The new week started out with a wonderful Sunday.  The weather was awesome and we had such a nice day at church.  It was also Elder France's birthday.  We had the Elders over to have dinner with us.  I made a new desert recipe that I got off Face book with apples and a sugar cookie crust which became Doyle's birthday "cake" with candles stuck in it. Dinner was the best stew I have ever made using a cut up roast that I fried with flour and then put in the crock pot for about 24 hours on low heat.  When I cooked the carrots and potatoes, I got them peeled and cut and them put them in the microwave to cook before placing them in the crock pot with the meat and gravy.  It was a big hit. 

Here is the birthday boy with his gift and card.  He looks pretty happy don't you think??  What do you get for the man who needs nothing??  A couple new golf shirts made him very happy!

 

Monday was a busy day in the office trying to get back on top of everything.  Elder France always has baptisms to record.  Fort Jackson, which is an Army base nearby always has many baptisms over the weekends, so they are waiting to be recorded into the records of the church.  I am finishing up my search for the new apartments I will need for our next transfer.  We have about 8 this time.  I spend a great deal of time on the Internet searching for the right apartment in the right location and phoning to see if they have vacancies.  We have also had to find a few different apartments to relocate for a few existing areas. 

On Tuesday I went to Greenwood to look at an apartment there.  It was about 150 miles round trip.  I was very pleased with the apartment I found and it happens to be managed by one of our existing vendors so that makes the process much simpler.  Most of the apartments that I am opening now are for sisters.

Thursday was a wonderful day in the office.  We had several of our former missionaries come for a visit.  Two sisters and one elder came to the office to see everyone.  What very special young people they are and each one an exceptional missionary while they served.  Two of them had their parents and other family members with them.  They also spent some time with President and Sister Holm.

We love our current and former missionaries!!

This is Madison Chai, Dylan Israelsen and Heather Allen, all former SCCM missionaries!!

Here Sister Chai is trying out President Holm's desk and chair!  I think she likes it!

 

Friday we went to Myrtle Beach with the Mihlbergers to pick up donations from church members there.  It was pouring like crazy as we got ready to leave Columbia.  Doyle took the garbage out, which isn't very far and his jacket was soaked completely through.  We ended up getting our waterproof sailing jackets out from underneath the bed and taking them with us.  Thankfully, the rain subsided by the time we got to our destination.

This is us with the van and trailer that we use.  I much prefer the van to the truck because there is so much more space to haul things.

 

There is a place called Sparky's on the highway to Myrtle Beach.  It is a very interesting shopping experience with lots of things to satisfy the sweet tooth.  The Mihlberger's had never been there so we stopped to check it out.  We found a couple of unique gift items for family and also bought some of the chocolate covered pecans that they are famous for.  They have one of the largest selections of hard ice cream I have ever seen, but we showed great strength and passed on that waistline killer. 

 

 

 

There is a Costco there and of course we took advantage of that.  We don't have one locally in the Columbia area, so when we get to the cities where there is one we try to fit that in.  There are three in the mission.  One in Spartanburg, one in Greenville and one in Myrtle Beach.  The closest one is over 90 minutes away!!

We use the donations to help furnish the new apartments that we open. We took the van and the trailer which was pretty full by the time we got done.  The Bishop in Conway, which is very close to Myrtle Beach, has a business that has a large warehouse and he had been storing the items for us.  The two local elders came to help us load out and so that meant that we took them to lunch.  They picked Olive Garden which is always a hit.  We were all very happy with the choice.

The Mihlberger's, the France's, Elder Maurer and Elder Houghton. 

 

It was a long day...almost twelve hours, so we did not unload the trailer into the storage sheds last night, but instead went over this morning and with the help of Elder Billiter and Elder Loos, we got the unloading done in about 30 minutes.

I have lots of great pictures of all of this, but I'm having a hard time downloading them, so I'm going to publish anyway, with the hope that I can get it figured out and put them in later.  I much prefer a blog with lots of pictures!!

Have a blessed week everyone.

Love y'all.  

 

(I finally figured out how to get the new pictures off of the new camera!!)