Week 44

Our mission president is going home on Tuesday, and it has been a very busy week helping with that transition. He has had some last minute requests for me which have really stretched my abilities. But I'm really grateful that he asked me to do them because I realized that my poor aging brain can still learn new tricks. One of the projects required learning how to edit, combine files, and attach links in Adobe PDF files. I had to do it from home because I downloaded the free trial week of Adobe. So my nights and weekends have been very busy. For his entire tenure there has been a weekly newsletter consisting of articles written by members of the mission presidency and their wives, "tender mercies" submitted by individual missionaries, and articles including "Elijah moments" which were experiences with family history. So each of those 150+ newsletters needed to be slightly edited by taking out the extra pages of announcements and fliers, etc. Then I had to combine these files in to one document. I learned that Google and You Tube are my friends! Then thankfully the editor of the newsletter had kept a running index of all the articles, but I had to take that and double-check that it actually matched the 970 pages. After fixing it I added it to the front of the giant document and learned how to make each line in the contents page jump to the actual page in the giant document. Then I decided I should probably check those links  to make sure that they all actually when to the correct page. Only one didn't, but I'm still glad I found it. Then I had to make the cover to match the newsletters and add it to the front. Whew! It will be an amazing resource with incredible doctrinal content and mission memories. All the missionaries past and present will get a flash drive with the newsletters ("The Vineyard"). In addition, the president has written a book while he's here called Doctrines of the Restoration. He has written about 30 chapters of various doctrines, and then he also added all the scriptures and conference talks in those same subjects. The book was finished, but he asked me to do the same with the contents by attaching the links. This will also be included on the flash drive as well as the mission history and 80+ photos that the young elders have put together. I'm excited to get it!

Friday and Saturday of this week involved transcribing the last mission conference from the video recording of the WebEx. I had been asked to do it at about the same time as the Vineyard project, but the counselor in the presidency who asked me to do it said that it could take second priority. I think it took me about 16 hours to transcribe a 90-minute meeting. I had the computer-generated transcript to compare to, but it still took a lot of editing. He was very pleased to get it for the deaf missionaries who will be able to read it. Tonight's conference will have an ASL interpreter, so hopefully that will take care of me not having to do it again! 

I'm grateful that all those years learning a computer by trial and error can now be used to bless the lives here on my mission. My friend in the office who just went home last week texted me that I was put in the office "for such a time as this." If that's true, I'm grateful to know that maybe that's why I'm here.

I've met some wonderful people while here. John and Susan Temple hosted a dinner last week with Jim and Kathleen Gordon who went home. They have become dear friends. The Gordons live in Rexburg, and the Temples moved here permanently from Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.

Susan & John Temple

Jim & Kathleen Gordon, Me, Susan & John Temple

Another dear friend is going home this week, Sister Robin Fuellenbach. We met my first week here because she is in the Training Zone, but we have become good friends in the last few months as we go on our evening or morning walks together. She lives in Salmon, Idaho, wherever that is! I'll really miss her and may not get get too much walking done without her!

Robin was the editor of "The Vineyard" for two years. She did an amazing job!

Last night was an outdoor walk-and-wave-goodbye for the President & Sister Fenn and the 32 young elders who will all go home on Tuesday. They will be greatly missed. Here are a few pictures from the night:

Sister McKnight & Sister Unger (wives of the two counselors)

President Unger & President McKnight (the two counselors)

Elder Bastian in the mask was one of our technical support elders. He was so sour and dark all the time but I softened him up. He's not smiling here, but I actually saw his eyes smiling above his mask last night. I keep telling him he's going to miss me!

Elder Dunn is one of the current APs.

Elder Eades is the other AP.

My memories & experiences here are priceless. I'll be home two months from yesterday - if they actually let me out of here!! President Fenn said last night, "If I were still going to be your mission president, I'd grab you by the arm and never let you leave!" It's nice to be appreciated!