Greetings from CAM                                             June 15, 2016

Dear Loved Ones All,

I just realized that I haven’t sent out an e-mail since May!  By the time I write in my journal and fill out various other what-evers I think I have done everything, but of course I haven’t. So our schedule is pretty much the same.  A lot of phone texts and calls that are not usually answered or responded to, and finding parking is a real bane to our existence, but we are getting more savvy at getting through locked gates.  We have noticed there are cars stopped to the side of gated entrances, and when a resident pulls through the gate the car just follows them inside.  It works quite well.  The next problem is trying to find a place to park.  Some of the bigger apartment buildings have designated visitor parking. However many of them also have permit parking only. So if you are just trying to “catch” someone home, they may not want to share a permit if they are there.  We walked about 4 blocks from our apartment building to one that supposedly had 2 “lost” members living there.  We just walked into the building past the leasing office and got on the elevator. We punched in the 2^nd floor and up we went.  After walking from one side of the building to the other we finally got to the right apartment.  No one was home.  We left a card and went all the way back to the elevator to go up to the 5^th floor, punched in the number and nothing.  That is when we noticed that there was an electronic lock requiring a fob to activate.  No choice, we hit the ground floor button and down we went.  Elder Macbeth was just ready to step out, but there was a young lady getting on so I grabbed his hand and said, “Wait.”  She passed her fob over the scanner and punched in her floor.  (Light bulb moment.  J)  I asked her if she would please punch in 5^th floor, which she happily did.  Hooray!  Up we went.  Sadly the young lady who answered the door was not the one we were looking for, and was the only one living there.  So the person we were looking for is still lost. We have started visiting more of the active members, and continue serving at Mary’s Kitchen, attending the Book of Mormon Reading class, and attending various other regular meetings, such as ward council and ward missionary coordination meeting. Of course Elder Macbeth also goes to Bishopric meeting and PEC, and is at the church while the bishop does interviews.  Sometimes I go with the Sister missionaries while he is at the church for the bishop’s interviews.  One of the times we Sisters went to Joe’s Italian Ices and Gelatos afterwards.  The owner’s real name is Mike, not Joe, but he has instructed his employees that if any missionary with their name tag comes, they are to be given a  small or medium Italian ice for free. Yummmmm.

We have exchanged dinners with Elder and Sister Westergard who are in the same apartment complex. They are a fun couple from Utah.  Elder Macbeth’s name tag came up missing.  He finally found it stuck on the seat belt, but not before he ordered another one.  Sister Taggart asked us to help do research and help in general for the upcoming 50^th Year anniversary of this mission.  That has taken up a chunk of time, especially since there is almost nothing in the files here at the Mission Office, and the History Department in Salt Lake says we can come in there to do research if we want, but that isn’t something they normally do. I think we finally found someone there that will try to find out a little bit of information for us sometime this week, but the celebration is on July 2^nd and we have to make some posters for each of the 17 presidents of the mission before then.  Anyway, it is taking a chunk of time. 

I continue making treats for the Thursday zone/district meetings, usually cookies.  Sister Crowther was transferred this week, so for the last district meeting she attended here I made cinnamon rolls because that was a favorite of hers.  That was a real undertaking, but the young missionaries were ecstatic. Of course we will all miss her, but she was made a Sister Trainer Leader because one had finished her mission and went home to Canada.  We will miss her also.

We also got to attend my brothers Del’’s birthday dinner.  I contributed artisan bread. (Thanks Jayann for the recipe, again.)  It was wonderful, fabulous food, lots of fun visiting, and awesome company.

I saved the best for last.  A family that our Sister Missionaries have let us help teach is getting baptized on Saturday! How awesome is that. The father and 2 kids live here and his wife lives in El Salvador.  The kids mother lives in Texas, so we were somewhat concerned that getting permissions from the wife and mother might present a problem, but they made phone calls while we were there and it is all set.  The Dad has a super strong testimony and the sisters call them platinum investigators.

I have rattled on long enough so I will close.  Have a great week and know that you are loved.

Sister and Elder Macbeth