End of a Month - Friday, April 30, 2010

We are always amazed at how fast the weeks go, and months for that matter. It seems like we just had General Conference and now April is over. How could that be?

Today the the leaves were falling fast from the trees. As we look from our balcony, the once golden trees are now mostly bare. Dried, crisp brown leaves are all over our office driveway, and by Monday there will be a lot to sweep into the road. Elder Kroff takes on that responsibility as he wants the image of the church and mission to be at it's best with a clean entrance free from clutter and leaves. If only a strong wind would come to help sweep the area clean. But that is hampered by the fence that surrounds the property. The leaves get trapped inside the fence with no where to go. Luckily we have street sweepers who clean the gutters of leaves and debris once they are blown/swept into the street.

Remembering how tired I was yesterday when we left the office, I vowed for a change in my duties today. The next zone conference is our own on Tuesday, so I will have Monday to get those supplies together. So, I took a break from my supply room today. Not going in there!

I wanted to be at my computer today anyway and catch up on things that needed my attention. Mainly I needed to re-enter some baptismal information on the spreadsheet that we use in collecting data for the President. Elder Peterson got it all square away and operating again, so I needed to update my end. Everything seemed to work okay today after I once again entered my info for the 4th or 5th time. It better stick!

Then I emailed the parents of the missionaries leaving in August to obtain information I needed in ordering their flights and any updates on addresses or Stake President changes that may have occurred. We have eight Latin elders and one North American sister in that group.

The elders try to help Elder Kroff understand a financial matter he is working on. Three heads are better than one, but I didn't listen to see if it got resolved.

Elders Peterson and Hales worked away doing what they do all day and even had some time to sort through some drawers and files to rid them of outdated and unnecessary papers. Every desk area look cleaned up and tidy when days end came.

The elders prepare to leave the office and go to their "second job" of the day, which really is the main job they have each and every day. It just gets interrupted with the time they are required to spend in the office. We admire office elders for their dedication and stamina to obediently leave at 4:00 each day to find and teach investigators, not going home until 9:00 in the evening. It is certainly evident they are 45 years younger than we.

Friday night is grocery shopping night for us, so we walked about six blocks to Carrefour pulling our shopping cart behind. On the way home we stopped at a fruit and vegetable market to pick up some good looking produce. Then we had empanadas for dinner that Rich bought today on the way back from the bank. Perfect Friday night meal!

We are making plans to go on another day outing tomorrow back up to the Capital to investigate a shopping area called Once (O-n'-se - meaning 11) We have heard that it is great shopping, good quality, for reasonable prices. We may be taking the Subte (subway) instead of a taxi once we get off the train. We'll see -- if it doesn't look too scary down under.