News from CAM                                                                                                         May 8, 2017

Dear Loved Ones All,

      What a wonderful fun-filled crazy couple of weeks.  Our daughter, Jayann, flew down from Kennewick with

our Mission Miracle Baby Bridger and they were here in California for a week.  They stayed part of the time with Brad and Becky’s family in Laguna Nigel.  We borrowed a pack and play from my sister Loraine and got an air mattress so we could bring them up to stay with us for a few days.  Of course we were happy to show them off to all the special people here and we made sure to get in lots of loving on that adorable baby.  I even had Jayann sing the special musical number with me in Sacrament Meeting.  Good thing she is an awesome singer and perfect with blending her voice with others (me J).  We went to the beach with them to watch the grandkids have fun.  Baby Bridger absolutely did not like the cold ocean water.  We were sad to see them go. Thank goodness Kristina brought her three kids down the next weekend. I got to help Becky cut out some pieces for FHE and was able to give the dinosaur lesson on manners.  It was lots of fun and the kids were most helpful holding up the illustrations. Corn on the cob is in season here so we bought some to take to Brad and Becky’s for their weekly family Sunday dinner with their extended family.  I must say it was mighty tasty as well as the hamburgers and hot dogs that Brad grilled on the barbeque.  We made the trip back and forth to Laguna Nigel multiple times. Missionaries aren’t allowed to go to Disneyland, but as Senior Missionaries we got special permission as “grandparents” to take the family.  Our Bishop works there and arranged to get 7 of us in so Brad and Becky and kids got to come go with us as well.  Considering there were three kids under the age of two that meant that we actually only had to purchase 2 tickets out of the 11 of us.  Such tender mercies.  The Itos came up and spent the night here before our Disneyland adventure.  The only instruction/”RULE” that the Bishop gave us was to NOT BE LATE and to meet him at the Beauty and Beast display at the Lego Store.  The lines just getting in to park were insane (it took us at least a half hour and Brad and Becky had a longer wait) as well as those for passing through the security.  Disneyland was a crush, rush, hurry up and wait, but oh so fun.  Just watching the grandkids have so much fun made it oh so worth it.  We could have easily spent at least another day or two, especially if we wanted to park hop.  Oh well…we were wiped out as it was.  ;)  Brad’s family got sick by the next day so we got to have the Itos stay with us a couple of extra days which we really enjoyed. We took them to Joe’s Italian Ice which is a favorite.  Alas, Sunday they had to go back home, so of course we miss them already.  

       In case you think we took a complete vacation from missionary work, we managed to squeeze in some visits to some of our members.  Keith has been moved to a different convalescent home just outside our mission, but since we are Senior Missionaries we are able to go see him.  Sadly I don’t think anybody from the ward has gone to visit him now that he is so far out of the way. Our Hungarian lady is back home so we went to visit her.  She thinks that hospitals and care centers are horrible places so she was thrilled to be discharged. I took time out to make some more birthday and thankyou cards, and of course we have already delivered some.  Jayann even helped me design a butterfly one that I am quite happy with.  We attended Zone Conference and were well fed and instructed spiritually.  It amazes me that every time is as good as, or better than the last, just like general conference. We held Book of Mormon class with good participation and even had some investigators there.  Elder Macbeth still fulfilling his executive secretary duties of texting, phoning, and arranging Bishop’s interviews and sending out reminders for Ward Council, temple preparation class as well as passing on assignments from the Bishop to various members and/or missionaries in our ward.  I repaired a distressed dress and have a couple of pair of problem pants waiting for me to mend them.  Fast and testimony was awesome, great testimonies, although there were more visitors there than members.  It made it look like a regular sized ward.  I came down with a cold and cough, but considering everybody here seems to be getting it I’m not surprised. 

I made red onion dressing and a tossed salad and a chocolate torte as well as a pasticcio torte with a gluten free crust to take to the Bishop’s for dinner.  One of the sister missionaries is allergic to chocolate and the other is allergic to gluten so I had to make 2 desserts.  Unfortunately I clogged up the drain pipe in my sink with too many fresh veggie scraps.  Elder Macbeth tried to get it unplugged but without the proper tools it was not possible, so he had to call maintenance. It was plugged royally and took the man at least 20 minutes to get it functioning again.  Sigh.  I never put potato peeling down the disposer, but lettuce and a few carrot peelings is a new one to me.  Oh, and I guess I added some sliced cucumbers that were past their prime.  Oh well, the dinner was delicious (Bishop made his 24 hour spaghetti sauce) and of course we all loved the salad and dessert. 

      That’s about it for this time around.  Hope your week is going to be fabulous.

Love, Sister and Elder Macbeth      Go!    Fight!!     WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    J