Homecoming, cell phones, knee caps, cold

Two weeks ago was zone conferences. We figure we drive about 15 hours in the week as we visit the 4 zones. I always love seeing the missionaries, especially now that I am getting to know them more and more. One of our wonderful sisters gave me the greatest compliment-she asked if I knew all the missionaries. When I said not all of them, but most, she said she feels like I know her and that I remind her of her mom. As I watched all these missionaries I got quite emotional seeing their great desire to do their best. They are great young people.

One of my favorite things at zone conference is when we have new members of the church stand and talk to the missionaries about their conversion. One man stood up and talked a little about his life before and how bad it was. He said how he has turned his life completely around. He talked about when he read the Book of Mormon.."I felt like a good boy--this great feeling inside". He is a married man, but felt the sweet promptings of the Holy Ghost witnessing to him things that are good. He has a sweet testimony of Jesus Christ and it has been a powerful force in him being able to change his life.

Last week was an interesting week. Mark was on the road doing interviews. I spent one day trying to get organized again in the house. We were gone last week for zone conferences and I am amazed at all the basic things that need doing when we get back. I don’t know how women who work full time outside the home can do it all. Geoffrey woke up in the night on Tuesday with a huge neck on one side. His gland was so swollen and so very painful. It looked like he had something bigger than a golf ball inside. We took him in and he is now on amoxicillin. He was in a so much pain. Hopefully it will be a lot better soon. We have had a lot of sickness in the mission. I am sure this H1N1 (swine flu) has been all over our mission. I think that is what Geoffrey probably had since he started last Friday with the terrible sore throat. We thought he was recovering quickly until the neck swelled up.

I also spent a lot of time in the office this week. We still have some things to work out there to get it running smoothly. Both our couples are great with different strengths and we are all learning to see the strengths of each other. Unfortunately some of the actual work has a few challenges. We have had letters being sent to the wrong people and many mistakes in them. There are so many letters that we send out to missionaries, parents, bishops, stake presidents-- for missionaries that are starting the mission and others that are going home. Then we have letters to those who are baptized and to people who house missionaries and to others who help with meals--it goes on. It can be very overwhelming and what we had set up wasn’t working. So I rearranged assignments a little-well quite a bit- and I am hoping that everyone can feel fulfilled in their work and can be a success. And also that it can run smoothly. It is always hard worrying that someone may have their heart set on doing something and then get offended if it is changed. I thought long and hard and then just realized that if I am not giving offense-it shouldn't be taken that way. I think it went ok. Some tears and some hugs.

Today-Saturday-is actually our preparation day. The missionaries have Monday for theirs, but Saturday works best for us with Geoffrey. It started great as we figured out how to get General Conference on the internet-we don’t have TV at this point. Mark has a great big computer monitor so we sat in his office and watched, had a nice lunch and watched again. The conference had a lot about following the promptings of the spirit which interestingly was our last zone conference theme. I really enjoyed it.

After, Mark went to the Priesthood session and I went to take photos of Geoffrey with the group he is going to homecoming with. Lindsey is the girl he went with. He met her through Jon Seldon who grew up with her family. She is a really nice girl.

On the way home I got a call from one of our sisters--they wanted to let me know that if I tried to call I wouldn't be able to reach them because the phone had fallen in the toilet. I asked them if they could get a ring tone at all. "You don’t understand Sister Palmer" they said "It fell in right as I was flushing and it is GONE!" I couldn’t help but laugh thinking of them watching it just disappear. They thought I should know in case I tried to call.

Another sister called and has been having some tough times emotionally. She is going to a doctor soon. I wish I knew how to help more. I care about them so much and want to solve it all for them. I continue to learn how to best help. Also during this last couple of weeks we have had an Elder have a hernia repaired and another had a colonoscopy and found out he has ulcerative colitis. We are really hoping he will respond to the medications. He is the greatest young man-one of my favorites. Another relatively new missionary has a prosthetic leg. Quite a determined missionary. The other day his bike locked up on him and he went crashing down. Unfortunately they were doing exchanges with other missionaries and he had left him helmet in the car. After a trip to the emergency room at 11 pm, we got a call at 2:30 saying he was ok-just bruised up a bit. He had been showing signs of a concussion earlier on and we felt he needed to be checked. He has had a couple of concussions in the past. I keep learning more and more. And I am forever grateful for Dr Fife our wonderful area medical advisor. He is so great! I am sure I have mentioned it before, but we work hard to not use the church money when not necessary. Yesterday a group of elders were playing soccer and one of them dislocated his knee cap. The other missionaries called 411 and then called me. When they called me I began asking questions to try to understand how serious it was. Then they tell me the ambulance has just arrived. I said-OK elder, tell me quickly. Is Elder SpainBiegle smiling or crying”. He is smiling-he tells me. I said-tell him NOT to go in the ambulance. (I know it costs about $1000 here and it wasn’t necessary.) There was a PT around and he came out and got the knee cap back in place and put a brace on his leg. Elder S. had to sign a release for saying that it was his choice not to go in the ambulance. I need to work a little more training these missionaries as to what is a real emergency.

So.....it is cooling down. It was 34 the other morning. My feet have been doing so much better (without the surgery!) that I set up to go walking with the Bishop's wife. Yvonne is great. Her grandparents were all from the Basque country in Spain where I served my mission, and she served a mission in Italy. Her mom lives with her. She isn't a member of our church so I don’t get to see her there, but I have been over a few times and loved chatting with her. Anyway, back to the walking. I put on my capri length walking pants and my little walking jacket that I have always used for the cold days in Texas. It is obvious I have no recollection of living in a cold place. My rain coat is not going to suffice for a coat. Geoffrey keeps saying-what will we wear when it gets colder? One of the friends he made just moved to Florida so he gave Geoffrey a few of his things that he won’t wear in Florida or on his mission. I think Geoffrey has already worn every one of them. Every one also keeps telling us we need to get boots. I don’t think they mean the cute ones with zip up sides and heels. I have a mall about 4 miles away-I just need to get over there. This winter will be an adventure. We have a steep driveway that people keep telling us will freeze over. There is a big bag of salt in the garage. We also have a huge snow blower?!? Hopefully we can figure out how to use it when the time comes! I was also given a window ice scaper-a nice yellow one. I am shivering thinking about it.