Memory of Ben's Bench, New Car, Preston Is Home, San Marcos Zone BBQ, Family Photo Moments

One of our morning walks took us through a neighborhood and onto a trail where we ended up overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon Trail which we have walked on before.

We noticed a bench that had been a Boy Scout project and it reminded us of the bench Ben did for his Eagle Scout project at Decker Lake--minus the fancy rock work. The one he did was on a cement pad.

Here's a shot of happy goodness!! I love it when our kids send pictures of the grandchildren. It makes my day when I see such cute faces.

We attended the Bear Valley district council in Felicita on a Tuesday morning. 

That afternoon we had a first trainer follow-up meeting at the mission office church building with these missionaries who have been in the mission 4 weeks, and their trainers.

We enjoyed a treat after the meeting when we had a visit with former missionary Sophia Williams and her family. They are from Wales and it is such a delight to hear them talk. They had been in the country for 3 weeks and were enjoying themselves immensely.

We got a new car. The Church doesn't like to keep cars more than 50,000 miles and ours had exceeded that maximum. We are now the drivers of a 2019 Avalon Hybrid.

When they gave us a choice of colors, Glen chose blue. My choice was NOT gray. There are so many gray cars in parking lots I can never figure out which car is ours.

It has taken us a little bit of getting used to the weird feeling of turning on the car, but you can't feel or hear it turn on. It's like driving a golf cart. We can go a lot farther on one tank of gas. That's a plus!

Here are some updates from family back home. Rebecca's family went to see a play. I was so happy they sent us this cute photo of them at the cultural event.

This was an exciting photo to see of Preston arriving home from his mission and see Andy's family reunited once again.

We attended the Sky Canyon district council in Murrieta. Last year we loved the purple flowering trees. This year it's the pink flowering trees that have really caught my eye.

Speaking of flowers, our plant in the backyard always brings us comfort whenever we see a red flower blooming. I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating again because it continues to happen.

It seems that whenever we're dealing with a big problem (or two), a flower (or two) will bloom and we take it as a sign from heaven that God is aware of us and we can get through whatever it is we are dealing with.

One evening the San Marcos zone put on a BBQ. The members were invited to invite their friends to attend. The members in those wards helped with the food and it turned out to be a fun activity.

Glen tried his hand (his arm, too) at playing the beanbag toss game.

It was a nice activity, but it was date night, so we didn't stay too long. We opted to go to a restaurant of my choosing--California Pizza Kitchen. I love their cauliflower crust pizzas. We both saved enough of our pizzas to eat for dinner the next day. High fives for that!!! No need to cook. Yay!!

Look at these three cuties sitting on their front porch. I don't know why Spencer wasn't in the photo. Maybe because Rebecca hadn't spent a great amount of time working on his hair.

Sisterly love. How tender and sweet!!

Here's the little Spencer guy. Rebecca reported he gave his first talk in Primary. Literally the first time he spoke his talk when given the assignment to speak. Good for him!!

Jacob and Laurie's family took a trip to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore.

They had a little car trouble along the way.

But look who they met up with once they got there!!! Mark's family!

Claire really loves Kate and Nina.

A friend of Michelle's is spending some time with their family this summer. She's the one in the picture I didn't recognize. 

It was so fun to get this photo and see the whole group.

Skyping in for Eli's Baptism, A Quotable MP, Interview Week, Bambroughs

Eli had turned 8 and was getting baptized and confirmed and we got to Skype in for the occasion. It was a special experience. We love how he has such a desire to choose the right.

It was wonderful seeing my parents, Nani, Rebecca's family, Sarah's family and Ben and Haley while Skyping. I must admit it made me a little bit sad after we hung up to think about them going to the house and enjoying family time together and we couldn't be there.

But, the sadness only lasted a short few minutes as I got myself back into the groove of missionary work once again.

One day when we went to pick up a sister at her apartment, it made me happy when I saw some artwork hanging on the wall that a previous sister had made of one of Glen's frequent sayings.

We bid one of the sisters farewell at the airport.

We had a busy week ahead of us with Glen interviewing all of the missionaries. He started with 42 missionaries in the Temecula and Murrieta zones.

The second day he interviewed 39 missionaries in the Carlsbad and Del Mar zones.

There was a district council going on in Escondido the same time we were there for interviews. It was fun watching the district leader and his companion carrying in all the necessary supplies to carry out his idea.

He had wanted to get a good discussion going with his district and felt like a campfire setting (fake fire in the church building of course!) would help get the missionaries talking and sharing their feelings. He also provided a snack to go along with the theme--s'mores pop-tarts.

Meanwhile...in another part of the church, Glen was interviewing 34 missionaries from the San Marcos and Escondido zones.

Our final interview day was at the mission office. It was Friday--mail day--and here are two zone leaders picking up the mail for the missionaries in their zone to be distributed on Monday, preparation day.

It was Sister Van Aarle's birthday, so I got to enjoy watching all the missionaries gushing birthday greetings her way.

Let's take a moment to acknowledge Glen's favorite tree. It's the kind growing in our front yard.

We've watched this type of tree sprout palm leaves out of the top of it, so Glen is anxiously awaiting that to happen to our tree. We've been here over 2 years now and it has yet to sprout. He keeps waiting...

Glen's childhood friend brought his wife to visit us. They wanted to see what life is like as a Mission President. Well, we started off by showing them my favorite pastime when anybody comes to visit--a rousing game of Qwirkle!!

Randy and Susan Bambrough enjoyed going to a baptism with us one of the days they were here. It was held at the Cardiff building. 

President Clark, the stake president, was in attendance. He and the Bambroughs used to live in the same stake in Northern California. It was fun for them to reminisce together.

We invited Elder and Sister Van Aarle over to Sunday dinner because they are neighbors of the Bambroughs back in Utah.

When the Van Aarles commented about the desire to serve a mission and would love to serve in Southern California, Randy came up with a great suggestion of which mission they might want to try to serve in.

How happy we are that everything worked out for them to serve here with us. They are a terrific asset to our mission.

Here are a couple of photos from our family--Abe in San Francisco and some of the grandchildren sitting on our front porch back home.

Quotes of the Week

What might the Lord say to us? I think He would throw His arms around us and let us know we are worthy enough to keep going and our sacrifices have been acceptable before Him. He would say that He sees us and all we do behind the scenes, that we are not invisible to Him.
--Sharon Eubank

The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.
--L. Tom Perry

When the lost one is your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, and h e or she has chosen to leave,... after all we can do, we love that person with all of our hearts and we watch, we pray, and we wait for the Lord's hand to be revealed.
--Brent H. Nielson