Week of June 26, 2016

Sunday we had dinner with a single sister missionary so she could have the young elders for dinner. There have to be at least three people besides the elders if a single sister has the elders to dinner. We enjoyed a good visit with the elders. They are Zone Leaders and gave us quite the education on the reporting system that takes place. I didn’t realize it, but one of the elders that has quite a tough time walking—I think he has cerebral palsy—is one of the Assistants to the President. Transfers took place this week, so the elders are all in new places. We enjoyed the meal and the visit.

Our home teachers came over. They have been on six missions and currently process applications for senior missionaries. They have such a wide variety of experiences in their lives that it is always interesting to visit with them.

Monday at devotional one of the directors at FamilySearch spoke. He shared some of the experiences that have turned his heart to his grandparents. He talked about the mission of the Church according to the Handbook and how it had evolved from the 3-fold mission to what it is today. He said our mission fulfills all 4 of the aspects of the Church mission and discussed the fact that our “converts” number much higher than other missions because we serve both sides of the veil. He touched briefly on a new program that is being rolled out to the mission and said we would hear more in the coming months. It was really a good meeting and I was touched by it.

We had a meeting to evaluate how our teaching program had gone last week. It was a good discussion with good ideas. We then tackled the second set of classes for Capstone and the thought was that it should be overhauled to provide more meat. I am amazed at the way things have evolved and are evolving into a much stronger program.

Tuesday I taught Beginning Irfanview as an Enrichment class. It went well, but there were a couple of glitches along the way. I felt like most of the students did well and caught on. After lunch we went to the temple. I then returned to the library and did a couple of things before getting back to the Swedish research. I was able to collect most of the information for one family. I still need to get the birth records, but I got the dates and the death records.

In the evening we went to the park for a concert. I really enjoy sitting in the outside air in the shade for a while and just relaxing. The performers were called the Relic Band. They were an acoustical band group that sang songs from the 60s and 70s. Ted knew almost all the songs and sang along with them, really enjoying himself. I knew 3 or 4 but I enjoyed it as well. It was fun to see him having such a good time.

Wednesday we didn’t have any classes. In the afternoon I went to the library to do some Swedish research for a couple of hours. I was able to put together another family and find most of the documents for them. I got home in time to walk with my friend from France. We just got started on the track when the wind began really blowing hard. We turned around on the second half of the track because it was hard to walk against the wind. I wasn’t sure what we would do on the other side when we faced it again. As it turned out, by the time we reached the other side it had started to rain. We decided to go home so we hurried back and only got a few drops on us.

Instead of going home I went to visit my friend who broke her neck. She had her interview with the mission today and they have decided to send her home. She had some others there, so we really didn’t talk much. When it was time for me to leave she gave me a big hug and told me she was afraid she would never see Ted and me again. She has a doctor’s appointment on the 19^th of July and hopes to go after that. I’m sad to see her go.

Thursday we drove to Las Vegas to help with a new grandbaby.