It has been so long since I have written, I have not been able to because first, our computer was acting up and then I was just too tired to look at a computer after working on one all day long for 8 to 10 hours.
These past three weeks have been some of the hardest that I have gone through in many years, it reminded me of the time when we started up our business and Jon earned the Medicaid contract, I wanted to run away then and I wanted to run away this time too. Bob has been so good to lovingly support me as well as do all the many things he had to do too.
We were not given much training and were left with a lot of back work that had not been done, I sometimes wondered if we would ever learn, but the Lord in His quiet way was always there whispering things that we should do and when I made mistakes helped find them and correct them.
I love the missionaries, they are so good and always positive when they call in for help of come in to spend a few minutes with us in the office.
There is a very special sister missionary, Sister Pedraza, she is a convert and such a sprititual person. She called in two weeks ago to have me send her an official letter to the government to help her get her health care taken care of. It was a holiday weekend that week and I told her that I didn't think it would get to her on time, because she had to have an MRI taken, she said that if we would pray and have faith then it would be all right. She prayed and called me the next week to say that the letter had come, it really was a miracle because the mail system had shut down all weekend and on Monday and she should never have received that letter but she did. She called to thank me for praying, she told me how grateful she was to the Lord for hearing her prayers.
I have had 50 back letters to send out to new members with a request for the new convert to write their conversion story, the previous secretary didn't do it much because she said that they didn't reply. The president asked me to start sending those letters out and I am down to the last 10. This week we received a sweet letter back from a young boy of 11 who was baptized in March and he said that he wanted to be baptized because he wanted to hold the priesthood and be able to pass the sacrament when he was 12. It was so sweet because he typed it in his own words.
We had a special meeting with the sister missionaries at the mission home this week and we sisters in the office were invited to come also. The three of us gave short talks on assigned topics and then the sisters (18 in all) gave ideas on teaching the lessons from "Preach My Gospel", I was so impressed with the maturity of these young women and the great love that they have for these people that they teach.
Today, our president & his wife had all the senior couples and 2 sets of senior sisters to a pot luck dinner at the mission home. There were 18 of us and we had such a great time. The president talked to us after dinner about his mission president conference that he just attended in the states and he told us how desperate the church is for senior missionaries and that there are just not enough of us to go around to all the missions that need us. He thanked us all for being such great missionaries and for all the service that we give to the mission.
I love our apartment, we look out over the city and at night I go from room to room looking at the beautiful view. I ride a stationary bike that was left from the other couple and as I ride I watch the planes landing and taking off from the airport over in Toronto.
Monday night after work we parked in the underground parking and went in to take the elevator up to the 25th floor and the elevators were not working, we walked up to the next parking floor and there were people sitting in the foyer waiting for the elevator to get fixed. There were two people caught in the elevator and they finally had to have the fire department come and get them out. The elevators (3 of them) were out for over 3 hours, we stayed down there for a while and finally I told Dad that we should walk up, (Dad does it all the time for exercise) but he was afraid I couldn't do it, I told him I would rather walk up than sit down there all night, so we started walking, I would stop every now and then but we made it up in 15 minutes, and I was not any worse off. For sure that night I did not ride the bike, but I think that that is why I was able to climb up those stairs.
I am beginning to love these people so much, they are delightful, fun, interesting and nice. We still have our conversations on the elevators every morning and night on our way to and from work and we have met such fun people, we also have fun convesations in the wash room also.
Dad and I along with the 2 senior sisters in the office are going to Buffalo to shop on Saturday and we are so looking forward to it. We are making our lists and going to buy the town out. I was going through our desk stuff from home and came across a card from a widow friend of ours in the ward who gave us a $100.00, I had to thank the Lord for finding that, because it will really help.
Our mission is so expensive, if it is $5.00 in American then it is $7.00 here, the fast food places are terrible and the fresh produce is not that good either, but the pancakes that I make are out of this world, I don't know if it is the altitude, climate or what but they are like clouds - wow.
I am getting tired so I guess I will stop for now, I doubt that anyone will read this, maybe my Kellye, but I needed to write this for me.
We really are loved by our Savior and Father in Heaven, how very blessed we are to have them in our lives as well as the Holy Ghost to guide us as we travel through the ups and downs of this life.