Luckily Sacrament started late today or we would have been late. Larry ended up going up to help the priests to set up the sacrament because that is what they were waiting for. But at least David got there in time to pass the sacrament.
They had some really good talks on forgiveness with some really good ideas in Sacrament meeting today. A new family named the Smiths moved in and they spoke. They seemed like a really solid family. Unfortunately I could not retell you what they said today. But I swear that I was listening.
Sunday School was about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Nathan mentioned that it is not appropriated to just lie around as President Kimball also taught so I determined that I needed to repent of my naps. That doesn't mean I didn't rest but I tried to do something that would not put me to sleep.
After lunch we helped Nathan unpack some of his stuff that he brought from the house yesterday. He did not bring everything, just things he thought that we could use here at the apartment. He has a sewing machine with three boxes of sewing supplies that I may make use of . He also brought some kitchen things that we could use. He has a whole pasta cutter with several attachments for spaghetti, and ravioli and other things but I don't feel that ambitious. He also got the big TV in the family room and so we were trying to figure out how to put that up but lacked some batteries for a stud finder that they got last night. They kids were not very fond of helping him unpack yesterday and today but they helped. I laughed inside when David said, This is just getting to be too much, I can't take it anymore," when he had to leave the games on his phone the third or fourth time to help his dad.
I get frustrated because the kids are much quieter and easier to be with when we let them be on their electronic games but it is not good for them to be so detached and not wanting to communicate with us. I think that they would play them 24/7 if allowed to do so.
We did have a good moment though when we looked at Bible videos on the computer again and Maggie is really interested in Jesus and why he had to die and Sammy was really interested in the fact that the angels in the video did not have wings and halos like we believe in our church. He said that is not how they are in the video games so we had some good teaching moments.
We took the kids home at about 5:30 p.m. after we fed them dinner. We had to stop at the office and get some Bibles to take to some missionaries so it was about 6:15 p.m. before we got the kids home. Then we went to Schertz, Texas to drop off the Bibles. When we got home Nathan said the kids had told Sara we did not feed them after lunch so I was frustrated about that but kids will be kids. I don't know how you can be eating all afternoon and not realize it.
Yesterday Nathan went to get all of his stuff out of the house as mentioned. He got a storage pod and asked several of the members of the ward to come and help. He had a lot of tools and stuff that needed to be moved as well as furniture and dishes and books. It was an emotional day for all of us as we contemplated what he has lost for his family but all we can do now is to trust in the Lord and move forward. He gave several of his tools to members of the ward on loan while he cannot use them. I was surprised at the number and kinds of tools that he had accumulated
We finished that about 11:30 or 12:00 noon and then we took the stuff back to the house that was in the van. Sara and her boyfriend followed us and brought the kids up to the house and helped us unpack there.
We bought doughnuts for the workers and they had some but we ended up eating way too many!!! We had about 1 and 1/2 doz. left of 4 doz. that we bought and some milk and Sunny D. David was good help when I went to buy the doughnuts but he took the job to get out of moving things I think.
We spent a lot of the afternoon helping Nathan find places for what he had brought to the house. Actually I should say the kids did. I was trying to make a pasta dish that we had bought the stuff for a week ago and it needed to be used before we had to throw it out and in between I would help with some things. Larry fell on Thursday and broke his phone and so he kept talking to me and then calling me from the mission office and wanting information on how to apply for a new phone. I should have known what to tell him but I could not remember anything. I was so frustrated by the evening because I felt like I had been pulled three or four different ways all afternoon and I was emotionally exhausted trying to help load the things at the house.
Last week was a very busy week. We had transfers on Thursday and the entire week is planned out for the culmination in the Transfers.
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| Sister Cassie Hill and Sister Marissa Egbert with me before they left |
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| Me with Sister Kandis King |
niece's from John's family live. She was so much fun to be around. I really grew to love her and she was one of the leaders in the mission. The top assistant to the President was Elder Landon Rogers from Colorado and I am really going to miss him. He is a great example of a servant leader and has such a fun sense of humor. They had 28 missionaries leave on this transfer.
They have a big dinner for the missionaries going home at the mission home in the evening on Tuesday and they stay in San Antonio overnight and then they leave in the morning. Larry and I opted to not go to the dinner and see them off but worked at the mission office until about 6:00 p.m.and then we went home and had a quiet dinner with Nathan and watched some TV to relax.
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| Sister Emily Christensen and Me |
In addition to getting everyone fed we also had to get paperwork from missionaries that did not send they things in before hand that they were supposed to. Telling them that they could not drive in the mission unless things were completed motivated many of them to get it done. It is always fun to see what they really look like compared to their pictures. Some of them do not look like their pictures on the paperwork that we get
We went back to the office about 3:00 and worked until about 5:30 p.m. and then we went and fixed some dinner for Nathan and went back to the Mission Home to serve the evening meal to the new missionaries and get things ready for that. We had 17 lbs of barbecued lean brisket and with all of us and the assistants and the Sister Trainer Leaders that eat plus the President and his family we had about 50 people to feed and there was not a morsel left. There were three sisters that were not able to leave until Thursday morning so they were there to help and that made the work go faster but ee were very tired before we got to bed that night.
Orientation meeting starts at 8:00 a.m. We have to do an orientation for the new missionaries telling them what our jobs are and how we can help them. It is really hard for us to get there on time because we are used to being at the office at 9:00 a.m. We give an orientation to the new missionaries about what we do and how we can help the missionaries and pass out training materials and the mission handbooks and get them to sign some more papers. I am sure they feel like we are hitting them with a firehose of information but we try not to make it so bad.
During orientation they are told who their companions are and where they are going but they do not meet them until they go into the transfer meeting. It is cool because the other missionaries are singing hymns while they wait for us to finish and then when they are ready they stand up while the President and all the new missionaries march in to the other missionaries singing "Called to Serve". Then they have a prayer and two testimonies from missionaries and the Senior office couples (us and Williams) talk and then Sister Slaughter talks and then the President. This time we had 20 mini missionaries that were youth from the San Antonio South Stake that came for a week of work with the missionaries and so we also had those here this time and their Stake President spoke. Then they begin to announce the transfers each companionship at a time by zones. The Sisters hug and the Elders give each other the Abrazo which is a handshake and then a hug with a pat on the back and then another handshake. It is really fun and spiritual and I learn so much each time we have a meeting.
After the meeting everyone is getting ready to back up for where they need to go. Some of them are headed for the Border at Eagle Pass and Some of them will go to Austin and the area around there and so it is a beehive of work and trying to make sure that everything is done. I pass out the mail and the new missionaries have to pick up their bikes in the cultural hall and get everything packed for their new area. Then most of us head to Austin for a transfer meeting there. It is mostly the same but with the zones in the Austin Area attending there.
Larry and I went to Austin this time but we were late starting because of something we had to pick up at the office. We would have been really late but just before we got to an exit around New Braunfels I told Larry I needed to use the restroom. He turned off immediately but there were no restrooms but we were on the frontage road and noticed that the cars on the Freeway were all backed up because of an accident. If we had not turned off there we would not have made the meeting so we felt like it was a tender mercy from the Lord. And I did find a restroom too after a while.
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| BJ and Holly's present |
Friday we had a chance to work in the office again and get caught up some but we still had some work to do when BJ called and asked if we had received a package that he sent. We left our work and went to get it as it was 5:15 p.m. and the office at our Apartment closes at 6:00 p.m. The package did not get delivered to the office however and we had a Fed Ex tag on our door. LuckilyFED Ex did not close until 9:00 p.m. and the pick up place was nearby. So I rushed to get it. Then BJ wanted to Skype right then so they could watch us open the package. Most of the family was at a restaurant in Ogden and they watched us open the package. It was a picture of an ultrasound of the baby that BJ and Holly are expecting. Then they wanted to pass the Ipad that BJ and the others had around so that we could talk to everyone and show them the picture.
Nathan's kids come on Friday about 6:00 p.m. They came as we were Skyping so they got to talk to some of the cousins. It was pretty hectic for a while. Nathan had signed us up to go do a 5K race in a park on Nacadoches at 7:00 p.m. it was close to that when we left. We thought we could get there but we got lost on the way and by the time we got there we were 10 minutes late for the race. Luckily they let the kids have the pizza and drinks that the participants could have after the race but it was a bummer not to be in the race. After wandering around to the exhibits for a while we went home and got to bed because we were getting up early to go move Nathan's stuff.
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