18 November 2010

Today has been a wonderful day.  First, Dolly called on her way to Ka Pottery's new gallery ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by Susan, who was also on her way there.  It was fun to talk to the girls and catch up on family news.  We missed breakfast but our time on the phone was better than food.  We grabbed granola bars when we got to the mission office. 

Lawana Shakespeare and her daughter-in-law, Robbie, met us at the office at 5:00, and it felt so good to lock the doors early - first time we've done that in a long time.  They took us to Fenton's, a famous ice cream place.  After dinner we enjoyed the yummiest ice cream ever, but we enjoyed visiting with these two fine women more than anything.  Afterwards, we brought them to our little apartment and visited awhile before saying goodbye.

Sister Lawana Shakespeare served 9 months of her mission in the Collins branch and we grew to love her very much.  She was released in August and is here in California helping out with her granddaughter who recently had surgery. 

We've had another busy week at the office, getting ready for zone conference the first two weeks in December and for the next transfer on December 15.  Last night we decided to stay late to catch up and around 7:00 we were surprised and delighted when our mission president's wife asked if she could bring us dinner.  (The mission home adjoins the mission office - their living room and our office are separated only by a door.)  We enjoyed a great salad and pasta dish and worked until 9:00.  What a sweet thing to do!  We haven't had to cook or do dishes for two nights in a row!

Today I mailed packets to the seven stake presidents of the missionaries who are departing on January 26.  Only one missionary is from the United States.  We spend a lot on postage to foreign countries!  Each packet contains a letter from the mission president, the missionary's flight itinerary, and the certificate of release.  I request each missionary's travel through Church Travel about three months before their departure, type the certificates, and write the letters.  I copy each signed letter for the missionaries' files and send copies to their parents and bishops with their itineraries.  This takes a lot of time and concentration, because mistakes are so easily made.  I hate to admit it, but once I mailed a certificate to a stake president with the missionary's father's name on it.  Thank goodness the president called me and I was able to send a corrected one.  Yesterday, I discovered that I'd written a letter to a newly-called missionary with another sister's name in the greeting.  I remedied this by rewriting the first page of the letter with the correct name and mailed it to the sister with an apology.  I'm always grateful when I discover my mistakes in time to fix them.  I wonder how many mistakes have not been caught yet.  Are they gonna fire me???  Nope!

Today was spent preparing all the files of the missionaries who are departing on December 15th.  Their travel has been arranged, their final itineraries have arrived, their certificates of release along with letters to their stake presidents have been mailed, their parents have been written, and all else is in order.  I scheduled their final interviews with the mission president, assigned companionships for their last night in the mission, and mailed copies of the schedule and their flight itinerary to them.  The last thing I did today was to prepare all the letters they've received from the mission president and all their baptism letters (welcome letters written from the mission president to new members of the Church) so that the office secretary and I can make their memory booklets.  These booklets also contain the letters they've written to the mission president, special talks, and the contact information of our currently serving missionaries and the missionaries who have been released during the past couple of years.  After zone conference I will make each missionary a CD of pictures taken at zone conferences.  The mission president presents these booklets at the departing interviews.

Ken's awfully quiet in the bedroom.  He said he was going to read his scriptures, but I can tell he's fallen asleep!