Specialized Training

This last week we got to participate in some training sessions - three of them.  So, a third of the mission at each training.  It was great to see all the missionaries again - undoubtedly the last time for us.  Oh, we will see several of them at transfers, but certainly not all of them, and not in as relaxed an atmosphere.

The training was in three sections:  medical, apartments, and vehicles.  Once again, we were amazed at how President Castro can bring a spiritual aspect into each area through the scriptures.  He is an amazing scriptorian and teaches beautifully from the scriptures.  He introduced each section, then Sister Castro discussed medical issues, Randy and I did the apartments (and he did phones as well), and Elder Truman did the vehicle section.  It seemed to go well and the missionaries seemed to enjoy it.  :)

I talked about the nitty gritty of keeping apartments clean.  I covered clutter (a huge offender to a spiffy apartment), carpet issues (bikes and spills), mold and mildew, toilets :), and inspections, reminding them to clean as they go!  Ten minutes flew by quicker than you can imagine as I raced through these glamorous topics.

One of the things Elder Mecham discussed with them was the need to identify themselves whenever they call or text.  He even gave specific examples of how he gets texts that say, "The problem is fixed.  The missionaries."  Really?  Which missionaries? And what problem?  Heehee.  This happens all the time, so he reminded them to please identify themselves.  Next day (today) he gets a very similar text.  Without identification.  Again.  He is feeling his presentation was well-listened to and effective :D  We DO love our missionaries!

Each day prior to the training we set up a "mock" apartment so that the missionaries could see exactly what the Mission provides.  We also had forms for them so that if they need any of these items, they can let us know and we can get them to those apartments.  I think this is going to keep us quite busy for the next month.  Here are some pictures of the furnishings of one apartment.  You can only imagine how much work it was to purchase, organize, and set up each of the 20 apartments they did last transfer.  Not to mention finding them, making payments, getting the leases all in order, requesting utility services, etc. Whew!  This transfer we don't have quite as many apartments, but it is still a ton of work. 

Study tables, chairs, lamps, bookcase, etc. (fuzzy)

Microwave, kitchen table and chairs, and lots of kitchen stuff

Freebies for each apartment

Our Sailor

Miraya on the day of her graduation from Navy Boot Camp. 

(Friday, August 23, 2013)

LOVE YOU, SWEET GRANDDAUGHTER!

Seaman Andrews

 

Dinner With Shawntele

We had a great visit plus dinner with Shawntele last night.  We picked her up and went to Andria's - a fresh fish place.  Mmm-mmm! 

 

SOOO proud of Shawntele!  She will finish school in two weeks, and she has a great job prospect.  We are very excited for her!  She says she's nervous to actually be finishing school, as this has been her life for a long time now.  We love her and hope she lands the job she wants!  Shawntele, you are amazing!

Happy Friday!

It is a beautiful sunny day here today, a welcome change after several weeks of very gloomy mornings.  I love sunshine in the morning :)  I took Randy to the office at 5:30, so had plenty of time for a nice walk around the channels after dawn arrived.

 Low tide.

 I had almost given up hope on seeing my blue heron friend, when suddenly, there he was.

 He has never appreciated me standing this close and taking photos.  

Wish this was a better picture.

 And Here We Have Idaho

 Low tide! Can you tell where the water line is?  It's deceiving.

 Maybe this will help.

 There were lots of tiny little birds in this and nearby small trees.

At first I thought they were humming birds, but they were a bit too big.

I know there are at least a couple of them in this snapshot, but I'll be darned if I can find them!

I spent a long time just watching the fascinating little creatures.

Now I'm at the office where there is not much happening today.  Plenty of time to update by blog.

We learned yesterday that next week we will be meeting with all the missionaries to do some training -- Sister Castro on medical issues, Elder Truman on cars and bikes, and Elder Mecham on apartments and phones.  Sister Truman and I have been asked to assist our husbands with this, but it falls mostly to them. There will be three sessions, each one with a third of the missionaries.  This will take a day and a half, not to mention preparation time.  A wee bit stressful for Elder Mecham, who is in the process of getting new apartments ready for the arriving missionaries in a little over two weeks.  At that time we will receive 31 new missionaries.  We are "losing" only 3.  That's a net gain of 28 missionaries.  Wow!

Starry Night

We had dinner at the Hooke's tonight.  When we were in the ward (Ventura 1st), we often got an invitation to dinner when they also invited the elders.  After being at church there on Sunday, I got a text from Sister Hooke inviting us to join them Tuesday (tonight) as she was having the elders over too.  Dinner at the Hooke's is always delicious! 

Elder Teeples and Elder Castro are great elders with strong testimonies.  They are personable and easy to talk to.  We had a great gospel discussion after dinner as they shared a spiritual message about stepping forward in faith -- in all aspects of gospel living -- and how reading the Book of Mormon strengthens our faith and affirms that the gospel is true.  It IS the evidence many people ask for -- they just need to move forward with faith and read :)

I took a few pictures (for a change).

Chris, Emily, Lori, Katherine

Elder Castro, Elder Teeples, Bishop, Randy

(terrible picture -- too much light behind)

Elder Teeples

Elder Castro; Bishop playing and singing for us

Sometimes after dinner, Bishop Hooke will play and we will sing.  Tonight he had an appointment at the church, so he sang for just a few minutes prior to dinner.  I LOVE the song he sang. (He has sung it a couple of times for us.)  It is Starry Night, melody by Don McLean (1971) and words/arranged by Chris Hooke (2010), inspired by a trip with his family to Yosemite National Park.  If you are familiar with the song, you can sing it as you read the words below.  If you aren't, you will still love the beautiful words.

Starry starry night
Sleeping 'neath the Milky Way,
Giant trees that gently sway
From breezes softly whispering, "Good Night."

Streams of melted snow
Sparkling as they splashing go
O'er the cliffs, with thund'rous roll
We watch with awe and wonder in our soul.

The grandest of them all, a temple made with granite walls;
Forest floors with lakes and water falls,
Made by hands of Him on high
A gift of beauty from our God above;
One way he shows his love.

Starry starry night
Sparkling skies with stars ablaze
Shooting star, 'cross inky haze
We watch with eyes inspired with wond'ring awe.

Campfire burning bright
Softly crackling, orange light
Shining faces, spirits bright
The scent of evergreen is in the air.

The grandest of them all, a temple made with granite halls;
Forest floors with lakes and water falls,
Made by hands of Him on high
A gift of beauty from our God above;
One way he shows his love.

The grandest of them all, a temple in the hills
Under moonlit skies above, this country that we love
With family and friends we share this land
Surrounded by such splendor,
these are moments we'll remember,
As a gift from Father's hand
Surrounded by such treasure
It's a way for us to measure
All the love our Father has.

Visit to Ventura 1st

A funny thing happened on the way to the Hooke's . . . .

After I did my (now) weekly shopping at WinCo in Ventura Saturday morning, I drove over to drop some music off for Sister Hooke. She was going to accompany me to sing in the Ventura 1st Ward on a future Sunday, yet to be determined.  While I was visiting with her, Bishop Hooke came into the room and joined our visit.  He said, "When are you going to sing?"  I said, "Whenever."  He said, "How about tomorrow?" My reply, "Wellll, I guess I could." Sister Hooke said that their program for Sunday had fallen through.  Then Bishop Hooke got this glint in his eye and said, "Hey, how about you and Elder Mecham be the speakers for tomorrow?"  And he went on about how nice it would be for the ward to hear us speak, as we didn't before we left the ward.  And on and on.  I managed to talk my way out of speaking because I agreed to sing.  I said I would ask Elder Mecham if he would do it.  And of course, he did.  And he gave a wonderful talk on the miracles he had witnessed as things fell into place getting apartments set up for all the missionaries last transfer. He always does such a great job!

Sister Hooke and I ran through a couple songs and decided to do Sally Ford's arrangement of "Come Thou Fount," a very nice hymn.  Later Saturday evening, Sister Hooke called to say that this very song had been done a couple weeks previously in their ward (she had forgotten), and she was sure it would be all right and that not very many would remember that it had been done.  I opted not to do it.  So we did "How Great Thou Art" instead - a great Bebee arrangement. And although Sister Hooke would have liked more time to practice it, it went okay.

AND we got to say hello to a bunch of people we love and have been missing!

Happy Birthday to the Trumans

Today, August 16, we had a little birthday party for Elder and Sister Truman.  Today is Elder Truman's birthday, and tomorrow is Sister Truman's.  Sister Castro, Sam, and Hannah came for a little bit too.  It was fun.  (President Castro and the Assistants would normally have been there, as we usually staff meeting with them on Fridays, but they were out of town doing some training today.) Everyone has been so busy that we haven't taken much time to just have fun.  Quite honestly, even today was a little rushed as both Elder Truman and Elder Mecham have so much going on.  But we enjoyed a few minutes anyway.  And had lemon brownies and rainbow sherbet.  And it was delicious.  I told Hannah that Elder Mecham said they couldn't be "brownies" because they weren't brown.  So Hannah dubbed them "lemonies."  Fitting! 

Unfortunately, I did not take pictures, and I'm really sad about that!  (Slacker again.)  A great opportunity down the drain!  They are such lovely people and we very much enjoy serving with them!   [Monday I will take a picture of the Trumans to add to this post.  I will.  But of course the Castro family will not be there then :( ] 

Slacker

I have been a slacker lately - haven't taken many pictures nor posted much on my blog. The mission is good.  Life is good. I am trying to enjoy every single day, because the days to the end of the mission are getting fewer.  It will not be long until we are back home.  So I SHOULD be taking pictures like crazy and documenting everything.  But alas, I have not done it. 

 

As Elder Truman will be doing what Elder Mecham is currently doing and Sister Truman what I am doing, there is a lot of on-the-job training going on right now in the office so that they can be comfortable with things when we leave - in seven weeks!  Holy cow, that will go by in a flash!  I still have a list of things I'd really like to do before we go home, and I'm having this sinking feeling that they won't all happen :( 

 

    1.  Visit Elaine in Paso again

    2.  Go to the temple in LA

    3.  Meet up with Brent and Diane (at the temple, maybe) and have a nice visit

Hey, we could combine those two!

    4.  Get missionaries to the Gonzales family (the Sergios, as we call them -- our back neighbors)

    5.  Go see Hurst Castle, while we're this close

    6.  Get a box of walnuts one more time at the church-owned almond farm up by Delano.

 

I already know it is going to be hard to leave this paradise -- but mostly our lovely friends we have here.  And the fabulous young missionaries.  But I am anxious to see all our wonderful family again.  Many mixed emotions.  We'll get lots of special hugs from tiny ones right on up to my beautiful 91-year-old mother, and meet baby Dawson for the very first time :)   And we'll more fully realize the hole there is because Theresa will not be there.

I will certainly miss my walks over at the channels.
My haven.

MLC

MLC - Mission Leadership Counsel, previously ZLC - Zone Leader Counsel - renamed because it now includes sister leaders as well.  When this change came from the brethren, President Castro had already been including sister leaders in these monthly meetings.  He is such an inspired leader.

Sister Truman and I packed up boxes and boxes and boxes of missionary supplies today, which will be picked up tomorrow by the zone leaders after MLC.  We ran out of a few things, but for the most part, we had planned pretty well.  With so many new missionaries and new areas being opened, many more supplies were needed.  It is quite the deal - it really is!

28 of these boxes are Books of Mormon

A few are packages to missionaries which cannot be forwarded via US mail

Many are boxes we loaded up with requested proselyting supplies

We also distribute issues of Ensigns and Liahonas at MLC 

 

The goodies Sister Truman and I made for consumption after their meeting, as they are transporting boxes to their vehicles, were snarfed right up!  They always love the treats :)  Sorry - no pictures.



The Sissons

Friday evening we were invited to have dinner with the Sissons.  We have enjoyed their friendship over the months we've been here.  They were in Oxnard 2nd Ward (Allyn was in the bishopric and Trish in the YW presidency) when we first got here.  When the ward boundaries changed, they were in another Oxnard ward.  We would see Allyn and Cody at the Gonzales building on Thursday nights when I was teaching the keyboard class -- they were there for cub scouts.  Allyn did some brake repair on our car. They still attend the Linger Longer at the 2nd Ward, bringing food and enjoying friendships there, so we see them there.  We have simply kept in touch.  Trish is a great cook, and we have had dinner at their house a few times.  They both have kids from previous marriages.  Cody is theirs.  I always get a hug from him.  Like one of my grandkids :)

Allyn, Cody, Trish

 

I was going to delete this picture.  It isn't a good one.  And it was an accident.  This is Leo.  He took our picture, and as he handed the camera back to me -- oops -- didn't intend to take that!  I decided to include it, because he is part of the Sisson's "story."  He is an exchange student from Japan living with the Sissons for a few weeks this summer -- one of 70+ that they have had over the years.  That's pretty remarkable!

 

Friends

Elder and Sister Jensen

 

The Jensens have been hard at it for a month now in Bakersfield.  For that same amount of time, we have had a few non-forwardable packages sitting in our hall at the office.  Last Thursday they made a trip to Ventura/Oxnard -- mainly to pick up some mattresses we ordered for them because they could not get enough of them in Bakersfield in time for their incoming missionaries this week.  They picked up the packages too.  We had such a nice visit with them.  They are lovely people - Bakersfield is lucky and blessed to have them!  They, the Trumans, and we had lunch together at The Fisherman's Catch -- except Elder Truman, who had an appointment -- by the time we were able to get around to lunch, it was 3 o'clock.  Then the Jensens had to make several stops on their way home to drop off mattresses. They didn't get home until 10 o'clock!  Yikes! 

 

I wonder how things went as they received 50 new missionaries today.  :)

Transfer Week

Headed to Argentina (at last!).  They served in our mission for 12 weeks.

Elder Webb, Elder James

These two were in Oxnard the last six weeks.

When Elder Webb was transferred from Bakersfield to Oxnard last transfer, he lost his backpack.  Luckily, he had time to get everything replaced.

Elders Webb, Thompson, MacArthur, James

Excited to be on their way

Elder Mecham and I drove them to LAX Monday morning.

 

Orientation meeting with our 42 incoming!

I couldn't fit them all in one photo.

What a great group.  Happy and ready to go to work! 

It was quite the procession as all this luggage was brought into the Stake Center.

Two great elders, Elder Smith and Elder Martin

Assistants to the President

 

We used to attend the Tuesday evening testimony meeting with the departing missionaries.  Policy has changed, and we no longer attend that meeting.  I loved hearing the sweet testimonies and I shall miss that very much.  I shall also miss being able to say a quiet goodbye to those missionaries.  The ones leaving now are ones we know quite well, most of them.  We wish them the very best.  Unfortunately I do not have pictures. We loved Elder Ipsen and Elder Gates, Assistants who traveled home Wednesday. Elder Mecham sees them, as he always drives to the airport Wednesday morning.  But that is not quite the same.

The Apartment Guys

This chart began with empty boxes.  Over a three-week period, day by day, the boxes began to be filled in as apartments were procured and accompanying tasks were accomplished.  Dry erase markers came in handy to make, change, and erase notations as needed.  This completely filled-in chart represents a lot of hard work, as well as "supernatural aid" [see below] from Heavenly Father.  Truly a miracle!  Elder Mecham and Elder Truman are pleased and proud (in a good way) of this chart.  They both readily recognize and acknowledge that there was lots of help from on High.

Anticipating what was going to have to take place to set up apartments to accommodate our huge batches of incoming missionaries, this fine looking trailer was purchased by our mission.  It has honestly been a life-saver for these two senior elders, who have seriously been sooooo busy.  And you can bet it will also be used [was used] to haul a ton of luggage when 40 missionaries arrive on Monday!

Have a mattress or two (or 50) with accompanying box springs

Okay, there weren't 50 loaded up at the time, but . . . over the course of a few days . . .

 

 

“With God All Things Are Possible”   (Excerpts from President Lorenzo Snow)

“We have to exert ourselves. . . . Remaining idle without putting ourselves into action is of no use.” But he [President Snow] acknowledged that in his desire to build up the kingdom of God, his own exertions would never be enough without the grace of God—or “supernatural aid,” as he often called it. He testified that God will add His strength to our efforts . . .

. . . And in every circumstance and condition surrounding the Latter-day Saints, while in the performance of their duties, they are entitled to supernatural aid from the Holy Spirit, to help in the various conditions surrounding them, and in the duties that they are required to perform.

"The nature of those demands upon us [is] such that no person can comply with them, unless by assistance from the Almighty. . . . He has promised this aid." 



 

Note:  I had this post all ready to go last week except for the first two pictures.  The elder Elders wanted to wait until the chart was completely filled in -- which it was on Monday.  Well, now it is Thursday -- finally today we had the time to take the pictures.  Transfer week is like that -- just a bit crazy :)