2019 Week 6 (4-10 February)

" The Lord is my light; He is my joy and my song, by day and by night He leads, he leads me along."

Hymn 89 

We started the week with this gorgeous view!

We welcomed sister Lindsey on Monday.  She will be the mission's financial clerk. 

The day we found out last year that the couple that had been trained for office work would not finish their mission because of health, we got an e-mail from sister Lindsey.  It was addressed to all the missions in the Pacific Area.  She was desirous to serve in the area and that her expertise  was finances.  It was an answer to a prayer not yet uttered.  When I told her about this, she said that we were the only ones that responded.  About 5 months later, she is here and we are very grateful.  Our Elder Ficklin serving as the financial clerk now did a wonderful job and while he is training her he is learning more about accounting.  His experience in the mission office has given him the desire to pursue a career in that field.

This week, I have been busy preparing for the leavers next week 

and making booklets for the arrivers.

We are also working on the presentation for the missionaries at the mission tour in March.  

It feels good to get all the ideas organized .  It is like when you have a talk to give.  Sometimes there are so many ideas rushing in and we do not know how to start. ( Right Halle?)

We heard you did a great job for your first talk in Sacrament meeting.  It gets easier to deliver with practice but I have to say it always takes some work to prepare.

We went to Santo for missionaries interviews and we were able to go and come back the same day.  Always a little nervous when it comes to travel plans and if it will come together as planned. 😅

I also put my nurse's hat on.

From headaches, to stubborn colds, ingrown toenails, worries about hair loss, rashes and ladies' problems... 

I prefer that to the two scary incidents that happened. 

 One missionary cut his foot real bad getting out of a boat and stepping in some broken glass or coral in the sea.  He was with the district leader and they were on their way to a small island to conduct a baptismal interview.  But they had to charter the same boat right away and go to the hospital in Malekula.  They are without a truck because it was sent back to Vila last week.  It was pretty broken down.  The replacement has not come in as expected.  This made it more complicated for them to get to the hospital.  But they got there and he got five stiches.  I did receive the pictures to add to his file but I will spare you the gruesomeness of it all.

The second scary event was this morning, we received a call from the zone leaders in Santo that one missionary was sick and in pain and it looked like an appendicitis.  His companion, another great missionary, gave him a blessing and took care of him while waiting for the ambulance.  It took more than two hours before the ambulance got to him and that he finally made it to he hospital.  We have received the report that his appendix is fine. He his having some blood test done right now and he has received 3 IVs.  

  

We are so grateful for the wonderful zone and district leaders of our mission.  They rose to the occasion. It is not easy to be so far from the missionaries when something like those two incidents happen.  How comforting it is for us to be able to rely on such responsible leaders.

This week the leaks in the roof were fixed and they have started with the pool on Saturday.  If it does not rain too hard this week they will be able to do a lot of work but I do not think it will be finished next time I write.  I hope the pictures will be more encouraging.  They removed the tiles and were able to see the many repairs they have to make.

On a sad note...  here is the avocado stump.

A much happier note, the assistants rejoiced in the baptism of a sweet sister they have been teaching.  We were able to attend the baptismal service.  

On the board of the office at the mission home, I wrote down some great scriptures I found while studying charity.  I also found these two pictures a few weeks ago  as I had  a little bit of time to explore the closets here. 

I had to finish with one more of nature's beauty.  I saw this butterfly just before getting ready to write the blog.  He struck the pose just long enough for me to quickly capture a picture of it.  Then it was gone.  Seize the moment, enjoy the now.  

"There is beauty all around when there's love at home; There is joy in every sound when there's love at home.  Peace and plenty here abide, smiling sweet on every side.  Time doth softly sweetly glide when there's love at home." Hymn 294

  Alé tata!  Mifala lavem yufala tumas!