November 06, 2010
Zone Fireside
On Halloween, Sisters Stebar and Wang put together a fireside for the investigators and missionaries. We watched the Joseph Smith Story and then President and Sister Bunker gave their testimonies. All the missionaries (including us) sang a hymn and Phil and I gave the opening and closing prayers. It was well attended by the missionaries, but not too many investigators. We had LOTS of cookies.
Us
Well, we bought a new camera so we could try and get some pictures for this blog. I'll try and post pictures and a public journal on our preparation day. Sometimes that's Saturday, sometimes Monday. I'm keeping our personal contacts in a written journal "for our eyes only"- Unless they give permission to use their pictures and tell about them.
The saints in Santa Rosa are no different than any other. The economy is bad and people are out of work. We met one older lady who is living with and being taken care of by her daughter. They are both in terrible shape. Not enough money for basic needs, and definitely not any for enjoyment. It's really sad.
The ward we live in has a very good, humble and caring bishop, Bishop Preston. He has RA, but still takes care of others. His wife is a VERY talented piano player. The members who attend the ward are struggling with more positions than one. It's kind of like the 8th ward before we had so many young couples move in. So a lot of you understand. It is a spread out area with big numbers of members who haven't been to church in awhile. There is also a small Spanish branch that meets in our building, so we have joint meetings except Sacrament. We are getting out every day meeting the members, and also learning a small amount of what to do in the office. Elder Gordon Snow and Sister Sarah Snow run things there. They have some help in different areas, but it is a really big job, and very time consuming for the Snows.
We haven't made it to the beach, yet, nor to the Redwoods, but we will soon. We have seen quite a bit of the area as we've run errands for ourselves and the mission.
Elder Adamson rode with Elder Snow to the Oakland airport the day the San Francisco team came home to a parade. Our mission goes down to the Golden gate bridge and up to the Oregon border. To the east, it goes to the Sacramento area. President Bunker has a big area to cover.
The saints in Santa Rosa are no different than any other. The economy is bad and people are out of work. We met one older lady who is living with and being taken care of by her daughter. They are both in terrible shape. Not enough money for basic needs, and definitely not any for enjoyment. It's really sad.
The ward we live in has a very good, humble and caring bishop, Bishop Preston. He has RA, but still takes care of others. His wife is a VERY talented piano player. The members who attend the ward are struggling with more positions than one. It's kind of like the 8th ward before we had so many young couples move in. So a lot of you understand. It is a spread out area with big numbers of members who haven't been to church in awhile. There is also a small Spanish branch that meets in our building, so we have joint meetings except Sacrament. We are getting out every day meeting the members, and also learning a small amount of what to do in the office. Elder Gordon Snow and Sister Sarah Snow run things there. They have some help in different areas, but it is a really big job, and very time consuming for the Snows.
We haven't made it to the beach, yet, nor to the Redwoods, but we will soon. We have seen quite a bit of the area as we've run errands for ourselves and the mission.
Elder Adamson rode with Elder Snow to the Oakland airport the day the San Francisco team came home to a parade. Our mission goes down to the Golden gate bridge and up to the Oregon border. To the east, it goes to the Sacramento area. President Bunker has a big area to cover.
Zone Leaders
These are our Zone leaders, Elder Ryan Williams (who looks like Russell to us) and Elder Tim McCoig. I can't remember where they are from. Our zone is the Santa Rosa Zone. We have to make our own Report forms because our service is different from the other elders and sisters.
We were able to go to some other zones and do apartment inspections. That was an eye opener! Thank goodness we did the Sisters first. We're still trying to figure out how golf clubs and fishing poles were left in one of the apartments by other elders. The trend seems to be that when a transfer happens or it's time to go home, the missionary only takes what he/she can stuff in a suitcase. They leave everything else behind in the apartment where it accumulates - sometimes for a year. The incoming missionaries don't know what to do with the stuff, so they just put it in a bag in the closet.
We brought things back for "sharing" and the thrift store.
We were able to go to some other zones and do apartment inspections. That was an eye opener! Thank goodness we did the Sisters first. We're still trying to figure out how golf clubs and fishing poles were left in one of the apartments by other elders. The trend seems to be that when a transfer happens or it's time to go home, the missionary only takes what he/she can stuff in a suitcase. They leave everything else behind in the apartment where it accumulates - sometimes for a year. The incoming missionaries don't know what to do with the stuff, so they just put it in a bag in the closet.
We brought things back for "sharing" and the thrift store.
District Leader
Elder Brady Anderson, hails from all over, but his mom currently lives in Orem and his dad lives in Springville,is our District leader. He is a great teacher. We have District meeting every Tuesday morning from 10:30am-noon. Then we also have missionary correlation with him and his companion because we are in the same ward - Stony Point. Elder David Morrison from Arkansas is his companion. He has a twin brother who is on a mission in Uraguay.
1/2 Mission Conference
These are some of the missionaries at our 1/2 mission conference. I thought that meant it would only be half a day. After the laughing stopped, I was informed it would just be 1/2 of the mission attending. The other half would be held the next day. Elder Christoffel Golden Jr.from the Seventy and his wife came. It was very uplifting and helpful. We sat with them at lunch to introduce ourselves.
Elder Sproat and Elder Jensen from our MTC branch are in our 1/2. Also, Sister Anderson and Sister Fulton. We saw Elder Abercrombie in Vacaville the Sunday we were traveling here. We haven't seen Sister Nestman, yet. The other one that is here from our branch, sadly, went home - Sister Green.
Elder Sproat and Elder Jensen from our MTC branch are in our 1/2. Also, Sister Anderson and Sister Fulton. We saw Elder Abercrombie in Vacaville the Sunday we were traveling here. We haven't seen Sister Nestman, yet. The other one that is here from our branch, sadly, went home - Sister Green.
Santa Rosa Missionaries
This is Sister Stebar and Sister Wang. They are in our District here in Santa Rosa. They work with the singles branch. They brought an investigator, Robert, to our apartment to teach. He is a wonderful young man. A baptismal date has been set. He has been trying to help us get furn
iture for the apt.
iture for the apt.
MTC District
This is our "family" from the MTC. We had 3 couples in our District. The funny thing was, they are the ones we talked to as we were getting registered and stuff. The other couples are Melvin and Muriel Meredith from West Mountain, Utah going to Indonesia on a humanitarian mission, and Robert and Martha Kelly from Alamosa, Colorado going to Mexico City East Mission to be the Medical Director. Wonderful, great people. (And I'm not just saying that because they'll be reading this.).JPG)
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Our new mission van
The "Old Faithful Town & Country". We've already put it to good use. Thank goodness for stow'n go seats. The missionaries we've driven around seem to like it. And we brought our GPS from the truck. Wah! I miss my truck.
Our Apartment
We have a great 2 bedroom apartment. Phil and I can both fit in the kitchen at the same time! We bought a new bed when we got here, and finished the sparse furnishings with some thrift store buys and a few things from the mission storage unit.
I brought my bread maker and wheat grinder, only to find I can't get any wheat at the stores here. I'm hot on the trail of some now. I may have to have Sherm ship me some from Lehi Roller Mills if I can't locate any.
I brought my bread maker and wheat grinder, only to find I can't get any wheat at the stores here. I'm hot on the trail of some now. I may have to have Sherm ship me some from Lehi Roller Mills if I can't locate any.
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