March 9, 2014

March 9, 2014

It’s been a busy two weeks!  Thankfully I had jotted down some notes since I didn’t have a chance to do this earlier.

The last week of February was a slow week for me, but I enjoyed the slowness, knowing that the next one would be busy with transfers.  It was still busy for Gary, though he did have a little slow time.

Hope and Kelley flew in on Friday afternoon, February 28^th.  They came and saw the office and met our fellow office missionaries.  That evening we played pinochle.  Saturday they came back over to hang out with us again (their hotel was on Monterey, just minutes from us…..not the greatest location, but all they did was sleep there, so hopefully okay).  We played pinochle again, waiting for Candice and Katelyn to arrive from Elk Grove (near Sacramento).  Candice had booked a room right next to Hope and Kelley.  When she arrived, it was about 1:30, we all went out to eat at Chili’s.  They had gotten something to eat as they drove over, so Katelyn said all she wanted was dessert.  She got the molten chocolate cake, and ate the whole thing herself!!  Guess she was hungrier than she thought!  After eating, the guys went back to our apartment, and the girls went to the mall.  Hope got a gift for her baby grandson, Austin.  Then we went back to the apartment, and visited the rest of the evening.  Sunday, they went to Sacrament Meeting with us to experience that part of our mission.  They left after that and went to tour the Winchester House, a mansion built by the heir of the maker of the Winchester rifles.  We stayed for the rest of our meetings, then we had a baptism after church.  We left after the baptism, didn’t stay for the meal this time.  Hope and Kelley came back over.  Candice had headed for home.  I fixed my chicken stir fry for dinner; afterwards we played pinochle again.  We played until we needed to leave for the outgoing devotional.  They decided to go back to their hotel till we got back.  We called them as we drove back, they met us here and we played pinochle again.  We were up later Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night than we usually do, but it was sure fun seeing them and playing pinochle with them again!  They left Monday morning.

Monday was a regular day, and that night was Senior Family Home Evening, so another late night.  It was the last one for Sister Chambers and for the Hallman’s.

Transfers were busy, but okay.  I didn’t get all the info. until about 1:30 on Tuesday.  Then I madly worked on getting all the information into the computer.  I worked until 6:15.  When bedtime came, I crashed!   I pushed hard all the rest of the week, getting the reports done as quickly as I could, and the letters out to the apartment managers and the apartment inspectors.

Saturday, we slept in a bit, did our cleaning and laundry, then headed out of the house for our shopping.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day!  We ate lunch at Panera bread store…..thanks to a gift card from Melissa and Tim.  We had never eaten there before…it was yummy!  We had some shopping to do at the mall…..we were trying to find the shirts Gary likes at Penney’s in short sleeve, but they haven’t even come into the store yet.  Crazy….since the weather here is so warm!  Gary’s old shirts have about had it, and he likes the Stafford shirts.  So, we will have to keep checking back.  Anyway, as we were leaving, we walked towards our car past Red Robin.  We had never eaten there before either and it sure smelled good, so we went inside.  Yummy burger!  After the early dinner, we still needed to get groceries, so we headed to do that.  It was a full day, but enjoyable to be out.

Sunday, today, daylight savings began…..yuck!  I hate the time change!  I have been tired all day long!  Many people forgot about the time change, so half the branch was late today.  I taught my lesson on Faith today.  It went well….there was a lot of involvement from the branch members.  That is always my goal, to involve the members.  I always feel good about the lesson if they are involved instead of me just talking and then the translation.  Sister La sent home the vase of flowers with me today.  I would like to drive by and see her house……she must have a beautiful yard!  She brings a vase of flowers every week for church.

Well, this will be an interesting week….we have 2 senior couples arriving tomorrow!  Yeah!  One set will be living here in the same complex we live in, in fact in the same building!    Later this month, we will be getting 3 single senior sisters in the mission.  1 will be replacing Sister Chambers.  The other 2 will be replacing the Clayton’s…..yes, their mission is drawing to a close.  One thing is a certainty on a mission…..change!  Always missionaries coming and going.  Meeting new friends, and saying good-bye to others.

Well, time to close for this week!