31st Post Mon. March 8 - Sunday March 14, 2010

It seems the weeks go by so fast, does it seem that way to you? Monday I spent time doing tracking sheets for the 4 new missionaries we have coming on March 24th. The tracking sheets have lots of information about the missionaries, like their home contact information, bishop and stake president contact information, family data, education and goals, etc. There is also a place for a photo. I down load the MTC photo and do the best I can to "fix" it with photo shop editor(normally the photos are not very good at all). Anyway all this takes a bit of time and a lot more skill than I have, I then print two copies of each for President and Sister Hansen. The tracking sheets have room to "track" the missionary's various transfers throughout their mission. In May we get 12 new missionaries so I am trying to get a bit ahead. This evening we had family home evening with the other senior missionaries here in our apartment complex, the Chesnuts and Sisters, Lish, Young, and Billingsley. Leona was in charge of the treats and she told me I was in charge of the lesson. It was a good evening to visit and spend time with the missionaries.

Tuesday the apartment complex got our washer and dryer fixed, or I should say they replaced them. More paper work at the office today. Seems like there is always something about apartment leases that needs doing. It rained a bit today and was in the 70's so it is getting warmer.

Wednesday Elder Chesnut rode up to College Station with me. It is about 90 miles from the office. I had 5 or 6 apartments to inspect. When you get away from the big city the country side is nice, lots of big farms and open spaces. One of the apartments is part of a 4-plex and is owned by a young couple who are members of the church. They are both going to Texas A&M getting their PhD's in - I can't even pronounce it. The college is a big part of that town. Their football stadium is very large. In fact on the drive to College Station we went through several small towns. It was interesting that almost every town had a high school football stadium that in most cases was almost the size of the UofD stadium. The country side is so flat you could see these stadiums above anything else as you approach the towns. They do love football in Texas. I got a call from one of the young sister missionaries - their dryer was not working. I arranged for a repair man but the soonest he could come was next Tuesday. When I relayed the information to the missionaries the sister said, "how are we to dry our clothes in the mean time?" Well, Elder Walker had bite marks all over his tongue, before I spoke. Bless their hearts they do know how to have the Spirit and to teach, but some of the other "stuff" is a bit of a mystery I guess. Oh how we love them and so so blessed to serve with them!

Thursday I drove out to Brenham and Waller which is over an hour away from here. We have one apartment in each town. Brenham is the home of Blue Bell ice cream, but I resisted the temptation to stop at the factory to have some of that great ice cream. The weather was great and the flowers were coming out in several places along the road. A great day to be a missionary. After todays inspections I have been to all the leased apartments in the mission (we inspect every 6 weeks). We were asked to help at the employment center this evening, teaching the stake and ward employment specialists (2nd Thursday of each month). I was happy they asked as there is still a bit of "feelings" with Steve and Alex about our leaving that assignment. The ride home following the meeting was much shorter than the previous months!

Friday we have our office staff meeting with Pres & Sister Hansen and the AP's. As I was eating breakfast I had the feeling I should prepare a thought, so I opened the Book of Mormon and opened to Jacob 3:1. President Hansen was conducting our meeting and asked me to give a thought, I had to smile. It is great to be a missionary.

Saturday we hung the few pictures we have, put away the few remaining items from the move, went shopping and generally did our p-day stuff. The weather remains very nice, in fact we open the windows early in the mornings. We had 4 elders over for lunch today. The AP's and one set of elders that live in the apartment complex next to us. They are such great young men. Just a real pleasure and joy to be around them.

We enjoyed our time at church today. Always a blessing to meet with the Latter-day Saints.

We love you all and are so thankful for your prayers and faith on our behalf. Take care of each other.

Love, Dad and Mom