Weeks on mission chart

Weeks on Mission:            [yes, I am quirky, and like to make lists of things!]

0.       8/19/13

1.        8/26/13 

2.       9/2/13

                 3.      9/9/13

                 4.   9/16/13

5.        9/23/13

6.        9/30/13

7.       10/7/13

8.       10/14/13

9.        10/21/13

10.    10/28/13

11.     11/4/13

12.   11/11/13

13.    11/18/13

14.    11/25/13

15.    12/2/13

16.    12/9/13

17.    12/16/13

18.    12/23/13

19.    12/30/13

20.    1/6/14

21.  1/13/14

22.    1/20/14

23.    1/27/14

24.    2/3/14

25.   2/10/14

26.    2/17/14

27.    2/24/14

28.   3/3/14

29.  3/10/14

30.  3/17/14

31.   3/24/14

32.    3/31/14

33.    4/7/14

34.   4/14/14

35.    4/21/14

36.    4/28/14

37.    5/5/14

38.  5/12/14

39.    5/19/14

40.   5/26/14

41.    6/2/14

42.    6/9/14

43.    6/16/14

44.    6/23/14

45.   6/30/14

46.    7/7/14

47.    7/14/14

48.    7/21/14

49.   7/28/14

50.   8/4/14

51.   8/11/14

52.   8/18/14

53.    8/25/14

54.   9/1/14

55.   9/8/14

56.    9/15/14

57.    9/22/14

58.    9/29/14

59.   10/6/14

60.    10/13/14

61.    10/20/14

62.   10/27/14

63.   11/3/14

64.   11/10/14

65.   11/17/14

66.   11/24/14

67.   12/1/14

68.    12/8/14

69.   12/15/14

70.   12/22/14

71.   12/29/14

72.    1/5/15

73.   1/12/15

74.   1/19/15

75.    1/26/15

76.    2/2/15

77.   2/9/15

78.   2/16/15

When are the transfers?

These are the transfer dates while we are here:

   

 1.   September 18, 2013

2.    October 30, 2013

3.   December 11, 2013

4.   January 22, 2014

5.   March 5, 2014

6.   April 16, 2014

7.   May 28, 2014

8.   July 9, 2014

9.   August 20, 2014

10. October 1, 2014

11. November 12, 2014

12.  December 24, 2014
13.  February 4, 2014

December 15, 2013

December 15, 2013

Well, we made it through the 3^rd transfer week here.  I have counted, and we will go through 13 transfer weeks while we are on our 18 month mission.  It was still busy for me, even though the numbers were down.  Not as stressful because of lower numbers, but the computer work and papers printed off are the same.  One thing that made the week a little different…..because it was so close to Christmas, parents wanted to know the new addresses of their children to send packages, so were calling on transfer day to find out that information.    We didn’t have the information even in the computer yet, because I hadn’t received it from the AP’s until a half hour before the transfer meeting began, and at that point I couldn’t even do anything with it, because there were missionaries in the office making purchases or payments.  We had to tell everyone who called to give us a day or so to have the information in the system.  I have to input the information zone by zone, then when it is in the system, I click on finalize, and that takes about an hour for the computer to digest all the information.   Then we can access the information on the computer.  As I am working on inputting the information, I still have phone calls to take, and other tasks I need to get done, so it is a slow process.   I don’t print out the new reports, though, until after Thursday’s meeting, when the new missionaries are placed in their new companionships.  Then those names are put in the computer, click finalize again, and wait again, then I start on printing out all the reports for everyone…..phone lists, companionship rosters, organizational rosters.

My birthday was a great day!  Church with our Vietnamese Branch (we love attending church with these humble people!), then the 1^st Presidency Christmas broadcast, and the outgoing devotional.  There is always a great spirit at that meeting!

We are getting into a good routine here.  I wish we didn’t get so tired, though.  We spent yesterday getting our chores done….laundry, cleaning, shopping.  Working on my Relief Society lesson.  Today after church, we both took a nap.  There are activities every night up at the temple grounds for Christmas, and I wish we could participate and see them, but we are just too tired during the week, and I had thought of going up this evening to some, but I was too tired today to even think too hard about it, and knew we wouldn’t get back home early enough to get a good sleep before work tomorrow.  The Menlo Park Stake has a Crèche exhibit every December, and it was last weekend and finished on Wed.  There was no time for us to make it to that.  Hopefully next year we can, since transfer week won’t be the same time.

Oh, one thing on this transfer week.....our Vietnamese Elders, Elder Hullinger and Elder Bruggeman were made zone leaders this week!
 

Family matters:  learned that Grant had strep throat, and Emilie has RSV…..she is receiving 3 treatments a day, but doesn’t have to be hospitalized.   I sure hope things are better this week!

December 7, 2013

Yes, it is Saturday, and I am posting a new journal item.  That’s because tomorrow, Sunday, will be busy, so I will do it later.  

This last week I knew was going to be not so busy, so I told Gary I would help him inspect some apartments that hadn’t been inspected for quite some time because they didn’t have inspectors for those 2 stakes.  Each stake is supposed to have a couple called as apartment inspectors, and they have up to 10 apartments to check each month.  They check for cleanliness, and if dirty they let the missionaries know what is needed to be done.  If there are needs, such as lamps, furnishings, heating issues, etc., they let Gary know so he can deal with them.  With 100 apartments, without the inspectors, you wouldn’t be able to keep up with things that are needed.  Such as, this week, with the few we inspected, just 2 to 3 a day, we found some that didn’t have a kitchen table and chairs, some needed a great deal of cleaning done, and some needed to talk to the apartment managers to let them know of issues that they needed to take care of.  The young missionaries are very hesitant to ask for things, so just do without unless someone says, hey, you need this, then they are glad to get it!  Some of these apartments we have occupied so long that they need to be repainted.  One has been done already.  The apartment manager gladly provided the paint, and the missionaries provided the labor.  We kept telling the kids that the apartment managers WANT to have their apartments kept up in good repair, so want to be told of things that need fixing.  Inspecting the apartments also brought to Gary’s attention that he needed to get more of the kids spot cleaner for their apartments, and schedule them for carpet shampooing.  The mission owns 4 of these shampooers, and we just get them around to the various areas.  Also, he needed to get some oven cleaner so they could get that done too.

Well, it was true that I wasn’t so busy, but adding these apartment visits into each day put me a bit behind.  Last night we ended up working until 6:15 because I had things that I had to finish.  We usually leave the apartment each morning by 8:35, so the days can be long sometimes.

Well, this was birthday week for us.  Thursday, Gary got sung to, and Friday I did.  Friday we had a cake that was bought to share with all who came into the office.  Friday was New Leader training, so there were several missionaries around.

This next week is Transfer week again…the 3^rd we have been through.  So, tomorrow is the Outgoing Devotional once again, plus before it starts, the 1^st Presidency Christmas Devotional is broadcast, so it will be a busy day!

Today, I had Sister Christensen and Sister Britton call to wish me a happy birthday!  These missionaries are so sweet!!

We had the opportunity to Face Time with Kori and Colton, with Shelley and her family, and with Missy and her family.  

This week, Sophie hurt her arm, and is in a cast.  Not exactly a break, but something not exactly okay, so her dad wanted it casted.  Ayla and Emilie have been sick, and Shelley ended up taking Ayla in to the emergency room…..she has pneumonia.   So, not a good week for the little ones.