Congrats to the Runners! and other stuff

Congratulations to all who ran yesterday. We in Oregon and California would have loved to have been there

You are the best

In honor of you run Mark and I climbed Mt. Helix and looked at the Valley. We are more oriented now and so we actually know what we are looking at

I have to look at my calendar to remember everything from the past week.  Sunday last week Mark had a Council meeting with all the areas Stake Presidents, the Carlsbad Mission President and himself and the area Seventy who is over us Elder Davis. That night we had 3 missionaries to dinner here at the house. One was leaving back to Idaho this week and so we wanted a chance to honor him a little.  And so the airport runs began on Monday. 

Labor Day at 4:30am we were at the airport to put  an Elder,  one of our ASL missionaries on a plane to White Plains, New York.  This way they get to have different companions and a different area. Well it was Monday and it was Labor Day.  The lines for everything went out the door! There were a lot of people there and we set this deaf elder off in the middle of it.  My mother instincts came all out and I stood there worried about him until his hearing companion said don't worry he will just pull out his tablet and write if he needs help.  Ok.  

Then it was back to the airport by 9pm (after family home evening with the couple missionaries at the Battalion). Now we pick up another ASL missionary flying in from New York.  He was coming back to the mission.  He came bounding down the escalator like Tigger and bear hugged everyone (except me) A three some was there to greet him.  He had made friends with half the airplane I think.  They were all coming up to shake his hand after they picked up their suitcases. He is really friendly and lots of fun. He is completely deaf as well. I had my greeting down in sign language though and he appreciated it.

We got home by 10pm or so and then it was back to the airport by 8am on Tuesday to see another Elder off home as he finished and is headed back to Idaho. So I really know how to get to the airport. Then Mark headed to the Mission Office where he put in a full day of work and interviews.  A line forms when he shows up at the office on Tuesdays.  I went and got my haircut.  When the beautician and I got to talking I was telling her about some of the things I do in a week and she finally said wow you see a lot of interesting things here. I had no idea so much went on in San Diego (congolese, syrian refugees, swahili speaking, arabic speaking, creole speaking, ASL, airports and that was just to name a few things) She ask me what exactly do you do?  Well she asked so I told her about the missionaries and gave her a card to download the Book of Mormon and told her to read the introduction and gave her a card for the Mormon Battalion Historic Site and told her to take her 3rd grader son because it is free and he can pan for gold and it is really fun. She had never been.

Wednesday we held Mission Leadership Council for the day with all our zone leaders and sister training leaders.  I taught a lesson on helping investigators make and keep commitments. We do role play, reporting on how each zone is doing and more training. Mark is excellent on making them all actually council on what they are doing and what they need to do to improve and teach the other missionaries.  I think he is making them feel more invested as leaders in the mission.

Thursday (happy birthday Lily)  we decided to take a P-day since we hadn't had one in two weeks. We drove out to Point Loma and looked at the old Lighthouse and from a distance the new lighthouse. It is really beautiful out there and we will take you.  It is a state park so you can get in with a park pass.  In the winter you can whale watch from there too and there are tidal pools.  All free.

 Entrance to the Park. 

 Views for the Ocean are incredible here

 The explorer Cabrillo entered the San Diego harbor here in 1542. The Spaniards and Portuguese fight over him as to who he sailed for.

 This is where you do the whale watching December -March.

This is the new lighthouse which had to be built at sea level to get out of the fog. Even with all the technology we have ships still use lighthouses. I just realized we didn't take a picture of the old lighthouse. My bad.

Afterward we drove to a boat dock area to a place called Mitch's and had a great seafood lunch of the fresh catch of the day.  We sat outside and watched a seal play among the docked boats and watched the egrets and pigeons and cranes walk around.  It was really fun.  That night we had two more missionaries to dinner.  One of them needed to download an app that gives him a reading on his insulin pump. Amazing what we do on computers these days. It's fun to have the missionaries around.

Ok so this is a pretty boring shot of the dock.  It really had more activity than this.

Friday I had a meeting with my nurses to make sure we were covering all the bases on the missionaries health and getting our report to the Area Medical Authority correct.  I really couldn't do it without these two women.  They are an incredible help.  Mark did some more interviewing and work at the office.  He and the staff are updating the emergency plan in case of a natural disaster.  Recent events in Mexico, Texas and Florida were a good reminder to us of what we may have to deal with in finding 170 missionaries and 23 couples.  Friday night we actually had some quiet time.

And that brings us to Saturday where we hiked Mt Helix and shopped for supplies. We wrote talks for Stake conference today. (We spoke in Poway Stake this morning.) I also went out with 2 sister missionaries in the evening for a lesson in Chula Vista.  It went well and I got home before curfew (I think)

And here we are to Sunday. I think our talks went well. Mark is at another Stake mission meeting and I am doing the blog. We have 2 more missionaries coming for dinner tonight. One leaves for home on Tuesday a head of the main group as well.  He has school to get into as well. 

And that is it.  Love you tons. Love hearing from you and your adventures. 

Love

MOM