We Help Each Other

 Since we've been here it has always been that even as much as I have to do, Glen always has more to do and I have helped him do his work as much as I can.  Things changed this week: I was absolutely swamped with not only getting notebooks and files and transfer board cards made for the new missionaries, but also with travel arrangements for about 18 missionaries.  Glen had to wait this past week to work as much on new housing because he has to see how many member homes will be committed to.  So he helped me with my work several times this past week, which really eased my burden!  It reduced my stress so much and I really appreciated it.  I wished I would have taken a picture of him helping me put the travel documents together--one set for President Black, one set for the missionary, one set for the parents, and one set for me, as well as helping with the mail and my notebooks.  He understood better the nature of how important accuracy is in my work!

A funny thing happened that didn't start out being funny.  Church Travel Services emailed me and asked me to submit the travel for everyone going home by July 1 because of all the travel arrangements that they have to make for the new mission presidents.  I decided to submit all the travel until July 9 when we go home.  When missionaries drive home (or their parents pick them up and they drive home) I still must submit their travel to the Church, and there were about 8 missionaries (including all of the seniors) that fell into this category.  Imagine my shock and dismay when the Church sent me the itinerary from Delta Airlines of Glen and my flights on July 9!  My first thought was, "Did I send in our information incorrectly?"  My second thought was, "I know I triple checked it, and I did tell them that we were driving home!"

I called her (the same person is over our mission and I have talked to her on the phone many times) and said, "Did I just see a flight for Elder McMillan and me?  I don't want to have a nervous breakdown!"  The flights are non-cancellable and I didn't want the Church to be responsible for paying for this flight that we would NOT be taking!  Polly said, "Oh my goodness, I had an assistant helping me and she put this flight in.  No, you are not responsible for this flight."  She felt so bad, and I was more than relieved that my nervous breakdown had been averted.  Submitting information for  flights is for sure the scariest part of my job--what if I ordered a flight that sent the missionary to Alberta instead of Alaska?  It's so so scary.

Anyway, as usual, we had a busy busy week and we are always so grateful for the opportunities we have to rest and recreate.  Here are some things we did this week:

On Sunday afternoon we had dinner with the Chapmans and their other guests, including Elder Findlay and Elder West.  We sure love these dinners!

After dinner we went to the magnificent Smith Center where Zion's Youth Chorus and Symphony were  performing.  We had invited the Chapmans to go with us and it was the most amazing concert--simply beautiful.  It is done by the youth of Las Vegas, both the chorus and the symphony and there were also two guest artists who sang and narrated, very much like many of the Tabernacle Choir concerts.  It was done so professionally and beautifully and the standing ovation for the youth lasted for several minutes.  Many of our missionaries were there ushering and it was so fun to see them.  I was so sad I didn't get a picture with them!

Monday night I decided to make some St. Patrick's Day treats for the zone leaders who came in on Tuesday, so this was what I made--cookies with mint chocolate chip ice cream in between.  This picture shows the ice cream oozing out, but they were still good!  It was fun to be able to give them a treat, because as I told them, we are MCMILLANS so we celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

Elder Conder even made this St. Patrick's Day card with us in it--so cute!

On Tuesday night I went to our Relief Society birthday party and had such an amazing dinner.  It was so fun to be with the sisters in our ward.  Deb, the new convert, was there, and I was so excited!  She is really going to be a strong member of the church.  There were two other women there who were not members--pretty cool.

On Wednesday night we went to the temple and had dinner again before the session.  We love that they give us our dinner for the missionary rate--$3.00!  

On Thursday night we had girls night out at Sis. Macdonald's and our new sister missionary's apartment, Sis. Clark.  We had a yummy dinner and so much fun together!  I love this after a long exhausting day. 

On Friday we went to Lake Las Vegas, which is east of Henderson.  We went because we saw a groupon for such a good deal and to celebrate my birthday.  It was a beautiful Italian resort, and wow, was it awesome!  We ate Friday night at a French restaurant and had the best quiche we have ever had in our lives!

The front of the Ravella where we stayed.  We couldn't believe that we lucked out so well for the weather!  It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend!

The gardens outside of our room. 

It was warm enough that we rented a kayak and went out on Lake Las Vegas!  It was SO much fun!    Lake Las Vegas is a reservoir and even though it is out in the desert it was in a beautiful spot.  What a glorious day we had!  

There were only two boats like this parked at the marina--and check out the name of this one!

We were so grateful for the opportunity to go and have a little recreation and get refreshed.  And so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission here.  What an unbelievable time to be serving a mission!

So Much Happening in Las Vegas!

On Monday I knew that I had so so much work to do to get ready for our 27 MORE new missionaries coming at the next transfer.  New file folders, transfer board cards, letters, orientation books, etc.  There were also a total of 13 missionaries being released on transfer day, including five senior missionaries, which is a lot of work also:  departure papers, letters to stake presidents, certificates of release, ordering flights, etc.  About 16 weeks before the missionary's release, I send a letter to his/her parents, telling them his/her release date and sending them a form to fill out and return as soon as possible with the contact information for the parents and stake president, and the airport information of where the missionary will be flying to.  Some of the parents will send back the information very quickly, and sometimes even include a note for me.  Sometimes 2-3 weeks will go by with no word from them, so I call them and ask them if they actually DID receive the letter. They respond, "Ohhhhhhhh. . . I'm sorry.  I forgot all about it."  REALLY!!?  Church travel won't allow me to order individual flights--all those going home on transfer day need to have their flights ordered as a group, so I can't request them until I receive all the travel papers.  It's a lot of work, and I have to check it several times very carefully, because think of how awful it would be if I requested a flight to the wrong place!  Horrifying!

Anyway, in the midst of all the work, think of how awesome it was to get these darling hearts in the mail from Jade:

So so cute!  Thank you Jade!  We loved it!

The next day we got a package from Lindsey with a letter and homemade almond roca in it!  We thought we'd died and gone to heaven!  We ate every bit of it that very DAY!

The next day I had quite an experience.  A lady called me to tell me that she felt the missionaries assigned to her ward were not doing their jobs.  She went on an on about her investigator friend who she felt wasn't progressing because of the missionaries.  She was pretty emotional and was raising her voice and she talked to me for about 20 minutes.  I just listened and told her I would pass the information on and she said, "When will I expect to get a call back from you telling me why this is happening?"  I told her she would hear from someone by the next day (it was now 5:00 p.m. and I would be leaving the office).  I knew one of the missionaries assigned to her ward who I felt was a really good missionary.  The other one was brand new, having only been here for 1 1/2 weeks.  I decided to call the zone leaders and explain to them what had happened, and they responded very maturely to what I passed on to them.  The next day the missionary assigned to the ward called me and very calmly and kindly told me that he was so sorry that I had received a phone call like that.  He said that he had been sick and that he would immediately meet with her and try to resolve her concerns.  He was genuinely concerned and if he had resentment toward her, he made no indication of it.  I was so impressed, and I told him so.  I thought he handled a difficult situation with amazing dignity and humility and I told him how much I respected him for it.  It was a great experience for me.

Jay Chapman invited Glen to go with him to the West Coast Conference basketball championship games at the Cashman Center.  Can you believe that?  I was so jealous!  He watched the Loyola Marymount and San Diego game and had a great time.  The next night, San Diego beat BYU in a close game and we were so sad!  Glen could have gone to that game too, but . . . 

we went to dinner with our wonderful Bishop Larkin and his wife Melanie.  They took us to this awesome restaurant and we had so much fun with them.  He is a great bishop and everyone in the ward just loves him and his wife.  We do too!

On Saturday we went to the first convert baptism in our ward since we have been there.  Debbie Mopart (pictured in the center) was baptized in a wonderful service.  When I asked her what it was that attracted her to the Church, she told me that it was a wonderful Mormon boss who treated her so well.  When I asked her what it was that converted her she said, "I love that there is a prophet on the earth. It's the missing piece to the circle.   I always wondered why God didn't have a prophet today when he did in Biblical times."  She is really strong and will be a great asset to the ward.  Pictured are Glen and I, Elders West and Findlay (in our ward) Debbie, and Elders Jarmon and Conklin who had taught her before and spoke at the baptism.  

On Saturday night Glen went with Jay to the Cashman Center again to the WCC basketball championships and saw San Diego and St. Mary's play and then also saw Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount.  What exciting games!  BYU was supposed to be playing but they lost!  So because Glen went to the games, I went with the missionaries in the employment center to see the BYU folkdancers.  We went to dinner first and had so much fun talking and sharing.  I just love them! Seated are Sis. Clark, Sis. Macdonald, me, Sis. Splain, Sis. Young, and Sis. and Elder Howerton, who are service missionaries. 

They were also performing in the Cashman Center (a different part) and it was simply incredible!  I had never seen a full program of their's and I was just blown away.  What was fun was that the dancer pictured above is the granddaughter of our senior missionary who just went home--Sis. Anderton.  We loved being able to meet her and talk to her!  What a fun girl's night out we had. 

I had an amazing experience though--on our way to the Cashman Center I looked in my purse for my ticket to get in and it wasn't there.  I showed Glen my ticket as I put it into my purse before I left.  I don't know if it fell out at the restaurant or what, but it was nowhere to be found.   Sis. Young kept saying, "It's got to be in there somewhere!"  It wasn't, so I said, "Let's just get in line and see what happens."  We got in a long line, and when we got to the door, the person taking tickets was none other than Bro. Johnson, the 1st counselor in our bishopric!  I had no problem getting in.  What tender mercies come so frequently here--we are so blessed!

Historic Transfer and the Grand Canyon

We were all quite excited to see in the Church News the new mission president for our mission!  Here is his bio that appeared in the Church News:  "Michael Brown Ahlander, 62, and Rebecca Maxwell Ahlander, three children, Orchard 6th Ward, Orem Utah Orchard Stake: Nevada Las Vegas West Mission. Brother Ahlander is a stake Young Men president and former stake president, bishop, high councilor, branch president at the Provo MTC and missionary in the Norway Oslo Mission. Owner, Ahlander Hardware Company and Agent, Smith Insurance Services. Born in Provo, Utah, to Joseph Frederick and Anna Elaine Brown Ahlander.

Sister Ahlander is a compassionate service coordinator and former stake Young Women president, stake Primary president, counselor in a stake Relief Society presidency, ward Relief Society president, counselor in a ward Young Women presidency and Gospel Doctrine teacher. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Neal Ash and Colleen Fern Hinckley Maxwell."

Pretty exciting, huh?  Can you believe that Sis. Ahlander is the daughter of Elder Neal A. Maxwell?  And Brandon told us that Pres. Ahlander was his MTC branch president.  We'll be excited to meet them in just four short months!  We can't imagine what they're going through to prepare for this, but Pres. Black has talked to them about the mission and sent them a lot of information, including the calendar that I so laboriously had to put together for the new year!

Here is Glen at our SIXTH transfer--only a five week transfer because of the shortened training at the MTC.  It was probably my hardest transfer just because I had so much to get ready but with one less week to do it in.  Glen was able to get all the housing and furniture done with the help of the Lord and the members' involvement, which was unprecedented.  Note my table with the mail and all the packages to give to the missionaries.  I really do love transfer days though, in spite of all the work.  We did the orientation again, which went well, and then Glen helped me to serve the lunch to the missionaries.      

The missionaries visit with each other as they  wait to hear who will be training which missionary.  This was also a historic transfer for two more reasons:  We got the first batch of missionaries from the MTC with only spending 12 days at the MTC, and we also got our first 19 year old sister missionaries--who were AWESOME!!  We love welcoming the new missionaries into the mission!  Each group brings a unique spirit with them and we were especially impressed with the 8 new sisters we got in this group of 26 missionaries.  These consistent huge groups of new missionaries are also unprecedented and requires us to really reach into our energy reserves to do the necessary work to prepare for all of them!  We also received several 18 year old elders.  

  

A new zone was also created with this transfer:  the Elkhorn Springs Zone, bringing the total to 11 zones in the mission.  When we got here there were only six zones!!!  The growth of the mission is just staggering. Elder Parker and Elder Carlson are the new zone leaders, and Tuesday, the day after transfers, (all the zone leaders come into the office on Tuesdays) they came in and brought me a big bag of M&M's with peanuts!  They wouldn't tell me how they knew that I loved M&M's with peanuts!  They are awesome elders and we were excited that they are new zone leaders, as well as the other new zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers that we have.

Tuesdays are also the day that I'm notified from SLC of the new missionaries who are coming to the mission, and I was notified of nine new missionaries coming.  That means I send them a letter and other papers welcoming them to the mission and prepare the immense paperwork involved for each of them.  I was also working on the congratulations letters for the new missionary leadership of the mission and the letters to the parents of the 26 new missionaries--plus the departing paperwork for three of our visa waiters.  It was a particularly huge amount of paperwork for one week, and I worked nonstop all week with great intensity. I sent about 150 letters this week!

To be able to leave the mission boundaries, we have to first ask Pres. Black and he in turn has to ask Elder Dwight W. Pincock, who is over our mission.  We asked Pres. Black if we could go to the Grand Canyon, and not only did we get permission, but he suggested that we leave on Friday morning and not come in to the office.  Can you believe that?  We were so excited because we had had such a hard week.  I felt a little guilty because there is still so much work to do, but Elder Dana kept saying, "Just go and have a good time and get your work done next week!"

As we left Las Vegas we drove by beautiful Lake Mead--this picture was taken from our car!

It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon and I had made a reservation to stay at the Grand Canyon Resort, which was in the middle of pretty desolate country.  At first we wondered what we had gotten ourselves in to, put it turned out to be awesome!  Here is the little cabin that we stayed in at a Groupon rate. 

The inside of the cabin, but this picture doesn't do it justice.  It really was pretty spacious.

We went a hike and then went on a horseback ride and then went to dinner on the ranch.  We ate dinner with a couple from Scotland and another one from England and it was so fun talking to them!  Then we went to a cowboy campfire and roasted some'mores and "Cowboy Dave" sang songs with the guitar and talked.  It was SO much fun and the stars that night were so brilliant.  We could even see Jupiter!  We just loved it and were glad for the heat of the campfire--it was cold! 

The next morning we drove the 20 minutes to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is owned by the Hualapai Indian Reservation.  The gamyu means "hello" in their language.

The reservation requires that we park our vehicle and board buses which transport us to three different locations in their portion of the Grand Canyon.  Our first stop was Eagle Point, which was just magnificent.  Can you see the stone eagle in the rocks just to the left of Glen's head?

Here's a closer picture of it.  The creations of the Lord are so stunning!

We were able to meet and talk to several members of the Hualapai nation and it was pretty interesting to talk to them.  They were dressed in native costumes, even though they don't wear them on a daily basis.  We learned a lot. 

Next to Eagle Point is the famous Grand Canyon Skywalk, which jets 70 feet over the canyon and has a glass bottom so you can look through it into the canyon.  It is suspended 4,000 feet above the canyon and was pretty spectacular.  Glen is standing there on the skywalk with his black jacket on waving his hand!  We watched the video of how this was made.

Our next stop was Guano Point and we ate lunch at this spectacular place.  We were glad to be able to eat out in the sun to get warmed up!  Touring helicopters flew into the canyon every few minutes--it was unbelievable.  We met people here from all over the world--China, Korea, Russia, France, Australia, Great Britain, Japan, Phillipines, and so many other places.

Our last stop was at Hualapai Ranch where we took a wagon ride, did a tomahawk toss, (I even hit the target with the tomahawk!) a rope toss (Glen roped the fake cow, but I couldn't) and other activities.  It was so much fun!  What a great end to a great tour.  We drove back to Las Vegas with renewed energy and were so grateful that we were able to go and see one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

The Worldwide Expansion of Missions!

We were just blown away with the Church's official announcement that 58 new missions were going to be created THIS YEAR!  Can you even believe it?  The number of missions is going from 347 to 405--all in one year!  The ramifications of that is just staggering--that many new mission presidents, office managers (like us)  the set up of the missions, etc.  There are 14 new missions in the United States, 8 in Mexico, 7 in Brazil, 5 in Africa, and on and on.  I can't believe what must be going on at Church Headquarters to organize all these new missions plus keep up with the existing ones.  It's so very exciting!  What an unbelievable  time to be on a mission!  But here's the ramifications  for us of so many  new missions being created--they are only going to have one full time couple in each mission  to work in the office!  The other senior missionaries are going to have to be local couples called to be service missionaries!  This will have a huge impact on who is going to replace us in July. 

   Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy, executive director of the Missionary Department said in the Church News that even though this is such a busy time,  " I'll tell you, this is going to be the most wonderful time," he exclaimed. "If you've ever had a missionary out, you know that there's nothing sweeter than a family gathering and praying for their son or daughter, or their brother or sister — or at times their parents or grandparents — for the Lord to please bless them while they serve their missions. Nothing, really, is more motivational for families than to have someone out serving and to have that be an opportunity to reflect upon our own commitment to helping others around us and bringing the blessings of the gospel into the lives of others."  We know that our children are praying for us and we feel it and it helps us so much.  

Then he also said, "I think the Spirit of the Lord is moving upon this generation in a way that we've never before seen happen as a result of a specific statement or announcement made by the President of the Church, at least not in my lifetime," he said.  What a miracle it is to see the youth respond to the call of a prophet!  It's incredible!  

And it's official--it was announced in yesterday's Church News who our new mission president is going to be:  his name is Michael B. Ahlander and he is from Orem. We were informed about it earlier in the week, and now we can't wait to see his picture and bio in the Church News.  

We had another busy week, as usual.  Here are some highlights:

On Sunday, our dear Relief Society president, Patricia Johnson, was released.  She had given her all in her calling, and everyone just loved her.  What a wonderful person she is.

We have been talking to the guard at our guardhouse about the Church for a few months.  We even gave him a Book of Mormon at Christmas and he seemed genuinely touched.  So we took the next step--we invited him over to our house to talk to the missionaries and then to have dinner with us.  He seemed to respond well to the missionaries and it was neat to be involved with the teaching.  His name is Sean and he's such a nice guy.  We've been praying for him a lot.

On Monday we took a load of furniture to Mesquite for a new area that will be opened up there.  It was quite an interesting place that the missionaries will be living in--it was an old dairy barn that has been remodeled.  I wish I would have taken a picture because it was quite the place!  But the funnest part of the day and the reason we went to Mesquite was to meet up with Vickie and Dell and Jeanette and Kevin.  It was so fun to see them and we had a great time together.

On Tuesday we were invited, along with the Blacks, to have dinner with Randy and Sharon Hale.  I graduated in the same class with Randy, and it's been fun here to renew contact with him.  They are the sweetest, most Christlike couple who go about doing so much good.  It was such a wonderful evening. 

Dear Sister Dillistone is going home on Tuesday.  What a marvelous missionary she is and I just grew to love her!  

Elder Lopez is also going home and we just loved him.  It's been so amazing since we've been here that we have gotten such huge numbers of missionaries coming in but very few leaving.  That's why we have to open up so many new apartments.

It happens pretty often that  missionaries will call Glen and tell him that their vacuum is broken and that they need a new one.  Glen will tell them to bring the vacuum in to the office to exchange it for a new one.  He does this so that he can look at it himself to see if it just needs to be repaired.  Nearly always, this is the case and it teaches the missionaries a good lesson!  This time Glen was out of the office when these elders came in, so Elder Dana and Elder Conder were trying to help them fix it.  The problem is usually that the vacuum is clogged, and it's awesome to have them try to unclog it, because they are so shocked at what's actually clogging it!  They tried for an hour to get the clog out and was finally successful, but Glen had to come to finish putting the final repairs on it to make it work again.

This is Glen's typical stack of bills that come to the office nearly every day.  He's getting so much faster at getting them paid!

Last week we went to Mesquite and spent the morning inspecting apartments with the awesome zone leaders, Elder Edwards and Elder Dowuona-Hammond, and then had lunch with them.  We had such a great time with them!  They sent us this awesome thank you card in the mail!  We just love them!  Elder Dowuona-Hammond is our missionary from Ghana, and he was just made our new assistant to the president!  He will do an awesome job, and I'm so excited for him--and it will be so fun to see him more often!

On Friday we had the craziest day. We were notified by the missionary department that two of our elders would not be coming on the transfer on Monday.  One was permanently not coming, and the other would be coming in two weeks.  That's really difficult after the housing assignments have already been made.  Then just two hours later we were notified that we were getting a new elder on this transfer!  I had to scramble to change the paperwork for the first two and then do all the paperwork for the next one--I was crazy busy all day long!  We just are amazed how things change in the mission nearly every hour.  We are always making adjustments.

On Saturday we went to dinner with our friends, the Wilhelmsens and the Joneses after stake conference.  It was so fun to be with them!  The Joneses will be running the Las Vegas Ragnar with us, and they are an awesome couple.

Tomorrow is transfers--ahhhhhhh!  We're praying that it will go well.  It's our 5 week transfer, so this is historic.  

The Work Goes On!

Our big transfer is just one week away, and guess what?  We are nearly ready for it!  Glen has gotten all of the housing needed for the new missionaries, and miracle upon miracle, this time more of the members here were able to house the missionaries. He only had to sign contracts for two apartments! It made it so much easier for Glen, but he still had to take care of the logistics of getting the mattresses and dressers and sometimes desks to the members' homes who were housing the missionaries.  But the thousands of dollars that it will save the Church will be awesome, plus the missionaries seem to do much better when they are staying with members than when they are in an apartment.  He should have all the areas ready by the end of the week, which is a very big deal since this was only a five week transfer.  And I was able to get all of my files and notebooks ready for them, so we're pretty excited!  We were also able to organize the shed a little better with all of our apartment supplies--there's still a lot of work to do out there, but at least we made quite a dent in it.  It was so cold at the beginning of the week that we couldn't work outside, but it warmed up enough by the end of the week that we could do a little work.

It was crazy because two different sisters in our ward told me this week that their nephews opened their calls and learned that they were both called to the Nevada Las Vegas West mission!  We haven't received their missionary recommendations here yet, but maybe we will this Tuesday.  Both of these sisters were pretty excited that their nephews were coming here.  We are too!

Once a month we have staff meeting at the office with our staff and Pres. and Sis. Black.  We went to dinner at the Olive Garden after our staff meeting and had fun with the Danas, the Conders, and the Blacks.

  

On Tuesday night I went to our ward's Relief Society meeting.  A sister from China who is a convert to the church and married an American, Sister Deng Jones, spoke first on how important the Relief Society sisterhood was to her conversion and her fellowship afterward.  The spirit was so strong as she bore such a powerful testimony of "We really are each other's sisters and we need each other."  Then there were several sisters who did a cooking demonstration of food from their native country--Japan, Argentina,  two from Mexico and one from Polynesia.  The food was so yummy and it was so fun to be together.  I stayed much later than I expected to because I was so tired, but it was so fun!

On Wednesday night we had another Girls' Night Out and this time it was held at our condo.  We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and laughed and chatted and then played chicken foot Dominos.  I love these sisters from the Employment Center!  They are so faithful and so much fun!  Seated clockwise are Sister Black, Sis. Young, Sis. Anderton (she is going home in a week and so this night was planned in her honor), Sis. Macdonald, Sis. Clark (a brand new sister who just arrived the day before our party--and she is so awesome) and Sis. Splain.   We had such a great time!

On Wednesday we also received in the mail these valentines from David and Juliann and Brandon and Lindsey.  We also got M&M's with peanuts and Almond Joy's from David and Juliann--our favorite treats!  We were SO excited to get these in the mail!  Thank you thank you, you guys! We loved it--it made our day!  We had a fun Valentine's Day.  I had put chocolate Valentine candy in our candy box at the office and all the missionaries scarfed them down.  

We also got these Valentine treats from the stake Relief Society presidency who was preparing the luncheon for the zone conference that was held.  Since I stayed at the office that day, the president sent these back with Elder Conder for Glen and I.  Is that so thoughtful?  I am so amazed at how sweet people are.

And can you believe this?  The Lone Mountain zone leaders, Elder Peacock and Elder Vieira (pictured on the very right) took this picture at their zone meeting and then had it framed and brought it to me for Valentine's Day!  They're so adorable!  It really meant a lot to me.

On Friday we were able to go to dinner with Tyler and Amy McMillan and their cute little son, Camden.  They were here in Las Vegas for some job training for Tyler and it was so fun to see them and get to spend some time with them!

Elder Lopez and Elder Butler, the Lakes zone leaders, invited us to one of the three baptisms that they held on Saturday.  We were able to go see Marcel be baptized and it was a wonderful service.  They sure are good missionaries!  Elder Lopez goes home at the next transfer--in a week!

After the baptism, we went up to Spring Mountain Ranch, which is a state park.  We took a nice hike and even found a small lake, which was quite pretty.  This place is known for its wild burros, so I was pretty excited when I was able to see two of them!  Glen was driving so he wasn't able to see them, but he saw them when we first got to Las Vegas.  It was so nice to be out in the open air!  We actually took a four mile run earlier in the day and it was quite glorious to be out in the sunshine.  

The Seven Month Mark

It's so hard to believe that we have been on our mission for seven months now.  We have learned so much and feel it a privilege to be here when so much excitement is focused on missionary work and we can see firsthand how prophecy is being unfolded.  Elder Holland spoke to the MTC on January 15 and told them, "There might have been a more exciting time to be a missionary in the Church but I do not know when that would be.  There is an enthusiasm, an excitement, a zeal right now that is unlike anything I know of in recent years. . . You have to be the best missionaries we've ever had, because no task has ever been put before a missionary like the one we're putting before you.  We expect you to be mature, powerful, bold, spiritual missionaries.  And you have to have an abiding conviction of this work in your heart."  How that is so true!  Glen and I are grateful for the abiding conviction of this work that we have in our hearts and we sure know that we are working our hardest!

Another speaker at the MTC, Elder David F. Evans, told newly called MTC presidents gathered at the MTC that a high school student told him that "When President Monson made this announcement, my whole class of seniors began to change.  Now we're focused in a way we've never been focused before.  We talk different, we think different, we date different, we're trying to be ready to serve missions."  Isn't that so exciting?  We got our first 18 year old elders at our last transfer, and they were so fired up to do missionary work and grateful to be here.  We're so excited to be on the front lines and be participants in this great unfolding!

As usual, we've had a very busy week.  Here are a few things of what has happened.

On Sunday, my dad and Bobbie were in Las Vegas and Glen picked them up and brought them over to our condo because they can't drive in the dark.  He will be 86 on his birthday in March and we're surprised that they travel around as much as they do.  It was a nice visit with them.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Conders were in Utah for the funeral of his sister-in-law, and since Elder Dana was also gone a lot, and Glen was gone sometimes, I was in the office alone some of the time.  That made it VERY busy for me to try to cover all of the different things that were going on.  I was also trying to prepare the folders of the incoming 30 missionaries--four folders for each missionary, with an average of about 15 pages per folder.  That's 120 different folders!  One set is my working folder, two sets are for the president (one for the office and one for his home) and one set for the vehicle coordinator (Elder Dana).  I also had to get the 60 transfer board cards done--30 for the office and 30 for the president's home.  There was a lot going on!

On Monday, we received three new visa waiters who didn't get their visas to go to Mexico.  I prepared their orientation materials and folders and just Glen and I oriented them, which took all morning.  With their arrival it means that (so far) we will receive 57 missionaries in a 5 week period.

On Thursday, the mission was audited again, and this time Glen had to teach the auditor some things that he wasn't aware of.  It took the entire day and the mission's finances are in great shape.  It's still so amazing to see how much money is spent  from this office.  Glen has to pay so many bills and keep track of so much--you would never believe!

Also on Thursday, Sister Dyer came to the office and gave me an announcement from Eston Humphrey (the former assistant), which was a "save the date" announcement that he was getting married on September 7.  I looked at it, and it was so cute--the girl was darling, and they made such a cute couple!  But I knew right off that it was a hoax--he is still trying to get me back from the cake joke that I played on him!  What was funny too was that he sent in another missionary to secretly videotape my reaction--and how sad that I knew it was a hoax and didn't give him the reaction that he was hoping for!  If I had known I was being videotaped, I would have faked a better response!

On Friday we were able to go to Zone Conference.  I love zone conferences!  I love hearing the missionaries speak and I love the role plays.  This is at the luncheon that I had to schedule with the Tule Springs Relief Society president.  Seated at the table from clockwise are us, Elder Dana, Sister Anderton, Sister Macdonald, and Elder and Sister Hodges, who serve on a welfare cattle ranch in our mission in Hiko.

The missionaries stand to sing, "And we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth--and thank you for the food!"  to the sisters who served us the lunch.  

It's a joy to see the missionaries visit with each other and be buoyed up by their association together.  Seated are Sisters Garcia and Hanson, Elders Weekes and Alford (the assistants), Elders Long and Bruce, and Elders Peacock and Vieira, the zone leaders. (and some of our favorites, for sure!)

The senior missionaries who were at this zone conference--the same ones who were sitting at our table, in addition to President and Sister Black.

On Saturday, we went to the office so that Glen could get four new areas taken care of with their furniture needs.  He has 13 new areas to open up (a record!!  And we thought the 9 new areas were hard!) so he met the high councilmen and some of the ward mission leaders to come and pick up the furniture that we had collected and they took it to move into the new areas--all of them being member homes.  Hurray--four member homes!  That is also a record for us since we've been here, to open up four new member homes at one transfer.  Nine new areas to go in just two weeks!  We also organized the pod full of mattresses and furniture so that we can find things easier.  We were at the office for about six hours.

For our p-day activity we decided to go to the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort.  This is located just north of the strip and is now a state park.  We had been wanting to go there for several months, and this was a good day to do it, except that it was so cold that we were freezing to death!  Brigham Young had sent the first settlers here in 1855 but they disbanded in 1857 because of contention between the leaders. 

This is a large piece of property surrounded by big buildings and it was so interesting to visit.  This is an original wagon!  The real growth of Las Vegas occurred after Hoover Dam was built though, and really boomed after the 1960's.  

I received the kindest surprise in the mail--it was a card from the sweetest missionary here--Sister Luamanu from Samoa.  On the inside she wrote, "You know, the person that is doing the hardest work in this mission, it's you!  I just want to say thank you so much. . . you are the best! Your kindness and loving support has helped me through a lot.  Your work might look simple, but it's not, it needs effort. . . Thank you so much.  Love always, Sister Luamanu."  I was so touched,  and was completely speechless, dumbfounded and grateful. What a tender mercy to lift my spirits!  What a sweet, sweet, missionary.  That is one of the sweetest rewards of missionary work that has happened here!