May 28, 2018

Elder Pack, Elder Sanford

Sister Flanders, Sister Baker

Ward Party--Great Turnout

Gringo Bingo

Bob Jackson, Elders Pack & Sanford, Sister Baker

Chaison Leavitt Graduation

Elder Halvorsen, Elder Sanford, Chaison Leavitt

Elder Pack, Sister Halvorsen

Chaison Leavitt and parents

Elder Pack, Luke Klingenberg, Elder Sanford

Montage Beach

Beau, Scott and Tate

Ivey and Hazel in the Sand

Ivey, Hazel, Beau, Elder Halvorsen

Tate and Scott at Caruso Chapel

May 28, 2018

Happy Memorial Day!!  We're so thankful for all of those who have gone before us and sacrificed so that we can live such a rich and abundant life.  

It's been a fabulous week with so many highlights.  Monday was our service day.  We made dinner and delivered it to two families who are dealing with health issues.  Sister Colman is recovering from surgery.  The Sakievich family was supposed to be celebrating the birth of their little boy but when we called to make arrangements to deliver the meal, we found Sister Sakievich had been admitted to the hospital and was in ICU with an infection from the delivery.  After delivering the meal to Colmans we were going to drop off some food to Ashley's sister-in-law.  But, the gate to their housing area was blocked off by fire engines and police cars.  There had been a suspicious package left at the playground.  So, we got to wait outside of the gate for 70 minutes to make our delivery.  We were thankful when we got the all clear and we were thrilled that Ashley was able to return home to her family a few days later.

Monday was the ward party sponsored by the ward missionaries.  After our late food delivery, we arrived after everything was decorated.  Bob Jackson had done a fantastic job.  Bro. Lang had sponsored a food truck to provide street tacos for the event.  We thought about 100 would attend but instead we had nearly 150.  It was amazing that we had enough of everything--a small miracle.  We had gathered interesting facts about all of the new families who had moved into the ward during the last 12 months and Bro. Jackson prepared a "Gringo Bingo" game to share the facts.  It was such a fun night.  Well done to the San Clemente Ward Missionaries.

Tuesday was graduation for Charlie and Golf Companies.  There were so many from these companies who attended our church services.  It was hard to say good bye.  We were able to visit with a few of the graduates at the ceremony--Leavitt, Peters, Newbury and Klingenberg.  After the graduation we dropped off a bouquet of flowers to Tiffany Herzog to help her celebrate her birthday.  Then, we were off to FAM for our weekly sorting.

Things were hopping at the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society this week.  We completed 21 Quick Assist Loans during our shift.  I guess everyone wanted to get out of town for the Memorial Day Weekend and needed a little extra cash.   It was the busiest day ever.

The cake cutting at MCRD was the smallest ever--only two marines and their families attended.  But, we did have fun dining with our missionary friends.  Then we stopped by the San Diego Temple to do initiatory work on our way home.  President Stubbs from the San Diego Mission called to ask us questions about our work at SOI.  They are working on improving the oversight of MCRD and wanted to get our input.  We appreciated him getting our feedback.  

I thought Wednesday was busy at the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.  Three of us completed 21 QALS.  But....Friday I did 14 QALS by myself in four hours.  It was crazy!!!  But, I was able to help a lot of marines this week.

Saturday was the big day of the week.  We waited patiently for the arrival of Scott, Tate, Beau, Ivey and Hazel. (Nicole was participating in a Cross-Fit Tournament near San Diego so she joined the family on Monday).  We were thrilled when they pulled into our complex about 3:30 pm. They unloaded and then we hopped in their car and went to the Montage beach.  The kids had a blast with the boogie boards and playing in the sand.  We got home about 7:30 and ate dinner before they all crashed.

It was special taking Scott's family with us to the Basilone Branch on Sunday.  Because of holiday leave, we only had five marines at our morning meeting and four of them had just arrived at Camp Pendleton.  Tate was able to help by passing the sacrament for us,  Wayne Smith from the high council spoke about recognizing miracles in our lives.  Sister Weber had a great object lesson about filling our lives with the things that are most important and setting our priorities.  It was a great meeting.  Beau wants to be a pilot so he had a lot of questions for the marines.  The marines were so cute with the kids and gave them lots of feedback.  They were especially impressed with Marine Rodriguez from Rexburg Idaho.  After breakfast, Scott's family drove to San Diego to visit the Mormon Battalion Museum.  While waiting for the exhibit to open, they ate a picnic in a park nearby.  There they met a family from Rexburg Idaho who were in Rodriguez' home ward.  When they returned with us to the fireside Sunday night, Rodriguez said his mom had called him to tell him their friends had seen Scott.  He then proceeded to ask Scott to give him a blessing to make it through his training.  Talk about divine design--in just one day this marine had a real link to Scott and his kids.  It was so neat.  Bro. Pernal spoke in our fireside meeting about safely going home.  Part of his talk was centered on baseball which caught our kids' attention.  Bro. Pernal was a marine pilot and that caught Beau's attention.  They really enjoyed the meetings and Ivey said she would go there every week if she had the chance.  They are great kids and we so enjoyed sharing part of our mission with them.  

We got a sweet email though our Stake President from Newbury's mother this week,  We truly are learning how to minister as missionaries.  She said:  I just wanted to express my sincere thank you to the San Clemente Stake for taking such great care of my son while he was at Camp Pendleton for SOI training.  He was there much longer than expected because of an injury.  He really loved attending church.  We are able to attend church services with him this last Sunday before he was shipped out.  It was so wonderful to see how these young marines were cared for by all of the leaders and missionaries.  I just wanted to thank all those who volunteer to make food for these marines every week.  I can tell you they really appreciate it, and as a mom, I am thankful for those who take the time to take care of my son while he is away form home.  I am thankful that he will be able to find a church family wherever he is stationed.  This is truly what ministering is all about.  My heart is so full of thankfulness...