October 22, 2018

Elder & Sis. Burtonshaw

Pres. and Sis. Clark

Bro and Sis. Kimball

Elder and Sis. Bass

Elder and Sis. Carver

Nancy, FAM Director

Shannon--FAM

Liz--Thrift Store

Elder Halvorsen and Nene--Thrift Store

Jenny, Donna and Linda

Thrift Store Cashiers

Last Cake Cutting--October 18, 2018

Elder and Sister Kapololu--San Diego, CA Mission

Elder and Sister Sattley--Carlsbad, CA Mission

Elder Halvorsen at San Onofre Beach

Surfer at San Onofre Beach

October 22, 2018

I decided to include pictures of some of our favorite people in this week's blog.  We have really learned to love all of those pictured and they have each left an imprint on our hearts.

On Monday, October 15, I made some Panera Butternut Squash Soup for the Senior Couples FHE held at Sister Venable's home.  Sister Venable is the Nurse Practitioner for our mission.  Sister Kimball led a discussion on Chapter 9 of Jesus the Christ--The Boy of Nazareth.  She shared a very interesting thought that when Jesus was teaching at the temple he was "lost" to Mary and Joseph for three days.  This could have been a type of Christ's death on the cross.  He was "lost" to the world for three days.  But in both cases when he was "found" he was alive and well doing his Father's business.  I also loved this quote. "Jesus was a close observer of nature and men.  He was able to draw illustrations with which to point His teachings from the varied occupations, trades and professions; the ways of the lawyer and the physican, the manners of the scribe, the Pharisee and the rabbi, the habits of the poor, the customs of the rich, the life of the shepherd, the farmer, the vinedresser and the fisherman--were all known to Him." We had a great discussion.  Always fun to be with these wonderful senior missionaries.

We were able to visit with Cox and Prebo at Tuesday's graduation.  Both have expressed a desire to be baptized.  Many times marines who are going to Florida are delayed and spend a few extra weeks at Camp Pendleton.  We hoped this would be the case because both are going to NAS Pensacola.  But, they told us on Tuesday they had tickets to fly to Florida within 24 hours.  We were all really disappointed but Elder Wells' parting words were--Well, the Church is true in Florida!!  There will be someone there waiting to baptize you.  What a great attitude.  Our missionaries planted the seeds and missionaries in Florida will continue to love and fellowship these great young marines.

Lots of donations at FAM so we were very busy.  We updated the calendar and reminded Nancy that October 30 will probably be our last day volunteering.  She replied that we had been an answer to her prayers.  She and Shannon have been delightful to work with.

After our work at the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society on Wednesday, we started delivering gifts to the families we have worked with in the San Clemente Ward.  We purchased purse-size measuring tapes and wrote a little message starting with--It's hard for us to measure how much we have enjoyed getting to know your family...  Our first two deliveries were to Jayde and Grayson Lee and Amy and Danny Gibson.  Two of our favorite families.  The Lee's are looking for a home in Utah where Grayson will attend the U to complete his degree.  So, we had a lot to talk to them about.  Gibsons are so amazing.  Danny is special forces and is gone a lot.  I so admire Amy and how she holds her family together and has time to care for the other wives while their husbands are deployed.   She is always the first to volunteer to help.

Thursday we took pictures of some of our friends at the Thrift Store.  Liz actually moved to Hawaii on Friday, October 19. These ladies have all been so friendly and kind.  We will definitely miss our association with them.  We left a few minutes early to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Diego for our last MCRD Cake Cutting.  The views were spectacular.  We had a large gathering at the cake cutting.  It was sad to have our last meeting with Sattleys and Kapololus.  We feel our coordinated efforts have really made a difference in the lives of the Marines at SOI.  We truly have had our hearts knit together through our service.

There was a small group at ARP Thursday night but the Spirit was very strong.  James and Teri Kennedy have personally touched so many lives for good.  James always says at the end of the meeting--There is no place I would rather be on a Thursday night than here with all of you.  His love for those struggling with addictions is enormous and he is a great example to all of us.  

Elder Halvorsen woke up with a pretty nasty cold on Friday.  We had planned to go visit more families but decided we should wait until he is better so we don't carry germs into their homes.  We did go to the San Onofre Office for our shift.  Brad was not scheduled to have any appointments that afternoon.  I completed seven Quick Assist Loans which is a lot for that office.  Brad did end up helping one client (hope the marine didn't get sick).  

Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and took one more trip to San Onofre Beach to look for sea glass.  We didn't find much but the ocean was breathtaking.  We have been so lucky to live here in Southern California for the last 18 months.  Talked to Eric's family in the evening and Kaden told us all about his very cold morning on the mountain looking for deer.  Hope we're ready for the cold temperatures when we return to Utah.

Only four marines were at our morning meeting on Sunday.  But, one of them was Matthew Boucher. It was so wonderful to see him again.  We're still praying he will get assigned a great MOS.  Bradley also caught a ride with us for the morning meeting.  He is suffering from Asthma which could potentially disqualify him from serving in the Marines.  We're hoping things work out for him.  Kaden received the Aaronic Priesthood.  We're so thankful he was prepared to be a Deacon.  Grandpa was able to be there for the ordination.  He really enjoyed being with Eric's family for that event.  He and Kaden share a birthday so it was special he could attend.  We had 49 marines at our Fireside which was fantastic.  Alpha Company graduates this Tuesday so I'm afraid our numbers will be dropping.  We've sure enjoyed knowing the faithful marines in Alpha--such an amazing group of men.