Week 11

Week 11:

Mon. Feb. 27^th: I spent most of the day preparing for FHE tonight. It is our turn to present something and provide the refreshments. So mom made 2 trays of Grandma Cornwall’s apple crisp and I made a power point presentation on our 2 years in China. It was fun to look at all the pictures and select examples of what we taught, our experiences in the branch, and our travels. It was especially fun to tell the story of Crystal and how members of the BYU Chamber Orchestra were able to teach her the gospel in Mandarin and her baptism two days before we left China. She is now at BYU-Provo. We missed seeing her by only a couple of weeks. We did see on Facebook that she had received her temple recommend (limited use) and that she thought the temple was great. Tues. Feb. 28^th: This morning I gave Sister Vallanes a blessing. Her husband wanted to anoint and wanted me to do the blessing. She is going to the hospital for some surgery. He said he was too emotional and thought it would be better if I gave the blessing. It was a sweet experience. I cannot tell you how good it was to be back in the temple. A big group arrived last night from Chile and another group arrived today from Peru. So we were very busy. I had not realized how much we enjoy being in the temple and even though many nights we get home between 9:30 and 10:00pm, tired and ready for bed, we love the work. I’m not sure work is the right word, because it is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve the wonderful and faithful saints who sacrifice of their time and money to travel to the temple to worship. As tears well up in my eyes, as I write this, I realize how blessed we are to be missionaries and how our testimonies are being strengthened and our understanding of the love our Father in Heaven has for all of his children both living and dead has increased. The universality of the plan of salvation, and the desire of our Father in Heaven for all of his children to return to live with Him, is evidence of his love. We are so happy to be able to serve here in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. Wed. Feb. 29^th: This morning we went with Marcelo to the immigration office. We waited in line for about an hour only to find out that we did not have our medical documents. We had to leave without getting our paperwork submitted. Happy Birthday to me. Turning 60 today didn’t really feel any different than any other day, except that mom invited all of the temple missionaries to stop by at lunch (there is about an hour and ½ where the morning shift missionaries and the afternoon shift missionaries are both at home) for pumpkin chocolate chip cup cakes with cream cheese icing. Boy did they taste great. I found out today that I am the second youngest missionary here. President Crayk’s wife, Connie, is 2 years younger than I am. Brother and Sister Vallanes could not attend because she was still at the hospital to have surgery to remove an abscess from her tailbone. More about the Vallanes on Friday. Thurs. Mar. 1^st: This morning we went with Marcelo to have our blood drawn so we can have a Doctor certify that we are healthy. So next week we go to the doctor after he gets the results of the blood tests. Then once we have the certificate we can go back to immigration and submit our paperwork so we can get our permanent visas. Remember I said it took about 10 different visits to get all the paperwork done. Well we are now on number 5. We had a couple of free hours in the morning before we went to the temple and we both started a new painting.

Mine in acrylic

Mom's in watercolor

Fri. Mar. 2^nd: I was working at the desk and Brother Vallanes came in. He had brought his wife home from the hospital earlier in the day. I asked how his wife was doing. He said that he thought physically she was doing better. But that she had just gotten a phone call that their oldest daughter had passed away that morning, that she had gone to bed with a head ache and died sometime in the night. I could not believe that here he was coming to the temple to do his shift. I asked him about it and he said that there was nothing he could do for her now and being in the temple would make him feel better. They are from Cuzco, Peru and they arrived about a week after we did. When I asked him about going home for the funeral, he said they did not have the money. I assured him that all the missionaries would chip in and they should go. He just said no, there is nothing we can do for them now. Then we realized that they don’t have their visas yet either, so they can not travel outside of the country. They were both in preparation meeting the following day she sore from surgery but both suffering from a broken heart. It was so touching to see their dedication to their calling and I understand their wanting to be in the temple. The Spirit of the Savior is very consoling to the soul and what better place to be close to the Savior than to be in His house. Sat. Mar. 3^rd: Since Pres. Crayk has challenged the Los Alamos stake to come and attend a special session at 7:00am on Saturdays, that session has been full and there have been days when a second session at 7:15am has been needed. Mom and I decided we would attend this early morning session. It was really nice to be a patron and just sit and listen. I wish at times I could share with all of you the spiritual experiences I have had, but, alas, they are too sacred and too personal. Saturday morning was one of those experiences. But I assure you these experiences mean the world to me. After our shift, (Saturdays we start at 1:30pm and are done around 7:00pm) we had Henry and Jeanie Lachowski over to the apartment for R and R. They are a Catholic couple we met one day on the temple grounds. We saw them again about a week later during our morning walk and found out they are from Salt Lake and live on the avenues. They are here for 3 months learning Spanish and then hope to do some humanitarian work for an order in the Catholic Church. We just sat around and talked for a couple hours. They have done service work in Africa twice (Namibia) and Thailand. In Thailand they served at “Wild Flower"--a home for single mothers. Mom and I visited this NGO with Ginny and Sam when we were in Thailand last year. Small world experience. We are going to have them to dinner one of the next Monday nights, since that is our P-day. We think they really need some American friends and so we are happy to be such. Sun. Mar. 4^th: We went to church today and Elder Adams had been transferred to Sucre. His companion Elder Mendoza had a brand new missionary who had arrived on Tuesday, Elder VanLeeuwen from Kaysville. He plays the piano so mom is out of a job. I took down his mom’s email address and sent her an email last night. This morning I got back a thank you email from her. She was so glad to hear he is here safe and sound. We had a sweet testimony meeting and taught our temple prep class. Oscar was the only one there. He leaves on his mission in May. We got to Skype with most of our kids and grandkids Sunday night. James had some amazing stories about his stake conference. Elder David Evans was the presiding authority and how James went on his mission became part of the Priesthood leadership meeting. James mentioned that Elder Evans thinks we are having too much fun here on our mission. I apologize for sharing mostly secular happenings, but most of what we do every day is too sacred and should not be shared is such an open forum. But Elder Evans, if you are reading this, rest assured we work hard and we play hard and yes, we are enjoying this mission very much and the work is joyous and at times hard. It is a sacrifice to be away from family and loved ones, but it is an honor to wear our missionary tags that read: Elder Norman and Hermana Norman. Thanks Elder Evans and Mary for showing so much love and concern for James and his family. We love and appreciate all you do. Some you have mentioned you would like to read the talks we gave last week in the Colon ward. So this week it will be my task to translate them into English. Wish me luck.