July 11th and before

Today Saturday, has been a lazy day for both Larry and I.  We were both exhausted by the transfer week and just needed some down time.  We slept in and ate late and just hung out together and then this afternoon I have been working on letters and the blog and Larry is reading to recuperate.

Missionaries returning home luncheon

As I said it has been a busy week. Tuesday we worked on normal stuff in the morning.  Larry went to Pep Boys and I read the email for the day.  Then about 11:30 a.m. we went to Stone Oak to see the missionaries off.  There were several that were favorites that we wanted to see but especially Elder Hendricks from Bountiful.  He is a special person that we have all grown to love.  It was a shock that on Monday we found out that he was being sent home for medical reasons a couple of months early.  But he has been fighting it for some time so I guess that it just got to be more than they could deal with in the mission.  It was exciting to see him but also comforting to know that when we get home he will be in Bountiful.  We also saw many others and got pictures of them but we missed getting a picture of Elder Timothy Pew.  He is a special person also.

Elder Hatch standing rear, Elder Hendricks with the funny face, Elder Tews standing front

We went back to the office at about 1:00 p.m. after eating some lunch with the missionaries.  We worked there until about 4:30 p.m.  We left early to go to the temple but also because we had no computers because the Assistants were doing their work on ours and they seem to like our office the best because there are two computers so they can work together and be together in their companionship.

We went home and ate some dinner and went to the temple.  While we were driving up to the temple BJ called and said that he had accepted a job in Lehi, Utah my old home town!  It was so good that he found something closer to family.  I know he loved Hawaii but I am glad to have him come home so I can spend some time with Cieli Rose.  Nothing selfish about me.  He is working at a place called Xactware in Lehi as a mobile developer, so he is doing something that he loves.  Luckily in some ways the traffic was slow so I got to talk to him a little longer than normal on the way to the temple.

Sister Johnson, Sister Farmer and Elder Macdonald front

When we got to the temple I got a call from the Caterers from Blanco BBQ and they did not have the same person working for them now in Catering and they insisted that they have a credit card number that I could tell them the address for for the dinner the next day.  I did not know for sure the address on the mission credit card so they sent me back to pick-up to reorder.  Pickup would accept the credit card until I could get with Larry about his card for the mission.  He had already gone in the temple.  I was starting to get antsy that I would not make the session if they didn't get it worked out soon.

The Temple was good as always. We are so blessed to have a temple here in San Antonio.

After the Temple we went to go grocery shopping as we had finally figured out our finances.  That took us an hour so it was 10:30 p.m. before we got to bed.

Sister Farmer, Sister Shaffer, Sister Johnston, Sister Presser, Elder Presser

Wednesday was a crazy day.  The mission phone called Larry about 7:30 a.m. when we were reading scriptures.  It was a Sister in Windcrest that had to get another Sister to the airport and she had locked her keys to her car in her trunk.  Larry told her to call the Zone leaders about getting the person to the airport and then he quickly left to go to the office to deal with getting the keys out.

The reason that I did not go with him is because I had spent the greater part of the time from 4:30 a.m. on trying to get my stomach to calm and not throw up.  I don't know why I got nauseated but it was not going away.  I finally got up and took some phenegren to try to calm it and it did for a while. but then it started to come back.  Eventually I threw up.  It wasn't a lot but it wasn't just phlem.  When Larry said pray he asked the Lord to heal me as we had our busiest day of the Transfer ahead of us.  I started to feel better after we had read so I got up and took my pills and started to eat a banana but it immediately set off the nausea.  So I went in and lay down and tried to rest my stomach as Larry left.  I got feeling better after about an hour and lots of prayers so I got up and got dressed.  I was doing fairly well trying to dress and started to make a crock pot of beans that Larry wanted. But just putting in the beans and onion and moving around made the nausea come back.  I sat down in the recliner to read but fell asleep.  Larry came in about 10:00 a.m. to pick me up.  He was in a hurry and very frustrated by all the busyness that was going on at the office.  I had just woke up so was feeling groggy so he calmed down but he was insistent that I put all the things in the beans so they would be cooking that day.  I didn't get sick doing that so we headed for the office.  The sleep that I had in the recliner had seemed to settle things and I was not bothered the rest of the day.

Elder Hendrick who was a moving Elder for 4 transfers in the office and became one of our favorites

We went to the office and did some work.  Sister Williams was having some Basal Cell Skin Cancer removed and so they were not in the office for a while even though they had been in earlier.

Elder Ianziti

We went to pick up the food for the lunch at about 1:00 p.m.  They didn't have the sandwich done which is unusual for Wal-Mart here, so we had to wait.  We were supposed to be there and set up by 2:00 p.m. they said but we did not leave Wal-Mart until about 1:45 p.m so it was almost 2:00 p.m. when we got to Stone Oak.  But as usual we had time to set up and ended up waiting for almost an hour because they always underestimate how long it will take them to pick up the missionaries from the airport and to take them to the Temple for pictures so they are always late but it is better to be ready than not. 

The one missionary coming from the Mexican MTC was grounded in Houston by the United Computer problems and they said he wasn't getting to San Antonio until 10:00 p.m. but about 4:30 p.m. the airport called and said we have a missionary of your here.  President was surprized but grateful for the divine intervention that got him here earlier.  We were at the office when they brought him in so it was good to see him.  It was funny because Sister Williams was going to tell the President that he wasn't coming in until 10:30 p.m. and then President said we have him here.

Elder Christensen and Elder Tapia

Because of some of the commotion at the office we did not get to pick up our BBQ at Blanco until after 6:00 p.m. and dinner is suppose to be at 7:00 p.m.  We got there and started the preparations but the missionaries got back from the Alamo early so it was a help the Pressers get dinner on the table night but no one seemed to mind.  In the confusion though of the evening I forgot to get the Driver's License Copies I usually get while we are waiting to eat.  We ate lunch with the missionaries and dinner with the missionaries so we would not have had to make the beans this day but they were able to sit and cook slowly to the next day.

Elder Hatch our last Assistant to the President

I remember thinking as I was doing the dishes and cleaning up that I was working so good and I did not feel the effects of the morning.  I felt like Heavenly Father had truly heard my prayer and helped me to do more than I normally would be able to do in that situation.

Larry wanted to write about this day that night because of all the hectic doings of the day but we were both too tired to write so I am grateful I was able to remember most of it.

Thursday morning was transfer.  We arose at 6:00 a.m. but we needed to be at the chapel at 7:30 a.m. so we decided to listen to scriptures on the way.  We got there in good time and Larry was excited that they had some of the breakfast tacos from Las Palapas left, in fact quite a few and so we ate some of those because we had just had milk for breakfast to hurry.

Elder Macdonald one of the Elders that served in Woodlake Ward

We had a good orientation meeting.  This is the first time I have had to pass out the IPads to the incoming missionaries so that was different.  It was also a miracle because the Senior Office Missionaries often go over their time and they did not that day.  We had 24 missionaries come in this time and so it was a larger group than it has been for some time and yet we got finished on time.

Transfer meeting is always fun.  The new missionaries march in at the beginning with President and the Assistants to the song Called to Serve.  It is a great sight to see everyone standing and welcoming the new missionaries and all of them marching in as we all sing Called to Serve.  It is a wonderful sight.  We always speak and they have two or three testimonies and then Sister Slaughter speaks, then a guest if we have it and then President and then they have the transfer callouts.  Everybody hugs or gives their new companion an abrazo so it is fun to see the missionaries excitement at the changes.

We had a lot of problems with bikes at this meeting for some reason.  It was probably because I thought that the moving Elders understood what they were to do but it was obvious that they did not.  So I had several people that did not or could not find their bikes because the stuff was not piled together.  I was very frustrated because I was sure that I had brought the paper with the list of what everyone was supposed to have and then I could not find it.  I looked everywhere I thought and then on the way home from Austin I found it in my purse!!!

We drove to Austin and back for the meeting there. We stopped and got some kolaches at the Corner Store with a drink and we had some fruit that we brought. We ate something at Subway at the end of the meeting and then when we got to Buckee's we had something else to eat and when we got home we were not hungry for the beans that were still slow cooking.  We went to bed early about 8:15 p.m. that night.

Friday we got to the office by nine.  Larry went to Pep Boys to get something done with the car to make it better.  He thought that he would get back in about an hour.  He got back at about 2:00 p.m.  Then we went to take the Vans and trailers back that we rent to transport everyone for Transfers.  Elder Calley asked me if I knew how to drive a trailer and I told him yes.  And I meant it.
We took the trailers back first to U-Haul.  We drove in and had to turn the corner.  Apparently when I drove in I did not clear a truck and I was rocked but I just thought that I had turned too sharp for the trailer.  When Larry came out of the office he looked at the trailer and said did you hit something.  I told him I didn't think so but when I got our the left fender on the trailer was dented in and the Assistants that had driven the Van and trailer behind me said they saw me hit one of the UHaul Trucks parked by the entrance.  Larry was not a happy camper.  I could see that he was ready to ban me from driving.  I was pretty upset too.  I do not think that I am a bad driver but after the car and now this I was pretty upset.  But when Larry went in to see what we needed to do about it they said that it didn't matter.  They said that it happens all the time and that they could beat it out.  I was so relieved that it did not cost the mission a ton.

When we got back we finally had devotional that usually comes at the first of the day.  The Assistants wanted to use my computer again.  I had spent the morning calling the new missionaries to find out who did not have their bike.  I had a ton that I could do but I did not feel like doing it I was so tired so I let them.  I went in and sat in the office conference room and read my phone and such until Larry was ready to go at 5:00 p.m.

We got home and finally ate our beans with rice, cheese and salsa.  It was yummy!  But the beans were way cooked.

Larry went to bed at 7:15 p.m.  I was not ready to go to bed as there were some things I wanted to get done.  I finally was ready to go to bed at 9:10 p.m and just then Larry woke up and wanted to read scriptures so we did and then went to bed.

Tonight I have learned through the Spirit and reading a story in the Friend magazine that I should not let Nathan's actions bug me but should ask Heavenly Father to help me to not get mad and just love him.  I can control my actions but I cannot stop Nathan from feeling the way he does.  I can choose not to be bothered by it anymore.  And, I think that I can do that with the help of Heavenly Father and Jesus.