News from CAM                                                                                         November 1, 2016

Dear Loved Ones All,

I’ve got my two pillows to sit on so I am tall enough to reach the keyboard so I’ll give you a run-down of our week. Monday it was the usual P-Day things except for taking Sister K. (one of our barely able to move members).to the grocery store. I also made a pan of brownies and a card for Sister Kieffer’s birthday.  We took them to the park to have brownie Sundays to celebrate with the rest of the missionaries in our zone.  Her companion had also made a brownie and a cinnamonie (not chocolate brownie since there are a few missionaries in our zone that can’t/won’t eat chocolate) and brought a tub of vanilla ice cream.  They also played extreme Frisbee, and a game of softball.  I was wearing pants, but I didn’t really want to play because they were really slamming that ball.  We finished out the day by making stone soup to share with the Westergards for FHE.

Also this week Elder Macbeth went with another brother to DI up in LA to get a mattress and box springs to put into the apartment that we tried to clean for the brother in our ward 2 months ago since he was coming home from the hospital that day.  They brought new sheets, a mattress cover, and a new blanket, but I insisted on a plastic cover to encase the mattress, so Elder Macbeth and I went to Target to get one before we made the bed.  The apartment was just as we had left it because nothing had been put away so the clean clothes were still in closed garbage bags, the dishes were still on the counter along with some boxes of food items that were bug proof.  However, there were dead cock roaches on the floors, in the bath tubs and sinks, and the fridge, and there was about an half inch of sludge dried up in the kitchen sink from something that had backed up from the upstairs apartment.  UGH. I took care of the bathroom while Elder Macbeth took care of the kitchen.  K. came home while we were making the bed. We showed him some cans of pop top soup and where the bowls were still piled on the counter before we left, but he called about 8:30 pm and we ended up taking him some food from McDonalds.

The apartment complex where we live was checking all the fire alarms in each apartment this week so we had to vacate our place on Wednesday or get our ears blasted out of our heads.  We went to the park to finish our planning, and of course served at Mary’s Kitchen, and tried to make phone calls, texts, and visits.  We didn’t get much response from anybody.  I made molasses cookies for the Zone/district meeting.  That appears to be the number one favorite with the missionaries.  We also went to our Hungarian non-member’s place to wash up the dished and take her vacuum to be repaired.  It turns out that the belt is broken, but that it has been used so long that not only was the bag stuffed clear full, but it was clogged all along the hose into the vacuum.  We will have to get it to take it back to her this week.  The Book of Mormon class is going well, although we never know exactly who will be there.  However we are to a point that we can get discussion from the members about what we are reading. 

Friday was our Ward Festival which we were in charge of since the Bishop has designated me as the “Hallmark Lady,” meaning that I appear to be in charge the ward socials.  Anyway, we had a chili and cornbread cook-off.  We had ballots for everyone to give their opinion and some prizes for certain categories and candy for all participants. We ended up with 18 pots of chili and 6 different cornbreads.  Elder Macbeth made a pot of chili and even I made some cornbread. The Bishop counted 64 people there which is amazing considering there are usually only about 30 at the most who attend.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and I was glad it was a success.  Since they came to our ward social, we went with the Westergards to their Halloween party in Garden Grove Saturday night.  It was a combination of wards and they had over 200 people in attendance.  They had chili dogs as their main course so we have had our fill of chili this week. They also had a trunk or treat which was really fun.

We have been shuttling back and forth all week to the various people in the hospitals. The one sister down in the hospital in Westminster lives in a care center normally, so we would pick up her laundry since she wanted to wear her own clothes, and would bring them home to return them the next time we visited.  We have found the best price for gas is at Costco so I get to run in to get milk and a few other things when we gas up. (Of course the tasters are a real draw, too.  J)  On Saturday we also visited a sister who got to go home from the hospital that day but was back in the hospital on Sunday with congenital heart failure and low lung capacity.  We met the Elders there to give her a blessing.  If you are healthy make sure you thank God profusely every day because it is a real blessing.

Sunday we left early enough to take Sister P her clean laundry again.  That is about a half hour round trip depending on traffic.  Then we went to our pre-church meetings.  It was our primary sacrament presentation.  We have only 7 kids in our primary, but the primary president had her niece and her Beehive age daughter do parts.  Considering they were so few in number they did and awesome job, especially with the songs.  They really belted them out so if your eyes were closed you would think there were at least twice as many or more. For the 5^th Sunday combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting, we helped the Bishop’s wife do a lesson on preparedness.  This Sunday we did it on water.  If you don’t have at least a 3-5 day’s supply I would strongly advise you to do it.  My brain has stopped functioning so I’ll close for now.

Love you all, Sister and Elder Macbeth   Go!  Fight!!   WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!