In which we pretend this is a Missionary Blog

So I wrote a letter to my family.  I thought of sending it to my mother so she could post it on my blog, but decided it would be less complicated to just post it :)

I would tell you about our week but it is all a big giant blur.  Suffice it to say that I think this is what happened this week.  It could be last week or even next week, hard to say really.

This week was the highly anticipated, rumored and dreaded transfer week.  Transfers are every six weeks and there is always much shuffling because some missionaries go home, some come and even more get moved around or into training/zone/district positions.  El presidente is really trying to follow the counsel of the brethren and make his best missionaries trainers.   Even in the church we tend to aspire to the honors of men and Zone Leader sounds much cooler than trainer.  Especially when to prepare for being a trainer six weeks from now means you have to be released as a zone leader so you can move to the new area and learn the area before your trainee arrives.  

Adios Amigos!

So, eight missionaries went home and six arrived.  The returning missionaries went to the temple together and then back to the mission home for lunch and good-bye training.  They had all had their interviews the day before so everything was all together.  Ken gave them some good counsel and advice on returning home.  He said they didn’t have to get married but they absolutely had to date.  And then he used the Preach My Gospel chapter on finding to explain how to find someone to date (talk with everyone, go to where the people are, member referrals).  It was fun.  After dinner we had a testimony meeting and that was great.  It is amazing how much a mission can change you.  During lunch, Rebecca decided that she wanted advice from every returning missionary so she passed around an Advice for Rebecca paper.  She got some great advice, including “always eat cake if it is offered.”

We did not have any missionaries sleep at the mission home.  There really isn’t any room with the kids so they were farmed out to the assistants and the senior couples.  I hope they didn’t party too hard… They met back at the house at 4:45 in the a.m. and we weighed the suitcases one last time, made a pile of things not making the weight cut (anyone want some worn out pants and a grey shirt?) Then off to the airport.  Well, I went back to bed but Ken and the assistants went to Burbank.  Everyone was actually on the same flight so that made it easy. 

Ken made it back home in time for new trainer training.  He spent two hours on training the trainers, including sharing Suzanne’s comment that a bad trainer really can set the wrong tone for your mission.  I hope they felt the spirit of how important their calling as trainer is.  It is a twelve week intense training program that comes with extra work but no titled glory. 

The whole family and the assistants (who we might as well call family) went to the airport to meet the arriving missionaries.  Elder A (as in AP I’m trying to keep things anonymous so you may see a lot of Elder initials that make sense only to me) was literally bouncing up and down he was so excited for the new ones.  He said he loves it when they come because they are so excited about the work that it really energizes his companionship.  Our assistants are great.  One is English speaking and one is Spanish speaking and so they have served with both halves of the mission so they really know everybody.

We got the terrified new missionaries back to the mission home for lunch, paperwork  and interviews.  He didn’t want to assign companions until after interviews.  So at five the new trainers came and met their companions and went out to do great things. 

Thursday there was six more hours of trainer and trainee training (say that three times fast).  It was a good meeting even though I had to keep popping in and out for various things.  In one of the times I was actually in the meeting I felt I should share a thought I had about training and a talk Elder Bednar gave about prayer and spiritual creation preceding temporal creation.  I likened it to the dreaded role playing and how if you do it sincerely with a specific investigator in mind you can feel the spirit and know what to practice and prepare for.  Well, it turns out that Ken used the exact same talk and example that morning while I was out doing mom duty.  The talk was four years old and we had never talked about it but we both had the same impression. Pretty cool, eh?  

Ken is working, working, working and I am trying to hold everything together at home.  I have also been trying to arrange food for zone conferences and that is way too stressful.  I vote a zone conference on fasting.  Just kidding, but good grief it is complicated to feed 190 missionaries in 10 different buildings.  I’m just really glad the stake Relief Society president of the Spanish stake speaks English—or else who knows what hilarity would ensue.  Elder P suggested I just find a taco truck to come to the building and that is not a bad idea at all.

Friday night was date-night and we went to The Rose & Crown, a little British pub where we had awesome sausage rolls and fish and chips and watched part of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London.  

Saturday we started the must do task of re-arranging the kitchen.  We were tired of trying to learn someone else’s system and are shuffling things around so they make sense to us.  Saturday night we had dinner with most of the area stake presidents/wives and our area authority.  It was nice to meet the presidents at a social type event.  Ken will be working with them on the coordinating council but it was nice for me to get to meet the wives.   

Ken spoke in the Korean branch today while I went to our ward with the kids.  Sundays are so stressful—new ward, new people, blah blah blah.  But on the plus side no trip to Costco…

Goodbye, Hello

Every six weeks missionaries return home and new missionaries arrive (and others are transfered around).  Today is "the day before." 

We have seven missionaries going home tomorrow and six new ones arriving.  This, apparently, involves a lot of food.  What is it with food in this church?  I blame the young women's leaders :) 

Today the returning missionaries attend the temple and then come to the mission home for a good-bye lunch, which thankfully I am not in charge of--hooray for nice people.  Then is the Going Home Training for the Rest of Your Life (no pressure), dinner and testimony meeting.  (I am responsible for that food, I think ramen would be an appropriate last meal but those in the house with dignity voted for taco salad.)

Tomorrow will involve a 5 a.m. airport run, trainer training, a noon airport run, new missionary interviews, lunch somewhere in there and then other complicated things.  Thursday is serious trainer/trainee training. (President Eyring said no saying Greenie--so now you know.  He also said no saying Mission Mom.  I got the feeling he is a precise kind of man).  I am vicariously nervous for the new missionaries, I think it must be so nerve-wracking to arrive in the mission.  Eek!

But best of all, after the new missionaries are safely with their companions we will have dinner with the Lebers!  Perfect timing, too since they will be here in-between chaos.  The kids are so excited (and the adults are too).  They are plotting to show the Lebers the neighborhood and take pizza for a picnic in the "meadow" behind the house. 

Life is crazy but good. 

Hittin' the Links

 We checked out the local mini-golf today.  it was fun but blazing hot.  We pondered that we never would have even considered mini-golf in July in Arizona.  We stopped at Walmart for more sunscreen and had to search to finally find some SPF's higher than 15 (who makes 8? Really?)  Apparently Californians do not fear the sun as we do.

The mini-golf place also had a Farrell's Ice Cream parlor.  We may never eat again.

But we were not through having fun.  No family fun day can be complete without trying to teach Ken how to play the latest wii game.  Right now they are all playing Toy Story Mania wii.  Life is good.

It has been a busy week (of course), Ken finished all his interviews with the missionaries and finalized the transfers.  Muy complicado.  He also had quite a few baptismal interviews this week.  He reports that it is amazing to see the changes people have made in their lives because of the gospel.

Next week we will be getting our first round of new missionaries and having the first round of departees.  Fortunately they are all coming and going from Burbank Airport this time.  Much less traffic and stress than LAX.  We met four of the six new-comers at the MTC so that will be fun to see them again.  So what do you wish you would have known when you entered the mission field? What about when you went home? I suppose Oh be wise (don't do dumb things) applies to both groups, but probably should say a bit more than that. :)

Whoops

Conversation with Brother Facilities Management:

(FM has come to remove some things from the house that we don't need)
FM: Did you want this (fake) plant to go?
Me:  Yes.
FM:  Good--because it's a marijuana plant.
Me:  Probably not the best choice for the mission home...

I have this vision of some poor sister 15 years ago innocently buying a fake marijuana plant while wearing her name tag.

 Never boring around this joint (rimshot).                                                            

P-day!

Our neighborhood has a tennis court, so for family P-day we decided to check it out.  It was really fun.  It's nice to have an activity that the whole family is on the same level--including Matthew.  In other words, we are terrible, terrible tennis players. 

However, we never let our competence (or lack thereof) interfere with our fun!  We smacked the balls over, into and around the net.  At one point we had more over the side fences than on the court.  We played 3 on 2 and still couldn't keep the ball in play.  We had so much fun.  It was hilarious.  We laughed and ran and tried to act like we knew what we were doing when people walked by. (I don't think they were fooled.) I'm not even sure we even know the rules. I should know the rules, I actually took a tennis clss at BYU.  Did you know if you flunk the physical tests and get A's on the written tests you can still pass with a C?  The kids are plotting to get up early tomorrow to go play again.

So don't look for us at the US Open anytime soon, but maybe after three years we can actually play a game.  But don't hold your breath...

Hey, Where's Perry?

I have the brain of a ten year old.  Even though our car is named Perry after Perry Mason (whom I love) I still can't resist homage to a certain platypus and am compelled to say, "Hey, where's Perry?" everytime I go into the parking lot.  And guess what I say when I find him? Is it, "Oh there you are Perry?"  Yes, yes it is.

We are almost, almost unpacked.  If I could manage to stop distracting myself with making dinner and playing yahtzee then I would be done.  But where is the fun in that? Since we are unpacking and exploring we are trying to figure out what spices, canned goods, etc are here.  So if anyone wants any canned beans, come on over.  All the cans remind me of the old Houston hurricane box days (I would only eat canned veggies in the event of a major disaster).  We also found some kind of food storage pasta pack that says it has a shelf life of 30 years. However, there is no packed on date but since the mission is only 18 years old we figure we're good for another 12 or so. 

Since I am so distractable, I had to quit unpacking and upload the 2010 New Mission President's Seminar that the former president left.  The Church sent us the 2011 when we were called and we just attended 2012 so I wanted to see how 2010 was. Great, of course.  It's amazing how calming it is to listen to, like General Conference, only funnier. 

We haven't seen much of El Presidente this week.  He is interviewing all the missionaries before transfers. It makes for very long days (7 a.m. to 9 p.m. not including travel or if he runs over).  He comes home exhausted but so glad for the opportunity to meet them.   I need to collar him and get my calendar co-ordinated.  He keeps randomly mentioning things like, "we've been asked to speak somewhere sometime," but I need details :)

 Tomorrow night is date night so I am picking him up after and we will go to dinner.  Saturday is our P-day and we are trying to find a good activity.  Maybe we'll check out the neighborhood pool or go on hike.  It's southern California, I'm sure there must be something we could do.

Hooray! We Found Super Walmart!

We found Super Walmart.  It only took 20 minutes to get there.  Woohoo!  Costco is bout the same distance in the opposite direction.  The kids are getting used to my name-tag and didn't even cringe when someone asked about it.  Life is good.  Except for the part about needing to go to the DMV soon.