August 13, 2017

Elders Pack and McMillan attend

Pendleton Training with Elder Halvorsen

Carlsbad Missionaries at the conclusion

of Base Training

August 9 Cake Cutting

Marine Shafer's Birthday (2nd from the left)

Becker, Boucher and Bradley

Temple Trip--August 11

Elder Halvorsen, Spencer Bradley

Matthew Boucher

August 14,  2017

Our schedule was crazy on August 13 so today I'm catching up with the blog.  

Due to a scheduled base training session on Tuesday, August 7, we worked at FAM on Monday afternoon.  Our first assignment was to go with a warehouse worker to pick up a large dining room table.  We drove to a gorgeous home close to the beach and were asked to load the table on the FAM truck.  (Apparently we look younger than we are!)  Lucky for us the homeowner was willing to help carry the table.  It was heavy.  When we got it to the store we had to rearrange furniture in the shop to make room for the table.  We were pretty tired by the time we finished our 3 hours of hard labor.  Luckily the Langs had invited us to dinner at their home with the Elders and Brianna.  Mike and Sharon Denning also joined us for a wonderful Italian meal.  Afterwards, the Elders taught Brianna about patriarchal blessings. Brianna certainly is a special young lady.  So thankful she chose to be baptized and is progressing so well.  Kaden called us to let us know that Duke had been injured--29 stitches--he looked pretty miserable.  Hoping he recovers quickly.  We received a second bid for our house in Midway--unfortunately it was higher than the first.  So, we are now on Plan B searching for homes and property.

Met a wonderful couple from Austin, Texas at graduation on Tuesday.  They were Christians and were very interested in learning about our mission.  It was fun talking with them.  The Elders rode with us to Oceanside to attend a volunteer training for Camp Pendleton.  Elder and Sister Sattley were there with a number of missionaries from the Carlsbad Mission.  President and Sister Clark also attended.  Training was required for the missionaries to receive a pass to volunteer on base.  I'm so thankful we have our retired ID cards--it makes life so much easier.  After the training we took the Elders to Panera Bread for dinner.  We enjoyed our time with them.

I had a rough night on Tuesday night.  The renters in the apartment above us must have been getting ready for a trip or something.  They were doing laundry at 3:30 am.  Then the dog was running wild about 4:15 am.  They jumped in the shower at 5 am.  Felt like they were up all night.  They are usually very quiet but I was exhausted when I got up.  I was also restless because of our future housing situation.  We asked Eric and Chelsey to check out a house in Pleasant Grove that looked great online.  The day at NMCRS was so long--I think because I was so tired.

Above is a picture of Brad's work area when we got to the Thrift Store on Thursday.  He always has plenty of items to be tested waiting for him when we arrive.  We were able to purchase some marine boots for Scott and Beau at the Thrift Store.  They had a large number in stock so we were able to buy them--that was exciting.

There was a huge crowd at the MCRD Cake Cutting.  There was a large number of returned missionaries in this group so they are a little more mature.  Marine Shafer was the oldest--he turned 25 on August 9 so we were able to actually celebrate his birthday.  The marines seemed to have a great connection.  We will be excited to have them arrive at SOI.  After the ceremony we went with the senior missionaries to Cafe Rio.  At the conclusion of our meal, Jean Columbus introduced herself to us.  She was a retired Viet Nam vet (about 60) who was recovering from knee surgery. She had a walker and was carrying her bible.  She talked non-stop.  Such an interesting woman who was anxious to hear about the gospel.  Elder Kapololu called in a referral on her.  She was so enthusiastic--the missionaries should have fun teaching her.

Friday Eric and Chelsey went to see a house for us in Pleasant Grove.  Just verified to us that you really can't make a decision about a house from pictures.  We were glad they went to see it,  The backyard had a steep slope which would have made grass cutting miserable.  There were tons of trees which would have required a lot of raking and it faced north so our shoveling would have continued--all reasons to continue looking.  Not sure we want that much work in retirement.  We had a great time at Concrete Beach with Charlie Company.  They have been such a terrific group.  We were busy at the San Onofre Office and made a quick dash home for dinner before heading to the Dove's wedding reception where we helped in the kitchen until 9:30 pm.  The reception was held at the Boud's home which provided a spectacular setting.  They had a darling donut wall that Elder Halvorsen kept stocked with donuts all night.  We made sure there was always food on the buffet table.  We were exhausted at the end of the evening but enjoyed helping this terrific family.

Jumped up early on Saturday to pick up three marines for a trip to the San Diego Temple.  Broderick Becker's family raises bees.  He told us all about bee keeping as we drove to San Diego--so interesting. When we arrived at the temple in the Sprinter, we couldn't find a parking place the vehicle would fit in.  So, Elder Halvorsen dropped us off and parked on the street. Unfortunately after our session, we came back to a ticket.  We hadn't realized Bro. Richard's registration tags had expire--augh! Other than that, we had a fantastic time with the men.  Becker visited the Mormon Battalion Museum with the Kapololu's while we were able to do an endowment session with Matthew Boucher and Spencer Bradley.  We all met at the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch before heading home.

We had a small turnout at church on Sunday--3 in the morning and 23 in the evening.  The attendance is always low the Sunday before ITB graduation.  We are certainly going to miss Charlie Company.  They have been so loyal.  The Lundquists were the speakers on Sunday.  Cindy taught about Elijah and miracles in the morning.  Vic taught about being true to God, family and the Corps in the evening.  Both meetings were wonderful.  We picked up Bradley and took him to the fireside.  Pres. Stephens and Elder Halvorsen met with Chaplain Brown before our evening meeting.  They were impressed with her dedicated service and sincere concern for the marines.