Quotes of the Week

The best antidote I know for worry is work.
--Gordon B. Hinckley

Modesty is more than a matter of avoiding revealing attire. It describes not only the altitude of hemlines and necklines but the attitude of our hearts.
--Susan W. Tanner

We are the Lord's hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.
--Thomas S. Monson

God cares a lot more about who we are and about who we are becoming, than about who we once were.
--Dale G. Renlund

San Diego County Fair; Elder Jordan's Sister's Wedding; Opening a Mission Call; Mormon Battalion

Glen carefully and meticulously arranged our schedule so we could have some time to go to the San Diego County Fair.

Last year we spent a little time watching the horses prance around, so I was happy we arrived a little earlier this year so we could watch for a longer time.

We learned that during the matinee show they have an organist in the middle of the arena who plays music for the horses to do their prancing.

In the evening there is a live orchestra in the center of the arena playing away for the horses' enjoyment.

We walked through some of the big buildings which housed different animals. I took pictures of two bunnies and then no other animals.

We spent quite a bit of time looking at all the photography and art work in some of the buildings.

There were lots of food options throughout the fair grounds.

This is the place where we ate last year and it looked the most promising again this year.

A couple walked by with missionary name tags on and sat down at the table next to ours. We struck up a conversation with them and learned they are in the San Diego Mission. They served an earlier mission in Indonesia at the same time as our friends Lane and LaVona Lewis. Small world!!

I really enjoyed looking at the sidewalk chalk artwork.

Elder Jordan, one of our assistants, had a sister getting married in the San Diego Temple. Since he couldn't go, he invited us to go in his place. We had met his sister before--right after she got home from serving in the Nebraska Omaha Mission with our friends Chad and Susie Gardner as her Mission President and Wife.

It was interesting to learn that Leela Jordan married a man whose first name is Jordan. I never managed to get a photo of Leela and Jordan together. Here she is having a moment with her mother as her little brother looks on. Elder Jordan's little brother reminded us a lot of him. 

This couple asked who we are and when he found out, he said very loudly, "Well we wish Elder Jordan had come instead of you!!"

Glen lost one of his counselors because President Burgon and his wife left to serve a Nauvoo Temple Mission. That left Glen without a counselor for a couple of months. We were very happy when he felt inspired to call David Badal to be his counselor. He didn't know the man. He had been recommended by his stake president and by President Burgon.

As we have come to expect, things just worked out for us to be able to cross paths with him. We got a chance to talk with him after church one day when he happened to be in a building where we had attended church. Then Glen felt good about calling him after prayerful consideration.

When we went to their home to meet his wife Peggy, and for Glen to set him apart as his counselor, it was a second witness to me that Glen had picked the right man for the job when I saw the words "Te Amo" on the glass wall hanging behind him. Glen hadn't thought he spoke Spanish, but we found out he is from Uruguay and does in fact speak Spanish. That ability helps a lot when baptismal interviews are conducted with the Hispanic people.

President Marín, Glen's other counselor, was excited to hear he speaks Spanish as well. He has plans to go out with President Badal and go on splits with the missionaries. They will be able to go with the Spanish-speaking missionaries as well as the others. That works out well!!

We had a 2-transfer missionary assigned to our mission. At the end of that time it was determined by the Missionary Department that she could be reassigned to complete her mission in the Texas Lubbock Mission.

Her family lives nearby, so Glen invited her family to come to the opening of her new mission assignment letter. Her parents and brother were baptized a couple of days before she arrived in our mission. Her sister was baptized a year ago. It was nice they came to see where she will be serving the rest of her 18 months.

She had a week to be home with her family before she reported to the MTC for training. She did not go to the Missionary Training Center before coming here.

She had not been endowed before she arrived in our mission, so she asked if I could be her escort at the San Diego Temple when she went to receive her own endowment. I thought that was a pretty special request. 

She also wanted the two companions she had served with to be at the temple with her. 

Her family had driven to the temple with her as this was scheduled during the week she was home. They went to the Mormon Battalion while she was in the temple. They loved their experience there.

They had been able to take the tour in Spanish and were the only ones on that tour. Her little brother got to be the one who dressed up as a soldier. They so proudly were showing us the picture they took of him.

They invited us to have dinner with them and we suggested a restaurant across the freeway from the temple. Of course I had to take advantage of the photo op with the temple in the background.

They are a sweet family. We felt it a blessing she chose to go to the San Diego Temple and that once she chose that temple that she chose a day where we had a free afternoon and just had to juggle the schedule a little bit by moving our morning meeting to start an hour earlier.

We enjoyed our yummy food. I am hooked on the cauliflower crust pizza I have been getting at California Pizza Kitchen. This time I ordered cobb salad pizza instead of BBQ chicken like I had gotten twice before. Since we have been going there so often lately, I thought I would shake things up a little bit.

One Monday we were feeling adventuresome and decided to hike Double Peak Trail. We didn't make it all the way to the top of the mountain this time, but we enjoyed the view as we hiked.

We took this group to eat at the Tequila Factory and then went to tour the Mormon Battalion. The three missionaries on the left are new from Nicaragua. Elder Lundquist and Elder Jordan were sitting with us. The three sisters on the left have just completed The First 12 Weeks training--with their trainers' help, of course. 

It is always a faith-promoting experience to go to the Mormon Battalion. 

I like to hear what the missionaries learned from it and how it helps them realize they can do hard things as they have faith, work hard and rely on the Savior to help get them through their tough times.

Quotes of the Week

Brothers and sisters, we live in the last days, wonderful days in which the Lord has promised that knowledge will flow down from heaven until nothing shall be withheld from those who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
--Dallin H. Oaks

There will come times in your life when you will need immediate blessings. You will need to live in such a way that they will be granted--not out of mercy but because you are worthy.
--Gordon B. Hinckley

Life is a competition, not with others but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves.
--David B. Haight

Quotes of the Week

It is not enough just to pray. It is essential that we really speak to the Lord, having faith that He will reveal to us... what we need to know and do.
--Spencer W. Kimball

If you are not happy, put a smile on your face. Accentuate the positive.
--Gordon B. Hinckley

Fan the flame of faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.
--Jeffrey R. Holland