July 2, 2016

What a week!  We had 2 receptions for President and Sister Francis on Monday.  We had cookies and punch and one was held at the Kreag Rd. building from 10-12 and then we drove over to Buffalo to the Amherst building and had one there from 2-4.  They turned out really nice and they were able to talk to every missionary and have their picture taken with them all.  They said that they really enjoyed it, even though we had to really push him to do it.  We felt that they really deserved a nice send off, but he is a very humble man and didn’t want anything.  It was very nice and they will really be missed!

On Tuesday we tried to catch up on what we missed from Monday.  It seems that everyone needs something when you are really busy.  Maybe it’s like having a lot of little kids at home again; they always wanted/needed things when I was the busiest. 

Wednesday morning we met the Jones’s (he will take my place and she will take Elder Spencer’s place, and Elder Spencer will take Elder Merrill’s place).  They drove over from Michigan and we trained on Wednesday and Thursday.  We went through most everything (but he will be surprised that there are things that come up even after 18 months that you don’t have an answer for—thank goodness for Salt Lake).  They are great; they caught on really quickly.  President Francis asked us to stay late and wait until the he brought President Evans into the office to meet us on Thursday.  He picked them at the airport at 5:00 and brought them over about 5:45.  President Evans and his wife are going to be great!  He became the new mission president when the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac.

After they left and we went over to Tom Wahl’s as a group, Workman’s, Merrill’s, Spencer’s, and Jones.  The Jones came and stayed over with us and on Friday morning we took them to the airport so they could go to the MTC and learn how to do things correctly.

We had MLC (mission leadership council) Friday and we served Hawaiian haystack/Chinese sundaes or whatever you would like to call them.  I didn’t get enough rice cooked at noon so we had to cross our fingers and hope that we could get enough before they finished eating.  It turned out alright, but it was nerve-racking.  We had made plans with Elder and Sister Nalder (from Malad) to meet them at the 6:00 session at the Temple, so we were anxious to leave the office.  However, MLC went late (HOW does anyone sit in a meeting from 10-4:30?) and President Evans wanted to visit about the time we were to leave.  He is really nice.  He said that one of the trainers at the MTC for mission presidents said this, “your calling is like going on a cruise and you come here and get fed well and learn lots of things and have spiritual experiences, and then we drop you off in the middle of the ocean and wave goodbye to you”.  Sounds about right!  We had to excuse ourselves and we made it to the Temple with a couple minutes to spare.  We went out to Athenia’s afterward and enjoyed visiting with them and the Spencer’s. 
The Spencer’s are so excited, 2 of their boys and families are coming tonight.  They haven’t seen any of their kids since Oct. and they are ready!  I feel the same way, we are so excited to see the Harris family on Monday. 

We have had several weeks (I think 4) without rain and we did get a little bit on Friday.  It was really needed, but it won’t fix things.  It will probably be wet during the pageant, but I don’t think it will rain during the pageant. 

My toe is healing very well and feels fine.  I’m pretty sure that I will lose the nail as the one side is not in it’s proper place.  Sister Spencer’s son (a podiatrist) will look at it tonight and give his opinion.  I tried to talk Elder Merrill into pulling it out, but he refused!  Last Saturday we went to a few garage sales with the Spencer’s, and we kidnapped them and took them to Batavia to help us move Sandra and Susan.  There were 2 from the Elder’s quorum, 2 young missionaries, and us 4 old people.  The ladies had a 2^nd story apartment they had more stuff in it than I could imagine.  I began to think ahead to the days of moving things at home and they began to be very daunting.  OH, that I should have sorted out the old and got rid of the junk, dearest me!  Well, back to the moving story—it was so hot and everyone was sweating profusely.  They didn’t have any bottled water or glasses for drinking water.  I said I would go get water and be back and Sister Spencer said—“I’m coming too”  (she wasn’t going to be left)  We went and got water and when we were walking back to the car I looked down at the pavement and there was a nice bandage (in the shape of a toe) laying there on the ground.  I had lost the bandage and hadn’t realized it.  It looked so funny, we laughed pretty hard!
We were exhausted when we were through with that service project.  She had told Elder Merrill that her nephews were coming to load the boxes and get the truck at U-haul.  All we needed to do is help move the furniture.  The nephews didn’t show up and everything needed to be done.  PHEW!  The young elders said they had to go at 5:00 for a dinner appointment.  I thought about it a few minutes and went to them and said, “would you please call your appointment and delay it for a hour?  We’re old people and we will die if we don’t have your help.”  They were able to help us get finished, and we lived!

Every day we get more anxious to be home with our family and friends again.  It looks like we will be reporting our mission (or whatever you call it now) on July 31.  I don’t know about a picnic or anything afterwards as we don’t have a home, (yet) but we will probably do something.  I’m thinking about what to say and wonder if I should have been assigned a topic.