elder Michie is subbing for her as vehicle coordinator during this time.

Well, I must have the gift of gab, because this has turned out longer than I thought it would be!

Oh, we also hit our 15 month mark this past week….crazy!  The end is really in sight now!   Oh, we also learned from our branch high councilman that the stake presidency was discussing the fact that we are in need of a replacement couple for us in the office.  The stake presidencies in the mission boundaries have been contacted to see if any local people would be willing to serve a mission in the office.  We are praying that someone will have a desire to serve.  We have told our mission president that we don’t exactly HAVE to leave on Feb. 19th if they don’t have a replacement yet, so he doesn’t have to worry so much about it.  But we do hope that we will have replacements so that we can go home as planned.  Our mail will no longer be able to be forwarded after the middle of February, and we both need doctor and dentist checkups.  So it will be nice to be able to go home and get those things taken care of.  So, we could use some prayers going up in our behalf……so that someone will have a desire to fill a mission and turn in their papers in time for our normal release time.

We appreciate all the prayers said on behalf of all the missionaries!  

Keep the faith!

November 16, 2014

This past week was a transfer week again….number 11 of 13.  

Monday was a regular work day.    Monday night we talked to Traci and the boys:  Nathan, Kyler and Tristan.  It was great visiting with them!  Scott wasn't home....he is always busy!

Tuesday was the day that the office was full of missionaries for the transfer meeting, and the ones leaving went to the temple after the meeting.  As it was Veteran's Day, there was no mail that day.   It was a late day for me.  I worked until 6:15, and got home just after 6:30.  Gary was already home as he had to take the truck home because we needed it first thing in the morning to help with transferring all the missionaries leaving to the airport.  I had a message to call President Shelton, our branch president.  He wanted to ask me to do the scripture in Sacrament Meeting Sunday……we don’t have youth, so that is sort of like giving a youth talk.  You read a scripture and talk about it for a little bit, explaining more about it or why you liked it, etc.  I agreed to do it, but knew that my time to even think about it was extremely limited with this busy week.  

Wednesday morning, we left before 7 a.m., and took the truck to the mission home to load up the luggage for the airport.  The Michie’s were also helping as well as the Crockett’s.  We got to the airport and got everyone to their terminals.  Sister Mella took the ones to the other terminal (there were just 3 going there).  However, she had forgotten her purse, so she took Gary’s office credit card to use to pay for the luggage for those missionaries.  So we weren’t much help in checking out missionaries.  The AP’s had the other office card, and they were amazing how fast they worked in checking everyone’s luggage!  Plus President Mella had his card and was working with some too.  We finally helped a couple of them who were in a different line for a different airline than the majority of them.  And the AP’s ran over when it was time to pay for the luggage.  When we were helping our last person, there was a glitch.  His itinerary showed him arriving in one city in his state, but the airline person said she showed a different one.  It turns out that the airline had changed the flight after it had been booked, and we didn’t know anything about it.  So, she made a phone call, and then did some magic and got it worked out for him to arrive where he had been told (and where his parents would be waiting!)  

Then we went up where everyone else was, and they started sending missionaries through security at the appropriate times.  They just sat visiting with us until their times came.  Then the good-byes.

We had 27 leaving this time, and 29 coming in…..28 from the MTC and 1 that was being reassigned to our mission after being home for medical reasons.

So after we sent off the missionaries, we waited for the incoming to get there.  Then, loaded up their luggage in the truck and in the Crockett’s vehicle, then we headed back to the mission home to unload, while President and Sister Mella, the AP’s and the new missionaries headed to San Jose Stake to do the initial contacting activity they always do when they arrive.  Then they came back to the office for lunch.  By then we were back working.

Thursday turned out to be a crazy day.  Normally, we begin at 8 with our office orienting.  Sister Nedreberg goes over the cars, I cover the finances and baptism records, and Gary goes over housing and the missionary supplies in the office.  Sister Wilks has a part, and medical has a part.  Well, we got there early to be ready for the meeting.  I wanted to allow plenty of time, as I hate being rushed, and wanted to review what I was covering and get everything ready.  Well, when we arrived there were no missionaries there yet, so Sister Nedreberg and I rushed around setting up the breakfast items in the cultural hall for them, thinking they were really running late.  When they finally arrived, we learned that the time had been changed to 9--only the office staff hadn't been notified of the change!

Then it just went from bad to worse.  We didn't do it in our usual order.  The medical took longer than they usually do (but, we have a new mission nurse, and she probably hadn't been told how long to take).  We are always on a time schedule, because the meeting where the new missionaries get placed with their companions starts at a specific time.  Anyway, it was almost time for that meeting to start and we (Gary and I and Sister Wilks) hadn't been in for our orienting parts yet.  We were told we needed to speed things up, so that just flustered me more.  I only take 10-15 minutes usually, but to cut it even more and to try to decide what to leave out when what I cover is pretty important....their funding cards and baptism records.  Plus, when I was told they were ready for us, I had missionaries in my office doing things, and it was hard to break away.  I had been taking payments from missionaries who were purchasing items, and receiving baptism records and going over them with the missionaries to make sure they were complete.  Then, to leave the office, I have to lock the money box away, and close out the computer enough so that no one can get on and see anything they shouldn't.  So that slowed me down.  And, during my presentation, I realized I hadn't done one thing to get ready for the meeting that I should have done, so that was another fluster.  It all worked out in the end, but just turned out to be a very frustrating morning.  I think that part of the confusion was because we have new AP's who have never been through a transfer before, so they are just learning their jobs too.  I did ask President if next time I can go on earlier.  It just is very difficult for me to be at the end of the time, when all the missionaries are arriving in the building and needing me for one thing or another.  I feel I am being pulled in two directions at once.  I really preferred the 8 a.m. starting time, because I would be done with my part before 9 when the office officially opens up, and the phone calls come in as well as the missionaries.

This transfer was the first time that the AP’s did all the computer transfer stuff.  I just had to remind them to be sure to click submit so that it started processing and I had time to get my reports printed out.  They got the Tuesday one submitted in time, but for that day I just print out a temporary phone list so we know how to reach everyone, and we use the addresses on the computer if we get a phone call asking for new addresses, or for Sister Wilks to print out forwarding labels for mail.  On Thursday, after the transfer meeting, the AP’s were a little slower entering the information than I have been in the past, so I was not able to have the new reports printed Thursday afternoon as I had done before.  I did get a master copy printed at the end of the day, so that Friday morning I could get right on printing all copies out and getting them distributed, and the ones emailed I needed.  Plus, the Advanced Orientation meeting was postponed which actually helped me to get more done on Friday.  I got the apartment manager letters out, and the apartment inspectors information scanned and emailed to them.  And that was even with the confusion that day of having people in the office trying to finally get us networked!  There was a period if time I couldn’t use my computer, and then when I could, a portion of time that I couldn’t access internet while they worked on those things.  And, part of the time I couldn’t access the stamp machine for all my letters.   But, all in all, I did get my work done all right.  We just ended up staying an hour later.

One thing that happened Friday…..the Viet elders stopped by in the afternoon to drop off something from Ann Nguyen.  They just left it in my office and didn’t say it needed to be refrigerated or anything, and as I was busy I never even looked inside the bag to see what it was.  I worked late that day….till about 6, and by the time we got home at about 6:30 I finally looked in the bag and saw it was food!  Since it had been sitting out for several hours, I was afraid to eat it….I didn’t want to take the chance of getting sick.  So, I had to throw it away.  I felt bad, and I told Ann today at church that I had to apologize to her, and explained what had happened.

Then, Saturday, we had a missionary meeting scheduled from 2-5 in Oakland at the Interstake Center which is located on the temple grounds.  We were told to arrive by 1:30 and be in our seats by 1:45.  We were combining with the San Francisco/Oakland mission for this meeting, and were going to be addressed by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve.  He was in town for things having to do with the 50th anniversary of the Oakland Temple.  He was speaking to us that afternoon, and then to the young single adults in the evening.  We planned on carpooling with the Mitchie’s, and they were riding with us.  So, we decided to just go to the temple earlier and go through a session ahead of time.  We left here at 9 a.m.  We planned on going through the 10:45 session and had allowed time for traffic.  We got there fine that morning, moving along well in traffic.  After the session, we planned on going back to the car to eat a sandwich, then walk to the Interstake Center for the meeting.  

Well, as we were waiting in the chapel to go to the temple session, we got a pleasant surprise!  It was announced that Elder and Sister Bednar were going to be in our session too!!  And when we got up to the room, we found that not only were they going to be in our session, but they were the witness couple!  How cool is that!  And we participated in the prayer circle, so that was an experience of a lifetime.

The meeting was great!  A lot of question and answer time for the missionaries.  After it was over, we headed home.  And the freeway was moving very, very slowly.  Like 20 mph for quite a long time, and stopping a lot too.  I will not be sad to be away from these freeways!  The traffic is just horrendous…..doesn’t matter the day or time.

When we got home, I hurried to start preparing for Sunday’s scripture, and reviewing my lesson for Relief Society.  I am so glad I had time a couple of weeks ago to prepare this lesson, as my time available this week was zero, and I knew it would be.

This morning, I wrote up some notes for Sacrament meeting (the scripture and what I wanted to say), gathered up my stuff and headed to church.  All went well.  I was a little nervous about Relief Society because I had planned something that I wasn’t sure how it would go over, as I rarely get any response from the ladies.  Anyway, the lesson, which is from the Latter-day Saint Woman part A, lesson 16, was on Family Home Evening.  I had wanted to do the activity we had done for Senior FHE at the beginning of the month…..have them draw slips of paper with an object written on one paper, and then drawing from another envelope with a Gospel Principle written on another paper, and tying the object to the principle someway.  [I had had the Viet Elders help me in getting the objects and principles translated into Vietnamese ahead of time.]  Since the ladies rarely participate, I knew this part could bomb.  Janette happened to be there in Relief Society today, thank goodness!  I started with her, thinking she would understand what I was trying to explain since she speaks English very well.  The ones who don’t speak English got it through the translator, so I was hoping by seeing it done, they would understand better.  She did great!  Then I went to another person I thought would do great, My Den, and she was super!  So they got the idea I was trying to portray.  I had told them several times that there was no right or wrong answer, that actually there could be several ideas for the same papers.  So, then I got brave and asked for a volunteer, and got one, and I even got some of the very quiet people involved!  Everyone did a great job, and it was the best I have felt after a lesson, that they were involved, and that they gained something from it.  I just hope they got the idea that FHE is for everyone, and even if they are a single person, they can get together with someone else and discuss the gospel, or study, or even play games like we did today.  They did seem to enjoy the lesson today at least!  I told them I have always been one who loves playing games!

So, now we are to this evening and I am typing up my journal and getting ready for the blog.

Today was a monumental day for our family…..Shelley turned 30!  All my kids are now in their 30’s.  However, this day is one Kori said she has been dreading.  Because they are 10 years apart, that means on her next birthday she will be turning 40!   I just don’t know how they can be that old already….where has the time gone?

Thursday night we had the chance to talk to Jeff’s kids…..the first time in a long time.  It was great hearing their voices and hearing what they have been doing.  Jackson sounds so old now…his voice has changed.  He is in 8th grade now, so will be starting high school next year, as will Nathan.  Jackson broke his arm during football, and ended up having to have surgery on it.  He is able to use it now, and has had some therapy in getting it back to normal.  Kaden and Brooklyn sounded great too.  We look forward to seeing all the grandkids again when we finish our mission, and spending lots of time with them, watching some of their activities.

In the meantime, we work hard here, trying to do our part in moving the missionary work forward.  Our numbers are going to start dropping and then leveling off.  The rise in numbers was when the age was lowered.  Now we will get to normal numbers.  So now we will be in the process of having the President and the AP’s figure out area changes, and as apartments come up for renewal of leases, making decisions as to which ones to close.  

In closing, I will leave some thoughts from our meeting yesterday:

Agency is the capacity to act, not be acted upon.  We are agents, not objects.  

When we pray, we need to ask to know, and then DO.  When we have faith in Christ, we act first then the power comes.  When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the water parted after they stepped into the water.  Objects expect the answer without doing much to get it.

Quit talking about it—go DO it!  (an example of this:  prayers that ask that those who weren’t here this week will come next week.  He said we just go do it….go to the homes. Help them to want to come to church.  Be proactive about it.)

Try to be happy about what your are doing.

Begin with the end in mind.

The Holy Ghost carries the message unto the heart, not into the heart.  We exercise our agency in receiving it into our heart.

Teaching is more listening than talking.  We need eyes that see and ears that hear to discern. 

There are different patterns of learning and teaching.  Try different ones.

Get up and try!   The Lord will help you do things you don’t think you can do.

An interesting question that was asked the missionaries:  What would your mission president teach you if he didn’t have to worry about what you were doing right now?

And, in answer to a question on how to best sustain leaders, specifically our mission president:  To sustain your mission president, make it so he doesn’t have to worry about you.

We are dependent upon Christ.  We need to overcome the natural man—by the Holy Ghost and with the power of the atonement.

In closing, I pray that we can all quit talking about it and DO IT!  Do what we need to do to overcome the natural man, and become more Christlike.  

Have a great week!