June 22, 2014
Well, this was a steady, busy week for me. Gary was out of the office a bit more this week than last doing his things…..dropping off to missionaries, picking up from missionaries, moved shampoo machines around to get the carpets shampooed. He keeps a spreadsheet of when the carpets are shampooed and tries to keep on top of it. When we arrived here, because of the large influx of missionaries and the last housing coordinator being so busy trying to keep up with the growth, some of the apartment carpets were pretty disgusting looking as they hadn’t been shampooed for awhile. That was Gary’s goal, to get them all cleaned and on a schedule every 6 months. There is a black grit in the air around here that gets tracked in on the carpets, and they definitely need cleaning. Plus, the ones that park their bikes inside are tracking in more stuff. He has tried to make sure that they have tarps to park their bikes on, and some small rugs by the doors to catch some of the dirt. That black grit we can see even around the edge of our tub. It just gets dirty fast. It shows on the cars too, they get dirty looking fast. With the shampooing, he has to keep after the missionaries to make sure they do it when they have the machines…..some like to put it off a few weeks, and Gary wants the machines moving around to get them all done. We have nearly 100 apartments that he is over, so it is really a regular thing to keep them shampooed. Even in our apartment, when we think we are keeping things vacuumed and cleaned well….when I walk around with socks on you can see how dirty they get. Yucky!
We have been doing things to get ready to open 2 new apartments…..I have to get cashiers checks from our bank account to pay the first months’ rent, and then get reimbursed from the mission. This is a crazy thing….that there is no other way to get these cashiers checks! Luckily we have money in our savings account to draw from! We are also waiting for word on another apartment—whether they approve us or not—so we can move forward with adding them as a vendor and getting the applications all filled out. It is quite a process that Gary goes through to get an apartment. The 2 new ones that we just got are to replace one we had where we got an eviction notice because the building had been sold. Some sister missionaries live there. We move 2 of the sisters out on the 30th and the other 2 on the 11th of July. The apartment we are waiting to hear about still is to replace one because we got an eviction notice that they don’t want us there anymore…..elders live there, and apparently have annoyed either some other renters or management somehow, so they want us out. That is a first that we have seen. So, that is what Gary is working on this coming week. Plus, on the other 2, we both have to sign the papers tomorrow, so we are taking a trip up to Redwood City. Most of the time, he just has to sign the papers alone, but this place requires 2 signatures.
This last week was a bit stressful for me. On my last deposit, I had an excess of money..$25.70..and couldn’t figure out where it was supposed to go. So, that bugged me all week, and I didn’t have time with missionaries in the office every day, to think it through and try to find it….until Thursday. Then, I finally found a deposit that I didn’t get recorded and that is why it was off. Phew!!!! That took a load off my shoulders when I found that! That is the one thing that is so hard for me when there are lots of missionaries in the office buying things or paying for things…..trying to keep it all straight and getting it all recorded properly. I just have a cash box that I put payment money in and get change from, and it all is entered into the computer. When the missionaries line up and are all coming in quickly, and phone calls are coming in etc., I usually take the money and clip it to the bill and stack them up to enter in the computer when the kids are gone. This one that I made the error on was a partial payment on a bill, and I didn’t take the time to write out a new receipt, just wrote on the current one that that amount had been paid, and filed that back in the folder of unpaid bills. I have to have another receipt to go with every payment, so that one I didn’t get written was the one that threw me off. I sure hope that doesn’t happen again!
Missionaries have been in the office the last 2 weeks because of interviews. They aren’t finished yet, so there should still be interviews going on this week. This is the last week for the current mission president. Saturday the new one arrives.
In planning our long weekends to go to grandchildren baptisms, I was working around transfer weeks….we can’t be gone then—too much to do! Those are my busiest weeks. But, I forgot to check the calendar for other events, and happened to pick weeks of zone conferences…hopefully the new president will be understanding of us being gone the ends of those 2 times. Crazy that both of them ended up on zone conference times rather than interview times! I will have to get someone to be in the office then, as usually I am the only one there when the rest go to the conferences. I hope it isn’t too difficult to find me a sub! As for Gary, he goes to the conferences and has a little presentation he does, about 15 minutes, so it should be fine for him I’m sure. Unless the new president plans on using the office staff a little more at that time. The other thing Gary does at zone conferences is help with the car inspections, but hopefully that will work out okay too. Oh, well, the first one is set in stone, reservations made. The other one is pretty much set too, just waiting for the okay to start making plane reservations. So it all has to work out okay!
Crazy thing happened Monday….when I got the mail, there was a bill for a toll charge for crossing the Golden Gate bridge——back in October!!! It was for $6. The way the Bay bridge toll systems work, we have learned, is they photo your license plate to bill you. They WANT you to prepay online before crossing the bridges, but we had no idea! We drove across when we were with Melissa and Tim when they were in San Francisco for a medical conference. We thought it was strange that there was no one in the toll booth to pay, and just figured it had to do with the government shut down that was going on at the time. Other things, like Alcatraz, were closed down and you couldn’t go to them. So, we just didn’t worry about it. And then we get this bill in the mail 8 months later! No wonder the state has money problems! Plus, on the way they handle things with cars……we see places that say no parking that people park and are never ticketed, places that are no parking one morning or afternoon a month that they catch lots of people on. We have seen so many cars with expired license plates…..and nothing is ever done. I mean they are way past the dates….like some a year or more over. It is almost a joke! And registering a car isn’t cheap here, so they are losing so much money by not going after them. Only in California!
Wednesday evening I had my first class at the Apple store for my new Mac. It was fun learning things I didn’t know on the operating of it. Problem is, I couldn’t remember it all when I came home, but I didn’t take notes because I was doing the stuff so no time to write it down. I will try to keep taking as many classes as I can while we are here and so close to an Apple store. It takes me about 10 minutes to get to the mall, and another 10 to park and get inside. I hope the more I learn, the more I will remember and be able to use. The next class I signed up for is on iPhoto….that should be fun! I need to remember as much as I can, though, because Elder Michie also got a new Mac and didn’t sign up to have classes, so he wants me to show him what I learn!
Our neighbors have been noisy and partying late an loud again. The Crockett’s have complained to management about it. We hope that the management will take care of the problem, or they will want to move for sure. Part of the problem is that the pool isn’t locked up at 9 like it is supposed to be, and these people pretty much take over the pool with their friends and party loud and late. We will see what happens in the next week, and if it isn’t resolved, Gary will meet with the managers and talk with them. There is no sense making these rules if they aren’t going to enforce them for the benefit of all who live here in such close quarters.
Yesterday, Saturday, after our laundry and cleaning, I went to Gilroy with the other 2 office ladies and went shopping at the outlet mall. I got me a new top and a new pair of shoes. Today I wore the new shoes to church, and got a blister on the back of my left foot! Gotta get them broke in better, I guess!
Well, another busy week ahead! We love hearing from those who email, and talking to our kids on the phone occasionally. I missed face timing with Shelley’s family today, because I was tired and took a little nap during the time she tried to contact us…..sorry Shelley! This darn time zone difference!
We got a letter in the mail from our stake leaders back home written to all the missionaries serving from our stake. It had a good thought in it that I really liked. It was from a Youth Conference talk by Brother Bill McKee on loving the Lord with ALL our heart. Are we ALL in? Are we straddling the threshold with one foot in the world and one on the Lord’s side? The world has things that are not all bad. The family you left behind, your car, or big truck, a girl…etc. (remember, this is written to all missionaries, so this is geared to the young ones). We cannot be truly effective in the work of the Lord until we have both feet on His side of the threshold. Truly committed to the work. Put the world behind us. So we need to think: where do I stand? Am I ALL in? Some days are hard…we all have days like that. We just need to remind ourselves, ask ourselves…am I ALL in?
Have a good week, all of you, and take care! Let us know what is up in your lives!
And let’s work to be ALL IN!!
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