This is our newest group of missionaries coming in on transfer week #4. The rest of the group arrived later in the day as they were coming from the Mexico MTC.
Here is the group of newbies after they had been paired up with their trainers.
This is our group of new Spanish missionaries and their trainers.
When a group arrives, that means a group leaves. These are our departing missionaries.
(Elder Waite, Elder Arillano, Elder Richards,
Hermana Adkins, Hermana Parris)
It is always sad to say good-bye to some people who have been a part of our life. Our hope is always that they can go home and keep their testimonies strong and do well in school and do all they can to be successful in life and marriage and be good examples and strong leaders in their wards and their communities.
When we return back to our quiet home after having fed the group the night before and them having spent the night with us, it is always entertaining to see what they leave behind.
This time we found Marie (name on the doggy tag). Since "she" looks new and clean, I have chosen to keep the stuffed animal for a toy for when the grandchildren come to visit.
It was nice walking into our home and seeing everything in order and smelling the cleanness that comes when our house cleaner has worked her magic.
The next day was surgery day. Neither one of us had been looking forward to this day. It was hard picking a day that we felt would work into the schedule. We have something planned every single week and usually several or more big somethings that require our attendance at least and our teaching/training at most.
Glen moved the new missionary training meeting to the next day so he could have a full free day with me. My parents had arrived in town the night before and so he knew he could leave me with them the following day to do the new missionary training meeting.
We arrived at the surgery center in Encinitas and they had me change into a hospital gown and then I waited and waited and waited very UN-EAGERLY for the I.V. person to come in and make the usual half a dozen stabs at me.
More waiting and then the doctor came in. I thought--OH NO!! He is now ready for surgery and it is going to take an hour or more for several people to make their attempts to get an I.V. in me and I was feeling so bad about it.
A minute later the anesthesiologist came in and said they were taking me back and he would put in the I.V. Seriously!!??!! I was so happy! I was secretly hoping he would somehow knock me out before he made the million attempts to get a needle in me, but Glen pointed out it was probably not possible to knock me out without having an I.V. in my vein first. WISHFUL THINKING on my part!!
The funny part of this whole experience is they had me walk myself down to the surgery room. Keep in mind my surgery was scheduled for my already sore foot that really hurts to walk barefooted. I was at the surgery center to have two neuromas cut out from between my toes. And my other foot will more than likely need surgery as well and it really hurts to walk barefooted on that one as well. So I hobbled myself down to my impending doom.
Shockingly, surprisingly, and ecstatically, I am happy to report the anesthesiologist picked the top of my left hand for the I.V. and almost painlessly it was inserted within a couple of minutes of getting situated on the surgical table. IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He told me he was only going to give me the barest minimum of drugs to keep me under and as soon as the doctor was finishing up the surgery, he would let me come out of the anesthesia. Next thing I knew (an hour and a half later), I was awake and able to get myself from the surgery table to the bed and they wheeled me into the recovery room.
I FELT FANTASTIC!! On the way home, I felt amazing!! (Although as I look at myself in this picture, I look a little bit drugged...)
It honestly felt like no big deal. I kept looking down at the compression stocking on my left foot and the surgical boot on my right foot and found it hard to believe the surgery was complete. So quickly. So easily. So painlessly. It had hardly been an ordeal at all!! IT WAS ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!!
I got situated on the couch and felt wonderful the rest of the day. Not tired, not sick to my stomach, not in pain--NOTHING!!! THAT WAS ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!!!
I kept waiting for the pain medication to all wear off so I'd know how much pain I was really going to be feeling. The doctor called that night to ask how I was doing and when I asked when the pain medication would wear off, he said anything he had shot in my foot would have all worn off by that point.
I didn't believe him. I decided to take one pain pill before going to bed in anticipation of it wearing off in the middle of the night.
I was feeling so great I decided to go upstairs and sleep in our bed. That is absolutely unheard of the night of surgery! YET ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!!!
I pretty much slept through the night (waking up now and again, feeling surprised I was in no pain and went right back to sleep). NEED I SAY THAT ALSO WAS ANOTHER MIRACLE!?!?!
In the morning I awoke feeling refreshed and great and got myself cleaned up for the day--complete with hair washed and make-up applied. When have I EVER done THAT the day after surgery?!?!
And no more drugs. It was a wasted pain pill the night before. I didn't need drugs.
I honestly felt like I could have gone with Glen to the training meeting for the new missionaries, but I figured I'd better stay home and elevate and ice my foot just because it was the day after surgery.
Glen found himself a new companion for the day. Dad was such a good and willing sport to spend the day at the mission office with Glen. He was able to watch Glen doing his teaching and training. He met the office senior couples. He wandered around exploring the huge double-chapel church building while Glen did some interviews after the morning meeting. He got to see MP in action and he really seemed to enjoy having the opportunity to do that.
Since Dad is an avid competition archer, he brought his contraptions with him that help him exercise his arm each day.
This one had me laughing and shaking my head in awe at my dear father. He made this apparatus himself figuring out just what he needed and how much weight to make it to have it simulate his bow back home--complete with a little pointy sight on top of the weight. And he also made the thing he pulls back to help him practice releasing the bow trigger. Amazing! He should patent the thing!
Here was a very bright spot during my recovery period. Cute little thank you notes written by Rebecca's children. Kid printing and kid art is the best!!
On Sunday Glen went to a 4-hour coordinating council meeting all morning with the area general authority, the temple president and the six stake presidents in our mission. He and I had invited some investigators to church that day, so I figured one of us better be at the meeting.
Dad and Mom were willing to go to that meeting with me and I was feeling amazing, so off we went. Look at the tiny bruise on my left hand from the I.V. That small amount of bruising was yet ANOTHER MIRACLE!!
Monday was our p-day/doctor day, so since Glen would be with me all day, we encouraged Dad and Mom to go off and have some fun.
But--work before play!! I put Dad to work putting felt pads on our kitchen chairs so they would glide better over the tile floor. He got out his handy-dandy pocketknife (trademark Arlo Ward for you...) and got to work. It was such a much-appreciated act of service he performed for us.
Dad, you're THE BEST!!!!
Then they were off. To the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. Too bad Mom had caught Dad's cold and wasn't feeling very well that day. She wasn't leaving home without her box of tissues. I thought she looked pretty cute despite feeling so rotten.
Meanwhile, Glen was busy working all day on his new batch of letters from the missionaries. We went to the foot doctor in the afternoon for the big unveiling so he could check for infection and re-wrap my foot.
It ALWAYS feels so much better to get the packing pulled out from between my toes.
Voilá! My foot unveiled. Let's just take a moment to notice the beauty of that foot. Look at the shape. No unsightly bunion protrusion by the big toe and no bunionette bony growth on the little toe side of the foot. Those issues were taken care of with the surgery last year.
Ignore the dried blood and the bloody gauze and just gaze at the wonderment of being able to see space between my toes and veins in my feet and ankle. That means NO SWELLING!!!! Wonderful!
The doctor wrapped it up, told me to come back in two weeks and asked who is fixing my Thanksgiving dinner. He said my foot would feel better quicker if I am not standing on it too much.
Well, since a lot of our missionary work consists of sitting in meetings, I decided I could get back to "work" the next day.
And since I was doing so well, Dad and Mom decided they would leave and go on back home. It was probably best I had decided to stay busy the day they left or I would have felt super sad to see them leave. I was glad they had come to see our house, get a feel for the area, see some sights and be a support to us.
I must say I felt super sad when I saw this sweet sister who had recently had a bike accident and has two black eyes to show for it. This is a few days into her recovery. She assures me she is looking really good now compared to how she looked several days ago.
We listened in on a wonderful zone training meeting in Murrieta. This is our elder who loves to take selfies of every meeting he attends. I handed him my camera so I could have one of his selfies.
The next day we attended the Carlsbad zone training meeting. These are the zone leaders and the sister training leaders at the end of our debriefing meeting.
When we heard the missionaries were going to lunch at Costco after the meeting, Glen wanted to have lunch with them. At this Costco, the food and tables are outside. The parking lot was so crowded. Apparently this is a very popular "restaurant" option for lunch.
Time for afternoon icing of my foot while Glen worked on phone calls and emails trying to get things square for him to send an elder home to get medical help for his knee that hasn't been able to heal on the mission.
He was also making plans for a sister arriving in the mission from out of the country who has just gotten her visa. These mid-transfer comings and goings require a lot of work for the mission president.
