Days Become Weeks

If you miss a day writing on a blog, before you know it, you've missed a week! (or two) Quite frankly, by the end of the day, especially if we've been doing computer work, I'm done! So, I'll do my best to get back in the groove and be up and doing.

We've had some interesting experiences as we are trying to get things lined up. This week we went to a training class for volunteering at the brig. One of the wards that we attend is responsible for Sunday meetings and Wednesday night visits. It is a joint services military prison. My naive eyes about popped out of my head seeing some of the information they gave us. but, as soon as the background checks are done on us, we'll be able to attend those meetings. (Probably just on Wednesdays--Sundays are crazy enough.)

Been getting lists of military members from ward clerks. Once we have those, we set up appointments with the bishops and they give us as much information as they can so we can visit the families. It is a challenge to keep up with re-assignments and deployments. We are doing lots of detective work--showing up at doors or facebook stalking. One disaster was on a rainy night. We went out to visit a very high stress home and realized our tire was going flat. So while trying to get AAA to come on base without ID, and helping settle kids down, and being cold and wet, we didn't get much missionary work done. Opposition!

We have found folks who are struggling with all kinds of issues. It is such a sacrifice for all of the members of the families who serve our country. I'm so grateful that the church has seen the need that they have for support and for the gospel. We hope that we can encourage and show love and appreciation for them.

The best thing that has happened recently is that we had family come! Seth's family had a trip to Disneyland and then came and spent a few days with us. It was so good to see them, although it made me homesick all over again. We LOVE our family!

Flat tire

Such Cute Kiddos

Sea anemone at the tide pools

Garden at Cabrillo Lighthouse

Bas-ics

We have decided that we love being on base. This week we went to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, which will be our new assignment. We pretty much just hung out there to get a feel for the place. We can hardly get through a conversation without having to pause to watch a jet fly overhead. It literally brings tears to my eyes. We also had the chance to go to a very early training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) to be eligible to talk to recruits. We attended a "cake cutting" that is traditional for Marines, but this one was small and sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the graduating Marines. We will get to attend a graduation in a few weeks and look forward to that.

Friday, we decided to take a day off while the weather was nice. We went to Mission Bay, walked the boardwalk and stopped for dinner at a brewery for some yummy nachos. We were probably the only ones there drinking water and Mexican Coke.

The best part of the week was today at church. We attended the Paradise Hills Ward, where the bishop had asked us to speak. As we were waiting for the meeting to begin, we watched the people come in. It was beautiful watching all races and ages, families and single souls, church members and investigators come into the chapel. The missionaries were there sitting behind a glass window translating from English to different languages. The closing prayer was given in a language I didn't recognize, yet, we all felt the same spirit. It was wonderful!

We still go to bed exhausted at night and in a bit of a brain fog, but we are understanding the roads and responsibilities better every day. It is a blessing to be here!!

Flag raising at MCRD

Paradise Hills Chapel

Sunset at Mission Bay

Can it get any crazier?

Things have not slowed down for us here. We keep waiting for a day to catch up on reading, resting and writing, but it is not to be.  We are still trying to get some contacts with folks. For some reason we cannot get LDS tools to download the information for the stake that we need. We have talked to SLC and mission office and mission president. Blah, blah, blah. So, we have gone the old fashioned route. We have tried to make appointments with bishops and stake presidents and been successful at getting appointments with a few. We've got a few lists now and have tried to contact some of the military families.

As we are trying to get settled and organized, the most experienced MRM's here had an emergency with the sister's back and had to leave the mission to go home for surgery. There are now only three couples here covering 9 military installations and 9 stakes where military members live off base. One couple covers the Marine Corps Recruit Depot single handedly. That leaves us and one other couple who came into the mission with us to cover the rest. President Stubbs asked if we would be the MRM coordinators. Talk about the blind leading the blind. We don't know north from south or up from down, but will try to figure things out and still be able to go out and touch some lives.

We had a chance to go to the temple this week. Wow! The San Diego Temple is amazing! It is like walking into heaven. (Warning: the cafeteria has lousy pizza, but delicious tapioca and coconut cream pie)

There was a multi stake fireside the other night for potential Senior Missionaries. We met some really great people there who gave us some useful tips. The church NEEDS Senior Missionaries badly. so plan ahead everyone.

And lastly, we had an incredible rain storm yesterday. Remember the old song..."it never rains in California...it pours, man it pours"

West half of the mission

Blue skies for a few days