News from CAM August 7, 2017
Dear Loved ones All,
Monday was P-day and there were all the normal chores to be done along with a long list of Relief Society tasks that I needed to do. As all Relief Society Presidents know, the Visiting Teaching Route updates seem never ending. I spent from 1:00 to 6:00 pm with the V.T. coordinator at her home Monday afternoon. Elder Macbeth called reminding me that it was probably long enough, and I told him a little while longer. With about 41 active sisters to 120 in-active sisters we finally thought we had things fairly well organized. While I was thus occupied Elder Macbeth had the oil changed in the car and gassed it up, fixed the tire sensor, done some grocery shopping, and a multiple of other things that I have discovered during the week.
It was our granddaughter Lily’s birthday so we gave her a birthday call. She is getting so grown up. Of course her younger brother and 2 year old sister had to have their turns talking with us as well. Little kids in general are so fun to listen to, but grandkids are the greatest.
Back at our place I had more laundry to do, and the thought of trying to figure out what to fix for dinner seemed overwhelming. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate trying to decide what to fix to eat. For that matter, I hate trying to decide what to eat, I usually only know what I don’t want. Poor Elder Macbeth…can you imagine having to put up with that for almost 50 years? I was so-o-o-o-o-o happy that he took me to a restaurant called Grasslands Meat Co. located in the Garden Walk down by Disneyland. Their menu was divided into small plates for $5, normal for $10, an upgrade for $15, and a hungry for more. We enjoyed multiple small plates and were totally satisfied, besides it was quite delicious. Elder Macbeth wrote his reports when we returned home.
Tuesday I wrote my email before we went down to the Bishop’s Storehouse to familiarize myself with what is available when I fill out the food orders. It was a fairly spacious place, clean, and all the paperwork is actually done electronically. Guess I need a little training on doing that on Elder Macbeth’s laptop since I don’t think it is feasible to lug a regular computer around with me, and then there would be the problem of connecting to the internet. Since we didn’t get to Costco on Monday, and it was near where we were coming from, we stopped for a watermelon. Then we visited 4 of our elderly sisters in various care centers, and one at her home.
Some of the missionaries were so excited with the Funfetti cookies that I decided since it was the last district meeting before transfers that I would make them again. We went to Ralph’s to get a couple of cake mixes and it was right next to the Dollar Tree so we ran in there to see if there were any more butterfly stickers for making cards for our R.S. Enrichment night. Score! Then back to make cookies. For some reason it doesn’t seem to take as long to make cake mix cookies. Must be the 6 minute baking time. Anyway, I made 77 cookies in just under 2 hours. Just as I was finishing, the Samoan Sisters who live in one of the buildings next to us called to ask if we had an ice pick. One of them had injured her foot and was told to ice it. We didn’t have an ice pick, but we did have some icepacks. We delivered them to the Sisters along with some cookies, and then took some cookies to the Westergards and to pick up the package of prints Lynette sent from my awesome brother Del. By then it was late so we settled for nachos and guacamole for supper.
Because of transfers and some missionaries leaving for home, we had District Meeting on Wednesday. That was a little tricky because they wanted to do pictures afterward and that usually takes a long time and Elder Macbeth and I needed to be at Mary’s Kitchen in less than a half hour. So I told the missionaries that I wasn’t passing out cookies until after the photo shoot, and if there wasn’t time to hand out the Funfetti cookies that might be too bad. They were all there lining up when our district got out. Fastest picture taking time ever. We were a couple of minutes late to Mary’s but still in time to help serve lunch. The Elders have picked up on “Sister Macbeth’s” way of doing the dishes…rinse at one sink, soap wash at the other, and someone dries and puts away. It went really slick that day and we had the food served, dishes washed and put away by 1:35 pm. Unheard of…Zee was impressed. We took some cookies to the Mission Office and then came home where I made fruit smoothies with some left over fruit salad from Mary’s. Wonderful on a hot day. Then I worked on making card kits for Enrichment night and listened to Linda K. Burton’s talk, “Certain Women.”
That evening I had my R.S. presidency meeting. It went much better this time, and I was able to make assignments for Sundays so that things can run more smoothly that they had last Sunday. We also organized our rotation schedule for conducting, giving lessons if the sisters we want for teachers have not been called and sustained in time for their lessons as well as discussing the needs of various sisters in the ward. While I was at my meeting, Elder Macbeth was at the Church fulfilling his Executive Secretary duties and getting to meet the Nagamatsu’s. The husband is inactive, the wife is a non-member, and they have a 4 week old baby girl. They were making arrangements to bless their baby in their home on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Sister Brandt took me home from my meeting and when we walked in the door Elder Macbeth was just finishing fixing supper. It was really good and I was very grateful because I was extremely hungry by then.
Thursday I listened to Elder Russell M. Nelson’s conference talk, “Joy and Spiritual Survival.” I decided to use that talk for my Presidency Message on Sunday. Sister Mattson called and we spent another 2 hours over the phone trying to work out some kinks in the V.T. routes. Sigh. Then we went to visit our Hungarian Maria. She is always so happy to see us. She doesn’t like being in a care facility one little bit. We are realizing that it is definitely not like being home. On the way home, Elder Macbeth stopped at Joe’s Italian Ice and I got my usual Mango Tango and Elder Macbeth his usual Badda Bing Cherry icees. Scrumptious!
We didn’t need to pick up anyone to take to Book of Mormon Class. There were 22 people in attendance! It was quite gratifying. There was another investigator there as well as some of the usual investigators. We took one of them home since he lived quite a ways away and he was walking with a cane. Not a good thing to do after dark. I don’t know what is with our schedule these days, but we didn’t eat until we got home…chips and salsa. My kids will really chide me when they read this.
Friday we did planning and we wrote a letter for one of our sister missionaries who is going home this transfer. She was sad that there wasn’t enough time to get us her journal before she left, hence the letters. We made multiple stops at various stores looking for a tablecloth large enough for the table in the R.S. room, and ended up at Costco for gas and groceries. I tried to finalize my lesson for Sunday, talked again for another hour with Sister Mattson regarding V.T., and was horrified that the time had sped by and we were late for WMCM. They were just getting started when we walked in.
Back home I barely had time to make us BLTs that we gulped down because we needed to meet my 1st Counselor at the church to bail out and try to organize the R.S. closet. We pulled everything out just so we could see what was even in there. Then we sorted, chucked, and organized into the many tubs which she brought. Elder Macbeth was a super help, washing out some of the dishes that were dirty, hauling things back and forth, taking out trash, and he even vacuumed the closet, before helping up put back stuff in in an organized way. We got everything in with space to actually go inside, and we could see what was where!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course by then it was 10:00 pm and our “Priesthood” person said it was past time to stop.
Saturday we prepared the watermelon to take to the Stake Picnic. We stopped at the Bishop’s house on the way to the picnic to finalize arrangements for the baby blessing that afternoon. The Samoans did rotisserie chickens on their large mobile spit that they have for such occasions. There must have been 20 chickens cooking at a time. Impressive! We left the picnic in time to be at the Nagamatsu’s a little before 2:00pm. The baby was an absolute doll, and her parents were a delight. His mother had come from Seattle and brought a blessing dress that one of the aunts had sewn. Bishop’s counselors arrived and then the Bishop came hustling in. He had to hurry because he was in the middle of last minute preparations for a birthday party for his neighbor next door. Oh the life of a Bishop. I have to say that by the time we went home I was ready for a nap.
Sunday morning always comes early. Elder Macbeth’s pre-church meetings are a killer. At least I usually get to go run off agendas and the bulletin so there is something for me to do before Ward Council. Fast and Testimony meet was great, no waiting time in-between testimonies which always makes the Bishop happy, and they called two teachers for R.S. I didn’t make it into Gospel Essentials because I was getting some pictures from the library and I was waylaid by various people who need to give me information or get some from me. I was gratified that R.S. ran smoothly like it should, and my lesson went well with lots of participation. Can’t say how happy it makes me when the class practically gives my whole lesson.
Sister Mattson called and we spent more time trying to get the V.T. routes completed. She is leaving near the end of the week for Kennewick, Washington, and will be gone for 2 weeks. Her family lives in the East Stake so we don’t know them. I guess we will have to change that when we get home. I was asked by one of the stake R.S. presidency to let all my sisters know that the time on their flier for the social on Thursday night was wrong and to let them know the correct time. So, I spent the next while texting and phoning the primary and young women sisters the change. Then we got to call our daughter Kristina to wish her a happy birthday. Her husband made her a red velvet cake (her favorite) but she had made the special frosting to go on top. Maybe she’ll have time to catch her breath before their new baby boy arrives on Tuesday.
So that is our week minus all the visiting, texting, and phoning various members. I thought I was a little busy before, but now I don’t have to think it, it is a little more apparent lately. Here’s wishing you all a fabulous week with family, friends, and that you can accomplish at least some of the things on your to-do list.
Love, Sister and Elder Macbeth Go! Fight!! WiIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Smile
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