Missionary Memories: January 4, 2015

The ending of 2014 and the beginning of 2015.

When I last wrote, we had the last days before Christmas ahead of us. We had Scott’s birthday Monday, Dec. 22nd, so we chatted with him and his family a bit that evening. Monday and Tuesday were regular work days. Wednesday, we had the big mission breakfast and all the activities that were planned for that day. The senior’s were to help with the breakfast. Elder & Sister Layton put it all together……what an undertaking! They were super at the job, but were so tired when it was all done! Because of helping before the breakfast actually started (we were to be there at 6:30 a.m. to start preparing the food….breakfast was to start at 8 a.m., but was actually closer to 8:30 before starting), and helping with the clean up afterward, most of the seniors missed the beginning of the talent show which followed the breakfast. I also had arranged with Sister Withers to sit in the office for deliveries that came in that morning, so I met her at 8:45 to let her in the building, and Gary and I loaded up all of the boxes that had accumulated the last days before Christmas. We had things loaded both in the truck and in our car. When we got back to the party, which was being held in the San Felipe building (about 10 minutes from the office), we got some elders to help us unload all the stuff and get it arranged by zones at the back of the cultural hall. Then Gary and I got a plate of food to eat, because we didn’t have time before we had to leave, ate our breakfast at the back of the closed divider curtain while the talent show was beginning, then I went and started helping with dishes in the kitchen. After I was done, I went and watched the end of the talent show. We have some very talented young missionaries! Then, we got a call from Sister Whithers….there had been some more packages delivered, so I headed back to pick them up. We wanted to have all the packages available for the missionaries to get while they were in town. After the talent show, everyone divided up by zones to do a little gift exchange. Gary and I had already missed out at this point, so I just went to find Sister Willks and let her know that I was heading back to the office to relieve Sister Withers so she didn’t have to stay any longer. It was kind of her to help, and I didn’t want to over-do it. By now it was after noon. The talent show went over the time they had thought it would be. After the gift exchange, everyone was to gather in the chapel for a devotional meeting. After that, there was a movie for the missionaries to watch. So, by the time it was all said and done, the missionaries didn’t head out till about 3 I think it was. Gary and I had headed back to work before the gift exchange was totally completed and everyone had gathered for the devotional. There were some additional packages delivered, and I called Sister Wilks to give her a list of those who had just received packages, so she could tell them to stop by the office to pick them up before leaving town.

Thursday morning early, Gary and I headed to the airport to fly to Houston. Kori picked us up at the airport, and had Shelley and Ayla in the car with her. Ayla had been looking forward to seeing Grammy, but had fallen asleep. So, I sat by her and cuddled with her all the way to Kori’s house, with her sleeping the whole time! She finally woke up as we got to Kori’s. Then it was hello’s to Kori’s family and the rest of Shelley’s family. Melissa’s family arrived a little later in the afternoon, then we had a great Christmas dinner! Friday, we hung out with everyone. I took a walk with Melissa in the morning. Late morning, a bunch of us headed to the park, where several played tennis, and I hung out at the playground with Ayla and Emilie. We also all loaded up and drove to the place where Brendan did his Eagle Project so we could see what he did. He had made a boardwalk in a nature trail area. I will put some pictures of it at the end. There were a few who took off that afternoon for a movie. Friday night, it was the adults who left to go out to dinner together. Late Friday night, Diane, Buddy’s mom, arrived. Saturday, it started to rain. We all headed to a movie together that afternoon. We went to see “Into the Woods”. During the movie I started coughing, but I thought I had a piece of popcorn stuck in my throat, and kept trying to get another drink to clear it out. Well, it turns out it was the beginning of a cold hitting me. I started feeling pretty yucky on Sunday. We went to church. When we got home I took a nap. The birthday dinner was at 3 for Logan. The baptism was at 6 p.m. I was not feeling very good by now, but made it through the baptism talk and the rest of the evening. We packed up, and were on an early flight again on Monday. It wasn’t a very fun trip. I slept the most I have ever slept on an airplane, and my ears hurt. We got home, went into the office and worked for a few hours, getting what had to get done, then headed home to bed. I had a bad cough, and my sinuses were killing me. Tuesday, we went in to work, only worked 2 hours, then headed home, stopping by Target on the way to get some more cold medicine and cough drops. We both went to bed at noon, thinking we would take a nap and then head back to the office after. Oh, yes, by now Gary is also sick. But, we slept from noon to 6 p.m., woke up for 2 hours, then back to sleep. Wednesday morning, we didn’t set an alarm, and we slept until almost 9. We got up, dressed, and I looked up a walk-in clinic I could go to. I was pretty sure I needed real meds by now. It turns out I have bronchitis and a sinus infection. We went to the office after that and worked a few hours again……each day trying to get the bare minimum done that we had to do. Then we went home to rest. It was good having New Years Day to just chill. On Friday, we headed into the office and worked a full day, but I was feeling it by the end of the day. I was starting to drag. Saturday we slept in, doing the bare minimum that had to be done around here, and getting a few groceries. Today, Sunday, we decided to just go to Sacrament Meeting. Then we came home to nap again. After we napped, Traci called and I talked to her and the kids for a bit. Then I called Jeff, hoping I would catch the kids there….no luck at that, but I had a good visit with Jeff. I felt bad that we hadn’t called Kaden on his birthday Monday, but we were just wiped out with being sick that day.

This next week is going to be a full week. Starting with Senior Family Home Evening tomorrow night. We also have Elder Cook coming to town for a mission visit.

We learned when we got home last Monday that it wouldn’t have mattered if we had gone to Texas or not….we probably would have gotten sick. Sickness has been going around the mission too. Even President Mella has been sick.

It has been colder here lately, but the weather is supposed to change to warmer again this week. Maybe that will help us all get over our colds and coughs! It just is a pain, because coughs hang on with me for weeks afterward all the time.

We have been blessed to have had good health for the most part of this mission, so we are grateful for that. Now to just get over these colds and get back to our full strength again! Gary especially has a lot on his plate right now with getting a lot of apartments emptied out and closed.

Oh, the news of the week is that we finally had our replacements pop into the mission system! It shows them arriving here Feb. 6th, which means they will start on Monday, Feb. 9th. So, we probably will adjust the day we leave here to give them a full 2 weeks of training. We had planned on leaving Feb. 19th, our release date, but will now wait until Monday, Feb. 23rd to begin the drive home. I just hope we can get everything taught that they need to learn. When we came, we were told that the plan was to have 4 weeks of training in the office, and we actually ended up with 5 weeks. Plus, we trained over a transfer to learn what needs to be done then. We won’t be training over a transfer. They will arrive just after a transfer. So, we are now to the point that we can say we leave next month! We are glad that we have been able to serve this mission, and we know it is important being the “behind the scenes” workers in the mission. We will miss seeing the young missionaries on a daily basis, but hope to keep in contact with so many of them during the future, and get invited to weddings someday! There are a number who go to school at BYU-I, so we may be able to see some of them.

We love the Gospel! We love hearing of the conversion stories, and the young missionaries’ experiences. The Gospel has blessed our lives in so many ways.

Keep smiling and serving, wherever you are!