Guess how many times we have been to the airport so far this month

Eight times and counting. We go tomorrow and again next Tuesday. I know the way to the airport! Tomorrow we have to pick up one of our sick sisters at 6am. She is going home on a medical release. We are so sad. She is really a good missionary but we have not been able to get her well here so we will send her home for that and hopefully she will return to us. The other case is a really sad one. An elder who arrived Tuesday with the new arrivals, called and asked to go home on Wednesday. A call to a Stake President and Bishop revealed a missionary who should never have come in the first place. Made Dad cry. You don't want to see people labeled by an experience their whole lives. The other 22 who arrived on Tuesday appear to be rock solid. 4 got here just ahead of the earthquake in Mexico City.  They filled the house for arrival day.

 loading up at the airport

Traditional photo at the Mission Home

But I get ahead of myself. Lets go back to Sunday where the week started at the Marine Corp Recruit Depot. Bright and early we arrived to speak at the MCRD. We arrived and parked and walked to the building through a sea of marine recruits. Sundays they can stay in their bunk getting yelled at by the drill sergeant or go to a church service of their choice. Guess what they do. There are no pictures. I was one of the few women around. The LDS group meet in one of the large classrooms and when you walk in the missionaries are teaching recruits all around the room. They are very humble and open to receive help. Some advance in the priesthood, some bring fellow recruits, some are getting religion for the first time. It is a very interesting experience. Mark and I spoke for sacrament meeting. I spoke on prayer using the Amelia Earhart story information I got from a book Julie showed me. Thank you it worked well. Some of the full marines present bore testimony of prayer.  There were many there with deep racking coughs.  Made me hope RO was over his pneumonia.  They push these guys to the brink and they sound sick some of them.

Then it was home to prepare talks for the Mission President Devotional in Penasquitos. That went well. The missionaries loved my talk because I made some Star Trek analogy.  Use Star Trek or JR Tolkien and you are a hit with the missionaries.  So funny.

Then retiring to our bed very tired we were awakened at 1am with a call from one of my nurses. One of our elders had split his lower eyelid open after being elbowed in a basket ball game Sunday night. Hoping to take care of it himself rather than call for help he found out by 1am he really did need help and better call. We didn't press him as to why he had been playing basketball with members on a Sunday.  He has kind of paid a high price for that.  So one sleepless night later after receiving 5 stitches in his lower lid, we tried to use the rest of Monday to prepare for Arrival/Departure day on Tuesday. Between Mark and I we made three trips to the airport. First we left at 7am to get there by 8am to see our departing missionaries off to home. For the record I really do not like American Airlines. But we got that done.  Then we rushed over to meet 19 arriving missionaries who we loaded up and took to the Mission Home and fed lunch. Mark then peeled off back to the airport and picked up 4 missionaries arriving from Mexico MTC just ahead of the earthquake.  He got them to the Mission Home and we fed them and I loaded lasagna in the oven and prepped the kitchen for dinner and took off to the airport to see our last missionary off to the Philippines whose flight was at 6pm. Then fought through rush hour traffic home  to feed the new missionaries dinner.  Mark had been busy interviewing them. By 6:30 we had them paired up with their new companions. We sent them off instructed, interviewed and fed to go to work.  The sisters here from El Centro would spend the night at the Mission Home.

Next day bright and early. 7am we were off to the Mormon Battalion Site for training with the new missionaries and their trainer companions. Only I missed all this because I had to take one of our sister missionaries to urgent care because she had some kind of infection in her arm. By the time we got back to the Battalion it was over. We then headed over to tell one of our sweet sister missionaries  we were sending her home on a medical release  to get better. That is not easy. We took the Assistants to lunch in Old Town and then headed home.  We had dinner with dad's counselor and his family Wednesday night.  It was really nice.

Before bed I checked on my sister missionary who has pneumonia, the sister with the infection in her arm and the sister we are sending home because of illness. I was hoping the elder with the stitches had the sense to be in bed. I could provide you with pictures of swollen arms, and cut eyes but that would be breaking HHEPA laws and you don't want to see them any way. Really could have used Lyndon at 1am in the morning Monday but he needs his sleep too. Dad was working on plane tickets for our two missionaries leaving tomorrow and making sure all the paperwork was done for that.

Well yesterday was errand day and today was interview day.  I am so exhausted if  I sit still too long  I about fall a sleep. I console myself that I don't have missionaries with Dengi fever or worse.

Here is a fun picture from the restaurant where we ate with the Assistants. Other than that I am afraid there are no fun pictures. We love you. Hope everyone is well. We are so grateful for you all. Keep the faith.  It is true.