Transfer #10 Has Come and Gone

Newland mailed us a picture of a gumball he had drawn. We were so happy to know he was thinking of us and we enjoyed seeing how he writes his name.

The Carlsbad stake did roadshows this year and the theme was "Ask" James 1:5-6. It was such an enjoyable evening of wonderful entertainment where each ward came up with a clever way to use the theme.

I liked how the Spanish ward used Dora the Explorer. In each episode Dora uses a few Spanish words to help the viewing audience learn a little Spanish. Dora has her monkey friend Boots who helps her solve a puzzle or a mystery.

Dora brought along her friend Diego and they are trying to figure out why the Book of Mormon is so important.

On Monday mornings we like to do our morning exercise outside of the neighborhood. Besides trying to avoid all the trash cans lining the streets in our neighborhood, we don't have a rigid schedule because of preparation day, so we venture out to different places.

We enjoyed our walk around San Dieguito Lagoon.

We have started going to the grocery store and Costco on Friday or Saturday each week, instead of on Monday preparation day, so Glen has a full day (after our morning exercise outings) to work on reading and answering the missionaries' letters.

It makes him a happy man when he completes that task all in one day so it doesn't hang over him throughout the week. By getting them done on Monday it helps him feel like he has a nice break before they write again the following week and the process starts all over again. P-days for him are always work days.

That evening we picked up a Spanish-speaking elder at the airport who had flown in from the Mexico MTC. Some zone leaders picked him up at our house to spend the night with them and then they took him to the church the next day to join in with the rest of his incoming group. One other missionary also joined the big group the next day at the church.

The assistants spent the night at our house. Glen fixed them the traditional French toast breakfast the next morning and then we were off to the airport to pick up our huge batch of new missionaries.

Here they are (21 of them) having arrived safely in San Diego from Provo.

We took them to the mission office church in Vista where Glen interviewed each one of them. I also talked to each one individually about their health concerns and trained them on how we deal with medical issues in the mission.

We had the office couples rotate through doing their training with them as well.

There was a stake cub scout day camp going on all week in the building, so we ended up going upstairs and using the Primary rooms for lunch and training.

Glen assigned the new missionaries to their trainers and then sent them off to get started on missionary work.

Then it was home for us to get dinner on the table for the big group of departing missionaries.

Elder Hopkins is now joining Elder Hadfield as the new assistant. They are the ones who clean up all the dishes after dinner as the departing group of missionaries gather in the celestial room (formal living room) for testimony meeting.

After the meeting we have our traditional group pose on the stairs.

Back row: Elders Yeck, Miles, Higginson, Horton, Groesbeck, Parkinson, Mardesich

Middle row: Elders Schellenberg, Sharp, Talbot, Running, Anderson, Glen

Front row: Elders Irvine, Raddon, Knight, Haskell, Sister Nebeker, me

This is what our garage looks like the night all the departing missionaries stay at our house. The door leads into the room where the assistants sleep the two nights we are dealing with arriving and departing missionaries.

Sister Nebeker spent the night at the apartment of some of our sister missionaries who live in the complex at the bottom of our street.

It's always nice when the house cleaner comes on departure day as we leave the house very early to go to the temple and we come home to a spotlessly clean home. It's like magic!!

We had two missionaries with earlier flights than the others, so Glen and I grabbed them and their luggage and hurried them off to the airport after the temple session. That is why the two of them and the two of us are missing from the temple photos.

These were such big groups of both arriving and departing missionaries. We were very anxious about having it all run smoothly dealing with that many people, that much luggage and that many vehicles. Glen had meticulously planned every single detail and I must say it pretty much worked like clockwork.

It was actually quite amazing and we were feeling so blessed and so thankful that it all turned out as well as it did.

When we arrived back at our home breathing a big sigh of relief to have finished up our 10th transfer, we looked out our kitchen window and saw this big, beautiful red flower. It actually brought a tear to my eye.

I thought back to a little over a year ago when we arrived in the mission the first of July feeling so overwhelmed with the huge responsibility upon us and everything else that goes along with a move to a new area.

We had looked out our kitchen window then and saw a big red flower blooming--just for us. We felt then that it was a special gift to lift our spirits and give us hope to be able to carry on.

A few days before this most recent transfer, we had been commenting about how it was halfway through the month of July and we had yet to see a red flower bloom.

Then there it was--blooming exactly on the day we needed it to bloom for us this year and once again we felt that it was a special gift to us from above. (Look at the size of that flower!)

Definitely no rest for the weary as we gathered together the next day with our gigantic group of new missionaries and their trainers for a training meeting.

We fed them lunch after the meeting and they watched a training video after lunch.

Former missionary Sister Laurina Masangkay was back in the area for a visit and brought her fiancé Kyle with her.

On Friday of that week we spent a lot of the day going back through the training videos from the new mission presidents' seminar to make note of video clips we would like to use for future MLCs and zone conferences.

Then it was date night. This time we chose to go to the Safari Park. We really enjoyed watching the musical performances they had going on throughout the evening.

We always enjoy going on the safari tram going around the African plains.

It was so relaxing listening to the music, watching the dancers and looking at the animals.

As we were leaving the Safari Park, we commented about how once again we felt rejuvenated after we had spent time with the animals. We are sure feeling like our zoo passes are definitely money well spent!

Zone Conference, Mormon Battalion, Date Night at the Zoo

Our first zone conference of the transfer was held in the Carlsbad stake center which is right around the corner from us.

We opened with teaching the missionaries what Elder Dale G. Renlund taught to the new mission presidents and their wives--to treasure up the words of life is like putting tools in a tool box. You cannot use what you have not acquired.

Missionaries need to treasure up doctrines that support the commitment invitations they plan to extend. Additionally, they need to treasure up the promises that God makes to those who accept and keep those specific invitations. These doctrines and promises are found in the scriptures.

The assistants taught about doctrine and commandments and then we sent them off to practice what had been taught.

They rotated through different classes where they had a very short training and example role play before getting the chance to role play teaching the various topics in each room: follow the prophet, Word of Wisdom, the law of chastity, Sabbath day, and tithing.

 They were supposed to teach from the scriptures to support the doctrine and promised blessings.

Lunch is a welcome sight for them, but especially for me when I see the food all laid out and ready for us to have a quick lunch so we can get back to training.

Edible chips and salsa centerpieces were enjoyed by all.

Afternoon classes were rotating as well. Sister Sattley got the missionaries thinking how they could use family history in their finding efforts.

The Atkinsons gave information on the Pathway program offered through the Church to help people get on the path to higher education. Another tool to put in the toolbox of things to know as missionaries are out talking with people.

This elder taught the missionaries about how to keep an area book organized and how to use it most efficiently.

Zone conference - day 2 with the other half of the mission.

One of our efficient assistants keeping us on schedule.

We had a crowd favorite of breakfast for lunch. Mmmm! Smelling the bacon cooking during the last two rotations was a big teaser for what was to come.

We love our assistants and honestly could not do this calling nearly as well without all their help.

(Elder Horton, Elder Hadfield, Elder Higginson)

New leadership training meeting consisted of six new district leaders. No new sister training leaders this time around.

Took another group of missionaries and their trainers to the Tequila Factory for lunch as they had just finished their First 12 Weeks of training.

Missionaries panning for gold at the Mormon Battalion.

The story of the Mormon Battalion is such a good one for missionaries to hear. It helps them appreciate their Mormon heritage. It really helps focus on how faith in Jesus Christ can get us through the tough times in life.

All of our missionaries are essentially on their own religious march and they will encounter hard things. As they rely on faith, have a positive attitude and never give up, they will accomplish the task asked of them.

It had been a busy week for us. We decided to start date night as soon as we were finished at the Mormon Battalion. We walked across the street to Heritage Park and walked around looking at all the old Victorian style homes that were relocated there from their original locations.

Next stop was the zoo. The baby monkey moving around behind his mother was pretty cute.

This iguana caught our eye as he was on the move in his habitat.

A peacock is always an eye catcher when he has his beautiful tail feathers on display.

This particular bird had his eye on a female and he was doing everything in his power to make her notice him. He would turn himself away from her and the back feathers would start vibrating.

Then he would quickly turn around and stand right in front of her trying to get her attention. It was very hilarious as she pretty much ignored him, time and time again.

There was a lot of commotion going on with the flamingos. They liked to peck at each other.

On the other hand...these deer-like animals were locking lips and stayed that way for several minutes.

Riding the sky ride was very relaxing.

The view from up there was beautiful.

After spending a few hours with the animals, we felt rejuvenated.