Some of the Missionaries we've met

This is Elder Struthers and Elder Lindsay. Last Friday morning Elder Lindsay was driving the car when he barely hit the car in front of them at a stop light and had to come in and fill out an accident form, he felt really bad about it because it was his fault, he says his foot slipped off the pedal. That afternoon late in the day he and Elder Struthers came into the office with this cell phone in their hands and with sad faces they tell me they've had another accident, this time with the cell phone. They proceed to tell me how Elder Struthers was backing up the car and Elder Lindsay was backing him out (one of themissionaries always has to be out of the car making sure no one is behind them) and he dropped his cell phone and Elder Strughters ran over it! I say to him; "Elder Lindsay you get in a wreck and ruin your cell phone all on the same day!" and then remind him that he has to pay to replace the phone, right then they both start laughing and say how they played a prank on me. I guess when the phones no longer work they get to destroy it and they did so by running over it with their car! They were pretty proud of themselves!

Sister Maxwell, Sister Young and Sister Naufahu-Talakai, it took me awhile to learn how to say her name. I love it when the Sisters come in and tell me stories of who they're teaching or bugs or living in a ghetto. They have some very interesting stories to tell.


Here's Elder Stringfellow, this is probably how he looks when he gets another call about a car wreck, a car that's been towed away, batteries that won't start the car, traffic tickets, brakes that squeek, oil that needs to be changed, body work waiting for insurance, a $14,000 check that no one knows what to do with and a cell phone that rings constantly! And we all know how much Elder Stringfellow loves talking on the phone! Just another day as the vehicle coordinator in the Houston Texas mission office.

This is Elder Martin, our trainer. Oh we miss him so. He was transfered last Tuesday and now we are on our own. Here's my to do list for Monday:
*Finish the newsletter and send it by email to all of the parents of current missionaries, to all of the former missionaries and assorted other people, put the newsletter on a flash drive and take to Staples to have printed to give to Zone leaders next week to pass out to all of the missionaries
*make new files for missionaries coming in December and send out letters to them congratulating them on their call and sending them forms to fill out telling about themselves
* Referrals - everyday first thing I do is check the cell phone for messages from missionaries with referrals and check the computer for referrals from the MTC and then I check them again before I go home, I figure out what area they go to and then from the computer I send all of the referrals to the appropriate missionaries' cell phone. That's why each companionship has a cell phone,
*help Scott finish making the new pocket roster that we make each time there's a transfer so we know where each missionary lives and what his phone number is,
*finish reviewing all 70 or so cell phone records,
help Sister Walker and Sister Young cook food for lunches for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's Leadership Training,
*and a few other things I can't recall right now. I stay busy every day, but I love the work and the interaction with the missionaries. Every Friday we meet with the mission President and his wife as an office staff and review what's coming up and what needs to be done. Our mission President is a very humble, spiritual man that loves these missionaries and works hands on with them teaching and training right along side them with the people. He's rarely in the mission office unless he has interviews or for staff meeting. I definitely think it's one of the hardest callings in the church but probably one of the most rewarding also.
In this picture Elder Martin is sitting at my desk, as you can see Scott and I work in the same office, that's been fun. I have made so many funny mistakes and it makes Elder Martin laugh. I was going to write a few down like calling one of the missionary moms to find out what airport she wanted her son to fly home to and asking the 12 year old brother if he was Elder so and so's mom. Or sending out the newsletter last month and forgetting to attach it, not once but twice! I had to send it twice because I had forgot one of the steps so it was unreadable for most of the people who got it. I tell you, if it's not one thing it's something else!

These are my 2 Sister Youngs! We took a Sunday drive to Houston Lake, which was only about 20 minutes from us.