We were excited for this week to come. It would start out with April Fool's and end with Brandon and Lindsey's visit and with General Conference which we were very excited about. The week before General Conference is always something we look forward to with great anticipation and we were grateful to be able to spend it with Brandon and Lindsey.
It was also the week before transfers, which is always so busy for me because I start the letters congratulating the new missionary leadership and finish getting everything ready for transfers. I have done about 75 letters so far, so I've got a good start! Tomorrow is transfers and we are getting a total of 27 new missionaries. Can you believe these huge transfers that we always have? Glen had to open 8 new areas for this transfer, which is becoming so commonplace although it is such a huge deal! But watching this miracle of missionary work unfold really is incredible. Can you believe that we're a part of it? We would have never guessed it was going to happen like this.
My family knows that I quite enjoy April Fool's Day. Since Glen and I were married I have played an April Fool's joke on him and I still do every year for the kids and I just think it's so fun. I wanted to go pretty mild on the kids this year, so all we did was send them a package of candy that had the candy put in different wrappers--kit kat in the hershey's wrappers and stuff like that. Kind of boring. I did the same thing in the candy box that sits on my desk, and it was a blast seeing the missionaries unwrap the candy and seeing what was inside. They loved it. A few missionaries came into the office on Monday and I very seriously told them that they weren't to be in the office that day. They put their heads down and said they were sorry and were about to leave when I said, "April Fool's! Of course you can be here!" It took a few seconds to register and then they laughed and laughed.
Sister Conder put an old DI chair in the president's office and put a sign that said "President McMillan" on his desk. She thought it was so funny, but Glen and I were mortified! That night two sets of missionaries called Glen and told them that they had eviction notices put on their apartment doors. We had a great laugh over that!
On Tuesday night we went over to our friends' house to watch the semi-finals of the NIT where BYU was playing Baylor. We had so much fun with them! They told us that Adam had called them to get President Black's phone number and they were quite flattered that he had figured out their phone number. Adam called Pres. Black to see if he would play an April Fool's joke on us, but apparently it was a no go.
On Friday afternoon, Brandon and Lindsey arrived at the mission office! It was so great to see them! Brandon worked on my computer again (thank you Brandon!) while Glen and I and Lindsey talked to Pres. and Sis. Black. They were upset about a missionary apartment that they had just visited because it was so disorderly and they were disappointed that the missionary's attitudes were also so poor about it. We felt so bad!
We left the office early to go to the Beatles Show at Planet Hollywood. It was a group who imitated the Beatles, and they were so talented and looked so much like John, Paul, George and Ringo that it was amazing! The concert was like a trip down memory lane for us and they performed SO many of the Beatles' hits.The set was just the same as the Beatles' set and wow, did we have excellent seats--thank you Groupon!
Can you believe how much these guys look like the Beatles? Ed Sullivan's look a like was amazing too, and he did such a great job of imitating him.
After the show we went out to see the beautiful Bellagio fountains, which are all lit up in the background.
On Saturday we jogged on the trail near our condo and then watched the sessions of conference. I loved Pres. Monson announcing that there were now 65,000 missionaries with 20,000 more called and another 6,000 in the interview process. Can you even believe this miracle? Can you believe we are here on a mission being right in the middle of this happening? I loved the talks on missionary work, but I also loved the talks by Elder Cardon and Elder Ballard on Saturday. Glen and Brandon went to the priesthood session while Lindsey and I went shopping.
On Sunday we watched the sessions, and I loved the talks by Elder Clayton, Elder Anderson, and Elder Holland.How I love general conference! It's such a letdown when it is over, and then to add to it, we had to say good-bye to Brandon and Lindsey, which was so sad. We loved having them visit.
On Sunday evening, Jaime, Wendy, Carly, Deana (Wendy's niece) and Christian came to dinner. Wendy and the kids want to get active in the church again and Jaime is taking the missionary discussions! We're so excited for them. We had a great discussion with them while they were here. Please pray for them!
Oh, so sad that conference weekend is over! Tomorrow we will be in the thick of missionary work again and we're praying that transfers will go well!
We will def pray for Wendy and her family. I think that is so great they want to get active again. And eight new areas...wow. This really is a miracle. It makes me so wistful...I wish so bad I could have served a mission, and I would have if the age would have been 19. Great April Fool's Day jokes, I didn't even figure out it was the joke until a few days later b/c I didn't have any of the candy. You guys are pretty funny. We love you!
ReplyDeleteAnd p.s. I just did a post on Brockton so you'll have to check it out.
I am so happy that we got to come! We had so much fun at the Beatles, watching conference, walking in the park - all of it. It is so fun to see the life you are living. You really do work so hard. I love that the missionaries got you for april fool's! I didn't know that about telling them that they couldn't be in the office for a joke. How funny. That really is so neat about Wendy. We will pray for them. I'm glad you got the post to publish. I love you! I miss you!
ReplyDeleteYou do enjoy the April Fools jokes. Thanks for the chocolates. I noticed Dad had eaten the Almond Joys. I remember the time you or Dad moved the Riv up the street to Fernando's house, and Dad was like, "Maybe you didn't set the park brake and it rolled down the hill." So we were looking over the edge of the sidewalk for the RIv. Then I remember disconnecting the van's battery cable as an April fools day joke to you, and you were most displeased. You phoned me at school and I was in welding. I told you how to reconnect the battery but you were so upset you just had Barbara Schuster drive you. So I kinda stopped doing April fools day jokes. But I'm glad you enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteWe met one of the younger sister missionaries who was pretty excited to be able to go out at 19. She's from South Jordan.