May 17, 2015

Bob: It is 7:30 Sunday morning so I thought I would write something before we left for church. Sacrament meeting starts at 10:00 so we can get a little extra rest this morning. Our days usually start between 6 and 6:30. We try to leave the apartment by 8 if possible. May change that a little once our trainers depart on the 29^th.

Bonnie is wanting to make some ‘accommodation modifications’, so I’ll need to find a few hand tools!! Yesterday I was able to hang a mirror for her. She slid the furniture around to suit her and then we went to Walmart and bought an area rug that covers about half the living room floor. She is looking at pictures and there will be a few of those to hang. I think a towel bar is coming also.

I think the living room is about 12 x 20 with 3 entry ways. There is a sliding set of doors that lead to a solarium, a single doorway leading to the kitchen and an open walk-through to the dining room. We are lucky to have a dining room with a decent table and chairs. The one bedroom apartments in this building have a living-dining area combination. But their kitchen is much larger than ours. We can stand in the middle of ours and just by turning around can reach both sides! Everything is within a step or two.

We went to the temple yesterday. Our plans were to go to the 9:15 session and be back here by noon for the internet hookup, which I explained yesterday did not happen. Anyway, when we entered the temple the man at the desk said it would be a special session as two sisters were receiving their own endowments and that the session would be in Spanish. Well, about 9:15 they took us to the endowment room. Once everyone was seated they began to bring others in also. It took them till almost 9:45 to get everyone seated and started. I am thinking this is not starting real well if we have to be back to the apartment by noon. Once the session was complete and we started to pass through the veil, they were doing one sister at a time. They started with French speaking, then they switched to Spanish, and finally when they started English more workers came to help. We ended up leaving the temple at just after noon. There was a message from the installation man that we would skip us and go to his next job, then try us later. About 20 minutes later he called that the job was cancelled and he would be over. Then the non-access to the communications room came up.

When I went to the office to do some computer things I discovered I could not transfer money from my WV credit union to my Utah credit union. Seems as though when the WV unit did a ‘security upgrade’ they lost all information for the external transfer ability that I use. The last I heard they did not have that resolved! I thought that problem was just for transfers to another country. They didn't explain that all external transfers were not working.

Well, it’s almost 8:00. It’s time to do some other things. I hope everyone is doing well. I see Islena has graduated which will be a blessing to both her and her family. Congratulations Islena!! We are proud of you for accomplishing this. I saw the comments on the blog and passed those onto to Bonnie. She doesn't have time at work to blog so I’ll try to keep her up to date until we get internet access.

Bonnie: How can I begin to tell about all of our experiences in a sentence or two?  I really can't, so I will try to summarize things. I love our apartment because of its size--it's like a small house. And the sister that was there previously left some beautiful indoor plants, tons of Christmas stuff and religious pictures that I can use. Each day I try to make it more like home for us, with small touches here and there. The down-side is that we are on the second floor and can hear people outside in the grassy area visiting and playing basketball. The recycling bins are also near there, and so we hear people empty their stuff there. It hasn't been too bad, though.

I like the ward we are in, as well. This was our second Sunday here and we already have a dinner invitation later today. We also asked the Sister Missionaries if they needed help. They asked us to go with them to meet a family who is investigating the church at 4:00 this afternoon. So, today will be almost as busy as during the week.

I cannot believe how much there is to learn about office procedures and assignments. There is always something to do. And I get to answer the phones which is interesting because I never know if it will be one of the 250 missionaries who need something or calls about facility management or service projects or President and Sister Clayton! A typical day begins here about 8:30 am and ends about 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Then, it's about a half-hour home. It's been hard not to have a regular workout schedule every day like we did in Utah, but we are still trying to figure it out. I don't know if I can get up at 5:30 or 6 am to exercise. I just might be a little grumpy if I do that!

Congratulations, Islena! You will make an excellent dietitian. 

I hope everyone is doing well.  Hopefully, we will be able to communicate better a week from tomorrow when we have internet and phone service! My love to all.

Love,

Bonnie and Bob/Mom and Dad