Weeks End - Friday, September 10, 2010

The sky is just barely starting to lighten up at 6:30. . . not much, just enough to tell that morning is coming. We remember last year when it was sooooo light at 5:30 a.m. and we wished we had black out drapes.

We are on the last volume of Children of the Promise, so the war is over and the characters in the story are making their way back home to pick up their lives. The story is fictional, but the events depicted of WWII have been sobering and informative. As a historical novel, it has held our interest and been entertaining.

It was a clear day with warm weather, some humidity, and no coats needed for our walk to work. But the trusty iPhone said that rain would be coming this afternoon lasting through Saturday. It was hard to believe, but by 4:00 the clouds came and it rained off and on throughout the evening.

With the training over and the Assistants in a meeting with the President over at the mission home, it was a quiet day in the office. It was a good day to start working on my carpetas for the October transfer. We have 16 new missionaries coming on the fifth, so I can't procrastinate getting started on this project. I worked steadily preparing the divider pages for the five sections of the binder with labels reading La Mision, Dept y Seguridad, Finanzas, Salud, Discursos. I have to trim the colored dividers down a bit with the paper cutter to fit the binders, and adhere the sticky labels. With that being done, now next week I can start printing off the information for each section.

I sent Elder Kroff to the Libreria on the corner to get some items that we were in need of. He took our small dolly to bring back a carton of copy machine paper. The box of is too heavy for him to carry back. so he takes the dolly to tote the goods back to the office. We also needed some wide strapping tape to seal boxes, some envelopes, plus a couple of other items. It is convenient to have it that close, and we like to patronize this little shop where a cute older lady now runs it by herself since her husband passed away several months ago. We were shocked a while back when we found out he had died. He looked healthy to us. She said she is lonely and misses her husband.

At 11:00, our elders had their district meeting over in the church. Since the training took precedence over any district meetings this week, they were rescheduled for Friday. While they were gone, it was REALLY quiet, because Rich and I don't talk much when we are working, and the phones cooperated too. We got a lot done.

Rich worked on the Ajuste which is the supplemental money the mission gives the missionaries in addition to what Salt Lake sends them. He rechecked all his figures and got it ready to send to the President for his approval. He was grateful for a quiet time to concentrate and do it right.

President Gulbrandsen called and asked if we would be able to have Elder Davis with us this evening as they had some places to go and the President had some baptismal interviews to conduct. Between them and us and the elders, we have switched off taking care of Elder Davis who has the injured leg. He can't walk, so he cannot go out to work yet. Rich said we would be glad to have him if he could stay with me alone for a little while because Rich was accompanying Elder Lowry to a dentist appointment set for 6:00 in the Capital. The President gave his approval, so now all I was concerned about was what to feed him. Elder Peterson came to the rescue and gave me some food from their supply that Sister Bolentini gave them. She cooked for three this week, so they had ample and felt it would go bad if not eaten up. I gladly took enough for a couple plates.

Elder Lazo had made plans to go teaching with a member while Elder Lowry was gone and Elder Davis was with me, but until he could organize his schedule and get going, he came home with me too. He was on the phone calling investigators and setting up appointments. He is a short, slender type guy, but always hungry. Out of nowhere he asked, "Sister Kroff, can I buy something from your fridge?" I assured him he didn't have to buy anything to eat from me, so I warmed up the milanesa, mashed potatoes, and squash that Sister Bolentini had made. I fed the two elders while I ironed some white shirts. There was enough left for me to have a small plate too. I was grateful that Elder Peterson shared, or I don't know what I would have whipped up.

Elder Lazo left with a member coming to get him, and while I worked on the blog, Elder Davis watched some conference talks on the computer. Rich and Elder Lowry returned about 8:45 and the two young ones left.

Later in the evening, Rich turned on Fox News and they were doing a recap of the 9/11 disaster. It held our attention for about an hour. Hearing and seeing the terrible sights again after nine years brought back those dreadful memories. How could it have happened??