YES!  IT IS SPRING

Yes!  It IS Spring because:

• I did NOT wear tights twice this week
• It only snowed a skiff on 3/31/14
• We have had April showers several times this week
• We turned off the heat in our apartment before leaving on Friday
• I saw daffodils on the side of the freeway in Maryland
• We went to a little league basketball game
• It was General Conference Weekend
• It was the Final Four
• Dad dug in Jen's garden and prepared it for planting some veggies, added manure and soil nutrients
• We put lighter blankets on our bed
• I wore short sleeves twice this week
• Dad did not wear a jacket in the photo below
• Pansies were planted at the DC Temple
• The grass turned green over the weekend
• The snow has finally melted in the local store parking lots
• Buds are on some of the trees
• The temp on the way home from Virginia today read 65 degrees!  Whoopie!

Elder Jones arranged a trip for the Senior Missionaries to attend a temple session at the Washington, D.C. Temple.  This is our temple until the Philadelphia Temple is complete.  Not everyone could go, but we did enjoy the outing.

 It was especially nice to have Jen join us for the session.  Not very often do you get to be in the temple seated right in between your daughter and your husband.  Very nice...  One of the other missionaries had their son and his wife also join them.

Yep, we watched Mikey Bishop play a little league baseball game.  He played 3rd base.  The temps were fairly warm, but the wind was gusting and Dana was especially cold.  

Daffodils in many places on the side of the freeway in Maryland.  I love daffodils!

 The Baltimore Tunnel road was under construction so we had to take a different route home and got to cross over this interesting bridge, the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The view from the inside of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.  We got to see much of Baltimore Harbor as we traveled along.

Now about our week:  We got to teach some, although one of our regular teaching assignments was ill so had to be cancelled.  Elder Jones gave a short presentation at the Valley Forge West Zone Conf. on "designated drivers" and I got to attend the whole conference and participate in 3 role plays.  I have finally become comfortable doing role plays as a missionary and got to do exactly that.  

We were excited to go to the temple on Friday and especially pleased to stay a couple of days at Jen's afterwards.  We got to watch the ball game, go to a fun burger place for dinner after, play some Canasta with Dana, Hannah, and Jen, be outside almost all day Saturday (dad got so sunburned on his face and head), help get all of the outdoor furniture placed in Jen's back yard, work in the garden for Dad, and Dad got to play basketball with the kids.  Oh, and Dad got to watch the final 4 games...

This week we are preparing for Transfers.  They seem to come around way too often.   For us it involves just knowing the variables such as which apartments are closing down, any emergency transfers which affect the correct addresses, etc., and of course, which cars are moving and to where.  We seem to have reached a peak in this mission and are now sending home more missionaries than we are receiving, except for this upcoming one where we send 3 home and receive 7.  We may still, however, receive some VISA waiters.

We are also looking forward to our ward International Dinner on Saturday as we have heard that the Korean members cook some really awesome items.  We purchased some Korean Spicy Pork from a ward fund-raiser with our mission president and will finally get to eat it tomorrow.  The mission president is very hard to pin down as he seems to always be super busy.