Week 28 Report

It has been another good week - actually pretty quiet. Oh, we were busy, always busy, but things seemed to move at a steady hum instead of spurts of problems to deal with. I was able to get some things started that aren't actually due for two to four weeks. We have a group of 4 missionaries going home mid-transfer in December, so I need to get the information to be able to request their travel. You would be surprise how many parents move while their sons/daughters are on their mission. Anyway, one of our sisters in this group has decided to surprise her parents and not tell them she is coming home early. She just plans to show up. I'm not sure how that will work. President Bekker gave his approval so I'll proceed. I also began working on the Departing Binders. I love being prepared and ahead of the game.

Devon has been able to secure all the needed new apartments. He spent Wednesday moving two sets of elders to the new pads and will do the same for two more companionships this week. Looks like the apartment with the mushrooms and mold has been cleaned/repaired and passes inspection, so we think the sisters will be moving back there. Everything is pretty stable this week with housing, but we have a huge group of new missionaries coming on October 10. The latest count is 28!!! If they all end up coming, Devon will probably have to find more apartments.

The coming and going of missionaries is in constant flux. We had 3 new elders come this week. Two are Marshallese speaking and thus were longer at the Provo MTC. The other one was serving in Japan, went home for knee surgery, and because he can no longer ride a bicycle, was assigned to finish his mission with us. All three wonderful, ready young men. On a sad note, we had two missionaries go home on early release. One sister has been ill for months. She's seen doctors, had lots of tests, and tried her hardest to say, but it finally became apparent that she needed to go home and get well. One elder wasn't ready to be here. He needed to go home and put some things in order. They are both wonderful young people with strong testimonies and a strong desire to be on a mission. Hopefully, they can work things out and return. We also had one of our military relations senior couples go home this week. We will miss them.

Friday night we went to dinner with Elder and Sister Overduyn. Elder and Sister Reeder wanted to come, but she was tied up with one of our sisters at the doctor's office (she's the mission nurse). We had dinner at Costco (if you can call it that) and then went to see the movie "Scully." We really enjoyed it. Saturday morning Sister Overduyn and I got pedicures. Afterward we went to Fabric Mart and bought Hawaiian fabric to use for table cloths at home. We have 2 mission sewing machines (both donated by members who were moving), so I'm hoping to get them hemmed and mailed home. Devon and I did some grocery shopping, and then settled in to watch the BYU football game - so disappointed that they lost.

Saturday evening I pulled out my ukulele. I played a little, but mostly looked for music on the internet. Sometimes I find a song with the chords and all I have to do is print it out, but more often I copy the lyrics, transpose the song to a key that works for me and the ukulele, and then add the chords to the lyrics. It's a process. I love my ukulele! Music has always brought me such joy.

Sunday was another peaceful Sabbath with good talks and classes at church. We've been blessed this weekend to FaceTime, text, and phone chat, with most of our family and a couple of good friends. We also had wonderful letters from Brad's family. As the songs says..."just another week in paradise."