Coordinating Councils Dinner, Senior Couples FHE, District Meetings

Our Area Authority, Marc Davis, invited the two coordinating councils which he presides over to his home for a dinner party.

The coordinating councils consist of the six stake presidents in our mission plus all the stake presidents in the San Diego Mission, both the mission presidents and the San Diego Temple president.
                      
We were sad to see the Schmitts leave, but happy to meet the incoming President and Sister Stubbs who are now serving for the next 3 years over the San Diego Mission. She is a cousin to Kim Brimley, our friend from back home.

We ate dinner in the Davis's back yard overlooking a golf course.

We enjoyed the beautiful palm tree sunset.

Sister Davis and her sister prepared all the food. Their daughters were our servers. They took a little time out to eat their dessert after all the guests had been served.

A former missionary, Elder Thomas Friend, stopped by the mission office for a visit. He had just gotten engaged on the beach two days earlier and wanted to share the news with us.

Each Sunday Glen plans for us to attend three different wards. He set a goal for us to get to every ward in the mission at least once a year. We didn't quite make it our first year here. So he changed the goal to getting to each ward in the mission 3 times in the 3 years we are here.

We always find it so interesting to see what happens at each ward we attend. Either a missionary needs something, or a ward member, or investigator or a new convert needs to tell us something, or a leader has had something on his mind and wants to share with us. We love to discover the reason for each visit and see how things unfold. It is quite amazing.

Two weeks ago Glen was called upon twice to speak. I am always relieved to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy what he has to say at a moment's notice. He is a master at on-the-spot thinking and speaking and counseling. Whatever he needs to do. He can do it. He is amazing!

As we were driving to Fallbrook that Sunday, I noticed another walking trail. We decided to check it out the following Monday morning.

The sign at Guajome Regional Park touted camping. Sure enough--we saw campers. Glen claims he would prefer camping at the campground in Carlsbad right along the beach. I think this has a more true camping feel--with woods nearby instead of an ocean nearby.

Either way--we both decided long ago that camping of any kind is not our way to spend a vacation. It's too much work! We would rather drive to a hotel and go out to eat at a restaurant.

This part of the trail was particularly beautiful and there were bunnies galore hopping around.

We found Guajome Lake.

It isn't a very large lake.

But it is picturesque.

We took a little hike to the Upper Pond. On our way back we learned what all the detour signs meant that were posted along the trail we had been walking. One of the trails was closed and we had to backtrack a bit to get back to our car.

Because of the detour, we got our 10,000 steps in that day before Glen went home to vegetate in front of his computer doing letters the rest of the day.

We have our senior missionary couples over once a transfer (every 6 weeks) for Family Home Evening. Glen grilled a delicious pork tenderloin everyone raved over.

After dinner we always gather in the celestial room for a few minutes to share missionary experiences.

We love our senior couples! We missed the ones who weren't able to attend.

Last week we attended different district meetings. This one was in the Vista zone.

The next day we went north to attend a district meeting in the Temecula zone.

The third district meeting day we spent in Escondido.

The district leader had us join in playing a little game to decide which person would get called on to give the STEPP talk--a short 2-3 minute talk using a Scripture, Testimony, Experience and Preach My Gospel to teach the assigned Principle.

Each missionary is to prepare a monthly STEPP talk and always be prepared to get called on at any of the meetings.

The game was a form of bocce ball where a small ball is thrown out as the target and the players try to throw their ball so it lands as close to the target as possible. We were each given a wadded up piece of paper to throw as close to the target as we could. The person whose wadded paper landed farthest away would give the STEPP talk.

I was second to last to throw. I threw my wadded paper and it was getting close to the target and then it bounced off skewampus and landed a definite ways away from the group of other wadded papers.

Glen was last to throw. Of course his landed right close to the target and it was very clear whose wad of paper was farthest away.

No need for a measuring stick or anything. None of the others were even close to being as far out as mine.

But, on the bright side, I guess all those impromptu speakings at stake conferences, sacrament meetings and other various meetings paid off for me. We have never been called on to do a STEPP talk in the year we've been here, but I pulled it off.

The subject was humility. It's something I'm a pro at needing to work on. Who better to preach it than me?!!?

Here's my man working away in the home office. For a year now I've watched him reclining in his office chair instead of sitting up doing his computering.

I sat in that chair the other day and could not believe how totally uncomfortable that thing is. Maybe if you are sitting back and having a chat with someone.

But definitely not if you are doing computer work. Hours and hours and hours of computer work. Every single Monday. Not to mention a few minutes every morning. And again every evening. And more time if preparing for MLC. Or zone conference. Or a talk. Or using the computer for anything.

I insisted we go to the store and sit in all the desk chairs there to determine which one would allow him to have better posture while using his computer. 

This is the second best chair in the store. The first best upright chair that was comfortable didn't have padding on the armrests, so I didn't want him to get that one. 

He is now the proud owner of a chair that keeps him almost upright instead of almost fully reclined. He claims he can't tell the difference. I claim it's a big improvement. 

Who knows...maybe it will improve the speed at which he reads and answers the missionaries' letters each week!