May 7, 2023

Yesterday it was official! We have been out on our mission for 2 months now! We can't believe how fast the time has gone. We are loving it! We love how much we are learning spiritually, how much our testimonies are growing, and how much love we are developing for our missionaries! This was the last week for Elder & Sister Weed so we are flying solo now on our job duties. Lucky for us they live locally and are happy to be a resource for us. They are amazing and have taught us so much by their example. We are so grateful we get to continue our friendship with them. Sister Weed talked about how hard it was going to be to take their badges off and what life would look like afterward. No one would recognize them as disciples of Jesus Christ but then she was reminded in the Book of Mormon that we are instructed to "Live After the Manner of Happiness." If we studied and tried to live all that that meant, we would still be recognized as disciples of Jesus Christ. That is what we need to strife for.

The (2) young sister missionaries, Sister Smith & Sister Nichol will be the next to leave our office. They go home Monday and Wednesday. We will miss their fun energy in the office as they will not be replaced. They are so agreeable and eagar to help in any way they can. They decorated for Cinco de Mayo, they take off & put on license plates for Elder Rowan, they send out letters, make the calendar for the President, you name it and they can do it in the office. I will miss their, "Sister Rowan, is there anything we can do for you today?" The Stewarts will be the next to leave in a little over a week. They went home for a family wedding on Wednesday so we got a little taste of what it will be like in the office when the Larson's and us are on our own. It was quiet! But we've got this and we will do great!

This week we had MLC and it was our first time to prepare a dinner on our own. Sister Larson and I will be doing them together going forward but this time I spearheaded it since she had not been here for a meal yet. We served about 40 and had Chicken Stuffing Casserole, green beans, salad, rolls, & strawberry shortcake. It went well but I do admit to being tired after it was all over :). Elder Rowan got rid of another 13 cars for sale and picked up the last (2) that will need to be traded. By this time next week the GREAT CAR EXCHANGE may be done! Hooray! 50 new cars received and 50 old cars gone! It was baptism by fire!! On Friday we had the Spanish Zone Conference. We have about 20 missionaries called to the Oregon Salem Mission - Spanish Speaking and another 10 Spanish speaking missionaries here waiting for Visas to go to another country, mostly Peru & Columbia. Since it was Cinco de Mayo they decided to have fun with it. We decorated for it and the missionaries even had a pinata! The mission presidency counselor over it arranged catering for it and we had street tacos. It was a fun time!

This week is transfers and we have now been here long enough to have gotten attached to some of our local missionaries. The Assistants to the President are in our area and spend a lot of time in the office. They are incredible young men! They work so hard and keep track of everything in the mission. They have been so helpful to us, especially Elder Rowan as we have learned our duties and managed the GREAT CAR EXCHANGE! I don't know what we would have done without them! They are Elder Williams & Elder Hyde and they are awesome leaders. Elder Hyde is being transferred and we will really miss him.

We also have (2) other missionaries, Elder Reil & Elder Bain that our in our area. Elder Rowan has had a lot of fun with these missionaries and even got to play pickleball with them twice this week. Once on their "P"day and again the next morning for their morning exercise. Elder Reil is being transferred which I guess we will just have to get used to. At least we will get to see them at Zone Conferences. Elder Bain is on the Austism Spectrum although he does not have a diagnosis. He reminds me a lot of Rachel. It has been awesome to be here and see how kind and accommodating the other missionaries are to him. They are living what they are preaching!

There is so much going on with our family while we are away. I wish I could post pictures of all of their activities. Ryan & Amy are getting ready for their MCO concerts next week and Parker is getting ready to graduate on May 31st. He is working on his mission papers and we may have another missionary in the family soon! Rachel was here last week and Chris was busy this weekend taking care of our house. He turned on the sprinkler system and got everything set up for the summer. We are so grateful for him!! Matt was in Guatemala two weeks ago on a Humanitarian Project and Chelsea graduated with her Masters in Multilingual Education. Isabel went to church Prom and met her goals in running the 800 in track. Tracey is still working on her Masters while managing the running part of the Track Team and Alyssa & Danica are busy with volleyball & basketball. We are close enough that we got to watch Alyssa's volleyball games yesterday and hope to make it to a track meet this week! We are trying to get out and enjoy our neighborhood. We are learning about all the flowers that are grown her locally that we don't have in Utah. Our new favorite this week is the Camilla.