Week 11: New: Missionaries, Snow, Adventure

Armadillo found its way to the office

Transfer week. Van and I drove the mission van to the airport on Tuesday to help pick up eleven new missionaries (10 elders, 1 sister). We enjoy getting to know them. Makes for a long day by the time we pick them up, feed them lunch, do a little orientation, help them meet their new companions, have all the other missionaries come in for transfer meeting and testimonies of departing missionaries, and ... then we go back to the office so I can email parents of newly arrived missionaries to let them know their missionary arrived safely. -- Love it. Departing missionaries leave on Wednesdays, but we haven't had to go to the airport for that.

We woke up to snow on Friday morning. Not much, but kind of a big deal for here. It was enough for Elder Hadlock to make a snowman in front of the office. A jolly little fellow -- made by a jolly senior elder. 

Rain and warmer weather later in the day came along and washed the snow away. It was pretty, but we certainly don't miss the hours of shoveling.

Despite the rainy weather and gray skies, we decided to head south to Olympia on P-Day -- to see what we could see.

We met up with Elder & Sister Clarke who are serving as records preservation missionaries at the state capitol in Olympia. Olympia is located at the very bottom of the Puget Sound. We went to the Sound and saw a massive shipping yard full of recently cut trees that will be sent to Japan and China. I've never seen so many trees. Photos didn't turn out so well though. Use your imagination -- or come see for yourself!

State Capitol is in background

Elder and Sister Clark from Idaho

We went to a Farmers Market near the sound and took pictures on the docks. Van bought some yummy Blueberry Honey -- almost as good as Vernal honey.

We went to the State Capitol and walked around there. It really is in a beautiful setting. 

Took some pictures of more Washington wildlife on the way back to Tacoma. It's amazing what we see when we take time to stop and look.




Now it's Sunday night. Van has gone to be early; he's not feeling well today. I'm listening to Christmas music as I write and trying not to get too sentimental. Being far from home, family, and friends during the holiday season is just plain weird. But we remind ourselves often how blessed we are and why we are here. We love the Savior and are anxious to do whatever we can to help Him in His work. In many ways it has been good for us to have a little different focus this year and to set aside some of the "hustle and bustle" that we (I) so often get caught up in. Still we miss everyone and wish a very Merry Christmas to all.