May 5, 2024

Most of this week has gone by in a blur. We have been busy doing the usual office stuff. Elder Rowan was busy exchanging old cars for new ones and getting cars ready to sell. I was busy training Sister Bready on Supply Orders and trying to get her computer set up correctly. Sister Bready does not have alot of computer skills so the training goes slowly. She struggles to know the difference between a folder in her email and a folder on her desktop. Saving and finding files is a process and she has no experience with spreadsheets. And then when your computer doesn't work right or you don't have access rights to programs you need it further complicates things. She is a trooper to keep trying and eventually she will get it. I try to have faith that the Lord called her to this position for a reason so he is going to qualify her for the work. I spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with Salt Lake trying to do things like install Adobe on her computer, etc. One day her scanner lost it's connection to her computer and I was pleased that I could reconnect it for her. The other Senior missionaries think my computer skills are AMAZING and tell me so frequently. What does that tell you about the skills of senior missionaries?

Every six weeks our missionaries have an interview with President Phillips. These are set up by Zone and conducted at church buildings throughout the mission. We affectionately call these "Waffle Days" because Sister Phillips makes waffles for all the missionaries while they wait their turn for their interview. It is a good opportunity for her to visit with the missionaries and get to know them a little better too. She is kind enough to include us on "Waffle Day" when she is cooking for the missionaries in our zone even though we don't have interviews.

We were busy trying to get things done early in the week because we knew we were going to be taking off from the office on Thursday & Friday. It was a busy week in the Stinchfield household with both Tracey and Hayden graduating from college. Tracey graduated from Boise State with her Masters in Social Work and Hayden graduated from Washington State with his Bachelors in Criminal Justice. What huge accomplishments for their family! In just a few short weeks Danica will also graduate from High School.

Tracey worked very hard in her Master's program. It took (3) years and required a lot of time and sacrifice. The women in our family are amazing! Chelsea graduated with a 2nd Masters last year at this time and now teaches Spanish, Amy is an amazing singer who devotes lots of time and energy to improving her skills and sharing her talent, and Rachel is the most devoted and loving ministering sister that I know!

We were blessed to have the opportunity to attend Tracey's graduation. Tom had to work on Thursday so Tracey drove with us over to Boise and it was great to have that time alone with her. We arrived at Boise State in time to have a photo shoot and get lots of good pictures of her around campus. Tom arrived later that night and Friday she graduated. We had lunch together afterwards and then Tracey & Tom were off to Pullman, Washington for Hayden's graduation. Tracey has accepted a job to work with (2) rural middle schools as a School Social Worker (official title Mental Health Therapist). She worked with these schools as part of one of her internships so she is excited to continue her work with them. She also has lots of ideas to work with Non-Profits in her community and would ultimately like to start a Boys & Girls Club in Washougal. This girl can do anything so it will be interesting to see what she does! Hayden and his girlfriend, Joey, both graduated from Washington State and will be moving to Boston in the summer so Joey can attend Law School. Hayden was sports co-editor of his college newspaper and hopes to find work as a sports writer. Already he has picked up numerous free-lance jobs as a writer and we are excited for his future.