Our Sister From Bolivia Leaves, District Meetings, A Visit From Our Friends From NSL, MLC

We visited the Sky Canyon district meeting.

As we walked out of the building, we looked across the parking lot just in time to see the steeple on the new church building being lowered into place. There are two churches right next to each other in Temecula. Crazy!

We had Hermana Balcazar spend the night with us so we could take her to the airport the next morning. She's from Bolivia and has been such a happy missionary since she stepped foot in America. She has worked hard to learn English and has delighted all of us in her efforts to learn. She brings joy whenever she is around.

She is so loving and has truly considered us her parents while in America. She told us we will always have a daughter in Bolivia. She went home a week later than the other sisters in her group because she had requested to be able to fly home with her sister who was finishing her mission in New York.

Because of her request being granted, she was able to attend the special all-missionary meeting with Elder Uchtdorf and the other brethren. She was standing right behind Elder Uchtdorf in the photo. I thought that was a pretty special experience for her and a great memory to end her mission.

Unfortunately, her plane arrived too late in Florida and she missed her flight and her sister had gone on without her. Glen arranged for the mission president there to pick her up and take her to his home to spend the night. Her sister spent the next night with the mission president wherever she had landed while she waited for Hermana Balcazar to arrive. They finally connected and flew the rest of the way home together.

We went to the Melrose district meeting held at the mission office church building.

That afternoon our North Salt Lake friends arrived in town. They were thrilled to get out of cold, snowy Utah. It worked out that we had enough free time that we could cook them dinner.

The Stewarts stayed at our home, so while the others went to get settled in their hotel, Grant and Diane helped me cook dinner. Glen had grill duty and did a famously good job with the meat.

It was so nice to all sit around the big table together in our quiet home and hear what each person had to say. So much better than a restaurant with that big of a group.

The next morning we went to the temple together. LaVona and Colleen (sisters) had brought lots of family names with them, so we spent two hours doing sealings. It was a special experience to be in the temple with them and feel such love between us.

But, we were really pushing it time wise by the time we were finished. Glen and I just had to jump up and hurry to get dressed and get out of there so we could get to our afternoon meeting on time.

Our friends had a leisurely time for a while longer in the temple, went to the Mormon Battalion and then joined up with one of LaVona's friends for lunch in Old Town.

Glen and I spent the afternoon meeting with this small group of newer missionaries in their second trainer follow-up meeting. 

That evening we met up with the group for dinner at a restaurant. Glen was rushed for time, so he ditched out on me shortly after the food came. He had a meeting to attend.

I was glad the group came inside when they brought Stewarts and me home so we could visit longer. We couldn't hear anyone on the other half of the table during dinner. Glen was able to get home before they left, so that made it nice as well.

Jan was getting her kicks reading all the jokes on the napkins and wanted to take them home for her grandson.

We loved so much being able to spend a little bit of time with our friends. Having Grant and Diane here allowed us to have some extra talk time with them. We truly are blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends.

We didn't have much time for saying good-byes. We were off for a day-long Mission Leadership Council meeting. Once again Sister Radford did an excellent job providing food for the group.

Sister Radford also likes to have beautiful flowers on display for our enjoyment.

We will be telling three of these sister good-bye soon. That is always a sad thought. But, it's the circle of life--missionary life.