12 de agosto - Saying Goodbye

Rich woke up feeling really good this morning. He was glad he had most of the day at home yesterday, and contemplated doing the same today. Maybe he would go to work for a half day and then come home to lay down and rest his leg. But this is the day we look forward to each transfer. He goes to the mission home to settle up financially with the missionaries, and I go with him. I do nothing but visit around and say goodbye. We drove ourselves to the mission home in the newly repaired car. It was amazing how fast the car was fixed once entering the body shop. They had it done in one day.

There are three sisters missionaries in this group of 11 going home. One is Sister Rodriguez who we worked with in the Tigre branch. I just love her to pieces. She is from Puerto Rico and is going home to school to become a Pediatrician. Megan Ladd is from Vermont and she was experiencing emotions that she didn't know how to handle. Her mother is coming to meet her today after the temple session, and they will travel around for a week before boarding a plane. She is happy to see her mother, but at the same is experiencing emotions that she has never felt before. I am sure it is that way with a lot of missionaries. One thing they are concerned about is feeling like they need to be doing more each day. They are always on the go as a missionary, and then to suddenly stop and change gears and have a different daily schedule is a big worry for them. How will they adjust? But they do.

Elder Whitmer used to come to the mission home and do what Elder Kroff was doing today. Now he was on the other end of things. He said he always wondered how it would feel to be in this position. I gave him a paper with our home address and phone number, and our email addresses. We don't want to lose contact with him.

This is the first group with whom we have become better acquainted, and it was kind of emotional thinking we wouldn't be seeing them around and might not ever see any of them again -- if they don't make it to a missionary reunion at conference time.

Rich felt pretty good at lunch time and decided that he would stay the day and work. He had so much to do, and he could scoot around in his chair on the tile floor if he needed to go to the copy machine. So we both stayed focused and worked steadily throughout the afternoon. We did leave at 4:00, however, because we needed a ride home. That is when the elders pack up and go out proselyting for the evening. So that got us out of the office earlier than usual.

Once home and settled down, Rich could tell that he may have overdone it a little today. His leg was beginning to ache and hurt. He quickly popped a pain pill and perched himself on the couch for the night with ice propped up against his knee. His movie tonight was the Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart while I worked on updating our blog.