The week has been crazy busy again and the weather has been crazy too!!  The rain showers have been relentless and it is very wet outside.  Yesterday was a wonderful sunny day...all day.  That's the first full day of sunshine we've had in many, many days.  We spent it opening up an apartment in Lake City.  A cute, but old little house inside the city limits.  Thankfully the air conditioning worked well.

This is a picture of our RV park with the mist of humidity in the air.

This is the house in Lake City with the Elders Marangi and Allred who helped us all afternoon, including three trips to WalMart to find the right size mini blind for one of the windows.

Elder Wery and Elder Billiter posing for me early in the morning after they helped load out the trailer and van.

Elder Allred and Elder Marangi  being carefully supervised by Elder France as they put up the mini blind.

Elder France using an improvised work bench to fix a table.

 

Today we went to Gaffney to a former senior apartment to get the couch, chair and Queen bed out of what is now a sisters apartment.  We opened a new senior apartment in Cowpens and needed to furniture for it.  Elder Holley and Elder Hatch came to help us get the furniture out and then went with us to move the furniture in.  We so appreciate all the elders and sisters who help us.  The Elders did get a nice lunch for their efforts.  The sisters in Gaffney helped us as well.  Sister Willis and Sister Lester were so sweet and helped us get the big couch out of the apartment.  Sister Lester was thrilled to find out that we had a package from home that we brought to her.

Sister Lester demonstrated sister strength for us.  She helped Elder France get the couch out of the apartment.

 

Earlier this week we had a horrible downpour that lasted for quite awhile.  The Mihlbergers were trying to leave and of course the umbrellas were in the car.  They decided to improvise and the results were hilarious.  Here Sister Mihlberger is trying to get Elder Mihlberger fitted with a garbage bag so he can go to the car to get the umbrella for her or move the car or something.

So now he's encased in something similar to a straight jacket and can barely move...but he's ready to face the rain.

 Now it's Sister Mihlberger's turn.  She put the bag over her head and I'm trying to get a hole ripped in the front so she can breathe.  We're both laughing so hard we can barely stand up.  Elder Mihlberger?  Well, I'm not sure where he was.  Out in the pouring rain somewhere.

I'm writing early this week because of a complete change of plans for me.  I will be leaving to go home spend time with my sister who is struggling with a vicious form of cancer.  Prayers for her and my family would be wonderful.  At this particular time I'm not sure how long I will be gone.

Thank you to all the mom's who send me encouraging emails about the blog and the great pictures of the missionaries that we post.  It's so nice to know that this blog is a resource for wonderful missionary parents.  We love your children.  They are a joy to be around.  Thanks for sharing them with us for a season.

Love to all!!

What a week we have had.  This is the first time since we've been here that President Holm has asked everyone in the office to come to all the Zone Conferences to give training to the missionaries based on our particular assignments.  Doyle was asked to do training on records and media, Elder Decker gave training on cars, Sister Decker on finances, Elder and Sister Mihlberger trained on emergency preparedness and I trained on housing issues and energy conservation.  So, each day, Tuesday thru Friday we went all over the state to make our presentations.  We needed to be to our destinations by about 8:15am, so that meant getting up at 5am...not my favorite thing.  But each day was very good and hopefully helpful.  We also helped Elder Decker inspect every car in the mission, which is done once per quarter. 

I took several pictures that I would like to share.  For those mom's that I know are watching my blog, I tried to find your child and take their picture.  These are pictures of the Columbia-West Columbia Zone Conference only.

 

We love our missionaries and we enjoy being with them so much.  They all work so diligently to spread the joy of the gospel.  They are respectful, caring and obedient and they love the Lord.  What a blessing it is for us to be able to serve with them!

 

Yesterday we went up to the Spartanburg area with Elder Taylor and Elder Hatch.  We were gone for 13 hours opening up two new apartments, one for two sisters and one for four sisters.  We loaded out here in Irmo at 7:30am did our set-ups and then went to a storage shed that contained an enormous amount of donations from the stake members towards the missionary housing.  It was wonderful to see everything in the storage shed.  The members really cleaned house and instead of giving it to Goodwill or some other entity they gathered it together for us.  There were many dining room tables and chairs, some chest of drawers, lamps, lots of dishes and silverware and other kitchen items.  There was so much we couldn't bring it all with us and will have to go back for the rest of it. 

Some members simply went to the store and bought things for missionaries apartments, based on the list that I had sent out to all the stakes.

Thank you all so much for your generosity.

 



 

The week ahead will be filled with opening more apartments and going through and organizing all of the donations we recieved.  On Friday we go to Charleston to pick up more donations.

 

On a personal note, Doyle and I finished reading every page of the Old and New Testament last week.  It has taken us about two and a half years to complete.  We were very pleased to finish the reading project and have started on the Doctrine and Covenants. 

 

Until next week.....

Love y'all.

 

Sunday July 7, 2013

So this is summer in South Carolina!  Sun, clouds, rain...sun, clouds, rain...lots of rain!!  Plenty of rain to keep things really wet and the air very humid.  Going into a store is a problem because you never know if it's going to be pouring buckets by the time you come out.  The streets get flooded in certain areas and the mist that rises from the earth is everywhere.  The windows fog up in the car making vision difficult.  And this is only the beginning according to the locals.  By the time the extreme heat gets here combined with the rain, we've been told it's like "breathing water."  Oh happy day!

On Monday, Doyle suggested that all the senior missionaries get together and have family home evening together.  We reviewed a talk from conference together. I volunteered to make dessert and found a real southern dessert from Paula Deen...a bread pudding that is made with Krispy Kremes instead of bread, with fruit cocktail and raisins.  It was so moist and delicious and rich!  I don't even want to see anything that might indicate a calorie count.  We had plenty left over so we shared with the young sisters that live with Sister Rothman.

On Tuesday I went up to Spartanburg to look at housing for senior missionaries and also get another house for sisters in the Boiling Springs area.  It's a good thing that I went up because they were ready to rent the house to someone else even though they had just approved our application.  I signed the paperwork for that one and set off to look at the other two in a nearby branch. No luck with either of those, so I have to keep looking.  Doyle spent the day in the storage shed working on putting furniture together and making repairs to some of the donated furniture that we get.  Sometimes just tightening screws or some minor reinforcement will make furniture very useable.  He does this on a regular basis and we always find a good home for the tables, chairs or bookcases.

On Thursday the 4th we had a senior training and social at the mission home.  It's always so great to get together as a group.  It only happens four times a year.  We had a lovely dinner after our training.  And of course there was the mandatory group picture.

  Elder and Sister Mihlberger were missing as they had to leave early to teach a class. We have several new missionary couples and we have several that will be going home before our next get together.

Elder and Sister Bowman are returning to SLC.  This is their fourth mission. They have been serving a MLS mission in the Marion Branch.

 

 Elder and Sister Stowell are returning to our home stake in Wenatchee, WA. They have been serving a MLS mission in the Union Branch as Branch President and Relief Society President.

 Elder and Sister Decker are returning to Snowflake, AZ.  This is their second mission. They have been serving in the office.  Sister Decker is the financial person and Elder Decker is the fleet manager.

 Sister Rothman (shown here with President Holm) will return to southern California.  This is her first mission.  Sister Rothman is the office receptionist and mail person.  She sorts every piece of mail that arrives for the mission.

 Elder France is always in the kitchen helping with the clean up.

These are our assistants to the President, Elder Cardon and Elder Brimhall.  They do a great job and we are proud to serve with them.

 

Its' been a week filled with difficult news about family. The older one gets the more frequent this type of news occurs. As a result, my mind has been turned to things regarding family, loved ones, the uncertainty of tomorrow and the swiftness of passing time.  Each and every day, each and every moment is a gift from our Heavenly Father.   Once the moment has passed we cannot get it back.  Choices should be made wisely as to how we spend each of those precious moments.  Our families are so important to us and we need to let them know it.  Families are the foundations upon which our lives our built.  Think about your priorities and let your family know that you love them.

 

Have a great week y'all.  Love to all of you!