News from CAM                                                                                             September 26, 2017

Dear Loved Ones All,

Well we have begun the week of many “lasts,” as well as doing our usual.  Monday we did our usual cleaning and laundry.  Elder Macbeth wrote inserts for the Books of Mormon that we plan to give to some of the special people we associate with.  I fixed cookies for the departing missionaries and we took them to the office.  (I found out later that in the hustle to get everyone loaded and to the airport that they were forgotten, but all the young missionaries that had a leadership training later that day at the Mission Office sure loved them.  LOL)  I did some visiting teaching.  That evening we were invited to supper with the Sandocals.  They are a young couple who live in our apartment complex and we have exchanged greetings, given them cookies from time to time, and they asked if we would be willing to make sure their baby sitter was ok when they first hired her to watch their son when they had meetings.  We talked about what we believed and he expressed an interest.  His wife is Buddhist and wasn’t interested, but they are a darling family.  We also got to Facetime with a couple of our daughters and grandkids back home which is always a treat.

On Tuesday we finally got to go with one of the members whom we found when we first arrived here but hasn’t been to church in at least 5 years  .We have visited her and the girls and taken them cookies as often as we can catch them home.  Her children all have serious health issues, but her youngest is so fragile that he has spent his life of 4 or 5 years in the hospital.  She wanted us to meet him before we left.  We read him some books and he seemed quite happy for the visit.  We felt honored to be included in the small circle of people invited to visit him.  We met our son Brad for lunch at Dickey’s BBQ.  Of course that is a treat but of course the best part was to get to visit with our son.  After that we went to Karly’s and picked up a box of mending she has been wanting help with but has cancelled many times because she didn’t feel well enough to do them.  I told her I would just bring them home and look at them.  It took a few hours but I finished them by supper time.  Bishop was out of town so Elder Macbeth wasn’t needed at the church for Bishop’s interviews.  Seemed strange to have extra time in the evening.

Wednesday I made Devil’s Food Cake mix cookies with mint and chocolate chips added for District meeting.  I also made a casserole for that night for R.S. Enrichment.  We went to Mary’s Kitchen for the last time and handed out 8 Book of Mormons to some of those we have served with for the past year and a half.  They all said they would read it.  Stopped at Karly’s to return her box of repaired items, then went to the Dollar Tree to get $1.00 favorite items for my last 4^th Ward R.S. enrichment night.  We decided it would be great to do a “My Favorite Things” evening.  So everyone was asked to bring a favorite dish to share, and 3 items that cost a dollar or less to exchange.  I picked up some extras just in case somebody didn’t know to bring some.  Amazingly even though it was pure pot luck, there was a good variety of main course foods, salads, and deserts, although I had to pray mighty hard that my casserole was heated enough to serve since I didn’t have much time when we got home in-between everything else we had to do that day.  I also made the Rollo pretzel turtles.  Wonderful evening and everyone had a great time.  We stopped at Fingers (he was the Bishop’s 2^nd counselor and she was the YW president) to give them their Del Parson print.  For some reason we had not made it to their house before.  They loved it.  Thanks again, Del.

Thursday I made some chicken soup with homemade noodles that I promised I would make for Maria.  Then we went to our last District Meeting.  Of course the young missionaries were happy with the cookies and sad that we would no longer be bringing treats.  We took some to the Mission Office and picked up another pair of problem pants that needed to be repaired.  We found out that there is another senior couple from Montana coming next month to replace the Westergards because they go home at the end of October.  They called and asked all kinds of questions about our apartment and what is included.  Elder Macbeth sent them some photos and we explained that most everything they need is already here.  They texted does that include “a soft serve ice cream maker and a donut maker?”  They sound like they are going to be a really fun couple.  I told them I brought my Bosch and she got really excited because on their last missions they weren’t able to take theirs.  That evening we went to the Book of Mormon class for the last time.  Elder and Sister Thomlinson from the Mission Office came to see how we ran the class.  They said they liked it.  Of course the people were sad to see us leave and of course we will miss them.

On Friday we went to visit Keith.  He has a friend that has been coming in to help him, so he is eating better, and Eric has cleaned the apartment so that this time we didn’t see any bugs and the smell didn’t knock you over when you went in.  I would say that Eric is his angel of mercy and a true friend. 
We had lunch with the Bodilys since our available evenings have become nonexistent.  Unbelievable that we are all of a sudden being invited out almost every day.  That evening we had dinner at the Scanlan’s.  Sister Scanlan’s son is very good on the smoker grill and he made grilled salmon, bacon wrapped cheese filled jalapenos, which I ate without dying  as well as other tempting sides.  We stopped at Von’s on the way home to get some supplies for making chocolate tortes.  When we got home we had just gotten out of our car and was heading to our apartment when a lady came running across the parking garage.  She said she had seen us and we were always dressed up like we were ready to go to church, and she wanted to know what religion we were because she said she and her husband needed to find a church that they both could go to (he is Catholic and she was raised JW) because they need to take their girls to church.  She said that all the natural disasters happening is a sign that the last days are coming and they need to find a church where they can all worship together that they can agree upon.  We got her name, phone and apartment number and will somehow manage to take her some pamphlets and a Book of Mormon, as well as turn her information in as a referral so that the missionaries can go visit them.

Saturday we went to help clean the church for the last time.  We usually are in charge of doing all the glass doors.  That usually takes us both working together a full hour.  Then we went down to Fountain Valley to pick up some orders from the Bishop’s Storehouse and delivered them.  Since Elder Macbeth and I were the speakers for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday I decided that I had better get busy and study what I wanted to speak on.  Elder Macbeth also took time out to get a haircut.  I finished making one of the tortes because it was Sister Hutchinson’s birthday and she doesn’t like cake so she was the last young missionary to get a birthday treat from me.  I took it with me to give to her at the Women’s General Broadcast.  I invited Sister Westergard to come go with me, but she picked me up and I road with her.  What a feast of the word the broadcast was.  I can hardly wait to listen/read the talks again, and I decided to use President Uchtdorf’s idea in my talk.  A fitting ending to our evening were the fireworks display in the parking lot next to Angel’s Stadium. 

Sunday we went to our last set of meetings at the Loara Building.  Of course I would have been happier not to be speaking, but it went well.  Since the stake is reorganizing all ward boundaries the week after General Conference, I spoke on “Change and following the council and direction of our leaders.”  The feedback was positive so I guess I didn’t do too badly.  Then we went to our last Sunday School and our last R.S./Priesthood meetings.  I didn’t even have to conduct, give the lesson, or anything.  Sister Guzman did an awesome job.  She is a convert that thinks she doesn’t know the gospel very well, but let me tell you she lets the Holy Spirit guide and has blossomed as a teacher.  I was amazed how quickly the sisters left after Relief Society. We came home and I made BLTs for lunch.  Elder Macbeth got a text from Francisco Sandocal asking about the book that we talked about when we went out to dinner.  So we took a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets down to him.

We had a dinner appointment to have dinner with the Brandts at 4:30 pm.  She is my first counselor and he is the Elder’s Quorum President.  When we got there, we noticed a lot of cars parked along the street, but since Disneyland is practically across the street, many park there to avoid the $20 parking fee.  Well……..When she opened the door there was a whole room of people yelling “Surprise!”  What a surprise.  They have been planning a farewell party for us for more than a month and everyone was sworn to secrecy.  There were at least 63 people there.  They had Asian food, salads, and multiple desserts.  We definitely felt loved.  Yes, we will miss our many new friends.

Since we won’t be getting another letter off from here I will give some highlights for this week.  Monday Elder Macbeth helped me make thank you cards for the many gifts received.  He momentarily questioned taking the time to do that but I explained that the “card making lady” could not go and buy cards for her friends.  He agreed.  It took most of the day to make, sign, and address them.  Then I finished a couple more of the tortes to take to the Mission Office when we went for our final interview with President Golden.  LOL.  What a relief to find out that there were no bad reports about our missionary service.  Anyway we didn’t get the usual missionary “My Plan,” but he said basically to keep up the good work.  Afterwards we joined Sister Golden and the Office Senior Missionaries for a scrumptious meal.  I must have stressed that one of my favorite food is Chinese, because they had gone to Panda Express for a feast, and there was a lot of it.  We had my chocolate torte for dessert.  Good food, and best of all, awesome company.  We are so blessed.

For the rest of the week we will be packing, cleaning, and making a few more last minute visits.  Until we get home in a few weeks (we have many stops to visit relatives on our way home) have a wonderful time, be grateful, and keep smiling.

Love, Sister and Elder Macbeth         G0!        Love (sounds better than fighting)!!         WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!