It's Always Friday - Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

We didn't even realize it was Friday, the 13th, until we read the blog of another of our Swiss missionary friends, the Larsons. We both lived on the same street in Sandy, on Barium Lane. I assume they still live there. Do you Larsons? They are proselyting missionaries and we could never keep up with what they do, nor keep track of as many people as they do. As busy as we are, I am grateful for our office jobs.

We wake up on a Monday morning and then turn around and it is Friday again. It is just unbelievable!!!! The days/weeks zip by. No wonder our mission is almost about half over, and it seems like we just got here.

I loved today because I cleaned up little picky things that were bugging me. I organized my 22 carpetas for the next transfer in December and attached names to them. The number coming went down from 24 to 22. The entry date in the MTC for a latino elder was delayed, and one elder from the states has been cancelled. It makes us feel bad when we get a "Change of Status" on a missionary who has had a call to serve and then, for whatever reason, is not going into the field. How sad!

Elder Kroff wrote out some checks to Silvio who works with Elder Paz on the apartments. He is the contractor who finds the apartments, fixes them up before they move in and when they move out. Then he took the data that comes from the church on our budget and transferred it to a graph so it would be more meaningful for the President.

The forecast today predicted a 40% chance of rain in the afternoon. It was sunny most of the day so I thought they were way off base. Then it got darker and darker and the rain came. Did it ever!! It came down in sheets of rain. It was unfortunate that Elder Coria and two other elders were out in the storm. They had been to Immigrations today and were just returning when the heavens opened up. They had to walk from the train station to our office and they walked in just dripping. I felt so sorry for them.

We made Elders Wheat and Olano some coverings out of garbage bags. They had to go back near the train station to catch a bus that would take them to their apartment in a zone that is an hour away. They were good sports about the rain. They said it has happened to them before. Oh, the life of a missionary.

We need to have a supply of umbrellas at the office for times like this.

I wasn't about to leave for home until the rain stopped or at least calmed down. It did just that and we headed out. We stopped off at the neighborhood market where Rich left his scripture case a while back. When we stopped in last week, his wife was there and she remarked what a changed man her husband has been since he had that experience of going inside the church when he went to take Rich's scriptures back. She said he is calm and happier and just a different person. She said that all he talks about is how he felt such peace when he went inside.

We told the elders who work in San Fernando about the experience and that we wanted to take them to meet him. Well, they were the area one day last week, so they stopped in his store. As they were talking, he found out that Mormons pay tithing and he didn't quite like that idea. He said someday he will go to a meeting in the church, but he has to keep his store open on Sunday and he wouldn't have enough money to pay any money to any church. So money seems to be a big issue with him. The elders feel if they could just get him to attend church, he would feel the spirit again and be teachable.

He is really friendly with us and calls us Hermanos. We will continue to patronize his market and befriend him. They are really a nice couple.

The rain stopped and things dried out a bit. We changed clothes and put our walking shoes on and decided to go shopping at a Christmas store about 12 blocks away. We hopped on the bus that winds through the neighborhood streets and found the store. The thing we are really looking for is Christmas wrapping paper. No one has it in stock yet. We found two stores that say they will get it tomorrow. Seems awfully late in the game to me. Of course, we are used to seeing it in October in the States.

We decided to walk home and find a fruit/vegetable market. We were successful.