A Day in the Work

Everyday has a different schedule and everyday turns out different than what we had planned, so it is a real adventure each day to see what we will really do by the end of the day. This day we trained leaders at the little chapel in the San Jacinto branch and then moved on to the branch president and did some training there in his home. While I was training the branch president, Mom was spending time with his wife and 8 month old baby Jared.

Boys all over the world aspire from birth to get behind the steering wheel and drive. If he could talk he would say, "Give me the keys mom. I can drive this thing."

We finished up with the training and went home for lunch, did a little office work and then moved on to meet with the departing senior missionaries.

Sister Cooper is from England and is the resident hairdresser. She has been so kind to share her talents for free. It has been a real blessing for Mom to have a good haircut when she needs one. She will be sorely missed... especially by the sisters. Today they set up shop in the mission home kitchen. Believe me, the kitchen in our home is nothing like this.

L to R: Jensens, Perkins, Lindsays, Walker, Mortimers

The departing senior missionaries, the new senior couple and the "old-timers" gathered to go to dinner together. We loaded into our cars and made our first stop at the new Urdaneta Temple site. We are hoping to hear the date for the groundbreaking very soon.

The temple site is currently a mango grove on the main National Highway running north and south from Manila to Baguio. On the north side there is a "wetlands preserve". On the East there is more "nature preserve" and on the south there is a Coca Cola bottling plant. We wanted to walk out into the property, but the guards said it was not safe... there are cobras in the grass. We told our grandson McKay about that and he was excited to tell all his brothers and sister that grandma and grandpa had mangoes and cobras at their temple!

This is Elder and Sister Mortimer, from Bluffdale, Utah. They are the new couple that will serve in the Employment Resource Center in Dagupan and will replace Sisters Cooper and Walker. The Mortimers have also served a mission in Malaysia, 2007-2008.

L to R: Elder Mortimer, President Perkins and President Jensen. 

We love talking with each other and sharing our experiences. The Mortimer's fit right into the group. President and Sister Perkins have worked as the office couple and are departing next week. We hope to have a replacement couple arrive soon. We need more couple missionaries!

L to R: Sisters Perkins, Walker and Jensen

Mom and Sister Mortimer

We can down a lot of chicken and rice as well as heaping helpings of pancit, shrimp and tofu. We washed it down with pineapple juice and coconut/pineapple smoothies. They do have the best pineapple I have tasted anywhere.

We had a wonderful evening together, but all good things must to come to and end so we can start another exciting adventure tomorrow.