January 25, 2015

Friday, President Mella made the decision to move Elder and Sister Michie into the office to fill the positions of Sister Nedreberg and Sister Wilks (Vehicles and Mission Secretary) since there has been no news from Salt Lake on replacements for them yet.  They will begin training tomorrow (Monday).  Elder Michie has already been subbing for Sister Nedreberg when she has been out of town or sick, and has been helping her for a long time, so the training for him will mainly be on the computer portion of the job.  They will both be great at it, I’m sure.  At least they get about 5 or 6 weeks to train, so more than our trainees will get.

We are down to 4 weeks from today as our last day in San Jose.  We have 2 weeks of regular office work, then 2 weeks of training our replacements.  Our replacements are Elder and Sister Busk from Richfield, Utah.  They enter the MTC tomorrow morning.

Today after church, the branch had a potluck meal as a farewell for Elder Hullinger, who will fly home Feb. 4th, and also for us.  Next Sunday we have a baptism after church, with another potluck meal.  Also, it is the Outgoing Devotional next Sunday, so a full day.  Today was lots of picture taking after church.  I think some of the members think we are leaving immediately, so they will be surprised to see us the next 4 Sundays.  The branch just decided it was better to combine the farewell’s together rather than do another in a few weeks, which was fine with us. I hope Elder Hullinger didn’t feel slighted, though, with some of the attention on us.  It was a nice socializing time.

Yesterday, we just decided to forget our usual Saturday chores.  We left here at 8 a.m., drove to Fremont, got on BART, and rode the train into San Francisco.  Then we walked about 1 1/4 miles to catch the boat to Alcatraz Island.  We probably spent about 3-4 hours there, then came back to shore and walked to Fisherman’s Wharf and bought an overpriced clam chowder…..that’s what you get for eating in a tourism area!  After that we walked around looking at some of the shops in the area, then walked back to the BART station, got on the train and headed back to Fremont and the drive back to San Jose.  We still needed to get some groceries, and the food I was taking today (something already prepared since I didn’t have time to fix anything), and when we got home from that, it was 8 p.m.  So, a long, but fun day!  Fun, educational, and we got our exercise in too!  We had talked about doing this a long time ago, then the earthquake happened in Napa, and I started getting spooked about taking the train, because it goes under the harbor and I kept thinking about what would happen if an earthquake happened.   I’m glad I got brave enough, and that we did it.  It will be something to remember.

Yesterday was Natalie’s 4 year hearing birthday….4 years ago she heard for the first time after having her cochlear implants.  She had tried calling us to talk to us about it, but we missed the call since we were gone, and I never heard the phone ring.  So, today we Face Timed with them so we could talk to Natalie, and we talked to the rest of them too.  And, we got to see Dylan in his new glasses!  Now he can see things he couldn’t before (and I didn’t know he had a problem, either!).  And Sophie showed us that her 2 front teeth are growing in.

Oh, I forgot to write something last week.  It was a “well this never happened before” kind of thing.  We were leaving church, waiting to turn out of the church parking lot, and a car behind me honked for me to hurry up!  I couldn’t go because cars were coming, which the car behind me couldn’t see.  But, still, I thought….you know, we’ve been honked at a lot since coming to San Jose, but leaving the church parking lot????  Come on!

This past week of work was slower….the calm before the storm.  Next week is the planning week for transfers, then we are into transfer week.  We are losing 23 missionaries, and are gaining 8.  Plus, we are going to be getting 3 Visa waiters if they don’t get their Visa’s before then.  They are waiting to head to Mozambique.  This coming week we may learn of more apartment closings because of the continuing decline in numbers of missionaries.  The AP’s have said that these transfers are getting tougher to plan because they are having to combine so many areas now.

Well, I think that is about it for the week.  I will post some pictures of our Alcatraz trip and some from our farewell social today.

It is unreal to think that the mission is actually just about over!  It’s been fast but long, if that makes any sense.  The weeks zoom by, but it seems so long since we have been home and spent time with family.  We had those 3 long weekends for the baptisms, but not the quality time with the kids and grandkids that we look forward too.  We are glad we have been able to serve.  We are glad for the friendships we have made here.  But we look forward to going home and seeing family again.  We definitely see the need for senior missionaries….such as the difficulty in finding office replacements here (and in other places we have heard of).  So we are glad we were able to help in our small way, and we would encourage any other seniors to think about the possibility of serving.  There are so many types of senior missions, that they need a lot of seniors to fill them!

We are so grateful for our testimonies of the gospel, and glad we could do our part in the hastening of the work.  The church is true.  It is a neat thing hearing about the change that occurs in new members’ lives, and their gratefulness for the missionaries who found them.

Love,

Elder and Sister Yearsley

The boat we took to Alcatraz Island.

The last people loading on our boat coming down the walkway to the left.

Coit Tower in San Francisco.

Approaching Alcatraz Island.

A cell.

Looking at San Francisco from Alcatraz.

Probably why they called it "the rock".

The lighthouse...which we learned was the first lighthouse built on the west coast.

The boat we returned on.

The Bay Bridge.

A lot of sailboats were out in the bay today...it was a gorgeous day!

January 18, 2015

Well, this past week for me has been quiet.  It was zone conferences, and there were 3 zone conferences combined each day, Tuesday through Friday, for a total of 12.  During zone conference time, as has been mentioned before, everyone has a part during them except me.  My job is to stay in the office, answer the phones, and accept the deliveries.  And, for some reason, Zone Conference week is quieter than other weeks.  Not so many missionaries visiting the office and not so many phone calls.  I enjoyed the quiet.  I also got some work done going over my notebook that I have put together with instructions in the various jobs of my calling.  I needed to make some changes to some of the instructions, as some of the jobs have changed somewhat from when I first got here.

For Gary, the week probably felt long.  He had to leave early several days to get to the locations by 9 a.m.  So, on those days, he brought the mission truck home.  Then he drove it in the mornings, and I had our car to drive to the office at the usual time.  Gary also closed some more of the apartments he has been working on, and has more to finish up next week.  In the closing of the apartments, he has to get all the furniture out of them and put somewhere….either to another apartment, into the storage units, or some he took to the Deseret Industries drop boxes located at some of the church buildings.  He had to take some to the DI because he is running out of room in the storage units, so it was time to start deciding what we would actually need and what he wouldn’t need.

This was the LAST zone conference for us!  And, coming up will be the LAST transfer we have to do.

Our replacements are Elder and Sister Busk from Richfield, Utah.  They are due to arrive here on Feb. 6th, probably like we did, just at the end of the work day.  So, the first day of work and training for them will be Feb. 9th.

This past week we learned that a former missionary who had served here, one that Gary really liked….the young man was from Clifton, Idaho, so just a stone’s through from Swan Lake….anyway, we learned he had gotten married.  So, I did some Facebook searching, and learned who he married…..what a shock!  We actually know who it is!  It is Curtis and Teri Peterson’s granddaughter!  We were so excited to learn this!  What a small world!

Yesterday we did the usual Saturday chores, and rested a bit.  I still have had a cough hanging on and feel tired a lot.  Then, we decided to go to a movie.  We went to see the Night at the Museum sequel.  It was a cute movie.  And very sad thinking it was the last one that Robin Williams did.

Today at church, Elder Golightly played a violin musical number.  He is very talented. 

Elder Hullinger will be leaving at this next transfer.  So, his farewell potluck meal will be next week after church, and we learned that it will be ours also, so they don’t have to have another one shortly after.  Time is flying by!  We know that anything we want to do or see, we are in crunch time….just a few Saturday’s left to do it.

We have 2 ladies from our branch who are going to the temple for the first time this month, January 31st.  That is always exciting news!  We have also learned that there is a baptism planned for Feb. 1st.

Today we Face Timed with Shelley's family.  Of course, Emilie was the most excited to see papa!  It is fun to see her know us, especially as we haven't spent as much time with her since we have been here on this mission.  She turns 2 years old next month.

5 weeks from today we pull out of San Jose.  On Feb. 21st, we pack and clean the apartment.  Then Sunday morning, we go to church, and after church finish loading the car and leave, driving far enough to get out of traffic so that Monday will be a good driving day.  Sunday is the day with the least amount of traffic, though it is still more traffic than we ever have at home.  So we have 3 full work weeks left, then 2 full weeks where we train our replacements.

I took the camera today to church, and took pictures of our 4 Vietnamese Elders.  I will put those pictures on this blog entry.  Next week, we will need to remember to take the camera so we can get lots of pictures of the people of the branch at the potluck.

I want to end with a scripture that was used in Relief Society today.  Romans 10:13-15  “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”    This is why we need missionaries……we want everyone to be saved, but they need to be taught….and as it says here, how can they hear without a preacher?  So excited to know some of these young missionaries who are helping to spread the gospel to all the world.  Their time spent in this service as missionaries is priceless.  

Thank you to the many, many missionaries serving throughout the world!

Our Vietnamese Elders:  (left to right)  Elder Randy Kwon, Elder Mitchell Hullinger, Elder An Ho, Elder Gregory Golightly.   And this is the same list with their Vietnamese names: [Anh Ca means Elder]    Anh Ca Van, Anh Ca Long, Anh Ca An, Anh Ca Tien.  Of course, there are supposed to be accent marks there too.

These are great young men!  Elder Ho is the only one who is Vietnamese.  The rest had a tough language to learn.  Love these guys!

January 11, 2015

Well, we have both had a week of coughing, but we seem to be doing better.  Coughs not gone, but feeling better.  There has been a lot of sickness around.  Our nurse even got strep throat and was out for a couple of days.

Gary has had a lot of busy days, working on getting several apartments ready to close.  This bunch that he is doing this month will not be the end.  We have learned that during the surge of missionaries we were up to about 270 young missionaries when President Mella arrived here last summer, and are now down to about 230 I think he said, and we will settle down to about 200 in the next few months, and that is where we will stay.   So, there will need to be more apartments closed in the near future.  Something for Gary’s trainee to learn during training.

This past week we had visitors from the missionary department here, meeting with President Mella and going out with the missionaries in the evenings evaluating how the work is going here, and giving some suggestions for improvement.  Then, on Saturday, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy, and Bishop Gerald Causse of the Presiding Bishopric were in town for training meetings with Stake and Ward leaders in the mission area, and the whole mission had a meeting with them Saturday afternoon, from 2 until 4.  It was mainly a question and answer time for the missionaries to ask questions they had and get answers from any or all of them, plus the mission president.  

We had taken the zone mail tubs to the meeting, and had them set up in the back of the cultural hall, so we hung around after until things were picked up.  Then, we headed to the office to open it up for those who needed things from there while they were in town.  We probably finished around 5:30 at the office.  We had left our apartment about 12:45 to head to the office in the first place to pick up the tubs and head to the building for the meeting.  So, our afternoon was taken up.  We had gotten up fairly early and gone to do our grocery shopping first thing on Saturday morning, to beat the crowds of Saturday shoppers.  Turned out to be a good idea!  Then we came back to clean and do laundry before the meeting.  I also made bread before the meeting, and left it cooling while we were gone.  Saturday evening, I made 2 different types of cookies too, and made up plates of cookies and a loaf of bread for 2 of our Vietnamese missionaries who had birthday’s Dec. 30th….Elder Hullinger and Elder Ho.  I had been sick at that time, so hadn’t made them any goodies, so a belated birthday gift for them.  We dropped them off this morning on our way to church.  

Church today was different for 3 stakes, as the 3 visitors from Salt Lake had split up and attended 3 different stakes for special stake meetings.  Ours was one of the ones picked, so we had the special meeting from 9 until 10:30 this morning.  Our meeting had Bishop Causse speak, along with our stake president, President Hoggan, and President and Sister Mella from the mission, and a sister from one of the wards.  

So today was a quiet Sunday.  We got home about 11, I fixed dinner, we ate, and it has been restful and quiet ever since!

Next week will be Zone Conferences from Tuesday through Friday, so I will be the lone one in the office for part of each of those days.

One topic that was talked about a lot this weekend during the various meetings was about the Holy Ghost.  3 Nephi 27:20 mentions being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.  We were told that the Holy Ghost is a sanctifier and a purifier.  Once when the Prophet Joseph Smith was talking with President Van Buren, he was asked by President Van Buren what was the difference in our church from other churches.  Joseph Smith told him that the difference was the Holy Ghost.  

When we are baptized at 8 years of age, we grow up with the Holy Ghost being a part of us for so many years, that having the Holy Ghost in us is like breathing.  Sometimes we don’t stop and think what a blessing it is in our lives, and how lucky we are to be able to renew our baptismal covenants each week when we partake of the sacrament.  But those who join the church at a later age do feel the difference in their lives.

The missionaries were counseled that when they teach people about the Gospel, it is their job to   connect the investigators to heaven.  This is done by bringing the spirit into the meeting, and helping the investigators to understand that what they are feeling is the spirit of the Holy Ghost.

Another thing mentioned was about being consecrated.  In Mark 10, the rich young man asks Jesus what he can do to inherit eternal life.  He is told first about keeping the commandments, which the young man says he has done from his youth.  Then he is told that “one thing thou lackest:….sell whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor…..take up the cross and follow me.”   The young man couldn’t give up his riches to follow Jesus.  We were told that you know you are becoming consecrated when the principle of obedience becomes easy rather than restrictive.  Obedience is not the end, but the means to the end.  Zion’s Camp was talked about, and how the men on that march had to become both obedient and united to achieve the Lord’s objective, and then they went on to become the first leaders of the church.

The missionaries were reminded that they are the branch and ward builders.  It is as important to reactivate as to convert.  And that they are each their first convert, as they become truly converted during missionary service.

It is always wonderful to hear and learn more of the teachings of the Gospel, and we appreciate having the chance to attend these special meetings.  We are grateful for the things we have been a part of since serving this mission, and seeing the work move forward.  Yes, we have had some hard times, and yes, we are tired…..we can tell it is time to go home to catch up on some rest!  But, we know the church is true and are glad we had the strength and energy to be able to help out in our small way in this mission office calling.

We are told that there is such a need for senior missionaries, and that the number who apply to serve a mission is so much less than the number that is needed.  Hopefully, everyone will take a turn and serve a mission to help out as they can.  While we have been here, we have had 2 different couples who have each served a 6 month mission…..so even smaller amounts of time can be a great help.  We actually have a couple serving a mission here as service missionaries, serving from their home.  They are our mission referral secretaries.  There are so many ways to help and serve a mission.

We have enjoyed the friendships we have formed with others here, and look forward to seeing them in the future.

We are on the countdown.  Our mission end date is Feb. 19th, but because the couple that is coming to replace us won’t start until Feb. 9th, we will train with them for 2 full weeks.  We talked of leaving here Monday, Feb. 23rd, but have modified that a bit.  I was dreading leaving during the traffic rush hour Monday morning, so we have decided that Sunday afternoon we will head out of town and drive for maybe 4 hours before stopping for the night.  That way we won’t get caught up in rush hour traffic here which is horrible!  Otherwise, we wouldn’t even want to leave here until around 10 on Monday to avoid it.  So that is the plan at the moment.  Which means we are at 6 weeks from today to go.

Thanks to those who wished us well as we were sick.  Your good thoughts and prayers in our behalf have helped!

We look forward to seeing family and friends before too long now!  Not looking forward to the cold, but, oh well!  We’d rather have cold than the traffic here!  (If you hear me say how cold I am when we get home, remind of that!)

Bye for now!

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!

The group of us on the boardwalk (except Gary, who took the picture)

Brendan Scott, standing on the boardwalk that was his Eagle project.

Brendan Scott, standing on the boardwalk that was his Eagle project.

Buddy and Ayla walking back down the trail.

Grammy and Grandpa with the grandkids at the baptism.

With Kori's family after the baptism.

The whole group of us.

Grandpa and Grammy with Logan.

The birthday boy opening presents.

The story behind the pumpkin patch huge pile of pumpkins

What we thought was a huge pile of pumpkins

The truth is revealed!

Pictures from Thanksgiving, November 27, 2014 [Bob & Linda Crawford's house]

Pictures from Gary's trip to the organic farm November 3rd.

Spinach.

Place that the workers turn in the produce they pick.

Plowed field, ready to plant.

Workers in the field, picking romaine lettuce.

This is the brand of organic vegetables.