Haircuts, Scripture Cards, and One More Transfer (wk ending 16 Nov 2014).

Monday was weird! I accomplished very little but the morning went fast! Elder Hannan gave the spiritual thought and told the story of Susan Boyle and lessons he learned from her performance. You'll remember she participated in a TV talent show in England and unexpectedly wowed the world with her voice. Lessons learned from this story as outlined by Elder Hannan: 1. Don't judge a book by its cover 2. Use your talents 3. Treat everyone with respect 4. We all have potential 5. You can do anything.

Lee took the Goodrichs to the airport at 11:30 after their parting interview with President and group pictures and hugs all around. Parting is truly bittersweet. You can't wait to get home but you hate to leave! After dropping them at the airport, Lee stopped at the bike shop to get helmets and other supplies and got back to the office just as I arrived back from lunch.

The Ricoh IT person finally arrived at 12:45. Nathan from FM was around most of the day also and we are back in business with scanning, faxing, copying, and printing! The new machine works beautifully and the old unit was finally removed Tuesday.

We had missionaries in and out as usual for Monday and I gave Elder Hartley a haircut at 2:30. He is from Aetna, Canada, so we have people and places in common as it is next door to Cardston, Alberta. Lee's family roots are located in Cardston where we spent many happy summer vacations at Grandpa and Grandma Sheffield's house. We enjoy being with Elder Hartley and his companion Elder Tolbert who is from St George, Utah.

Tuesday, contractors were pressure washing the office roof and it sounded like a boat and it's motor was sitting above my desk. It went on for hours and we were so thankful when it finally stopped! I printed Best Practices which took 300 sheets of paper and the new printer is so quiet and the finished sheets look sharp and crisp!

There were emails notifying of three more delayed American missionaries because their visas didn't come through. They have been temporarily assigned in Arizona while they wait between the MTC and the Visa grant. Later in the day we were informed that a previous visa waiter is coming so we have four arrivers this transfer.

President and the assistants were preparing for transfers all day. They stuck their heads out a couple of times only and finished by 4:30. I mean they finished after only one day of prayer, inspiration, and revelation and the whole transfer was DONE! That's amazing and shocking!

Our beloved assistants in a moment of crazy!

Lee took an Elder to the dentist and left the flat at 7:15 am. He was out to the airport to get an Elder arriving from Darwin at 4:35 pm and took him back to the airport Wed morning at 6:00 am for his flight home to the Philippines.

We went back to the airport at 11:30 am Wednesday to get the senior couple arriving from Pleasant Grove, Utah and took them to lunch once back in Firle. They were tired but waited for two hours in the office before President sent word that he would interview them the next day. Lee took them to Goodrich's flat temporarily and gave Elder Jurgens a driving lesson Thursday before the interview. President will determine after that where they will be assigned.

A missionary from Micronesia is visa delayed so we are down to three arrivers.

Thursday we walked as usual but went to the office early since Lee was expecting 8 new replacement cars to be delivered. The landlord worked at our flat from 10-6 replacing the kitchen faucet, repairing plumbing, and fixing the unpainted patched heater wall. He'll return next week to finish painting and final plumbing.

President and the assistants were back to transfer planning because of the delayed missionaries causing gaps in the previous planning. Lee went to get the Jurgens at the West St flat and brought them to the office for a 1:00 interview with President Carter. Elder Hannan took them back to the flat after the 2 hr interview and President will give them their assignment after he has a chance to ponder and pray after meeting them.

We finally got our return travel from SLC. I only requested it 3 months ago! We arrive much later in the the day than I'd hoped and there isn't a direct flight from LA to SLC so we go by way of Dallas/Ft Worth. It's going to be a verrrrrrrry long day!

I worked on the scripture card project punching holes and tying sets together with ribbon after making bookings for the Grays and the Smiths coming to Adelaide for the sister's conference 1 Dec.

Finally finished the bookmarks! Sistr Hannan made them and I crocheted the edge.

Friday I worked on booking travel for transfers, proof of residency forms for everyone transferred, and finalizing the Zion Rescue for Monday printing. The office tile roof was painted Friday after the pressure washing and repairs earlier in the week. Lee gave Elder Jurgens a driving lesson and turned over the keys to the Goodrich car afterward. It's now the Jurgens' car. They explored the surrounding area until President called them for another interview. They were still meeting when I left the office at 5. Lee cooked burgers and chicken for the assistants 5:30 dinner, with Texas caviar, chips, and fruit salad. We were glad it was Friday!

Friday was the last day on our route for the package delivery man who was mentioned several posts ago when he asked, "What is a Mormon anyway?" I invited him to the special Sacrament meeting 30 Nov and gave him a card with the date, time, place, and my name and phone number on it. He said he would try to come.

Saturday was recuperation and 'no rush' day. We talked to the family and checked up on Freddie, who fainted in church last Sunday. He spent that night in the hospital and is on a heart monitor for 30 days to determine the problem. He had a follow-up appointment this week to discuss the emergency room test results. It's not great news but thankfully his situation isn't an emergency. The issues can be managed now that we are aware, but sometimes an 86 year old body cannot be fixed. Please keep him in your prayers.

We did light cleaning, I went to the office for 1/2 an hour, Lee went to Big W ( think Walmart, only more expensive), we had a nap, and attended the 4:00 baptism of some Chinese friends, Emily and Kevin. We first met them several months ago in our English class. The didn't attend regularly but we would see them occasionally and kept up with their progress through the missionaries that taught them the Gospel. We saw them last week at the Yeow's and promised we would attend the baptism. Kevin and Emily attend the Morialta ward in our same church building and they have attentive ward members to encourage and support them. It was a beautiful meeting and Sammie and Max were able to attend the baptism as well. Three islander missionaries harmonized a beautiful song and one of the Elders accompanied on the guitar.

Saturday night we collected the sister missionary going home to England from the Carters at 7:45 pm to go to the  airport for a 10:50 flight through Dubai. Since she was 12 kilos over weight for checked baggage and didn't have a carry on, we bought a light weight carry on bag to load with 7 kilos of 'stuff' and we brought the rest back to discard. They were going to charge an extra 94.00 per kilo over the allowed weight! ($94.00 x 12 = $1128.00! Yikes!)

This is a common occurrence when Lee gets to the airport with leavers....some people think they can be overweight without consequences. So in the airport, with time constraints, crowds, and long lines, they have choose what stays and what goes in public in a huge rush. It's a GONG SHOW! Another problem is that every airline has different weight policies, and the online information isn't always in sync with what's on the itinerary. Even worse is the occasional ticket agent trying to be helpful who lets an over weight bag go without charge. Word of the departing missionary's good luck filters back to the mission and others think they will get to be over weight too! It's a vicious cycle.

Anyway, we got the Sister re packed and checked in and were back home by 10 pm. People are allowed to go to the domestic flight gates in Australia to meet and greet passengers but not international gates so we left once she was checked in.

Sunday was the annual Primary children's sacrament meeting program at church. This year's theme was THE FAMILY. As always, the kids ages 3-12 did great on their parts and the music was beautiful. We attended the rest of our meetings and went home at noon to grab lunch. I went back at 1 to see Kevin and Emily's confirmation and President Yeow's mother speak in the Morialta ward. I was back home by 2:00 to nap and made cookies for the missionaries in the afternoon.

Notice anything?

It's transfer time next week and we only have ONE transfer left!