The Adventure of Change

Sunday, November 8, 2015

A week of changes again....not the least of which has been the weather.   It is my habit to check the weather on my phone before I get dressed in the morning to determine if I need to wear layers or just a short sleeve top.   So one morning I checked my phone and it said it was going to be rainy that day. I put on my skirt, top and sweater, but it was not long after we reached the office that the sun came out and I had to remove my sweater because it was too hot.   Another day there was supposed to be no rain, so I didn't take a jacket or a sweater and by mid-morning the rain was pouring down....which it did most of the rest of the day - It would rain hard for about 20 minutes, clear up for about 30 minutes, and then start to rain again.   After one such day, we came our of the office a few minutes after five and I looked up to see what I called a "polka dot" sky.   I loved it and had to snap a picture.

I love how the sun shines through the clouds and not others.

On Wednesday or Thursday (the days go by so fast they all seem to run together) I realized that I better go purchase some birthday cards and get them in the mail so I wouldn't be late for my "little boys" birthdays.   Our two youngest boys have birthdays in November and we always called them the"little boys" - not sure that fits anymore with them reaching the first of the "F" decades ;-)  Anyway, when I reached the target parking lot I noticed this tree that was pretty equally divided between green and red leaves and then I noticed the two way arrow.....made me think maybe the tree is trying to decide which way to go.

Tuesday I was supposed to go with the young Sister Missionaries to visit Ms Sewell at noon.   She called and cancelled but they asked me if I would be available to go to a different appointment with them at 2 p.m.   I said sure.   We went to visit Heather.   She's a nice woman in her late thirties and although she shares a name with my oldest niece Heather, she looks much more like the younger sister of Heather, Happi.   I told her about that and she was glad to hear she reminded me of someone I love.   She has two little kids and although they kept interrupting the conversation, she has had some great experiences in reading the Book of Mormon and when the missionaries asked her what she thought about what happens after she dies, she gave a step by step description of the Plan of Salvation and said she had not read it anywhere and the sisters had not taught her that concept but she said she has just always thought that is the way it would be.   Her family doesn't want her to associate with the Mormons, but she came and brought the two kids to church today.   I even spoke up a couple of times during the conversation.....I am s-l-o-w-l-y getting over my fear of speaking to people about the gospel but it sure is taking a long time for me to get there....

Wednesday was MLC and I had taken all my leftover Halloween candy into the office and saved it for that day.   I wish you could have heard some of the Elders when they saw the big bowl of candy sitting there.   "Is this candy for us.....can we have some".   By the time the day was over and the missionaries had all checked out the bowl of candy,  there were two little twizzlers left - everything else was gone and I had a big smile on my face because I was able to make the missionaries happy and get the candy out of my sight so it wouldn't tempt me.   That's what I call a "win-win" :)

Everyday as we left for the office and came home, I checked out the tree that had all those brilliant leaves on it a little more than a week ago.  As you can see on the ground, the leaves have been falling steadily and as they go fewer and fewer, I kept thinking of the O'Henry story of "The Last Leaf."  I remember this as an old filmstrip that was showed in Seminary that had a great message about the importance of life and how we influence others.  AS the leaves got down to the last few, I started to think about my own life and if I had made a significant difference in the lives of others.........

http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1303/

Thursday it was rather quiet in the office and Elder Ashton was waiting for the mail to come hoping that he would get lots of envelopes from the missionaries with gas receipts from October.   Well, he didn't really get his wish, but you should be able to tell from the big smile on his face that he was excited to get this big white envelope from Salt Lake City!

Anticipation

In fact, so much anticipation that he could hardly get the envelope open .    We have been called to serve a second mission.   We will be serving in the Arizona, Gilbert Mission beginning May 9, 2016.   We will be released from the Virginia, Chesapeake Mission April 28, 2016 and have a few days to drive across the country and unpack our bags.   I'm excited to have another opportunity to serve, especially serving from home where I can cook in my own kitchen, sleep in my own bed, and hug my friends, kids, grandkids and great-grandkids on a more regular basis!   Serving has been a GREAT experience and we love working with the missionaries so this is a really exciting thing!  Our call id for MLS (Member Leader Support) with the option for the Mission President to re-assign our responsibilities.   We talked to him a couple of months ago about the possibility of serving and when he learned that Elder Ashton can take care of bikes and cars he said, "You're hired" so I think we will probably end up doing much the same things as we have been doing here but the mission is less than 50 miles across instead of over 300 miles from end to end.

As if that were not enough excitement for one day, a little later in the afternoon I looked out the window to see this blue jay pecking around for food.   I watched it for about 15 minutes....it would stick its beak down into the crack between the sidewalk and the grass and flip the leaves out, then dig back down into the exposed earth looking for bugs.   It was pretty interesting to watch.

The picture doesn't show the blue or the tuft as well as I had hoped it would but I still love seeing animals and plants that are different than I usually see in Arizona.

Another view of the blue jay.

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As you can see from the photo above, when we arrived at the office on Friday, there were lots of leaves in the parking lot with many more to fall off the trees.   As we walked into the office with leaves crunching under our feet, it brought back some memories of the autumn leaves in Wyoming, which lead to the Homecoming Parade, Bonfires, Football Games, etc.   It was good to reminisce for a few minutes.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I followed my habit of checking the weather and saw that it was supposed to start raining a little later in the morning.   Elder Ashton had gone on a bike ride, so I got dressed, started the laundry, made the shopping list and decided to go get groceries before the rain came.   As we were carrying the groceries into the house, it started to sprinkle and rained most of the rest of the day.   Elder Ashton went to pick up and assemble a bicycle and give blood.   I stayed home and played at being a homemaker again......did laundry, mended some clothes, cooked bean soup, baked some sweet bread, and most important of all.....took a nap!   A nice productive Saturday.

Pouring outside!!!

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Bean Soup

Laundry almost done.

Now I am looking forward anxiously to a Google Hangout chat with most of my family members in about 4 hours......can't wait to see their faces and talk to them!

We are Healthy (what a huge blessing), Happy (having a great time and learning lots) and Humbled to be able to serve and feel the love and spirit of Heavenly Father and the Savior so strongly.   Happy Fall still - no snow yet :)

An Adventurous "Transfer" Week

Sunday, November 1

"Transfer Week" is a common term used in our mission and is said with a mixture of excitement and dread.  It is the week when we send missionaries home at the end of their service and welcome brand spanking new missionaries just arriving here in Virginia.   Along with the departures and arrivals, it usually involves a number of missionaries having new companions assigned to them and maybe even being assigned to work in a different city or town.   All in all, it is a physically and emotionally demanding week......and this past week was just that - a physically and emotionally demanding transfer week.

My first assignment on the Monday morning of transfer week is to get on the airline website and "check in" all the missionaries that will be departing on Tuesday morning, print out their boarding passes, pay for two checked bags and print out the receipt.   I put that all together for each missionary and hand it to the Mission President so he can give it to them when they arrive at the airport on Tuesday morning.   This past week that was a task that went smoothly because there were only 10 missionaries traveling home.   However, as I went down the list and checked each one off I found myself feeling quite emotional as I realized I will probably not get any more handshakes or hugs from these missionaries I have adopted as my surrogate grandchildren.  I was glad most of us from the office were able to get one last photo with a couple of the departing young Elders.

Sure wanted to hug these two young men when I told them good-bye but since that is against the rules I had to satisfy myself with a warm handshake.

The departing missionaries usually leave the airport at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning and the new arriving missionaries usually arrive about 3:30 p.m. - this week they didn't arrive until 5 p.m. so it made for a little later night.   We welcomed 7 Sisters and 5 Elders.   Our responsibility this time was fairly simple - we helped get them all fed and did some clean-up after dinner.   I called the parents of 4 of the arriving missionaries to let them know that their son/daughter had arrived safely and seemed to be in good spirits.   We had an interesting phenomena occur this time.....one of the arriving Sisters is best friends with one of the Sisters already serving here in the mission.   It was so great to see them hugging and hugging each other with huge smiles on their faces on Wednesday morning when they saw each other!!!   They are not living together or serving in the same town/city but they certainly were excited to be serving in the same mission.

To accomplish our assignments for that evening, we left the office at about 4 p.m. to drive to Norfolk.  

This is our trip through the tunnel that passes under the river between Portsmouth and Norfolk.   There was quite a bit of traffic that afternoon as we were in the midst of rush hour.   Elder Ashton told me he had learned that the huge fans you see at the top of the tunnel are there in case there is a car fire, the fans will be turned on to dissipate the smoke.   I always breathe at least a tiny sigh of relief when we come out on the other side of the tunnel.

On our way to the chapel we got behind a vehicle that had come up with a unique way of attaching the bumper to the car ---- bungee cords!   Elder Ashton and I got a laugh about that because he deals with bumper issues on mission cars on a fairly regular basis and we thought maybe he could use this picture in his training......of what NOT to do :)

I noticed this multi-colored tree in the parking lot at the Norfolk Chapel and felt I needed to capture a picture of it so I will be able to look back and remember Fall's beauty when we are baking in 100 degree heat in Arizona next fall :)

All set up just waiting for the missionaries to arrive.

This is the arriving group in the Norfolk Building Cultural hall along with President and Sister Baker.  The second Elder from President Baker on the left of the picture is the son of Eric Ciminski who I have known for more than 20 years......first as a Field Trainer in Safford Arizona.   They now live in Gilbert so it was interesting to greet someone who lives close to our home :)

Wednesday is the day for all the new missionaries and any missionaries moving to a different city or picking up a new companion to come into the office.   It is total chaos once the meeting is over and they all come into the office, bringing receipts, asking questions about cars, asking for supplies, etc.   But a good chaos.   We sure are having fun serving with these young missionaries!

By lunchtime on Wednesday, this is what our beautiful tree of flame in the parking lot looked like.....swiftly losing it's leaves!

Thursday and Friday are quieter, catch-up days in the office.....in fact, I caught Elder Ashton taking a 1 hour nap on Friday afternoon while sitting straight up in his chair at his desk.   When he woke up I asked him how long he thought he had been asleep and he said "10 minutes".   He was shocked when I told him he had been asleep for an hour but obviously his body needed the rest.

Leaves, leaves, everywhere.   When we arrived at the office on Friday morning it seemed like the air was literally raining the smaller leaves you see here.    I love the glorious color but sure am glad I am not responsible for cleaning up all the leaves!

Glorious color is all around us - even the evergreen trees try to get in the act with the climbing vines turning a variety of colors.

RED trees in the school yard across the street.

Even with the brilliant fall colors and trees losing their leaves, there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy various kinds of blooms.   The white "lillies" are about 5" in diameter when they are fully open.

Since I am no longer 25 years old, nor do I have the energy of a 25 year old, we decided not to go exploring on Saturday and stayed at home doing laundry and a little napping so I'll finish up with a few more pictures from historic Cape Charles that I took a week ago Saturday.

Another of the many historic homes in Cape Charles - there were a ton of them!

I liked this one with the fabric (maybe canvas) shades

Loved the rounded porch on this one and the fact that kids bikes were in the front yard....made me think about how many families might have lived in this home over the years.

I really like the picture of this one through the tree branches and with the fall decorations.

I'm intrigued by these plants with the HUGE leaves - I see them quite frequently but have no idea what they are.

Stage Door is a community theater in Cape Charles --- I loved this creative Mermaid out front

I liked the lengthwise view of this street of mostly historic homes and really like the blue and white combination on the house on the corner.

CAPE CHARLES MUSEUM FINDS

OLD Tractor  probably circa 1930's

The Jetty House - see explanation below.

See explanation below

This High Ball and station house sit on the museum grounds.

Station house

Replica of railroad cars that would have traveled down the coast to Cape Charles

Anyone remember this type of Cash Register?

How about this switch board?

An early (almost prehistoric) version of video games?

Vernor's Ginger Ale ad

Old Post Office Boxes

This is a model of the type of boat used by British settlers at Jamestown area to travel up the rivers in hopes of trading with the local native tribes - one like this was used when the settlers tried to trade with the Powhatan Indians

The original Arlington plantation is in the area of Cape Charles and was owned by the Custis family.   Martha Custis married George Washington at this plantation.   All that remains now are 4 stones that may have been the cornerstones of the foundation and two grave markers.   We didn't visit this site but would like to go back sometime and see what is there.

MORE CAPE CHARLES

A large home in one of the newer developments in Cape Charles designed to look like a historic home.

A historic home near the beach in Cape Charles just beginning the restoration process.

If you look closely you can see 3 ships on the horizon waiting to leave the bay - they would need to go under the bridge or over one of the tunnels.....I didn't see them do either but I'm sure they did.   The Chesapeake Bay is still a busy shipping area as it was in the 1700 - 1800's.

Saturday we took an hour in the middle of the day to go with the Sister Missionaries to an appointment with an investigator.   They had prayed about what to talk to the investigator about and came prepared but he was unable to focus on anything they were trying to tell him.   It nearly broke my heart when I looked at one of the young missionaries fighting to keep the tears away.   They work so hard and leave behind everything familiar to come here and teach people and sometimes the rejection is hard for them to take.   All I could do was give them a little hug and a pep talk to not give up.....which was good because I needed that pep talk myself.   I find as we get closer to the end of our time of service here, the more I miss my family and friends and am looking forward to lots of hugs when I get back in Arizona.   Despite missing you all, this is a great experience and I am surprised at how this experience is changing my perception of many things.

Happy November from Virginia!