District Meetings, Glen Working In the Rain With Missionaries, Technology Coming

We went to the Bobier district meeting in the mission office church building.

We stayed at the mission office all afternoon so we could have a technology training Skype call with the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City. It was the beginning of our roll-out of technology to the missionaries in this mission. It is going to take a while to get fully functioning, but we've got to start somewhere. This was step one.

That day was momentous because it rained. Whenever it rains in Southern California, it's a momentous occasion as these elders were exclaiming over the rare occurrence. It was the first time either one of them had experienced rain on their mission. I wanted to capture the moment for them.

Glen had previously scheduled to go work with a companionship in the Escondido zone the rest of that day. Rain or shine, the work must go on!!

Once our Skyping was finished, he dropped me off at home and off he went to work with the missionaries. It rained the whole time he was gone. He came home drenched!!! His suit was a wreck. We put it in a soggy pile to take to the dry cleaner.

Glen got a call from the bishop of one of the elders he had worked with the following week saying the family was worried about the elder as he seems to be struggling. We feel it was a tender mercy that out of all the missionaries, one of the two companionships Glen chose to work with that week was the one that included the missionary whose family was concerned about him.

There was no indication to Glen of a concern of the elder while he worked with him, nor any indication of a concern in the weekly letters he had written to Glen. It made Glen so relieved to be able to report to that bishop that he is very aware of the elder and had, in fact, just gone out to work with that very missionary.

Elder David A. Bednar has taught there are no coincidences, they are tender mercies. "The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

I was just re-listening to the last general conference talk by Elder Ronald A. Rasband about how there are no coincidences in life. "Coincidence is not an appropriate word to describe the workings of an omniscient God. He does not do things by 'coincidence' but ... by 'divine design.' What may appear to be a random chance is, in fact, overseen by a loving Father in Heaven... The Lord is in the small details of our lives."

There are so many times things happen and we just look at each other and shake our heads at how things work out. It is a continuing testimony to both of us that the Lord is indeed in the small details of our lives.

The next day we attended the Washington district meeting in Murrieta. I forgot to take a picture of all the missionaries in the district, but these sister training leaders had stuck around to eat their lunch, so I snapped one of them. Turns out that was a blessing as it gave them a chance to ask a few questions about a sister they were having questions about. See--tender mercies all around!!

Glen drove me home and then drove back up north to Temecula to work with two elders the rest of the day. That turned out to be a blessing as he had gotten a phone call informing us of a death of a grandparent and the parents thought their son would be upset about the news, so Glen was able to stop by and talk with that elder when he was finished working with the companionship since he "happened" to already be in Temecula that day.

The Kopenhefers have finished up their time serving as the car/housing couple and wanted to spend an extra month here going out and working with the missionaries.

They have been going around to all the district meetings and teaching the missionaries how to have a more effective baptismal service. They set up the room as they would for a baptismal service.

He has the missionaries practice how they would do the ordinance. They role play how they would talk to the friends and family of those coming to witness the baptism.

They had set up a display of materials on the table by the blackboard so the visitors would see and know they could take as many materials as they desire. They even had a refreshment table set up on the opposite side of the room.

It was a great meeting and it helped to have Glen there as this was a group of our Spanish-speaking elders. Glen could tell if they were saying the ordinance exactly right. It is a great learning experience as we have so many new missionaries throughout the mission.

Whenever we think we are going to have a few extra hours in the day, it usually means our schedule is free for a reason. This particular afternoon, Glen was able to go meet an elder in Escondido who had requested an interview and then we were able to go to the mission office in the later afternoon to meet with a troubled sister missionary who needed some reassurance and counsel from her Mission President.

We were glad to have an unscheduled morning the Friday of that week so we could enjoy a lovely walk in a new area we had found not too far from our home.

Despite the warning, we are happy to report we did not see any rattlesnakes during our morning exercise.

We were able to watch President Thomas S. Monson's funeral later that morning. It was a beautiful service. He was such a wonderful and loving man and prophet. Such a legacy of service for all of us to emulate. I feel so thankful for his many, many years of dedicated service.

At the mission office later that day we were able to see former Sister Kaitlyn Guiver and her parents who were back in the mission on vacation. She hadn't been gone from us for very long before she came back!

It reminded us of Abe who flew home from serving in the Nebraska Omaha Mission and then we immediately jumped in the car and drove right back to Omaha so he could visit and show us where he'd served.

Date night was dinner with the McBeths at Fish House Vera Cruz in San Marcos. It was nice visiting with them, but we determined the salmon and shrimp are much better at Red Lobster (in our opinion).

The McBeths had been called to serve last year as Mission President and Wife of the Mexico Torreón Mission--the exact same mission where Glen served as a young man. They have a teenage son still at home and after going to Torreón for a visit to check things out, she was terribly afraid to take their son there, so their names were put back into the mix. Need I even have to say how thankful I am we did not get called there???? Or to any other foreign mission????

They have now been called to duty this go round over the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission starting July 1st of this year. They were full of questions for us and wanted to share their feelings about the whole thing. We felt a little better prepared to share insights with them this year than we did last year when we were so new to the calling and when things were a lot more challenging for us.

Our executive planning meeting we have with the assistants every Saturday morning was a little bit different this particular time.

With the technology roll-out looming over us, Glen wanted to do a strategic planning session with them mapping out exactly each step in the process so he could make a timeline/flowchart/graph (whatever he technically calls it) so we know what we are doing and can keep on schedule.

He uses his favorite sticky-note process to do his project planning. He used this technique to plan his semester homework and projects for college. He used this technique to plan Rebecca's wedding. He used this technique to plan his work projects. It's a tried and true, proven method that he loves to use and was anxious to show Elder Jordan and Elder Eddins.

They were just grinning from ear to ear anticipating having technology in the mission that they were willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done!

We noticed a new plant is now in the spot where we pulled out the dead and decaying plant. I was a little surprised to see it is such a short little thing.

I thought they would put something in with a little more height to hide the yucky-looking wall. Now I'm thinking someone needs to come out and fix that section of the front of the house.

Rebecca sent a photo last weekend of her children enjoying scootering and rollerblading in the 50-degree weather saying they get to pretend it's spring. 

I just had to immediately send back a photo of our temperature. I give thanks in my prayers every single day that we are living in this lovely place with such wonderful weather year round!!!

Sarah sent a picture this weekend of our back deck showing the recent snowfall signifying our daughters are back in deep winter weather after the enjoyment of their 50-degree weather.

And that prompted me to compare their snow view to our yellow flower view here in this wonderful place where we live.  

As Glen so frequently says, "It's just another day in paradise!"