Interview Week, Oink and Moo, Sick Sister Missionary, Back In Shoes!!

Mission President interviews were the week following zone conference week. It is wonderful to see all the missionaries both of those weeks.

The first day we do interviews with the Murrieta and Temecula zones.

Day two we do interviews with the Carlsbad and Del Mar zones.

There is an inner courtyard at the Cardiff building and I spotted these big, beautiful flowers blooming. I cannot express enough how much I love the vegetation here!! Beauty all around!!

We had Elder Garner, one of our assistants, with us one evening. Each of the three assistants rotated through spending a day at interviews doing training with each companionship, with one of them spending two days at interviews.

On Elder Garner's day, we brought him home for dinner with us. We stopped at the strawberry stand--which had just opened for the season--to buy some yummy strawberries.

Day three we spent the whole day doing interviews with the Escondido zone.

By the time day four rolls around, we are glad it is the Vista zone interviews which are held at the mission office.

As often happens, we had a former missionary--Sister Caroline Jackson--stop by to introduce us to her fiance Taylor.

Standing right behind them is the transfer board that when opened up looks like this. Each one of the missionaries is shown with his/her companion.

The yellow strips show which district they are in and the zone name is at the top of each section. The blue and pink cards represent the Spanish-speaking missionaries.

On Saturday we went to a baptism in Fallbrook and decided to eat dinner up there. We picked a restaurant based solely upon the catchy name.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, it looked a little disappointing.

The other side of the house was where the restaurant was happening.

I was glad we didn't get seated in the huge log chairs which reminded me of adults sitting in a child's high chair.

Our table was half a booth where we both sat on the same side and looked out the window. It was peaceful and beautiful.

The owner came over to talk to us and offered us a free dessert as it was our first time there. We were very impressed with that restaurant and must say we enjoyed it very much.

Just as I was thinking we hadn't had a missionary in the hospital for a long time...

We had a sister whose health had been declining for months. She didn't want to go home and was trying her best to hold on and complete her mission. Glen decided to send her to our mission doctor to have some comparison blood tests done and he put her right in the hospital.

She had the sweetest companion who had been watching over her trying to help her figure out things to do to help her get better. While in the hospital, she was so loving and kind to her.

After spending one night in the hospital, we went over to relieve them. We had to admire the beautiful scene they had out their window--the Torrey Pines golf course with the ocean in the background.

Since it was a Monday, Glen spent the day in the hospital working on his letters while I took her companion with me to my foot doctor appointment. The doctor said I could wear my regular shoes once again. Hurrah!!

We stopped to pick up some things at the grocery store, drove clear up to Fallbrook (remember Oink and Moo??) to let her shower and change clothes and grab some things they would need for another day or two at the hospital and then stopped for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

It is so disappointing that the road construction scaffolding is now ruining the view of the temple.

Glen ate his pizza at the hospital and then we left the sisters to spend another night in the hospital.

The next day we had to be at the mission office for a trainer follow-up meeting with these new missionaries who have now been here 4 weeks and their trainers.

Two of our mission nurses took turns spending time at the hospital with the two sisters. One of the nurses sent me a photo of our sick sister "doing her morning exercises lifting weights." Haha!!

By that evening, the doctors still hadn't figured out what was wrong with our sister, so they released her with a heart monitor. She still couldn't eat much of anything, but she always had a smile on her face.

The rest of us were hungry, so we decided to go to CPK again because it was close and we had enjoyed our pizza the night before and because Nurse Maughan really wanted to go there.

Notice my "shoe." After wearing my regular shoe the day before, my foot was pretty sore, so I wore my smaller surgical boot off and on for a few more days.

There was too long of a wait at CPK, so we went next door to Islands Restaurant. It took forever to get our food.

It was nice when we were finally finished and we all went off to our respective homes. The sisters insisted they would rather stay in their apartment when we offered to have them stay with us.

The next morning as we checked on them, they had had a long night with the heart monitor going off sometimes and decided they could use the moral support of staying with us the next few nights until we could get the arrangements made for her to go home.

The sisters were able to get all the 12 SafetyZone videos watched while they were here, so they were still accomplishing missionary tasks while taking it easy.

We sure went through a lot of strawberries while these two sisters were with us.

 It was about the only thing our sick sister could eat besides her nutritional shakes.

We felt like it was a tender mercy that we had Mission Leadership Council (MLC) on the day before our sister went home.

She was able to share her testimony with the other leaders of the mission. She was able to tell this group of missionaries good-bye. It brought a bit of closure to her mission, which we feel was a blessing for her.

These two have become the best of friends. It was very difficult for them to say good-bye to each other the next day.

But before the farewell, we had a little bit of time that evening to play Qwirkle. They enjoyed learning how to play my favorite game.

Saturday morning we drove our sister to the airport. Nurse Probst and her husband were flying to Utah the same day and she offered to fly with our sister. The Missionary Department okayed that and she was able to get her flight changed to accompany our sister home.

It was a sad farewell for all of us. It is always so sad to send a missionary home early--for any reason.

In this case, it was a relief to know our sister had arrived home and is now in the care of her own family.

We continue to pray for her and the doctors that will be working with her that they will be able to find out what is wrong with her and be able to help her.

Quotes of the Week

"God's light is available to all, although it does not come easily to all. But no matter how long it takes for us personally, we can be certain that God will not "unfriend" any who draw near to Him and seek to follow His way."
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"As we arise each morning, let us determine to respond with love and kindness to whatever might come our way."
--Thomas S. Monson

"Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil."
--Boyd K. Packer

"My dear brothers and sisters, if you are struggling to find the strength to forgive, don't think of what others have done to you, but think of what the Savior has done for you, and  you will find peace in the redemptive blessings of His Atonement."
--Massimo De Feo

Zone Conference, Marriage Among Missionaries, Rome Temple Dedicated

The week of zone conferences was upon us. We spent our first day in Temecula with the missionaries from that zone and the Murrieta zone.

We love when the Temecula stake feeds us lunch. They always serve breakfast for lunch. We can smell the bacon cooking for an hour before lunch. What a tease to our senses!!

Glen sat down and realized he had not put any whipped cream on his waffle. I was surprised he had loaded up his waffle with chocolate chips.

Glen taught the missionaries about repentance--the doctrine, the principle and the application--the why, the what and the how.

The assistants built upon that and had the missionaries role play how to teach repentance by teaching the why, the what and the how.

I showed all the videos our children and the grandchildren had made of the various sections of the white handbook. That is always a hit with the missionaries. 

The Church is putting a big push on safety for the missionaries having them watch the new SafetyZone videos, so this was getting them ready for watching those videos.

Second day of zone conference was held in Escondido with that zone and the Del Mar zone. 

There were two sisters there with foot problems, so we had to get a photo of us three gimps.

President and Sister Marin and President and Sister Page (two Mission Presidents and wives in training) attended the meeting. The Marins left halfway through, but the Pages stayed for the whole day.

Brought back memories of us when we were anticipating our mission and attended a zone conference in the Ogden Mission so we could see how things are done.

Third and last day of zone conference was held at the building close by our house with the Carlsbad and Vista zones. 

It is always nice to complete zone conferences--breathing a sigh of relief that everything came together and we felt like it was a worthwhile day for the missionaries.

Glen was in dire need of new athletic shoes as he was wearing the heels of his shoes right down to nothing. We were on our way to the grocery store and I suggested very vehemently that Glen turn into the sporting goods store right then to shop for shoes.

I was so glad he did just that as we were able to have this sweet woman help us with his shoes. She saw our name tags and told us her husband and child had just moved back to the area and wanted to know which church building was closest to their home. She was happy to hear the Sattleys are still working as a missionary couple on base as they love them so much and had been working with them before they moved away.

The photo was taken so I could send it to the Sattleys to let them know this family is now back in the area. We ended up going back to the store again so Glen could get some other shoes and we saw her again. It doesn't feel like coincidence that we have seen her twice now as she had expressed a desire to start going to church again. We know how much the gospel can bless her family.

It is always interesting to see which missionaries end up marrying each other. We love it when that happens. And it has happened again.

These two decided to get married in the San Diego Temple since this is the place where they met. A family in Fallbrook gave them a wedding gift of letting them use their guest house to stay in while they were here and it was the place they hosted a wedding dinner for the friends they made while they were serving here as missionaries.

We had filled our plates with food and sat at a table with no one sitting across from us. Eventually the McClellans arrived and came over to eat with us. They are a local couple who were working as missionaries in our mission over housing and vehicles when we arrived in the mission. It was very enjoyable visiting with them for a while.

The super bloom of flowers and the super green of the vegetation has been crazy around here with all the rain. These bright flowers stand out wherever they are and these are some we saw when we were driving home from the mission office one day. 

It was an exciting event when The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were in Rome all together for the dedication of the Rome Temple. 

I love both of these photos that were taken of them. I also love the photo taken of the wives who had accompanied their husbands.