Sept. 10-14

Tuesday, September 10, 2013:

Morning came too early.  We decided to keep getting up at 6:15.  Then we don’t feel so rushed as we get ready for work.

I didn’t feel very well today, probably because of being so tired.  But, work went well.  Oh, I forgot to mention, the Cattron’s had told us last night that they had checked out AT&T for internet to get set up for them, and were not impressed, so we told them that that settled it for us then, and told what we had found out about Comcast.  So we are both going with Comcast.  Today at work, I decided to call the Post Office number that the manager of the apartments told me to call to get the mail box set up for us, to get the key.  She had said it could take several days.  I forgot yesterday.  So, I called the 800 number and was on hold at least a half hour……I ended up missing the devotional because of being on hold.  When I finally got someone, they said I needed to call the local Post Office, and they gave me the number.  I called them, and was told the manager was wrong, they can’t do it over the phone, I have to come in and bring my contract.  So I got the paper, took it to the Post Office, and got signed up. They will call me in 3 to 5 business days, then I am to come into the Post Office again to pick up the keys to our box at the apartment complex.  We still didn’t get the internet started…..maybe tomorrow we will go after work to Walmart again and do it.  We found out when we got home that the Cattron’s went to Walmart and got signed up today!

Oh, I forgot to mention, yesterday, we got a letter at the mission office from Missy….she sent us a Chick fil A gift card!  How nice of her!  Now to find where it is located!

Wednesday, Sept. 11

Last week sometime, I think it might have been Friday, was a Zone meeting for the Zone we are in…the San Jose zone.  Today was a District meeting for the San Jose 1^st district.  Zone leaders are Elder Hammond and Elder Atkinson.  District leader is Elder Hullinger.  Both of these meetings are held at the Yerba Buena building, which is where the mission office is.  I have been to both meetings, though in the future, we mostly will be too busy to attend, since the office staff is on a different time table than everyone else, working 9 to 5.  But, since there are still 2 couples doing the positions, as the Crawfords don’t finish their mission till Oct. 9^th, I attended today. Gary was too busy, though he did attend the zone meeting last week.  At least we attended the opening part of the meeting last week.

I slept very well last night, and woke up more refreshed.  Gary said I snored bad last night, but my head is extra stuffed up with this cold.  I must not have looked so good or sounded so good today, because Sister Crawford told us to go home early so I could get some rest and get over this cold.  I told her that being stuffed up in the head is much better for me than in the chest, so I was grateful for that.  However, since it was slow today……VERY slow all afternoon….we left an hour early.  We stopped by Walmart, signed up for Comcast at the table set up there, and got some more cough drops and Nyquil.  I am hoping it will knock me out good tonight so I can again have a good nights sleep and maybe get well faster.  Next week is supposed to be hectic with the transfers and all that it entails in the office for us.  The next 2 weekends are busy too, so no time to rest.

Talked to Missy last night, and they are coming to San Francisco for Tim’s medical conference next month around General Conference weekend.  He will fly in to San Francisco the Wed. before conference, and she will fly into San Jose Friday afternoon.  We will pick her up, and she can come see our office and what we do, and where we live.  She said that they reserved a room for us in San Francisco near them, and we can decide in the next few days if we want to stay up there Friday and Saturday night or just Sat. night.  We will hang out with them on Sat., and Sunday, then they will fly back to Dallas Sunday afternoon.  It will be fun seeing them again!  I hope I am totally over this cold by then.  We plan on site-seeing in San Francisco together, which is good.  They can figure out where to go…..Tim did a good job for them when they went to NYC and saw things on their own. 

Only 2 more nights till we finally can unpack and feel settled!!  We look forward to it!

 

Thurs., Sept. 12^th was our last night in the Woodmoor house, so we spent the evening packing up.  All clothes packed, except what we are wearing in the morning.

Friday, Sept. 13^th…….moving day!!!!!  We finished packing up…..bathroom and the food from the kitchen that we had bought.  Went in to work at the first, and when Gary got there, he immediately left to go and load up the furniture to move into our place.  They got the elders to help…..Elder Hullinger and Elder Bruggeman.  At lunch time, I went over, eating as I drove and while I unloaded the car.  First to go in was the fridge items.  I got the back seat unloaded next, and was going to go back to work, when Gary arrived with the elders and with Elder Crawford with more furniture.  They wanted me to stay, and the elders could help unload the trunk.  So, we FINALLY got the car unloaded!!!  We had kept everything in the trunk since we first packed up in Arimo.  I went back to work after that.  At 5 pm, we went to our new home!!!  We spent until about 12:30 (middle of the night), hanging up clothes, putting some things away, shopping and getting some groceries and household items.  

Saturday, Sept. 14^th—We still woke up early….7 a.m……even after getting to bed so late.  We had been planning on going to the temple with the Vietnamese from our branch, but decided after the late night and what we still had to do, that we needed to stay home and get the house in order.  We worked on the house all day, never even stopping for a nap like I had hoped.  We made several shopping trips for items we kept discovering we needed.  Wed., we had ordered Comcast, and had told them they didn’t need to overnight it as we wouldn’t even get into the apt. till Friday, but we still don’t have it!  Don’t know what the delay is.  We hope that we will get it by Monday, and hopefully we can figure how to get it hooked up so we can get going on it.  It is for TV and internet.  We finally stopped working when it was time to eat something and get dressed for the adult session of Stake Conference at 7 p.m.  Our San Felipe building is the stake house.  It was a wonderful meeting, on missionary work.  The Stake has been working along with the mission on their 21 plan……the plan to get 21 baptisms in the 6 week transfer period…..and they actually got 22 in the zone, which is the stake. 

We have 11 stakes in the mission, and 12 zones.  The zones are the stakes, except one stake is divided into 2 zones……San Jose and San Jose Evergreen I think are the way it goes.  The zones are:

Fremont, Los Altos, Menlo Park, Monterey, Morgan Hill, San Jose, San Jose Evergreen, San Jose South, Pleasanton, Livermore, Santa Cruz, Saratoga

Monday Sept. 9th

Monday Sept. 9^th:

Last night we went to bed early….around 8:30, and got up earlier today.  We planned on getting up 15 minutes earlier, so 6:15 today, so that we could stop at the pharmacy on the way to work for me to get some cough medicine.  I’m not getting better yet, but that is to be expected.  Every time I get a cold, it always settles in the chest, and the cough can last a month or so.  I just hope that this time it can go a little faster.  I may need to get a humidifier after we get moved this weekend.  It was actually nice getting up earlier, and getting to work a little earlier, instead of at the last minute like usual!  Our office hours are 9 to 5, and we usually arrive just at 9 or maybe a little before.  When we get to work, we have a devotional Monday through Thursday morning.  The reason for this is with the 2 office couples, each couple takes 2 days, taking turns who gives the thought and who gives the prayer, and the song goes along with the thought (it is the CD’s we listen to and sing along with), and now we are here, they are still going the same, as we will just take the Crawford’s spot.    Oh, let me tell you the office people:  The Clayton’s, who are from Idaho Falls.  Sister Clayton is the Mission secretary, and Elder Clayton is over vehicles and cell phones.  The Crawford’s, who we will replace, live in San Jose.  Sister Crawford is the Financial Secretary, which I will be, and Elder Crawford is over housing and supplies, which Gary will be over.  By the way, the Crawford’s names are Bob and Linda, which Gary pointed out is like the Gunnell’s.

After work on Monday, well, actually a little before the end of work, we decided to take off early so that we could go and check out internet for our apartment.  We had been told the apartment was wired and the choices were AT&T and Comcast.  So, we figured we could check out both places to compare.  We went to Comcast first, and when we got there, the room was FULL of people, and we saw you took a number to wait.  Our number was 524 I think, and they were on 478 or something like that!  We waited a bit, to see how fast the line was going, and then I remembered that at Walmart on Saturday, we had walked past a table set up by a guy selling Comcast.  So, we decided to just bag the idea of standing there, as it wasn’t moving fast.  We drove to Walmart, found the guy, asked some questions, and then told him we wanted to go and talk it over before deciding, but pretty sure we would be back, as we preferred the no-wait to talk to him that at the Comcast store!  He gave us his number, but we decided we would just go back and sign up, rather than over the phone.  We ran out of time to see AT&T, as the Senior Missionary FHE was to start at 6 at the Mission President’s house.  So we headed south to that.  I will have to put the addresses in here later so we can remember where everything was located. 

Heading south, we got in traffic, and at one point, on the freeway/highway, it came to almost a stop.  When we finally moved over to the carpool lane, which was the only one moving, we found out why…..a guy was actually walking across the road!!  As we got closer to where we were going, we had one point where the GPS said keep left, which we were, in the far left carpool lane….then in like 60 yards, it says, take the next exit…..so we missed it and had to take the next and have it say Recalculating!  We made it fine, though.  It was a wonderful dinner that Sister Watkins put on for us.  We had, I think it was pork, rolled up around something, in a swirl type roll, like cinnamon rolls.  We had twice baked potatoes.  Peas and carrots, a type of bread/roll, and a salad with vinegar over tomatoes, cucumbers and some other vegetables…I know onions was in it too, because I could taste it later!  But, it was yummy!  For dessert, it was pound cake with strawberries and blueberries over it with whipped cream.

After the dinner, we all went into the living room, and the President had a slide presentation showing some of the stats of the last year of the mission.  It is going up at a fast pace!  This took longer than expected, apparently, because the Clayton’s, who were supposed to be over the activity, didn’t have time and were told to just do next month instead.

At the once a month FHE, they always have a dinner put on by the mission President’s wife, and the mission presidency serves, and then an activity that one of the senior couples is in charge of.  It was a long evening, so we got home late and to bed late.  So, I was tired all day today (Tuesday).  Oh, at the FHE, the president had Sister Cattron introduce them, and me introduce us.  The night was a fun time to meet the other senior couples and senior single sisters, who work in this mission at various callings. Some are MLS (member leadership support), some are CES (church education system)…..that was the Wilde’s…and they are from Northern Idaho.  They work at the institute.  One couple, the Cardon’s, are over family history with the Spanish wards and branches…..helping them to find their ancestors.

The couple we are staying with temporarily, the Cattron’s, are MLS.

First Week of Sept.

Tuesday, Sept. 3rd.  Learning more and more about the job, and getting more comfortable with answering the phone.  Finally met the mission president today.  His name is President Lincoln Watkins. 
Gary started not feeling so well, and went to bed early tonight.

Wed. Sept 4th.  The Cattron's arrived today.  The house we are staying in temporarily is the one they will live in while they are here.  They are MLS missionaries:  member leadership support.  So, for the next week and a half, we will share the house with them.
Pres. Watkins and his wife took us and the Cattron's out for dinner tonight, as a welcome to the mission, I guess.  The Crawford's were invited to come too.  I learned later that he always takes the new ones out for dinner, and when you are getting released, he takes you too.  We went to the Black Angus, a steak house.

Fri. Sept 6.  Still learning new things…..I sure hope I will remember it all when Sister Crawford is gone!  Gary hopes the same thing!  He has a lot to do.  Besides housing, he is in charge of ordering supplies…for the office and for the mission supply closet (holding things like Books of Mormon and pamphlets, baptism record sheets, etc…..things the missionaries use).  Elder Crawford never stops….he is one busy, busy guy!  Gary says he must have ADD!

So glad it is Friday!  Melissa wants to Facetime with us tomorrow, so that will be nice!  Also, we have to get a few groceries for the next week, do laundry, ironing, and cleaning up around here.  Hoping to sleep in a bit too.  Gary has had a cold the lasts few days, and he hardly ever gets sick.  Now today, I started coughing….I hope I don’t get sick, I know how long it usually takes me to get over it!  Hopefully, early bed tonight and sleep long tomorrow!

Sat. Sept. 7^th:

Slept in till about 7:15!  Crazy that that is sleeping in now!  Went walking, showered, dressed and breakfast.  Then started laundry and cleaning.  Laundry means not only washing and drying but ironing what needs it too.  We finished up just before noon.  Oh, we were going to Facetime with Melissa today, but it doesn’t work till we get wifi.  We left the house just before noon, to drive around and see some places.  Gary took me to see where the storage units for the mission are located.  On the way there, we stopped at Burger King for lunch.  Then we drove to see the ward building that the Cattron’s are assigned to which is near there…..Cherry St. building (or Ave., not sure which).  The Cattron’s work with all 3 wards that meet in that building.  After that, we drove to see the downtown area, and where San Jose State University is located.  Then headed to Walmart to get some food for this week.  Then we went back to the house to put stuff away.  Then we headed out again.  Decided to go to the apt we are moving into, and ask some questions.  I asked about the address for sure, and getting mail, and I’m glad we asked, because they gave us a phone number to call the P.O. and set up our locked mail box at the apt complex.  The gal said it took a few days for that to go through.  So I will call the P.O. tomorrow (Monday).  We also asked about setting up internet and TV.  We were told that they go through either Comcasts or ATT, so we want to ask some questions of those companies to see which we prefer….going by price and contract length mainly.  I’m sure the internet has to be better than what we had in Arimo!  We also had looked in Walmart at TV’s, and we had looked at Office Depot for printers and routers.  After that, we decided to go to the mall which is near us, the Eastridge Mall, and walk around and see what stores they have there.  We only made it through the upper level.  Stopped in Penney’s first, and got Gary a jacket and 2 pairs of slacks.  Oh, the weird thing about shopping here….which we first learned at Walmart.  No plastic bags.  At Walmart the first week, they asked if we wanted bags, and they only had paper, and we were charged for them. So the next week, we bought the cloth bags!  Too bad we left our Winco cloth bags home!  Anyway, then when at Penney’s checking out, the clerk said, do you want to buy a bag?  I said no.  But  apparently, Gary never heard that conversation.  Because when we were given our purchase, Gary said, what about a bag?  I said, no, but he kept wanting a bag, so then another clerk said, just give them a bag.  It is made out of a light cloth type, not plastic.  We are learning fast that this is a green state!   I explained to Gary as we left that I had already said no for a reason.  Well, we put our purchases in the car, then walked back in to finish walking around the mall, upper level.  Got to the food court, and at the Chinese food place, they were handing out samples of orange chicken, so Gary said, now that makes me hungry, so we got food to eat.  We couldn’t finish it all, so brought the leftovers home, thinking that we might eat them on Sunday.  Oh, today was very hot. The car thermometer said 104 at the highest.

Sunday Sept. 8th.

Went to church at the Bayshore Branch (Vietnamese Ward).  Paid our fast offerings today.  Elder Atkinson spoke, as this is his last Sunday before he leaves (because next Sunday is Stake Conference).  Afterwards, we had a farewell dinner at the church for him.  So, this was our first time trying some Vietnamese food.  I took a pan of brownies.  It was okay, though there were some items I did not try!

Today was Sister Crawford’s last RS lesson.  They are released on Oct. 9^th.  Next weekend is going to be BUSY!!!  Friday we move, and get things we need like groceries.  Sat. is an endowment session at the Oakland Temple for a couple who are getting married (Vietnamese).  Sat. night is the adult session of Stake Conference.  Sunday is Stake Conference.  Sunday evening is the Outgoing Fireside for the mission….the missionaries who are going home will speak.  Don’t know much else about it.  Then a work week again, and it is transfer week, which is supposed to be very hectic.  The missionaries that are going home and the new ones that arrive come on Wed.    The Next Sat. is the wedding for the Vietnamese couple, so back to the temple.  That evening is their reception.  Then Sunday church again and then another work week….busy, busy, busy!

 

Sep: 2: first day at the office

Monday, September 02, 2013

Well, today was Labor Day, but no rest for the wicked, as they say!  We started our first day of working in the mission office.  It wasn’t as busy since it was a holiday….no mail, and not much phone calls.  Also, traffic getting to work was easy.

It was a good day….we both learned a lot and kept busy.

We got our first mail….it had been waiting at the mission office for us.  It was from Marilyn Henderson….a nice card about missionary work.  I wrote back to her after work, and will mail it tomorrow.

The Viet elders stopped in the office today.  I told them that we would soon be living near them. They asked when we moved, and I told them. They said they could help us move in.  They also mentioned how nice to live near us….maybe we could feed them some dinners!  I said we could.

There was a movie night tonight at the institute with some senior missionaries, but we declined.  It started at 7:30, and by the time it was over, our evening would be done…plus we would have had to rush dinner to get there, and we didn’t even know how to get there!  So, instead, we had dinner, I cleaned up, then we went for a walk.

I have started lunch prep early so that it won’t take so long in the morning.

Well, I am going to relax a bit before going to bed.