August, Week 2

 Monday we held a Senior Missionary Family Home Evening.  We try to do this each month.  It is quite therapeutic for the senior missionaries to gather and enjoy a meal and simply talk.  We sometimes have activities, but the sociality is the best part.  Somehow we have become the resident planners of this event.  We got to know our newest couple, the Eylers, last month as we traveled with them to Palmyra.  Elder Eyler worked for the Family History department of the church for some time.  So we asked him to conduct a hands on session for family history.  We met for 2 hours and he helped us all (11 couples) log on, view the various charts and helped us navigate the system.  I may have mentioned this earlier, but President Hakes, the 1st counselor in the Mission Presidency mentioned that he originated from Lehi.  In talking to him we realized that we were both descended from David Evans--through different wives.  So Monday we found out that we are 3rd cousins once removed!  David Evans certainly has a very large posterity.  President Hakes comes from the first wife...We had a most enjoyable time.

The week passed very quickly.  Thursday we had 2 new senior couples arrive.  They both needed an apartment and furniture.  So Monday we ordered the beds for them and on Thursday Elder Jones took one of the couples to a consignment store to shop for furniture.  They are the Symes and they will be working with the Philadelphia Archives to photograph or scan maps and biographies.  If they are not copyrighted they will be available for the Family History department.  So on Friday Elder Jones moved all of their furniture into their apartment using his service elders.  We had to rent a U-haul, so only Elder Jones could drive it...Tomorrow he repeats the same process of picking out furniture and then moves in the other new seniors, the Wrigleys.  They are also going to live in downtown Philly but cannot get in to their apartment until Wed.  So just as soon as transfers are done, Elder Jones must move them in so he can return the U-haul and not get charged extra...This is a very busy time.  We have one more couple, the Wilsons from Veyo, UT coming this week, but their apartment is already set up.  They are CES missionaries and we will probably get to do many things with them as they live just 3 miles away...  We also had the opportunity to go with the Sisters this week to teach Andrew Bishop.  He is a recent convert who struggles and needs constant reinforcement.  They are very patient with him.  We visited with him under a tree where he lives amidst 2 baby deer who had wandered away from their mother.  The weather this week has been in the 80's with a cool breeze--love it!

Yes, transfers are this week.  So the week will be quite busy.  Saturday Elder Jones had his service elders pick up the luggage from the cities.  We have 84 companionships affected by this transfer, so it is another large one.  Tomorrow Elder Jones must organize the service elders to take 4 beds to places downtown Philly where the companionship will become a trio.  Then they take the luggage back to the city for the new missionaries.  Amidst all of this we get 11 missionaries departing and 15 coming.  The week will fly by.  Word has it that the president is giving Elder Jones another missionary to work with...

Friday night we got together with the Carrs (temple construction overseers) and went to see a movie that Jen Bishop recommended "The Hundred Foot Journey".  It was rated PG and was a delightful movie.  I recommend it.  On our way home we came upon the following:

 Sorry so blurry, but it says "Sobriety Checkpoint Ahead".  Yes--we went through this!  We were not required to stop, however, but I got such a kick out of it.  Think of the headlines "LDS missionaries taken in local sobriety checkpoint"...Below is a selfie with the policeman.  It is a once in a lifetime experience for me. Again, sorry for the blurr..

Tonight we are having dinner with our Korean friends.  We absolutely love to dine with them.  Such great company and such wonderfully flavorful food!  Last time was my first time to eat my entire meal with chopsticks.  I am going to try it again!  Below are photos of our Korean Feast and our Korean entertainment.  The girls were singing songs in English and Korean.  They sang mostly "Frozen".  They are so cute.

 These are the parents of 2 of those cute girls instructing them and dealing with another who is just past 1 and just broke her clavicle and the mom is having girl #4 on Wednesday.  The dad is interning in Oncology.  He is brilliant.  We do so appreciate these gentle Korean people and their acceptance of us.  Tonight they gave us a small test to see how we think.  I think like the Asians and Elder Jones thinks totally American, according to the flower classification test.  Maybe I should have known this earlier...