MAY have been a rough month

May started and ended with hospital visits.

The first week, the wife of a Marine had miscarried and was going to Balboa Hospital for a procedure. She needed a ride home, so the Military Relation Missionaries were called. Being that it was a woman thing, I went to sit with her and take her home. The tender mercy was in being able to drive there, park, and find her building and room. Usually we can sneak right into a parking spot for the disabled. However, I refuse to do that when I’m not with Elder Johnson. I drove in circles for a while and was frustrated to the point of tears. So, I prayed for help. Seconds later, a car pulled out of a parking spot on the main level (which made it that we could walk back easily). Then I asked a fellow in medical attire where in the heck the building was that I needed to get to. He was going to the exact same place I was! Blessings come for small favors as well as large.

Last week we found ourselves in the emergency room with a suicidal Marine. He had stabbed himself with a survival knife as a cry for help. As is custom in emergency rooms, it was a long wait before the doctors came and evaluated him. Because we had built a good friendship with him, Elder Johnson was able to keep him quiet and helped calm his troubled mind for several hours. Mike never seemed to tire or lose patience. It was a blessing to see him in action, ministering in the Savior’s way.

There is this sickness that spreads like wildfire through the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. It comes in every Sunday with the guys that have been in training for about three weeks. They are sniffling and sneezing and blowing their noses all over the place. And they have no voices. They have been yelling "sir, yes, sir" for the better part of a month, under great physical and emotional stress and their bodies just can't fight the bug. I call it the Recruit Crud. And even though we have tissues and hand sanitizers and garbage cans all over the auditorium where church is held, the "bug" metastasizes, and we got it. I don't know how, though. It's a huge room with no heat and all of the doors wide open. How a germ could grow in the sub Arctic temperature is amazing to me!

Mike spent the first week of the month sick and I followed suit. We had a few days of doctor visits and just hanging around trying to feel better. We are on the mend and up and doing again.

Well enough to have some wonderful time with visitors! My sister, Catherine, came for a few days.  It was a welcome visit. There isn't a whole lot of "girl time" here. And there is nothing like having one of my sisters. The highlight of May was Alice!! And Jesse and Mikaela. They were here Memorial Day weekend, so we did a bunch of patriotic things. The Midway, Rosecrans National Cemetery, and of course the beach and Cabrillo National Park. We love to go to each of these places and our visitors give us a great reason to go again and again.

BIG SISTER, CATHERINE

MEMORIAL DAY AWAY FROM HOME

I love watching the recruits. I walked out of church the other day and there was a platoon of brand spanking new ones that the drill sergeant had lined up right next to the wall--with their noses turned to it. I tried not to giggle as I passed them. I don't know how long he had them standing like that!  It is wonderful to see "our" church member recruits change in their thirteen weeks of training. They come in wondering what they have gotten themselves into, and leave as confident, upright, polite, and I must say handsome Marines. (especially in their dress uniforms, Charlies) In the final Sacrament Meeting before they graduate they stand and bear witness of the power of prayer and how they have felt the Savior strengthen them in their training. This week we said goodbye to the first group that we met back in February. I am so proud of them and just want to cry when I see them walk off with their families after our Cake Cutting Ceremony.

We love our mission more and more as time goes by. We love the people that we get to work with. We love being close enough for our family to visit. We love our great country and our flag and what is stands for. We love our servicemen and women.  We love our missionaries. We love serving the Lord.

OUR FAVORITE TRIO