Elder Pearson's Visit and the Beach.

Carters were gone for zone conferences/training in Darwin and Alice Springs with Elder Pearson and his wife Sunday-Wednesday. Lee picked them up at the airport at 3:40 pm Wed and they said it had been raining sideways in Darwin which is surprising, as it is usually MUCH hotter there. 

We all felt like things slowed down in the office, at least at the beginning of the week. It was HOT as I mentioned in the highs and lows and it was tough for the air conditioner to keep the office cooled. Same problem at our flats....we didn't find out until Friday that you should keep a window open to get best results using a swamp cooler and we are glad to report that definitely helps! The Whites called a repairman to check their cooler and he kindly gave them/us the valuable information.

Thursday was a hot temperature record in Adelaide, last set in 1939. I've never experienced such heat! Can you believe it was 86 at 6:15 am? We were able to stay consistent with our walking every morning and even made up for a skipped rainy day earlier in the month but it was NOT fun in the extreme heat! We worried and prayed for the missionaries out on bikes during those hot days, as well.

Wednesday afternoon the 'far' missionaries started showing up and it's always a joy to have them around the office. I love watching them greet one another and to listen to their chatter and laughter. They also stock up on teaching supplies and collect their mail, which included the long lost November, December, and January Ensign issues we FINALLY received after a huge snafu. Sister Salazar and I made several calls and many emails over three months only to be told that the magazine orders had been held up by the Australian post and then sent back to SLC. After that we don't know what went wrong where, we are just thankful the church magazines arrived!

Lee left the flat to pick up the grocery order at 7:30 am Thursday morning and we got to the church to unload by 7:50. For lunch we served 120 people ham and turkey sandwiches with salads made by the senior missionary sisters, and chips, and ice cream bars for dessert. The seniors all pitched in on slicing buns, arranging meat and cheese trays, slicing tomatoes, filling water pitchers, and washing lettuce and etc.

We listened to training Thursday morning after assembling for a large group picture at 9:00am.

Zone and district leaders met at 8:00 for leaders instructions.

Sister Carter spoke on listening and referenced page 185 in Preach My Gospel. We enjoyed her reminder about the benefits of and roadblocks to good listening.

President Carter expanded on his opening question "Why did Jesus do what He did?" 

Sister Pearson asked, " Are you 'becoming' or are you just acting?" This is a great question to personally ponder!

We missed Elder Pearson's morning talk as we were doing prep in the kitchen. After lunch, he did in-depth missionary training and we listened in after clean up. Following the closing prayer we went back to the office and then I dashed home to prepare a salad for the senior missionary dinner at 7:00 pm with Elder and Sister Pearson and President and Sister Carter at the mission home.

The potluck menu was lasagna, salad, vegetables, bread, and beautiful pavlova by Sister White. I skipped the lasagna but couldn't resist the pavlova! Lee chose lasagna over dessert which I do not understand! :-)

After dinner, we gathered in the living room and Sister Pearson complimented the seniors on CHOOSING to serve missions. She suggested that we don't sugar coat the hard things we experience so that our families think it is all easy and all wonderful! This was a new concept...for some reason I felt we should only emphasize the positive and not dwell on the negatives. So as per Sister Pearson's instruction, in the future we'll be sharing some of our difficulties as well as our fabulous times. This makes sense.....so you will have a more accurate view.

We were invited to ask questions of Elder Pearson. We learned he was serving as a mission president in Tacoma Washington when called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in 2005. He serves until he is age 70, when he will be released as a General Authority emeritus. Elder Pearson serves in the Pacific Area Presidency and he and his wife are parents to 5 sons and a daughter, and the 15 year old daughter is still at home. They are from Salt Lake City but reside in New Zealand. The 5th son is serving a mission in Spain.

Every April, they attend a 'transfer' meeting to find out if they have a new assignment or if their current duties remain the same. The sacrifice and dedication required to fulfill the calling is daunting......in fact none of us can, in good conscience, murmur about our short periods of sacrifice (3 yrs for the Carter's and 18 months for us) after hearing of it. We pray for their continued strength, physical and spiritual, to fulfill their stewardship.

There were missionary health and other issues that came up late Friday afternoon just before closing. We went home stressed and just plain worn out after a long week.

Saturday we woke up early as usual and face timed the family. By the time we finished our whole list of kids and parents, it was after 9 am. It was a late start temperature wise to walk but still cooler than the previous days so we did our regular route. Lee went grocery shopping while I finished getting ready and then we drove 40 minutes to the beach at Glenelg. We took grapes, almonds, apples, books, sun screen, and chairs with us and spent a couple of glorious hours smelling and watching the ocean. It was sunny and beautiful with a perfect breeze!

On the drive home, we stopped at the mall so Lee could have a burrito at the food court and grabbed last minute refrigerated items at the store before heading home for a Saturday afternoon snooze. It was divine and much needed. I spent the evening getting ready for lunch and dinner guests the next day and Lee was invited to go teaching with Elders Brough and Holmes.

Sunday was a good day at church. It was Elder McCappen's missionary farewell and his father and grandfather also spoke. He is leaving this week for the England London South Mission. His enlightening talk was on the sport of rowing and how it relates to mission preparation. I wore short sleeves to church and froze in the air conditioning. 

Sister Salazar came for lunch with Elders Holmes and Brough, who also brought an investigator. Aya has been in Australia for only 2 weeks and is learning English since Japanese is her first language. Communication was interesting and difficult. After they left we had a short rest and then prepared for dinner before going to a baptism at 4:30.

Elders Litster, Hatch, and Westover came for crock pot shredded barbecue chicken sandwiches, fruit, and chips. I made lemon jello cake for dessert and served it at both lunch and dinner. I took the rest to the office for the assistants on Monday morning.

The weeks pass by quickly. We are anxiously engaged and gearing up for transfers again next week already.

 We sent hugs and HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to Patty W, Lindsey, and Logan in January! 

P.S. Lindsey has been researching family vacation destinations for 2015 and told Zane, who is 

2 1/2, that we might be going to a beach location with all the cousins after Mimi and Pops get home. He saw the beach pictures I sent from Saturday, and thought we had gone on the trip without him and cried for 20 minutes! That made us smile.