June 11, 2018

Picture of Montage for our painting

Brad and the Loaner Car

Wooden Plaque made at Zone Conference

Sis Halvorsen by MCRD Buildings 

June 7 Cake Cutting

Oliver, Ingrid and Jim Horner

Saturn the Service Dog

Sister Halvorsen and Sister Roderick

Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Building

June 11, 2018

We met with Cindy Lundquist who we work with at Basilone Branch and showed her a photo Brad had taken of the Keyhole at Montage.  She is going to do a painting from the photo for our new home.  She is an amazing artist so we're excited to see how it comes out.  Earlier that morning, we dropped off our Honda for a major repair and they let us use the loaner car pictured above.  The repairs would have cost about $1000 but because we had such low miles and one of the items was under warranty, the work only cost $110--we really appreciated the dealership working with us.  Nice to have the leaks repaired.

Tuesday we took a meal to Ashley Sakievich and her family.  We were so happy to hear baby Colton was home from the hospital and the whole family is healing.  They have had a rough few weeks.  It was fun to hear from Eric and his family and see the pictures they took in Yellowstone.  They had such a fun trip--those boys are sure avid fishermen.  

Wednesday was our Zone Conference.  We have 22 missionaries going home in July so we were able to hear a lot of departing testimonies.  The missionaries in the California Irvine Mission are amazing young men and women  We got to meet President and Sister Davis who will serve in our mission presidency.  They both served missions in Sweden and challenged the missionaries to invite people to come unto Christ.  They will be excellent role models for all of us.  It will be fun to get to know them over the next few months.  The missionaries agreed to raise the bar in our mission and we made a Title of Liberty that each missionary attached a strip of cloth to.  On the strip, they wrote something they were willing to sacrifice to further the work.  The Assistants taught about "finding" and how to overcome FOAM (Fear of Awkward Moments).  President Monson had a sign that said--Finishers Wanted!  We need to run as we follow the prophet and finish the gathering.  Sister Clark helped us find spiritual patterns in the Book of Mormon that will bring us closer to Christ.  She then gave us a pattern to follow pasting small sticks on a wooden block.  When you were completing the task, you couldn't see what you were making but in the end the word Jesus appeared.  We are sometimes asked to be obedient and follow spiritual patterns not knowing what we are making.  But, when we follow with exact obedience, we will find Christ.  During the Zone Conference there were many references to President and Sis. Nelson's fireside on Sunday so when we got home we watched the program.  It was so inspiring.  We are blessed to be living during this time of gathering.

We didn't have many volunteers at the Thrift Store on Thursday.  I spent the day sorting by myself.  It made me appreciate my fellow volunteers  Hoping they will be back next week.  We had four marines at the cake cutting and each marine brought a large number of family members with them.  So fun to meet these supportive families.  Always a treat to be with them.  ARP was centered on humility.  Brad and I both shared thoughts in the meeting.  We are always so impressed with those who have taken the first steps to make the changes they need in their lives--such courageous souls.  I've been trying to practice the piano wherever I see one.  I'm going to accompany Emma Dawson when she sings There Is Peace In Christ.  So, I put in a little practice time after ARP and after Zone Conference.  I really miss having a piano easily available.  That's one thing I'm very grateful to my parents for providing for us.  Music is such a blessing in our lives.

Elder Halvorsen's phone rang at 2:30 in the morning and they informed us his dad had been taken to the ER after a fall.  We were so thankful later to hear that he was home and doing well.  We will be forever grateful to Denise and Marilyn for being there for dad during his illness.  They are such angels. The doctors have changed his pain meds and we're praying he will soon be feeling well again. 

After our regular shift at San Onofre, we did some visits to military families on the base.  When we visited the Elliotts, we found that the Herzog's baby had been born early that morning at 37 weeks.  We're so thankful Benjamin arrived safely and is thriving.  We next stopped by the Horner's home.  We had just found out that Ingrid had been in a car accident a few weeks ago so we were checking on her.  But, to our surprise we found them preparing for a yard sale.  Jim has been medically discharged and they will be moving to Texas on June 29.  They are the most delightful family.  I always feel better after we have visited them.  They have a fun sense of humor and always make us laugh.  We will really miss them and were so glad we stopped by.

Saturday was our monthly temple trip.  But, it didn't go quite as planned.  We had six marines scheduled to join us so we borrowed the big van.  However, as we were waiting at our pick up point we started getting texts that the marines were unable to leave the base.  In the end, no one could attend.  A few marines had decided it would be fun to tag some government equipment with spray paint.  So, as always, when one marine makes a mistake everyone pays for it.  We were so disappointed and turned around and returned the van to the Richard's home.  We did get in some good exercise that day and Elder Halvorsen was able to work on his talk for Sunday.  Sister Maynes and Sister Aebischer did drop by for a visit which was fun.

The Sabbath Day is always such a special day.  We had a good turnout at our morning meeting.  Bro. Jolley taught us from the Old Testament about heroes --using Sampson, Joseph, and Ruth as examples.  We had a great visit with Ivey and heard all about her experiences at EFY.  Hard to believe our grandchildren are old enough to participate in EFY.  Elder Halvorsen taught our fireside.  He chose to teach about facing trials with a positive attitude.  He shared some of the things he learned from his dad and showed a clip from Meet the Mormons.  He also gave some great examples from the lives of Lou Gehrig and Elder Wirthlin.  It was a wonderful talk and something the marines will be able to use throughout their careers.  We had a special visitor at our fireside--Matthew Roderick's mother.  This is the family Scott and his family befriended when they were here.  Sis. Roderick was so gracious and appreciative of Scott's influence on her son.  We enjoyed sending Scott a picture of her.  It is wonderful how the gospel bonds us to people we otherwise would not know--hearts can be knit together quickly.