Training, MLC, 75th Birthday Surprise

We thought our group of new missionaries and trainers was a big one last transfer. This one is even BIGGER!! They had their new missionary training two days after arriving in the mission.

The new missionaries look a lot perkier this day than the day they arrived. They get up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. at the MTC on the morning of their flight here and by the time they arrive in San Diego, they are pretty tired. So a couple of full nights of sleep does wonders for them.

There were so many of them we had to set up lunch in the cultural hall. 

Sister Radford does such a great job getting lunches for us when we have meetings at the mission office building.

This time she got food from Costco--chicken bake, chips and very berry sundae. She always watches out for me (and the other special needs eaters) and got me a chicken salad.

The missionaries gave their seal of approval!

For the observant who noticed Elder Kopenhefer's sling under his suit coat as he was training about driving safety while the missionaries were eating, here's the story.

He is a southern California boy. His mother lives not too far from our mission. He grew up surfing. One of the first things he wanted to know when he and his wife arrived in the mission (they came here from Bountiful) was if senior couples are allowed to go in the ocean. 

He was DYING to get the mission president's approval to go surfing. Every morning. For exercise. Except Sundays, of course! 

One morning he hit a wave wrong and the surfboard wrenched back his arm and re-injured his shoulder that he has had problems with before. It is so discouraging for the poor man because he can't go out surfing.

He is such a good missionary. He loves to talk to everyone he sees. He talks about the gospel to other surfers when they are out in the ocean waiting for the good waves to roll in. We need to get some waterproof pass along cards for him!

Joel Touché is our LDS Family Services counselor who comes up from San Diego each week to our mission office building to meet with missionaries (and other members in the area) who are having emotional issues.

Fingers crossed...neither one of us has needed to use his services thus far. I like to think we are coping with mission life pretty well...although some days are easier than others.

The mail storage shelves get pretty full by the time Friday rolls around. It is across from the desk where Sister Miller works two days a week entering baptismal records into the computer, ordering supplies, working on our mission newsletter, etc.

The mail gets delivered to the zone leaders on Fridays and the zone leaders disperse the mail to the missionaries on Monday--preparation day.

Part of the mail for this particular week was not delivered by the mailman, or the UPS driver or the Federal Express delivery person. It was delivered to our home by this beautiful girl who looks so much like her brother. Then we took the stuff to the mission office and put it in the mission mail for him just in time for his birthday.

She recently returned home (to California not far from our mission) from serving her mission in the Nebraska Omaha Mission. Since we are friends with Chad and Susie Gardner, her mission president and wife, we had to take a picture of us together to send to them.

These are our most recent Mission Leadership Council missionaries.

A bright spot in the day is lunch break. 

Especially when they saw the gigantic cookies Sister Radford baked for them.

Elder Hadfield and Elder Hopkins did an excellent job with their part of the training for MLC.

The Young Single Adult wards and branches seem to have a lot of baptisms. After Jesus's baptism, the sisters gave him a gift of a journal and a tie to wear on Sundays to church. The sister on the right was wearing the blouse that matched what her family was wearing that day to her brother's wedding.

I sent the photo to her mother so the family could see she was wearing the wedding clothes. Also, her mother had made the tie for Jesus, so I wanted her mother to see him with the tie as well. Her mom texted back these words:

"Oh my goodness! I was telling my daughter how grateful I was for Jesus today, and his choice to do something amazing on a day we were praying for our sweet missionary! And you know what, right that moment we got your text! Perfect timing and it brought me tears of joy! Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful picture, exactly what we needed to complete this lovely day we've had!!"

Glen received communication that Steven and his fiancée Anna were coming all the way here from Prague in the Czech Republic to get baptized. Steven was surprising his father by asking him to baptize both of them on his father's 75th birthday. His father was bursting with happiness.

Steven's parents had been baptized 40 years earlier and had been praying ever since for this son to accept the gospel and be baptized. Happy day for that family.

Quotes of the Week

Do you realize that the Book of Mormon was written for you--and for your day?
--Gary E. Stevenson

The more I come to know my Heavenly Father, the more I see how He inspires and leads His children. He is not angry, vengeful or retaliatory. His very purpose--Hos work and His glory--is to mentor us, exalt us, and lead us to His fullness.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Find happiness in ordinary things, and keep your sense of humor.
--Boyd K. Packer

Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God's power into our lives.
--Russell M. Nelson

Homeowner Troubles, Training Meeting, Mormon Battalion, a Death, Transfer #11

The spotlight above the stove burned out. Glen went to replace the weird bulbs that go in them and the whole fixture fell out of the ceiling. Glen couldn't get it back in, so he emailed our contact with the Church and soon we had a new spotlight. There are boxes of more in the garage, with the rest getting replaced soon.

We thought we had our water issue fixed. Although the water had quit flooding the lawn and flowing down the driveway, we discovered this spot in the very front of the yard that had leaking water. UGH!! Another email sent to our Church contact and this problem was soon fixed.

We had a new missionary training meeting for the missionaries who are working on The First 12 Weeks. They are about 1/3 of the way through their training.

This elder liked that his suit was matching his mission president's suit.

The sisters wanted their picture taken together.

They invited me into their photo.

Our extremely small group of missionaries and their trainers completed their First 12 Weeks of training. That means only one thing...a buffet at Tequila Factory!!!

Followed by a tour at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.

It is truly a rich and spiritual experience each and every time we go on the tour and learn about the faith, courage and determination of the early Saints. Knowing Glen and I both have relatives who participated in the Mormon Battalion makes it all the better.

This sweet sister had a very unique situation requiring her to make a quick trip home to deal with some personal business. She got back in town very late and spent a second night with us. She was able to enjoy Glen's famous French toast breakfast before we took her into the office where she got back together with her companion. 

It is always devastating when we receive news of the death of a parent of one of our missionaries. Such was the case with this sister. Her mother had died when she was young and she has been raised by her aunt and uncle. Just a week after she had made her quick, one-day trip home, her uncle passed away. What a blessing that she had been able to see him a week before he died. 

In the car on the way home from the airport she had texted him to let him know she had gotten here safely. He responded back, "Thank you...love you forever!!!" I was so touched by his words to her that night. I was even more touched a week later when she was crying in my arms and I reminded her of her uncle's tender words in that text and the deep meaning they now have for her.

We had a new leadership training meeting for 5 new district leaders and 4 new sister training leaders.

We had a bit of a sister gathering in the office before the meeting started.

Time to insert a cute kid photo (or should I say cute grandkid photo). Jacob's family was visiting Utah so Natalie could attend EFY. One day his family, Rebecca's family and Sarah's family decided to spend the day at the lake.

I heard all about how much fun everyone had on this paddle board Jacob had rented. I liked hearing about all the things they were doing together and how much the cousins liked playing together.  

It really touched our hearts when we saw this photo with Sarah's caption "Proud daughter moment." Sarah's family was touring the new Missionary Training Center in Provo and came upon this picture display. Love it! Love her! And that cute little future missionary she is holding.

Meanwhile, back at the California Carlsbad mission office...we had visitors. Miah Froisland and Ciera Bradley, our former missionaries, were in town. This is Sister Bradley's 3rd visit! She can't get enough of California. They were in town for a wedding in the San Diego Temple of two missionaries from this mission who are marrying each other. 

Personally, I would love it if all our missionaries inter-married with each other. It would make keeping track of them much easier.

Here's another former missionary in town for the wedding--Kacee Haire.

We attended all the meetings of the Escondido stake conference. They had a visiting Area Authority, Elder Jay D. Pimentel. I LOVED listening to that man speak. He was a very visual speaker helping us get a good picture in our minds of the various things he talked about.

He held a meeting with the women in the stake. After that meeting, we were invited into the high council room to have dinner with Elder Pimentel and the stake presidency and their wives. The stake president wanted to take Elder Pimentel to a little Mexican restaurant close by, but his wife was not having it!!

She insisted she would take care of the meal between meetings. This is what she and the other wives did and it was lovely. I loved the beautiful flower centerpieces.

One Monday morning when we were out exploring, I thought I was finding us a great walking trail (looking on a map) and the reality was it was a golf course and the "trail" I saw on the map was for golf carts and not pedestrians. SHEESH!!

It was very beautiful, but we turned around and walked through the nearby neighborhoods instead.

Whenever Glen sees a home for sale, he always stops to look at the information to see if it lists a price. We're on the hunt for our next home. Where better to live than southern California?!?!?!???

We had a week of going to the airport three different days. Glen stopped in the middle of reading and answering his Monday missionaries' letters to go pick up these two missionaries who were arriving from the Mexico MTC.

Once back at our home, Glen interviewed each one while I talked to each one about medical stuff. They were able to take a nap before some missionaries came to pick them up for the evening.

We were back at the airport the next morning picking up this HUGE crowd of new missionaries! WOW!!! Our biggest group ever!!

The missionary in front is from our area back home and is good friends with Gabby Todd.

The elder third from the left is a nephew of one of Diane (our friend across the street from us back home) Stewart's daughter-in-law.

I babysat the father of the elder second from right wearing the green tie who lived right across the street from us on 22nd Street in Ogden.

The elder on the right is the brother of one of our first assistants.

The missionary on the right had his appendix out shortly after he entered the MTC. The sisters told us about him as he was still recovering from that and they wanted him to be careful and not lift any luggage.

We got the large group to the mission office and got busy doing our interviewing, medical stuff, feeding them, having the office people do some paperwork and training. After prayerful consideration, Glen paired them up with their new trainers. We sent them off on their way and told them to be back at the mission office building in two days for training.

Then we rushed home to get dinner cooked for the departing missionaries. Although it was not our favorite to have two departing groups of missionaries in one transfer cycle, I was kind of glad because both groups were plenty big enough to feed and sleep at our house.

We had testimony meeting and then the traditional pose on the stairs.

Elders Gantner, Bucko, Wilde, George, Trounce, Sherwood

Sisters Jones, Williams, Petterborg, Roundy and Hermana Terrón

Up early the next morning to take them to the temple, pose for photos and then drop them off at the airport. Glen was distraught to discover in all the loading of the luggage and getting everyone out the door, he had neglected to put his suit coat in the truck we were driving. 

He felt so humiliated at going to the temple wearing no suit coat. And then, of course, this group of missionaries just happened to be the group where the majority of them wanted an individual picture with the two of us. YIKES!!

Elder Gantner is from Switzerland and his family came to pick him up.

Here we are for the third time in a week at the airport dropping off this group of departing missionaries.

We dropped off all the missionaries except one. Well, actually two. The assistants had taken Elder Bucko to the airport before the temple session because he had an earlier flight. I had Sister Roundy with me on the way home from the airport. Her flight was the next morning.

She got to go to the celebratory end-of-transfer lunch at In-n-out. The sisters who were going to take care of her for the rest of the day and overnight and then get her to the airport the next morning had lunch with us as well.

This was one crazy transfer cycle!! Glad to wrap it up and move on to the next transfer cycle. All in all, it went rather smoothly for as many missionaries and various circumstances we were dealing with all throughout.

We are thankful for the assistants and all the assistance they gave in assisting us in all that we needed to accomplish!