Tonga!

Tuesday, July 16th

I needed to get some clarification on a dental project that we are working on, so I spent most of the morning working on that. Then after lunch I went back to the office to get some letters off to the grandkids. We have heard from Caden, Amberly and Zach in the last few days. What a blessing our grandchildren are in our lives. It has been so fun to hear about their summer activities and just reading their letters makes them seem a little closer. We printed the emails off -- Cade wrote an actual letter!!. Now we can read them over and over. We really miss them and it makes our day - week - month! to hear from them.

Alan got a call from the Mission President this morning. He released us as the housing co-ordinators for the mission. It was kind of a shock. We knew that there is a couple coming to do that calling, but they won’t be here until September. When the President asked Sister Maile to work in the office, he asked Elder Maile to be over transportation. Since we have 5 cars in this mission, it isn’t a very demanding job. He will also be taking missionaries to the airport and picking up new missionaries but that only happens once a month or so. Until the new couple gets here, the President has put Elder Maile over the MQ’s so that he will have more to do. It will also let us focus on our Humanitarian calling. Alan will work with him for now, showing him where the MQ’s are and helping him learn what to do when there is a problem. Elder Maile doesn’t even have a phone yet. We don’t know how the missionaries are going to get in touch with him. This should be interesting. With all the new couples that are coming the President is going to have a hard time finding something for all of them to do. This change will certainly lessen our work load. Maybe we can go from a 60 hour week to a 30 hour week, although Alan is a little concerned. When I had a lot of computer work to do, he could always stay busy working with the missionaries. I think he will really miss that and we will both really miss the people that we have come to love in the FM and spending time with the young missionaries.

I spent some time with Sister Mitchell this evening. She has a hard case that she is working with and it is really a worry to her. There is a missionary here that is having some mental problems and she is not trained in mental health. She has been getting help from the mental health specialists in New Zealand but she still worries about it a lot. I just want to be close by to support her in any way that I can.

We ended the day by reading the scriptures and the Conference Ensign.