A New Discovery

Before we left for the office today, the President called to ask Elder Kroff a question, then said he would be at the office around 9:00 today and planned on staying a good part of the day. I had a short list of things I needed to talk to him about, so I was glad he was coming. But -- a good part of the day??? He never does that. What would keep him here? We soon found out!

Three of the 160 bibles he bought and had engraved for all of the missionaries when they met the baptism goal, had misspelled names. Trying to get it corrected and settled with the Distribution Center over the telephone was not giving him the answers he wanted. So he sent the three office elders in his car to take the bibles with errors back to the center and see if they could take the wrong names off and re-engrave them with the correct spelling. Plus, we were told they are out of the hard cover copies, but I think he was hoping that since it was their error that maybe they could round up just three new books if needed. They failed on all counts. The machine Distribution uses cannot take the wrong name off and engrave over the same space. And, they absolutely do not have any hard cover books hiding in a corner. Too bad.

Then, in addition to that errand, Elder Nelson had to pick up a birth certificate for an investigator to help facilitate getting him baptized. He needed to get married first and needed his birth certificate. Then, Elder Paz had a stop to make also. So President Argyle decided to just work in his office on his laptop and wait for the car to return.

In the afternoon, he poked his head around the corner and asked me a question relating to calculating correct totals of elders and sisters that would be coming in the months ahead. He told me briefly what he thought the totals should be and how to calculate them. I'm sure the look on my face didn't transmit confidence, so he offered to show me. Obtaining this statistic was set up on an Excel spreadsheet, of which I know very little to nothing about. But---now I do!! I remember Elder Clegg showing me something about this way back when, but everything was so overwhelming when I was being trained that it didn't sink in. Today I guess I was ready to listen and learn. Rich understands Excel so I can still lean on him for assistance if I forget what the President said today, but I was so excited when the light came on and I understood what I was to do and how to do it. Yippee! Rich said my son-in-law would be proud of me.

About 4:00 the elders returned. Yes, they were gone all day like they said they might be. And I was so surprised when I looked up at the clock and it was 5:00. Good Grief, let's get out of here. I have things to do to get ready for our visitors this weekend. We were the first ones to leave the office. The elders hadn't eaten all day, so they were in the kitchen chowing down, and President Argyle was still in his office.

We came home to start cleaning our apartment and make some last minute decisions on our weekend with Paul, Denise, and Shalyse. They leave the States tomorrow and will fly all night and arrive here Friday morning. We hope to take off a little early on Friday to meet them up at the Marriott Hotel in the Capital. One plan we had for Sunday fell through. They are going to church with us in Tigre, and a couple of weeks ago our Relief Society President invited us to dinner and told us to bring them along. Rich called her tonight to see if that was still on, and it isn't. She said this coming Sunday isn't a good day for her anymore. No worries, I will fix dinner at our place. That was the plan in the beginning. But, now I have to decide what to fix and when to fix it. I'll make it simple.

These horse drawn carts collecting cardboard and other items are seen most everywhere. Sometimes we feel sorry for the poor ponies pulling such heavy loads.