Diversion Day

We took a little trip Saturday.  The Mission Office will be closed for Memorial Day, and so we have a "Three Day Week-end".  We wanted to tour the mission, and see some of the locations where we have missionaries.  We pay the bills for all these different locations, or forward the mail to all these places, so we thought it would be fun to drive around and see where these towns are located.

So after laundry and cleaning the apartment, we were off.  In a round-about way we ended up at Lake Oroville which is a reservoir backed up by an earthen dam, that is hugh.

Look how far down the valley below the dam is.

The lake has become quite the recreation area with boating and fishing.

The Lake on one side of the dam.

The other side of the dam. Again, look how far down the valley is.

The Dam helps to generate electricity, but also has a very impressive "spillway" to alleviate excess water.

After visiting Oroville, we decided to go to Chico, have a nice dinner, spend the night there, and go to Church with the missionaries assigned there.

When we got to Chico, which is a nice College town with a population of about 65,000, we could not find a hotel with any rooms available.  At the restaurant we asked what was happening in the town.  It appears that the County Fair, and Graduation had taken up all the hotel rooms in town.

Without a place to stay, we decided to go home.  Our "Adventurous Spirit" is curbed by our need for comfort.  Fortunately our apartment was less than 2 hours away, and there we could sleep in our own bed.  We'll go to church in our own Ward, and make a day trip in another direction on Monday.

The roads we traveled go through endless orchards and farms.  On occasion there are road side fruit stands.  Cherries and strawberries are everywhere.  It is wonderful to have all this tree ripened fruit to munch everywhere we go.

Mom is standing in a Peach Tree orchard.

Love to all,

Dad

Just Working

One of the things I worked on this past week was to update and distribute our Mission's Emergency Plan. You can imagine the responsibility of a Mission President.  Everything is fine if all goes well, but when something goes wrong . . . . . .

In our home Stake, the Longview, Washington Stake, there is a Brother and Sister Broomhead.  He was the Mission President in Samoa several years ago.  At one point, the Mission Van with 7 Elders was swept away in a flash flood, and one Elder was missing.  Search parties were formed and searched for days and weeks.  They found a shoe and a backpack belonging to this Elder. He said that you call a number in Salt Lake, and "they take over".  They contact the Elder's Stake President who goes and informs the parents. It was not until 3 weeks later that he was allowed to call the parents.  He said the call went well.  The Parents were consoling HIM. As he related this story in a Stake High Priest Fireside, the agony of this experience just exuded from his being.  We were all in tears as we could empathise with this Mission President.

Some of the risks here in this Mission is, of course, earthquakes.  We are in California, after all.  Wildfires is another big one. All missionaries have an individual 72 hour kit in their apartment.  (We have two kits in our closet too).
The plan also details how to be safe and to get word, or a "status report" to the Mission President as quickly as possible.

As we have gotten to know the Missionaries we see more frequently because of their proximity around us, we have come to really love and care for them.  They have wonderful spirits that are true and real.  They are just amazing.

We are enjoying our "status" as missionaries.  People smile at us and say "Hi".  2 separate couples in Costco had to find out where we were from and which area we "worked" in.  They are having us do more in the Ward too.  Mom plays the piano in Relief Society.  I have had to give the Spiritual Thought in Priesthood Meeting.

As we were about to enter the Chapel for Sacrament Meeting last week, we overheard this "nice old lady" greeting this mother with her 5 year old son, saying to the boy that he could either shake her hand, or he would have to give her a hug.  The boy didn't want to do either.  
As we got to the doorway, my hand shot out to shake hers.. . . . . . . I was not going to risk it!

Love,
Dad

Another Wonderful Week

Some of the off things we are involved with, is making sure that the missionaries who do not have the proper support group at home, are taken care of.  I mentioned last week about our foreign missionaries, but there are also Stateside missionaries who may not have the support from parents at home.  Mom was helping a missionary with his BYU application last week.  He will be returning home next transfer, and is the one where the "letter home" advising the parents of their son's arrival was sent to his Bishop in Florida.  We hope the Bishop will be at the airport to receive this wonderful Elder. No one else would otherwise be there.

And so I have been directed by the Mission President to add funds to this missionary's, or that missionary's Credit Card (Debit Card) so he can go to Deseret Industries and buy a suit or shoes or shirts.  Right now we are making arrangements to buy a bike from CTR Bikes for one of our foreign Elders.  The CTR brand also does clothes. (Some time ago, I had bought 2 CTR suits from a place that caters to missionaries in Portland).  We have been asked to be vigilant to spot those needs as we mingle with the young missionaries.

We had a great get-together in Gridley Saturday morning and were taught by 5 General Authorities, Elder Christofferson of the 12 Apostles, Elder Halstrom of the Presiding 70, Bishop McMullen of the Presiding Bishopric, and 2 other members of the 1st Quorum of the 70. You just can't imagine the overwhelming feeling sitting there being a part of this great work, surrounded by 200+ young missionaries.  The Stake Center chapel was filled to capacity, and they took time for all of us to come up to the podium to shake their hand.  As we came by, they all gave us special recognition and thanks for being there and for our service as Senior Missionaries.

They were there to conduct Area training Saturday afternoon, and then they would split to different Stake Conferences.  They flew in to Chico Airport on the Huntsman Jet.  You may have heard of the Huntsman family of Salt Lake City who have been quite successful in industry.  Whenever President Hinckley traveled, he flew on the Huntsman's jet.  They have been very generous to the Church.

There are many committed people like the Huntsmans who will give their all to the church.  I have dealt with one such person these past few weeks. There is a brother in one of the Wards who helped out the missionaries by buying them a hot plate, a frying pan, and a carbon monoxide detector for the apartment where they live. Our Apartment Coordinator told him we would reimburse him for the cost of the items.  The problem for me, is in order to set up this man as a vendor so I can cut him a check, it requires us to secure a W-9 form with a Federal Identification Number such as a Social Security number or Company TIN, and a signature certifying the information to be true and accurate.  He does not want to go through all that trouble.  He would rather just donate it to the Church, but asked me to send him some form of acknowledgement or receipt for the things he bought.  I really can't do that.  I don't have the authority to send out official Church receipts for donated items. 

After discussing at length what we can do and why I needed the W-9 form, and then worrying about this for several days, I discovered that I can "reimburse" people without having the "required" W-9 form. So, I immediately cut him a check, got all the required approvals, and mailed it off.  The other day, I received the check back in the mail with a full page note from the man saying he really did not want the money but just an "acknowledgement" of his "donation".  I AM GOING TO STRANGLE THIS GUY!!!  IT IS JUST AS MUCH OF A HASSLE TO CANCEL THE CHECK!!!

I want to go visit him. I want to ask him to cash the check and then donate the amount to the Ward Missionary Fund.  I also want to shake his hand and thank him for taking care of and for loving our missionaries (He is the Ward Mission Leader), and for looking out for their welfare.

This brother is really no different from the Huntsman family.  He loves the Lord.  He covenanted to give his all to the Lord.  We have wonderful people like this all over and I am priveledged to work with them.

Love to all,
Dad

Mothers Day

We had Ross visit us again this week, but this time he brought Dixie and the children with.  We saw them at General Conference a month ago (a week after we left home), and so we have not yet experienced the "being away from family" effect that Senior couples talk about.  Of course our relative proximity has great bearing on that.  Add to that all the conveniences of the stores we are accustomed to shopping at and no language barriers or communication difficulties, and we are really in an environment very similar to home.  Our concerns are very manageable.

The missionaries get to call home on Mother's Day and on Christmas Day.  Since the missionaries don't have phones other than the Mission Cell phones which can only be used for mission related calls, they have been instructed to go to a member family and have pre-arranged with their families to call them there.  The President, probably in a moment of weakness, said it was okay to use Skype as a way to video conference with parents at home.  This permission was not openly discussed, and so I have fielded several calls from parents seeking confirmation if it was true.  What the parents don't realize, is that the member family where the missionary hopes to receive their call from home at, may not have the Skype program and video camera needed to have this two way call.  The Missionaries, of course, are way ahead of me in today's technology and they'll for sure have all that figured out.

We have a number of foreign missionaries in our mission.  They come from Chile, Australia, Mexico, American Samoa, Western Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Bolivia, Argentina, and the Philippines.  I made arrangements with a long distance provider to secure calling cards so they can also call home on Mothers Day.

We are having a great time.  We take every opportunity to tell the missionaries how wonderful they are and to reassure them of their worth in Heavenly Fathers's eyes.  They are wonderful "kids" and we love everyone of them.

This coming Saturday we will be attending an All Mission Conference with Elder Christofferson of the 12 Apostles. It will be held in Gridley, a town about 90 miles North of us, which is a central location for the mission area.  Elder Christofferson will be there for a Stake Conference that Saturday/Sunday.  In addition, we will also have Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Bishop McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric.  A lot of "heavy weights" for one meeting.  Makes you wonder what else is happening that week-end.

I will keep you posted next week if I find out anything.

Love,
Dad

We Survived Transfer Week!

Here is a picture of the apartment we live in.  We are on the second floor, and through the railing of the balcony you can see the tomato plant we just bought at Costco.  Mom is determined to have a garden.  She just can't help herself.

Our apartment is nice and functional.  It has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  Mom has the closet in the "Master Bedroom", and my closet is in the second bedroom.  That is also the bedroom which we use as our office.

Here is Mom in "The Office" in the apartment.  Really just a fold-up table where we face each other with our computers, and share the one printer by the window.  

Ross was just here on his way to San Francisco, and dropped off the Prius.  The Tundra Truck is nice and is my favorite, but all the parking lots are small and difficult to maneuver with the big truck.  We are glad Ross had to make a trip down which allowed him to help us out by driving our Prius to us.

I have mentioned before how our Stake building has two Chapels and houses 6 Wards.  Jason has dubbed it "The Great and Spacious Building".  Here is a picture I took today after our block meeting.  The wings on each side houses a chapel.

It has a second floor with classes.  The staircase would be great for pictures of Gold and Green Ball attendees coming down the stairs in their formal attire.

Now about Transfer Week.

On Monday we had 5 missionaries come into town to get ready to leave for home Tuesday morning.  We were included in the evening dinner at the mission home, and were asked to bear our testimony together with the 5 missionaries.  Hearing their testimonies on this last night of their mission, was really sweet and tender.  They are a great bunch. (Of course, they ALL are a great bunch).

On Tuesday, we had eight new missionaries arrive and to process.  They were like us!  Uncertain of what to expect and nervous.  We did our best to put them at ease.  Of course, our office staff are all new too, so it was a little of "the blind leading the blind".  We did not make it out of the office until 6:45pm that night.  I had the President's Electronic Transfer Board finally done.

Wednesday morning I received an email from the Pres. that he had made two more changes in the Field which I now had to update on all the systems and boards.  Apparently he had placed an Elder that has to be in a "car" area for medical reasons, in a "bike" area, and that had to be corrected.

On Saturday we helped clean up a park with the other members of the Ward we live in.  The whole Church Area had this service day planned called Mormon Helping Hands, so we laid down bark dust and weeded for a couple hours in the morning.  We wore our grubbies with our name tags, and got to know some of the members better. We capped it off with a "bring your own picnic lunch".

It was a GREAT week!

Love,
Dad