Another Day - Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010

It didn't rain today as predicted, only last night. It was just a hazy sky with a cool breeze blowing. We assume this must be how the summers are down here, flip flopping back and forth from hot and humid days to rainy and sometimes cool days. Today was pleasant and not too hot. In fact, it was rather coolish walking to work. Weird!

Elder Kroff and I were alone in the office for most of the day. Our office elders had to take the President's car up to the Area Offices to drop it off to get serviced. They returned with a loaner car for a few days. On their way back to San Fernando, they had to stop at the Unicenter to find some blankets and pillows for the new arrivals coming in the January transfer later this month. We have nine new missionaries coming and ten going home. They found some pillows, but no blankets. They are hard to come by in the summer months, even at WalMart.

Part of my morning involved dealing with medical calls. Two of our Latino elders were going in to see Dr. Petersen today. Sometimes when I call to discuss a problem that a missionary is having, the doctor will tell me to just have them come in and see him. That was the case with two elders that I set up to go in today because it was "P" day. I am so grateful when the doctor will see a missionary because sometimes they really want a personal diagnosis from the doctor face to face instead of a remedy given over the phone. Dr. Petersen's mission ends in March and I will certainly hate to see him go. He has been so great to work with and never makes me feel like I am wasting his time when I call. I know the next doctor will probably be wonderful, but getting used to someone else makes me nervous.

Rich and I worked together on getting the amount of money logged in the computer that the missionaries spent on supplies they ordered at the last transfer in December. I read off the amounts, and Rich recorded them on his spreadsheet in the computer. That took a while.

During the afternoon, I continued working on my new missionary carpetas. Putting together nine of them seems like a piece of cake compared to the twenty three I did last transfer. I'll have these done in no time.

Later in the day, we had four sweaty bodies come into the office to cool off. The two assistants, Elders Curtis and Pugmire and their companions, Elders Healy and Charles were over in the church basketball court playing futbol with some young guys from their ward. They were dripping with perspiration and our office smelled like a gym. But, they had fun!

Finally, Elders Coria and Paz returned from their errands and shopping spree about the time we decided to call it a day. We took one of the cars and drove to San Isidro to pick up our dry cleaning. We also stopped at the Apple store on the way so Rich could purchase a set of ear phones that plug into his computer. His were stolen in the robbery, and all this time he has been using the ones they gave me in the temple that are used for the translation from Spanish to English. They were shorting out and dying on him, so he needed some better ones.

We didn't have a picture that depicted our day today, so we wanted to share this typical street scene. Newspaper and magazine stands are numerous around the city, as well as people selling flowers on every corner. These two happen to be set up side by side. Missionaries are instructed to walk by the magazine stands without stopping or glancing over at the material on display. Many pictures and articles are questionable at best. Most depict almost nude females and other objectionable photos which could be very distracting to missionaries who are suppose to "have an eye single to the glory of God." We, as matrimonials, comply with the rule also. However, we are never tempted as the younger generation might be.

Our evenings at home are always quiet and calm. Hot dogs for dinner, a load of whites were washed, a visit with Susanne and Thale on Skype, an abbreviated visit with Marianne on Skype, (until she lost her internet connection at home) and doing this entry, rounded out our evening.

What will tomorrow bring?