My 60th Birthday!

On Sunday the new convert, Deb Moppart was at church for all three meetings, and it was the neatest thing to see her be fellowshipped in the ward.  One sister was picking her up for a dinner/fireside with the single adults and others were talking to her.  In our Gospel Essentials class she made a few comments and it was so neat to see her participate.  She also made meaningful comments in R. Society.  She is going to be a stalwart member!  We were so happy!

It was just perfect to celebrate my 60th birthday at Lake Las Vegas.  We were refreshed and ready to go to the office on Monday to consecrate our labors there to the Lord.  Glen had housing to secure and I felt reasonably caught up so I could concentrate on other things besides files and notebooks for the upcoming transfers, like departure papers and departure memory folders for the eight missionaries going home.  That is a huge job, because I also have to prepare files of the departing missionaries for our records in the office (two sets) and one for the president's home, as well as for the missionary himself/herself.  All of these files contain different records, which is intensive to keep them all straight!  I also have to get departing interviews scheduled and make an excel document with the departing flights, their times, the airlines, and which terminal the flight is on so the president can keep them straight when he takes them all to the airport.  It's tricky and you can imagine that it has to be extremely accurate!  I just can't mess up the departure times or heaven forbid if a missionary misses his/her flight home! 

Also on Monday, we received two packages for elders in our mission sent from Michelle and her family.  I had told Michelle about these missionaries who never received packages and had little to no family support and she wanted to make a difference for them.  So sweet!  

On Monday evening we went to the empty nester FHE at our church.  It was so fun!  Not all the people who were there are in this picture because they left before I remembered to take this picture.  The sister seated next to me, Gayla, told me about how she was with Steven Spielberg when he was documenting Holocaust survivors and she herself interviewed 200 or so of them.  What an unbelievable experience.

On Wednesday it was my birthday, and what a birthday it was!  Glen made me a yummy breakfast of hash browns with corned beef, eggs, and toast. At the office I got packages from Brandon and Lindsey and from David and Juliann.  At home I got packages from Jared and Michelle and Adam and Lisa.  Adam and Lisa had sent us a DVD with video of all the kids and many of my friends!  It was so awesome to see the grandkids--they were SO darling-- and I had to try hard to not get homesick. 

 Everything that was sent meant so much to me!

  

 When we got to the office Glen had flowers and a cake for me.  He gave pieces of it to everyone who came into the office.  

Elder Parker (zone leader) and Elder Dowouna-Hammond (assistant) brought me these treats and sang a stirring rendition of "Happy Birthday".  So sweet! 

Elder Rumbach (from Germany) and Elder Ringer came in and had birthday cake.

Cindy Dyer (on right) came over from Family Services and brought me the beautiful blown glass piece that I'm holding.  It's just beautiful!

The sisters from the Employment Center came over with gifts too--Sis. Young, Sis. Clark, Sis. Macdonald, Sister Splain.  I love these sisters!

Glen took me to lunch at Bambini's--can you believe we actually LEFT the mission office and went to lunch?  Sweet Elder Dana said, "You two just leave--I can answer the phone!"

Elder John, Elder Golden, Elder Torgersen (zone leader) and Elder Peacock (zone leader) also had birthday cake.  They were so sweet!

Sister Conder makes a bulletin board each month for those who have birthdays.  It's behind her cubicle, so not very many missionaries get to see it, and it's always so cute!  Here is her March bulletin board where each birthday person is a leprechaun!  

On Wednesday evening, we were invited to go to the "Etiquette Night" for the YM YW.  We started out in the Relief Society room for etiquette instruction and the youth sang "Happy Birthday" to me!  Then we went into the cultural hall where each table had a couple on it to just be with the youth in case there were questions or lulls in the conversation.  It was SO SO fun to be there!  The youth of this ward are so amazing!  Seated at the table are Riley Johnson, Taylor Wilhelmson, Forrest Allen, Halie Smith, Maddie Bengston, and Kyle Wilhelmson.  We learned a lot about them and had a great time with them.  It was the BEST way we could have spent our evening since we had already gone out to dinner on Friday at the fabulous French restaurant at Lake Las Vegas.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and half the day Friday, Sister Conder wasn't there because she was sick.  That meant that Glen and I did her work, and some of it I honestly don't know how to do it!  Glen and I were alone at the office for the better part of those days, holding the fort down.

We have organized a team here to do the Las Vegas Ragnar in November with our friends--so fun!  So Nathan Jones, seated behind me, wanted to do a "light run" on Saturday morning to gear up for our training. He planned and organized it.  So here we are at breakfast after our 3 1/2 mile run--Nathan and Bethany Jones, Dianne Christensen, and Joani Robison.  It was a blast!  Nathan wants to do it more often.

We were really ready again for p-day!  We decided to go to Springs Preserve, which is a huge area dedicated to preserving information and history about  Las Vegas. It was pretty awesome and we spent several hours here.  This picture is of an unbelievable display of a flash flood and how it can impact the area.  We've had about three flash flood warnings since we've been here, and we know of at least one person killed in a flashflood in the city of Las Vegas since we've been here.

We also had the opportunity to choose a geode and then Glen cracked it open.  Pretty cool!  The treasure inside is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We rented bikes and rode around the 3 mile loop of the preserve. 

Another treat came when we got to meet up with Shawna Core and her friend and co-worker, Alisa, at the Yardhouse restaurant for dinner.  Oh, what yummy food!   It was so fun to see her again and we had a great time together.  It's the greatest to see good good friends.

I must talk about church again today, since I wasn't able to finish this entry before church.  Right when we got to church I noticed how Deb Mopart (the new convert) was wearing more modest clothing and her face had a kind of glow.  And she was was sustained to the Relief Society board today!  In Gospel Essentials class she again made very meaningful comments.  And another treat:  Nadia Davies, whom we met about six months ago (a non-member) also came to church today!  She also is an amazing lady and I was ecstatic to see her!  In Gospel Essentials she also made a few comments, and I sat by her in Relief Society where the lesson was on the Atonement and she seemed touched.  I love missionary work!  It would be the neatest thing ever if she were converted and baptized before we leave here!