July 30, 2018

Spencer Bradley's Graduation

Elder & Sis Halvorsen, Spencer, his parents

Elder McMillan and Elder Pack

Sister Clark--a great hostess

Dinner at the Clark's with missionary couples

Sister Carver

24th of July Celebration at the Clark's Home

July 30, 2018

Other than the 24th of July, our week was pretty uneventful.  However, July 24 was really busy.  We had two graduations in the morning.  We were disappointed that Alpha Company didn't rally for a picture but we were thrilled that they graduated.  We met up with Spencer Bradley and his parents and got them in a photo.  Spencer has been here for about 5 months so he was thrilled for graduation day. After graduation we worked at FAM and then drove to the Mission Home for a 24th of July celebration with the senior couples.  It was fun to get to know the Carvers who just arrived from Ogden, UT.  They are serving as MLS missionaries and have been reassigned to California from a mission in the Philippines for health reasons.  After a delicious meal, we shared stories of pioneer ancestors.  It was a lovely evening.

I had the opportunity to train another new volunteer at NMCRS.  It's so nice there is a constant flow of new volunteers to replace those who have moved this summer.  Kerah is a young military spouse.  She was excited to hear about our mission and how we are serving in the area.  She did a short mission to the Philippines with her Baptist youth group.  On the way home, we bought some ice cream treats and stopped by the Searls' to wish them a safe trip.  When they didn't answer their door we went to a  nearby beach and waited for 1/2 an hour.  When we returned, their car was gone so we missed them--so disappointed.  We did get to talk to Grant Wednesday evening.  They had a great trip to North Carolina to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  On the way home they missed their flight in Minnesota so they got to spend an evening at Heidi's house--we were jealous.

After a sorting day at the Thrift Store, we stopped by the Searls' again--this time with muffins.  And, we did get to see them!!  They still don't have a job lined up yet but they were optimistic about the future.  They moved out on Friday.  We will miss them.  We attended a fabulous ARP.  Some of those in attendance were celebrating 3 months of sobriety.  It was thrilling because we were there at their very first meeting and have been praying for their recovery.  Such a happy day for them.  Boyd and Cathy celebrated their 22 wedding anniversary--not sure how the years have flown by that fast.  They are a great team and we love them very much.  We were so sad to hear that Cathy's father has been diagnosed with cancer.  We will be praying for him and their family.

We FINALLY got the HOA's approval for our house.  Not sure what we will be doing now but it is approved if we decide to move forward.  Yahoo!!  We worked with Julianne at the San Onofre Office Friday.  She had applied for a job that she is totally unqualified for.  We were laughing hysterically after her phone interview.  She is so enthusiastic and smart I think she could learn any job and do it well.  We'll see what her future holds.  Daniella was there working too.  She mentioned she'd just finished a online Korean course through BYU so that opened up a great discussion about missionary work and language training.  We are having such amazing opportunities to share the gospel while we volunteer.  It's really fun.

We took time to clean the apartment on Saturday and had a lovely walk through the mountains nearby.  

Sunday Michi Stephens and George Richards spoke in our morning meeting.  Michi talked about handling stress and shared her conversion story.  She is such a wonderful person.  Bro. Richards spoke about making smooth transitions in our lives. After our meeting with the San Clemente Ward, we were walking to the car and the Herzog kids jumped out of their car and chased us down because they wanted to give us hugs.  That was a sweet experience--love that family.  Spoke with Heidi and Scott's families.  They both have such wonderful children that fill our lives with joy.  We picked up Bradley to go with us to the Fireside where Bro. Manning (high council) encouraged the marines to read the Book of Mormon.  We had 30 marines who are not yet members of our Church so it definitely provided them food for thought.  It was a great meeting.