Sunday, March 4, 2018

 

This has been such a bitter-sweet day.  We have ended another chapter in our lives, one that has left us with precious experiences, and forever friends.  Sacrament Meeting was our only meeting today, and I finally gathered enough courage to get on my feet and walk, cane in hand, to the pulpit and bear my testimony.  It took the whole meeting to gather that courage—I was the last one.  But it was short and sweet, if a little teary.  Everyone gathered afterward for a group photo and more goodbyes.  Most of the missionaries will be leaving tomorrow although some are sight-seeing with family for a few days, and a half dozen will be leaving during the week for other assignments to finish out the last six months of their missions.

It has been an incredible blessing to serve in this temple and to be in the Lord’s house every day learning how to discern the promptings of the Spirit and see others as Heavenly Father sees His children.  When you come from Idaho, a person doesn’t have the opportunity to learn to appreciate the great diversity that exists in our country.  This city is such a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, experiences, and length of time spent as members of the Church.  Our hearts have been opened and expanded with greater love and understanding.

We have been packing, weighing luggage, repacking, re-weighing, and still my bags are a little over the weight limit.  I’ll just have to have the most disposable items on the very top and toss them one by one until the scale meets it’s allowed poundage!  Glade’s things all fit just fine in one large bag and one carry-on size, but I have way too much “good stuff” to stuff in mine, even with an extra bag.

Last night I worked side by side with Sister Martinez on the Spanish veils and loved every minute of the experience.  I invited her to come to our apartment today to see if she could use or would want any of the things we have collected and have to leave behind.   She came today at noon with her daughter Joselyn—the young girl I tutored on the organ and who just turned 13 on the week-end.  The first bag I showed her was filled with the Christmas garland, poinsettias, and lights that decorated our china hutch, and she was ecstatic!  She had seen them when she stopped by with food when I first broke my ankle.  I was so happy that she was so happy! 

She also took an array of other things in half a dozen bags including my little Begonia plant, a new lap quilt and pillow, a few groceries, and left only a small can of pumpkin and a package of white chocolate chips.  Latin Americans must not eat much pumpkin.  We looked for it in Honduras and had to explain to the grocer exactly what it was and that it came in a can as well as fresh on the stem!  😊  They special-ordered it for us and actually stocked it during the holidays the second year we were there.

I was so happy to share with her and her family.  Her husband is the one who fell on the job and is now disabled enough that he can’t work.  But he has finally started coming back to Sacrament Meeting after a long absence from church and Sister Martinez feels her prayers for him are being answered.

Our flight out of DC is scheduled to leave at 4:40 p.m. tomorrow, and we are already checked in with the flight status showing “on time” for which we are grateful after all the closures on Friday and Saturday.  We arrive in SLC about 7:40-ish and hope the snow has melted enough for a safe landing!  Would love your prayers for a safe flight!

Good Night, Everyone!  Love you all so much!  😊

Here's one last photo of our beautiful temple.  It's the one on your puzzles.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Wow!  It is so hard to believe that this mission has ended.  Our last night in the temple was awesome and had such an element of closeness with both the patrons and the temple workers.  Glade served as Initiatory Director all evening and I worked at the veil doing several Spanish veils and loved it all.  We double-teamed at the end so that each worker had a chance to help at least one patron at the very last veil of the day.  Tears flowed as workers who have worked together for years said their good-byes.  I spent a little time in the beautiful Celestial Room just before leaving and tried to soak in the beauty and sacredness of the room which was filled with patrons and workers.  It was a perfect ending to a very wonderful and rewarding experience here.

We worked on packing this morning and are worried that we still have more things to take home than our suitcases can accommodate—especially since we cleaned out our temple lockers tonight and have all those clothes to add to the mix.  We’ll worry about it tomorrow. 

We have great neighbors next door to us who actually live in St. George.  They have been chauffeuring us to and from the temple and will take us to church tomorrow.  It's hard to not have a car and Glade keeps wondering how the trek across the country is going and if it is safe.

We felt bad to have missed Louisa’s baptism but hope it was a wonderful day.

Love to everyone!  😊    

 

Friday, March 2, 2018

Mother Nature raged on many fronts today as high winds closed schools all across the DC area, and all Government offices were closed.  That usually means the temple is closed as well, but since it was the next to the last day before the closure, it remained open for patrons and district workers who felt it was save to travel from their long commutes.  The missionaries are required to be at the temple unless conditions are extreme.  Hundreds of thousands of people were without power and the temple ran on generator power in the morning start-up.  Workers used flashlights in some areas with only dim lighting in others.  There were trees down everywhere snarling traffic and both Regan and Dulles airports were closed.  Dulles reported winds above 70 mph and had to clear the tower.  Our power blinked off during the night, but was up and running all day.  Traffic back-ups lasted for hours on the freeways.    

Storms were not limited to our area only as we watched the severe weather warnings from the West Coast to the East.  Many of you may have experienced blizzards, high winds, rain and flooding as well.  Hope you Westerners are up for more snowman building 😊

We worried that the transport company would cancel or delay picking up our car this morning, but the semi-driver arrived at the mall near us right on time and loaded up our precious cargo and the car was soon on its way home.  We can only pray now that the inclement weather won’t cause problems.  It should arrive in SLC in six to seven days.

It was so awesome to sleep without the boot last night!  Walking today was okay, but the gait and pressure points are different so the leg and ankle are stiff and sore.  With a little Advil and a different pair of shoes, the pain abated and tonight’s shift was awesome.  I was name issue director and worked with the Spanish session.  Then I was able to help at the veil for the same session and loved being able to do that.  Who knows if it will ever happen again!!!

Love to All.  😊  Good Night and stay warm in the storms!

 

Thursday, March 1, 2018

This morning’s x-ray resulted in the Dr.’s exclamation that the bone "looks fantastic."  It has healed so well and I am a very happy camper.  The appointment included the last physical therapy session, the last of the boot, replacement of the crutches with a cane, and a new ankle support called an air cast that is light and can be worn with a shoe!  Hooray!!  I can’t wait to sleep without that big old boot.  Actually, I should be grateful for how well it has worked!

My temple shift, thankfully, was light and I spent it in the office recording the finished ordinances.  It was busy enough that the sessions were running every 30 minutes with six endowment rooms filled nearly to capacity.  Every area of the temple was busy and I was happy to have a safe seat from which to work and stay out of the way.  It was the first day with the cane and there was a learning curve.

Glade didn’t go again today.  The typical residual cough hangs on and although he feels better, still isn’t up to par.  He is bored and feels guilty about not being in the temple to do his share, but there isn’t much choice.    

Glade talked to the broker who arranges the car transport and we have a tentative pick-up time for Friday morning.  The truck is coming from Baltimore which is about 45 minutes away.  However, a storm system is predicted to bring in 60 mile-per-hour winds tomorrow, so the schedule is pending as per the weather.  We are going to be a little lost without our car and will have to get rides to and from the temple, to church on Sunday, and to the airport on Monday.  It is all packed with our 100-pound allowance and ready to roll!

We are so grateful for our blessings and for this great experience.  It has gone by way too fast.  However, it is always great to go home.

Love, hugs, and prayers to all of you.  😊