May 26, 2014

What a difference a week makes……last weekend, some neighbors in a building across from us were being loud and pretty much took over the pool with lots of friends of theirs, and stayed in the pool after hours and kept being loud even though it was late….both Friday night and Saturday night.  This weekend, we don’t know for sure what happened, but they had a death in their apartment on Saturday.  We saw the men take the body away on a gurney.  The family was very somber and in tears.  How quickly our lives can change!

Our week was pretty ordinary.  Getting ready for transfers this week.  Saturday, we did the usual cleaning, laundry and shopping.  I got a haircut……I asked for an inch off the back and then blend it all in layers.  Well, I got about 2 inches off the back….VERY short!  Oh, well, at least it will grow.  I just have to work with it this way till it gets to where I can fix it better.  Many say they like it this way, but I don’t like it this short.

On Sunday, Elder Bruggeman spoke in Sacrament meeting since it was his last Sunday with the Branch.  After church, the Branch had a social for him with potluck sweets and fruit.  When we got home, I decided I needed a little nap since I hadn’t slept too well for the past 3 nights, and I was finding myself almost dozing off in church.  I set the alarm to only sleep an hour.  When I woke up, the Michie’s stopped by to visit.  When they left, I quickly fixed dinner, we ate, then we headed to the Outgoing Devotional.

Today, we had the day off.  We headed to Point Lobos State Reserve to hike some trails there.  (It is located on Hwy 1 just south of Carmel)  We took Sister Wilks and Sister Nedreberg with us, and met up with 4 young sisters:  Sister Fischetti, Sister Bradshaw, Sister Zidek and Sister Mehr.   Sister W. and Sister N. hiked just a little then looked through the museum.  Gary and I hiked with the younger sisters.  Afterwards, we all went out to lunch in Monterey at a Mexican restaurant.  By then it was time to start for home.  Traffic was horrible!  We were barely moving, so we got off the main road to 101 and headed back to 1 and headed north from there and followed the GPS to get to 101 by another route. The other roads were busy as well, but not as bad as the first part.  We got home about 5:30, and I have been typing up my notes from the Outgoing Devotional and doing this since then.  So, time to come to an end!  Hope to sleep good tonight and be ready for a busy week!  Transfer number 7!

May 18, 2014

May 18, 2014

Well, this is it……….tomorrow is our half-way point!  Wow!  This time is going fast!

This past week has been Zone Conferences, so I was alone in the office for a part of each day Tuesday through Friday while the others headed to the conferences to do their things…..well, when I say alone, there was actually only a short time of being totally alone, as missionaries drop in each day off and on.

The weather was hot this week, which made it hard on Gary and Sister Nedreberg and those that also helped with the car inspections.  At least they got done by 11 a.m. each day, before it got way hot.

Saturday we had a branch picnic at Kelley Park.  It is a large park, they have picnic areas, the zoo is there, a Japanese Friendship Garden, and a History Park.  We just did the picnic area…….and ate and visited.

The last 2 nights have been rough.  We are hoping that security around these apartments do what they are supposed to be doing.  We had been told that they lock up the pool area at 9 pm at night, but they haven’t been doing it yet, and we hope they get things under control before summer really hits.  The last 2 nights there have been kids in the pool later than 9, yelling and screaming.  We live right next to the pool, as do another couple, so it makes it hard to relax and get to bed early.  And I know that most apartments really enforce their quiet time rules just for that reason…so people can relax and go to bed.  We have had apartment managers call us before to complain about our missionaries being too loud, or doing laundry after the quiet time and disturbing their neighbors.  You can be evicted from apartments for breaking the quiet time rules, so we sure hope they enforce them here, or it will be a long summer!  We can see the apartment that caused the problems the last 2 nights….they are across from our bedroom window.  I counted about 15 people going back and forth between their apartment and the pool, and we know they don’t all live there, because when it gets about 10, some of them head out.  I heard one kid say last night, “this is cool, it’s like your own private pool”……and I know why no one else would be in the pool, they were loud and pretty much taking up the whole pool area with their playing.  Another lady who has lived here for some time said that during the summers in the past they also enforced the rule that you have to wear your wristbands to prove you live here, because that stops things like last night from happening….someone just inviting tons of friends to a swimming party.

Well, enough complaining! 

Good news!  We have 2 cherry tomatoes that will be ready probably tomorrow!  And, we can see some cucumbers growing now.  Bad news--the heat we have had this week and a couple of weeks ago didn’t do so good for our radishes and beets…..they look a little sad.  The radishes are just going to seed, no radish under the dirt.  Our tomato plants are taller than they used to get in the green house---it is just crazy!  They got above the tomato cages, and so Gary had to rig up some yarn to help them stay upright.

Today, Gary taught in Priesthood and I taught in Relief Society.  Plus I led the music in Sacrament Meeting.  I pick up Ly Le every Sunday morning to take her to church…she lives near us.  Gary is already at church, he goes early for meetings and rides with the Vietnamese Elders.

Tonight, we are going to a musical production in the Saratoga Stake.  The Michie’s invited us to attend with them.  That is their stake.

Next Sunday will be the farewell to Elder Bruggeman in the Bayshore Branch.  After church we will have a little social for the branch members to say good-bye.  That night is the Outgoing Devotional……the start to another transfer week…..number 7 of 13 for us.  It will be the first for Sister Wilks and Sister Nedreberg on their own……last one they were in training.

I have got to get some pictures taken and put on here…..I have actually seen several trees with purple flowers on them!  And I need to put pics of some of the other unusual flowers and trees I have seen.

Well, I guess I better close…..I can’t think of anything else to put here.  Have a good week, all of you!!

May 17, 2014

May 17, 2014

Today, Buddy (our son-in-law) ran his very first Ironman competition in The Woodlands, Texas where they live.  He had to first swim 2.4 miles in the lake, then bike 112 miles, then run a full marathon (26.2 miles).  His total time was 13:08:20.  The breakdown on the events went like this:  swim time was 1:46:45; bike time was 8:31:52; run time was 4:27:52.  The other times were the transition times between the events. 

We sure wish we could have been there to watch this event and celebrate with them.

We are very proud of him for this great accomplishment!  Way to go, Buddy!

May 11, 2014

May 11, 2014

Mother’s Day!  I have spent the afternoon talking with my kids and grandkids……yeah!

I have an addition from last week that I forgot to put in.  On Monday, April 28^th, the Crockett’s invited us along with the Michie’s to come over at 7 for a little Family Home Evening.  They had a brief lesson, some cookies, and mainly we visited.  It was fun, but when I started yawning, it was time to leave so I could get to bed.

This week on Monday it was our Senior Family Home Evening.  It was the first one for the Crockett’s and the Wahlen’s.  We had an enjoyable evening, as we usually do at these.  It is nice to be able to visit with the other seniors who we rarely see.

This week was pretty basic.  Oh, we had another close call…….we were driving home on Capitol (speed 50 mph) in the far left of the 3 lanes, going over the overpass that crosses Monterey, when all of a sudden there was a car just stopped and sitting there with no one in it.  I slammed on the brakes, and, looking  in the rearview mirror, saw a car heading straight at us.  I kept saying, please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me……and they slammed on their brakes and swerved into the other lane.  Gary said he was glad he couldn’t see that car coming.  On another day, we checked out the skid marks that car had made.  That’s 3 close calls I’ve had.  I really hope we don’t have an accident here, but I told Gary early on after seeing how the driving was around here that if we survived this mission without an accident it will be a miracle!!  I bet we have an accident a week in the mission with the missionaries and their cars…..it sure seems that way anyway.  There are a lot of accidents.

We have enjoyed reading what friends of ours also on missions have to say in their weekly news email. 

Oh, the Michie’s gave us a cactus leaf to cook.  I haven’t done it yet, and I think they guessed we probably wouldn’t, so Sister Michie made up a dish and brought us a sample.  It had cactus, hamburger, tomatoes and I don’t know what else in it, but it was pretty good!  Gary was so-so about it.  Still, I don’t know if I will use up the cactus or not.  Especially if he said only so-so.  The Michie’s served several missions in Mexico, so learned some other food dishes while there.

Yesterday morning we went to the temple with our Vietnamese Branch.  We invited the other 2 office workers, Sister Nedreberg and Sister Wilks to go with us.  We had a good day, stopping for dinner at Applebee’s…….Gary said he was buying, as it was his Mother’s  Day gift for all of us.

Oh, a funny of the week.  I had one of the sister missionaries who used to be in the area near the office, so we saw her a lot, Sister Arias, call and ask about ordering a back foam roller for therapy like Sister Fischetti had gotten on Amazon.  I said I needed to have Sister Fischetti in the office to make sure I picked the right one, and asked her to text Sis. Fischetti about it.  Well, later that day Sis. F came in, but hadn’t heard from Sis. A.  So I called her to get going on the order.  I logged in (the missionaries can’t do it because it is against the rules for them to get on the internet except on P-days to email family).  As I was doing the order, I needed to get her credit card information to pay.  She said her companion was buying it, Sister Boyd.  So, we got that all straightened out—it wasn’t for Sis. A after all.  Okay, back to the story----Sis. Boyd gives me her info., and I need billing address.  She starts giving me the address of her home town……it is Flower Mound, Texas!  I say, you are from Flower Mound?  I have a daughter who lives in Highland Village!  And in the next office, Sister Wilks says, who is from Flower Mound?  Turns out her son lives in Flower Mound, and her daughter-in-law is a counselor in the stake Relief Society Presidency…..which is the same stake Melissa is in.  Small world!!!

Well, today in Sacrament meeting, the talks were all about mothers, naturally.  But, I have to say it was the strangest feeling to be in a Sacrament Meeting on mother’s day where there wasn’t a Primary chorus singing Mother’s Day songs!  We only have 2 primary age children (only 1 after this month…..Kara Nguyen turns 12) and they attend primary with the 16^th ward which meets at the same time we do.  So it was a little different.  Kara was one of the speakers, and did a really good job.  Clark Nguyen (age 8), the other primary age child, brother of Kara, also spoke.  His talk was cute.  He talked about all the things he loved about his mother, then at the end said something like, “PS, I love my mom but I love my grandma too, and without my grandma, my mom wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here either.”   His grandma is in our branch also.  We also had I think it was 3 other speakers.  Each spoke for 5 minutes or less.

Well, that about sums up the week!  Next week we have Zone Conferences.  So, I will be spending the majority of the week in the office alone, as the rest of them have duties to do at the conferences.  They go Tuesday through Friday, with three zones meeting each day at a location near to those zones.  

Oh, and the temperatures are supposed to be in the 90’s again this week, close to 100 on Wednesday.

Bye!

May 4, 2014

May 4, 2014

Can it really be May already??

I need to get some pictures on the blog….there are so many beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers here.

I spent the past week working with that thumb stabilizer on to help my thumb heal.  It is doing better.  I haven’t worn it over the weekend, but I will take it with me tomorrow to work, since that is where I use the thumb the most.  Then, if it starts hurting too much, I will put it back on.  It is popping again tonight, so I need to rest it up more I guess.  The mission doctor asked what Tim had recommended, which was a shot, and he said he couldn’t do it, and was new to the area so really didn’t know who to recommend.  He suggested I ask Sister Carlson who helps the young missionaries with their medical needs.  I also thought I could just look up a dr. I guess.  The mission doctor actually has a practice in LA…..his wife got a job offer up here that was great, so they moved and he just commutes to LA each week for a few days I guess to take care of clients there.  I don’t know all the facts.

Tuesday was the Clayton’s last day.  So we had lots of missionaries in the office to say their good-byes.  It is strange to think that we are now the most senior of the senior couples here…..meaning we have been here the longest.  We will miss the Clayton’s…..but wish them the best of luck at home!  I know that their kids and grandkids are sure glad that they are coming home!  So, now we start a new office group…..Sister Nedreberg, Sister Wilks and us.

I felt bad for Sister Wilks this past week.  She is the mission secretary…..took over for Sister Clayton.  Her computer was the last to be upgraded, and some things still have kinks so that doing her job was nearly impossible last week and she was so frustrated.  Especially hard when you are finally on your own and still new to things.  I hope things work out better for her this coming week.

We learned Friday that we have another senior couple coming in the fall.  They are Polynesian…….living in Arkansas.  They will be an asset to the Polynesian program.

Tomorrow is senior family home evening again.

Oh, we had some really hot days this past week…..2 days in the 90’s!  We are back to 70’s for this week.  Those are pleasant temps where we can just leave windows open and let the air in.

Friday night our stake had a Relief Society dinner and program that I went to with the other 2 office sisters.  It was good, but didn’t end until 9, which is late for me. I was yawning before it ended.

Saturday I spent doing laundry, baking bread, baking banana bread too since we had some old bananas that needed to be used up, grocery shopping (since we couldn’t go Friday night), made a lime dessert that sounded good, running to Kohl’s because I had heard there was a good sale on some blouses, and going to a Spanish baptism (we had been invited by the Spanish missionaries when they were in the office Friday).  Gary did the cleaning….also the grocery shopping was both of us, as well as the baptism.

Oh, last Thursday Gary had to inspect a house we rent----with the landlady’s agent.  It was up in Fremont, and he couldn’t even meet the guy till 4:45, so I decided to go up with him, since he would be home late.  This way, I decided, after the inspection we could go out to dinner and by then the traffic should be better for heading home.  I had my ipad with me and looked up an Outback restaurant that was nearby (we had Outback gift cards to use up), and found one that was only 12 minutes away.  So, we had a nice dinner and then came home.  Our kids spoil us with gift cards!   We got back to the office at 7:20 to get our car.  So it was a short evening at home.  [Monday we took the Clayton’s out to lunch at the Sizzler as our farewell to them…..lots of eating out this week!]

We have enjoyed reading updates from some of our friends who are also on missions…..the Fullmer’s serving in Louisville, Kentucky (actually Tell City, Indiana is where they serve), and the Hatch’s serving in Nauvoo.  The Clayton’s said that they are going to try to convince other seniors from their ward back home to serve a mission.  They said that they were the first to serve from their ward for a long time.  They hope to convince others to go…..even if for only a 6 month mission!  Every little bit helps.  We have been so proud of our ward back home…..we have had lots of senior couples serve.

Well, that is about it I think for this week.  We think of everyone often, even if we don’t write individual letters.  We are busy, but so much of what we do is repetitious, so probably sounds boring here.  But, we keep busy which is why time seems to fly by so fast.

We know the church is true…..if we didn’t, we wouldn’t give up 18 months serving here.  We hope all of you are doing well, and that you also have a testimony of the gospel.  Be good.  Be strong in the gospel.  Know that you are loved and missed.

Love,

Elder & Sister Yearsley  (Gary and Wanda, Grampa and Grammy…whatever you know us by!)