News from CAM                                                                                              August 28, 2017

Dear Loved Ones All,

Monday was awesome.  We had a FHE with President and Sister Golden at 7:00 pm.  Prior to that we met with the Mission Office Missionaries at Rubio’s Coastal Grill.  The Westergards had never had fish tacos so that’s what most of us had, except Sister Westergard decided she wasn’t that adventurous so she had chicken tacos, and Elder Macbeth thinks it is wrong to put fish into tacos so he had a chicken mango salad.  Then we went over to see the “Tree of Life” (so named by the missionaries because it is such a huge awesome tree) since the Foxes and the Thomlinsons have never seen it even though they live near here.  We had a delightful FHE with President Golden sharing some of the things coming in the near future as far as missionary work.  Sister Golden had prepared a fabulous trifle with fresh strawberries.  Yummy.  It was such a wonderful evening. 

Tuesday our zone got to go to the Temple.  Our session was scheduled for 8:30 am.  We started down the freeway and it was so clogged up that we got off and went down Main Street instead.  We got there in plenty of time.  Our zone leaders and the Elders in our ward got bogged down in the traffic in time so they did confirmations and initiatory.  We were asked to be the witness couple for our session.  Our Elders also stayed to do an endowment session so they weren’t outside with the rest of us for pictures.  That seems to be a tradition with the young missionaries. 

We stopped off at the Bishop’s Storehouse to pick up an order on our way back and then delivered it when we returned to Anaheim.  We checked on Keith who has been home for a week, He has been laying on his couch every time we visit.  He told us a few things he would like to have next time we go to the Bishop’s Storehouse so I made up and order for him and sent it in for approval   9 yr. old Austin in our Book of Mormon class gave Elder Macbeth a Saturday’s Warrior bracelet last week but it is a little too snug, so we went to Deseret Book Store to see if there was a larger size.  Not unless you wanted to make it yourself from a kit.  I think I’m not into tying intricate knots at this particular time, so we tried to find something to exchange it for Austin that we thought he would really like.  We gave up.  That evening we went to the church so Elder Macbeth could be there for Bishop’s Interviews.  The FHC was relocated to a different area in the building and isn’t open yet, so I didn’t get to go work on genealogy  

Wednesday we went to visit Karly and her children before we served at Mary’s Kitchen.  That is really fun, especially since they are always happy to see us.  We also delivered a birthday card to one of the sisters in our ward.  Somewhere in here I made Devils’ Food Cake mix cookies with mint and chocolate chips added. 

WMCM has been changed to Wednesday since the Sisters in our Ward have decided that Friday afternoons are prime time for missionary work.  They also asked if I could reschedule my presidency meeting so that Sister Brandt could go with them to a lesson.  I was reluctant but I did since one of my counselors was out of town, and as it turned out, my secretary wasn’t feeling well.  When we got home I fixed supper.  Then I fixed the R.S. attendance rolls that Elder Macbeth printed for me to go into the Young Women and Primary Binders.  I thought it would be nice to have binders to pass to the sisters in Y.W. and Primary for handouts, monthly calendars, etc.  That way they can also mark themselves here each week in case we don’t happen to see them.  Afterward I tried to do some organizing of the Visiting Teaching routes. 

Thursday was District Meeting for our zone.  We discussed diligence as pertaining to missionary work and related the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents to the work.  Young missionaries have fairly good insights, although Elder Macbeth pointed out that in the Parable of the Talents it didn’t matter what the Lord had given to his servants, a lot or a little, he expected what was given to be used, and the slothful servant would have been rewarded the same if he had been as faithful as were the other two.  Of course after training I passed out the cookies and they are always thrilled with any kind I make.  One of our sisters can’t have sugar or refined grains so I always give her fresh fruit, and I just found out that out that our D.L. is hypoglycemic, so I brought him some cheese and almonds and told him he couldn’t have cookies until he ate them.  Amazingly he had never had almonds before, he didn’t even know what they were!  We also took cookies to the Mission Office.

We went to see Maria and she had Peter haul out her fur coat which she has been telling me since Christmas that she wants me to have.  It was in a cloth garment bag so we didn’t see it.  After she gave it to me Peter said that it was a $10,000 coat and she said no, she had only paid $5,000 for it.  I told her I couldn’t take it if it would cause trouble with her family.  But Peter assured us that she could do what she wanted with her clothes because he “was the boss,” and he walked it to the door and handed it to us as we left.  Elder Macbeth fretted that we, of course, couldn’t keep it, and I worried how we could return it without crushing her feelings. 

The rest of the afternoon we spent at Sister Brandt’s trying to organize the sisters of our ward into V.T. companionships so we could form routes.  I have a great appreciation of all the hours and hours that go into organizing visiting teaching.  I wonder if the brethren have such a difficult time assigning their Home Teaching.  We were there until 6:30 pm. So we had to make a mad dash home to get the bracelet and bag of candy for Austin before rushing to Book of Mormon class.  Austin didn’t seem too upset at the return of the bracelet when he discovered all the candy in the bag.  We had 22 in attendance at B.O.M. including at least 2 investigators.  It was our daughter Mindy’s birthday so we took a few minutes to call and wish her a happy birthday.

Friday we got to meet a couple newly moved in.  He is 82 and she is almost 89 since her birthday is next month.  She is Elder Oak’s sister-in-law.  Sadly she has dementia so she has limited short term memory and gets disoriented fairly easily.  They were both very pleasant.  After lunch we got to visit with a sister we have been trying to meet for about a year.  Her husband is a convert and comes all the time to church, but she has anxiety issues as well as multiple health issues so she rarely comes.  He is also a friend to Maria and has been a friend and mentor to Maria’s son Peter for about 40 plus years.  She was a delight.  We visited with another inactive sister on our way home.  After dinner we tried to meet some new move-ins, but none were home.  By then it was too late to drop in on just anybody so I called the Westergards to come up for a short visit.  That was when it came to me that I could tell Maria that as missionaries we couldn’t accept such an expensive gift so if she really wanted me to have it she would have to keep it until we come down for a visit sometime next year.  We then played some games until time to come home. 

Saturday we went to the Bishop’s Storehouse to pick up Keith’s order and drop it off to him.  We then visited another inactive member who is moving to Texas next month.  We took the coat back to Maria and although she was very disappointed to have to take the coat back she was ok that we will come down this way next year.  Then, for the next 9 or 10 hours, both Elder Macbeth and I worked on the V.T. assignments, entering them into the computer, etc.  So grateful for his help.  My counselor called around 11:30 pm saying she was home and to please email her the completed list so she could make cards with the information for each of the sisters with their assignments of who is their companion, who they visit teach, and who are their visiting teachers.  She was up until 3:30 am finishing that so we could hand them out on Sunday.  Like I said, “A GREAT APPRECIATION FOR R.S. PRESIDENTS AND THEIR V.T. COORDINATORS!” 

Sunday there were no early pre-block meetings so we didn’t have to be there until about 7:30 am so I would have time to print off the letter I had written for each visiting teacher to go with their assignments.  There was also a choir practice before church.  A fabulous sacrament meeting, but I am out of time and you are tired of reading, so I will say that the end of our day was spent down at Laguna Niguel with our kids, their kids, and Becky’s family eating grilled beef and chicken, corn on the cob, hot rolls, fruit, and angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream at the Fosters.  Such a fun interlude.

Hope all is well with our loved ones and we wish you a fantastic week.

Love, Sister and Elder Macbeth.             Go!     Fight!!       WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      Smile