Visa Waiter Week and a Temple Experience

This week was incredibly busy for Glen.  Besides him trying to find places for our 22 new missionaries who are coming on July 1, paying the bills, doing cell phones and training Elder Sudweeks, he was asked to take care of visa waiters for 3 whole days--Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Tuesday's group was ten missionaries, Thursday's group was 8 elders plus a senior couple, and Friday's group was ten elders.  Most of these were missionaries from the MTC who needed their Mexican visas and so had to fly here to meet with the Mexican consulate to get them.  So Glen, on all three days, had to go to the airport to pick them up, take them to the UNLV institute, get lunch for them, go to the Mexican consulate, and then drive them back to the airport to fly back to the MTC.  Three of Thursday's group were visa waiters from our mission, and now that they have their visas, they will still stay in our mission until the transfer day in their Mexico mission--about two more weeks.  

The couple who is eventually taking our place in the office, the Sudweeks, (on the left) came over for dinner at our house on Sunday.  They have now been here for a week training to take the Dana's places until we leave, and then they will then take over our places.  Then another couple, the Hunts, will take over the Dana's places. We also invited the Wintertons, a couple from Utah who Glen lined up to rent an apartment from them for the missionaries.  They went to church with us in the Buffalo ward.  We had a wonderful dinner together.

Sister Luamanu and Sister Cox came into the office and we shared a wonderful conversation together.  They are Sister Training Missionaries, a new calling for sister missionaries, and they do an amazing job.

Elder Tanner and Elder Johnson, the zone leaders for the Spring Mountain Zone, brought in this big card where all of their zone members wrote messages to Glen and I.  Elder Johnson is such a sweet, peaceful and kind elder--the kind you would trust with anything.  He is one of the elders who had taught Wendy to start with and she loved him too.

This is what was on the inside of the card--so incredibly sweet!  I just can't get over how nice the missionaries are.  What a joy it is to serve with them.

Same with Elder Edwards!  This was our goodbye picture, because he is going home on Tuesday and it was the last time we would see him.  We will really miss him--he has been an incredible missionary.

On Friday night I had quite an experience.  We went to the temple with the Danas and the Sudweeks, and when I was in the dressing room, I saw that I didn't have my brand new white sweater that Glen had given me for Mother's Day.  I was so distressed!  I asked a temple worker where the lost and found was and she took me to two  places, but it was not to be found.

When we got to the endowment room and I was putting on my apron, to my horror, my apron was not in my packet!  The apron that Clara Richards, Glen's grandma had hand made and was a treasure to me! My sash was also missing!  I nearly died and could hardly think of another thing during the whole session.  After it was over, I asked the same temple worker if we could look again in the lost and found because I had now lost three items.  I was just sick to my stomach.  We went to the same place and looked in the bin marked "June 1" again--that was the last time we had been to the temple, just six days earlier.  I asked her if we could look in the "May 31" bin, and sure enough, there they all were--folded up neatly and lovingly and tied together with a white ribbon, almost to let me know that whoever had done it was aware of how precious these items were to me.  My heart was overflowing with gratitude for this tender mercy of the Lord!  I just put them to my heart and held them there for quite a while.  I can't imagine how I didn't put them back into my bag, but apparently I had left them on the counter in the dressing room.  It had never happened before and I hope it never happens again!

On Saturday, just as Glen and I were about to go shopping, Nathan Jones (pictured above) called Glen and asked if he were available to go golfing.  Glen had been wanting to go with him since we got here, and he leaped at the chance, even though it was 100 and something degrees outside.  He went as a foursome, and had so much fun with them, even though he drank and drank bottles of water and gatorade.  And best of all--he didn't have to pay for it!  I went shopping by myself and really missed my companion!  It felt so weird to be without him since we're always together.