Trail in San Marcos, Thanksgiving Day, Family Chatting and Photos

We went on a Monday morning adventure to San Marcos on a trail leading to Discovery Lake.

At one point we took quite a hike up the mountain and got a great overview of the land.

And we discovered Discovery Lake.

We also spotted a fun playground.

This beautiful tree reminded us we are in the middle of fall even though the temperature does not feel that way at all. We were impressed with the wide, nicely-paved trails.

We were considering going back to the same spot on Thanksgiving morning, but I was having abdominal pain which lasted for several hours and could hardly walk. I suggested we walk on streets instead of a trail in case I felt I couldn't make it back to the car. That way Glen could drive to pick me up if necessary.

Oceanside was our destination that day. We saw some streets closed and policemen all around and didn't realize we had come upon the O-side Thanksgiving Turkey Trot.

We were remembering last year when Sarah's family was in town and we had gone to the beach a little later in the morning and saw the remnants of all the people leaving from the very same race.

We watched the last two batches of runners beginning the race. Some of them were quite festive wearing turkeys on their heads and having other forms of turkey accessories on their shirts or bodies. 

It was beautiful weather. I was intrigued by this metal work of art. 

Citrus fruit trees also grab my attention. I am just not used to seeing limes, lemons and grapefruits growing on trees.

Something in a store window caught Glen's eye. I couldn't resist taking a photo of him checking out what real estate deals were available. With the blue skies, the perfect weather and the palm tree in the background, who wouldn't want to buy a house in southern California???

I made my own gluten-free bread squares for my own Thanksgiving stuffing. Glen likes Stove Top Stuffing. Glen likes white potatoes, I like sweet potatoes.

We set up a nice little dinner for two out on the patio. Glen grilled us some turkey breasts as we did not want to mess with a whole turkey for just the two of us. They were delicious!

Not only were we sporting different foods for each of us, but we were sporting casual clothes. All day long!! It was a true, relaxing holiday for us!! Plus we got a lot of stuff done. Win/win!!

We were feeling a lot more rested on Friday when we met with this group of missionaries and their trainers for their new missionary training meeting.

Because of Thanksgiving, we had them wait an extra day and thought they would be so much more rested and perky than the new missionaries usually are, but such was not the case. They were still super tired sitting in a meeting all morning.

They did perk up for lunch, though. Elder Radford is the food model as he is getting photo bombed by a certain missionary.

During lunch we have Elder Kopenhefer show them car safety videos. How fun! Lunch and a movie!!

We attended a baptism in the afternoon and another baptism in the early evening. Despite their vast age differences--one an older woman and the other a 9-year-old boy--it was evident they were both ready and eager to make the commitment to follow Jesus' example.

"And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

"And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?

"Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping the commandments.

"Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.

"And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.

"And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me." (2 Nephi 31:5-10)

It was dark after the baptism when we headed out to do our grocery shopping for the week. One positive thing about it--this is what our Black Friday shopping experience looked like. Hardly a soul at the store, so we were able to shop in peace with no crowds. Hallelujah!!

It wasn't until after the fact that I noticed someone had heart attacked our front door for Thanksgiving Day. Oh well, it was still nice the day after.

We really don't FaceTime the children and grandchildren as often as we could. But when we do, it is fun for us to see everyone. There was a little bit of craziness going on with the grandchildren at various points throughout the conversation.

We even had a bit of FaceTime with Abe and his children.

I really enjoyed some recent Instagram photos of Jacob's family, so I asked if I could re-post them here. Jacob made me laugh when he said he had the great idea of eating his favorite Thanksgiving Day dessert for breakfast so he could really enjoy it instead of after the big meal when he was so full.

Laurie makes a delicious apple pie and I was jealous I wasn't there to help him eat his breakfast. I think it is a genius idea!!

I really enjoyed these photos of Jacob and Laurie's children at Vala's Pumpkin Patch in Omaha. (Emma, Natalie, Claire, Luke and Logan)

And I will end with this cute photo of Emma and Natalie.

Quotes of the Week

God promises to illuminate the way before us, no matter how long it takes.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I testify that He is always there, His merciful, loving arms outstretched to me and to you.
--Anne C. Pingree

The Lord blesses those who want to improve.
--Jeffrey R. Holland

God is a God of truth, and God does not change. We are the ones who must be changing.
--Dallin H. Oaks

Transfer #13; Old Missionaries Leave and New Ones Come On Same Day

We hardly had time to take a deep breath after the Wakolos left before we were deep into transfer #13. We were a little discombobulated with everything going on that only two elders got invited to our new leadership training meeting.

They were treated extra special because we started the meeting later because of taking Elder and Sister Wakolo to the airport. It worked to the missionaries' advantage because we ordered lunch in for them and their companions, which we don't usually do for this meeting.

After the meeting was over and we were feeling good about things, It occurred to Glen that two other elders should have been at the meeting. So, the next day we had to do new leadership training all over again. No lunch this time.

We did a more abbreviated meeting this time, then had our weekly planning meeting with the assistants before we joined in with the Vista stake for their stake conference weekend.

Elder Pimentel had attended another stake conference in our mission a while ago and we really enjoyed his teachings. He likes to have a women's leadership meeting Saturday afternoon, an adult session Saturday evening and then priesthood leadership meeting early Sunday morning before the general stake conference session. We were asked to speak in the general session on Sunday morning and ended up having only about 4 minutes each to speak.

I hadn't prepared anything for my talk yet. I have some already prepared to use at conferences, but I didn't feel like I wanted to use any of them. I wasn't stressing about it (which is out of the norm for me).

Sunday morning while Glen was at the priesthood meeting, I got the inspiration I needed to prepare my talk. I love it when that happens. A woman at the meeting the night before had jogged my memory about an experience we had had with her and her friend when we first got here and I used that as part of my talk.

Sunday evening the sister training leaders brought the three Swedish missionaries to our home to spend the night. They were visa waiters assigned to our mission. We learned their visas arrived on the day they flew here, but we were instructed to keep them for the full transfer. 

They had been so anxious to get their visas and go to Sweden. After spending 6 weeks here, they were feeling a little sad to be leaving because they had made friends and were adjusting to missionary life here. 

It was a very short night!! I never like to see a 5 as the first number on the alarm clock. A 6 as the first number is plenty early enough for me. So, arising at 2:55 a.m. for the day--with no nap happening during the day--was not my favorite thing. But, sometimes we just do what we gotta do, and that's all there is to it!

Glen promised the sisters a French toast breakfast in the wee hours of the morning before we left for the airport.

It was truly a bittersweet day for them and for us. They are wonderful missionaries who will be missed by us and who will be a blessing for the Swedish Mission. One of our home neighborhood girls is in that mission--Rachel Cole--so we told them to look for her.

We came home and exercised and got ready for the day--which was Monday and the day the missionaries send letters to Glen. He was able to get all their letters read and answered and dinner cooked by the time the group of departing missionaries came to our home to spend the night.

Our transfers have changed so that we do the departing group on Monday evening instead of Tuesday evening. We receive new missionaries in on Tuesday afternoon now instead of Tuesday morning.

It was not per our request--it was because the MTC is changing the departure time so the missionaries don't have to get up at 2 a.m. to catch the shuttle to get to the airport to catch the early morning flight to California. So the good news is we only have to go to the airport once instead of two days in a row.

Except in the case where we have visa waiters and we go two days in a row...

We got this group of 12 departing missionaries fed. We had testimony meeting. We slept. We got up early and headed to the temple.

It is a wonderful thing for the departing missionaries to do a final endowment session in the San Diego Temple and have some time in the celestial room to reflect on their 18 months or 2 years of service. 

I always get a kick out of the assistants when they take selfies. This one made me laugh out loud. Generally I love palm trees in photos. Not so sure if I can say that in this case.

Finding a spot for all our vehicles to pull over together and unload all the luggage at the airport curb is always an adventure. Time for hugs and good-byes.

They finish up with this chapter of their lives and go home with nervous anticipation of their next phase of life.

With our new schedule of arriving missionaries on the same day, we had several hours in the middle of the day in between groups. It doesn't make sense for us to drive all the way home just to turn around and drive back to the airport.

So we took Elder Eddins and Elder Hadfield to Tom Ham's Lighthouse Restaurant for lunch.

It was so nice and relaxing having lunch outside by the water. Glen was almost envisioning himself on a cruise.

The hostess asked if we were celebrating anything special and Glen mentioned we'd already celebrated my birthday, but they brought me a birthday dessert to share with the group anyway.

Let's face it--we had a lot of time to kill, so I had the elders posing for some photos by the water. It was so beautiful!! 

We have talked about it since and decided we need to do some planning ahead to figure out how we can use those hours more productively. It felt like such a waste of time just waiting...waiting...waiting...for the plane to arrive.

Our one Spanish elder arrived from the Mexico MTC and then there were five of us waiting...waiting...waiting...for another hour for the plane to arrive carrying all the rest of the missionaries coming from the Provo MTC.

We instantly loved our new elder who suggested we share our favorite scriptures with each other while we were waiting. He didn't want to waste that time doing nothing. Good for him!!

Finally our group arrived!

Instead of doing all our usual new missionary stuff all throughout the day as we had in the past, we are now forced to have to deal with traffic delays, getting to the mission office church building in the evening after the senior couples should have gone home for the day.

Fortunately, the Radfords and Kopenhefers are very willing to do what is needed, so they stayed late to get a meal brought in for us. They did their parts of training with the missionaries. They hauled in mail that had arrived for the new missionaries. They had the missionaries fill out paperwork. It's like the first day of school. Paperwork and hearing lots of instructions.

Glen was rotating the missionaries one by one through his office to interview with them. I was doing group training on medical issues and then pulling them aside one by one to ask if they have any health issues I need to be aware of.

We had the trainers arrive at the building at 9 p.m. to pick up their new missionaries. It makes for a late night for them and a long day for us, but relatively speaking--we thought it went pretty smoothly for our first time and with a pretty large group.