We had a very busy week.  I'm now doing my job and part of the Referral Secretary's job.  Chris is doing his job and part of the car job.  At least he can stay in his office.  I go back and forth between two offices.  It keeps me moving and my knee likes that.  We had a bunch of missionaries in the office yesterday.  Some wanted to order new tags.  I said, "Step into my office" and went into the Referral Secretary's office.  Then some wanted to get some stuff for their apartment so we went into a different office.  I feel very important having two offices.  This week I entered 4 baptisms into the system and then sent the new members a gift of True to the Faith and a couple of other things.  It was fun. I had to call one guy 3 times to verify things on the certificate.  It was all very interesting.


Yesterday we had a tornado watch.  That means "watch."  A tornado warning means the funnel has actually been seen.  That's what kind we had last time.  But in some areas of the mission it was a tornado warning, not a watch.  I got a call last night from the Prairie Grove sisters.  Prairie Grove is south west of us about an hour. The weather was really horrible and they were worried about a tornado so they went to a safe place.  When they got back to the apartment, a tree had fallen on it and broken through the roof of their apartment.  They are going to live with some members while it gets fixed or they can move into another apartment.

During the tornado watch, I looked outside and a squirrel was having a feast in my bird feeder.  Seriously!  It was pouring rain and the wind was blowing like made.  He didn't care.

One of Chris' new car jobs is to check the TIWI reports every morning. He texts the worst driver in the mission every day. He usually just says some little thing to let them know that we are always watching. Most of the times they respond really well to his texts. Once in while a missionary can get a little snarky. One of them got a bit snarky with the president last week. He lost his car. So he won't be on the report anymore. Honestly, sometimes we get discouraged.  All of the missionaries aren't perfect.  What?  Actually, some of them cause a lot of trouble.   Thankfully it's only a few.  Most of them are perfect.  We love them all.

I had a sweet experience Saturday.  It's transfers this week and the president has told me twice he wasn't going to do anything hard this time.  He always calls me Friday night or Saturday morning and we go over housing needs for transfers.  Friday night I got a text and then an email from his "companion" (Sister Strong) with all the needs for transfers.  I think he was afraid to talk to me. I about died.  There were needs for more apartments, and all kinds of adjustments.  I asked my kids to pray for me and our prayers were answered.  Chris and I went to the office Saturday morning and went after it.  (usually Saturday is our P day).  Sister Strong called me at 10 and we were able to work out some other solutions to the issues.  Chris and I went over the mission map and he helped me make some decisions too.  It turned out I only have to get one new apartment where we opened up a new area, but I have a place for them to live until I get one.   There was another request for an apartment, but unbeknownst to the president, I had just secured one for that very area on Thursday.  We weren't going to get in, though, till end of June.  I called the landlord (on a Saturday miracle) and we are going to be able to get in first week of June.  We also have to get rid of three cars. So Chris has to figure all that out. The President knows which ones but how to get the cars moved around on transfer day just adds to the logistical challenges.

The thing is, we are getting 20 new missionaries this week, but not very many missionaries are going home.  But next transfer we are going down in numbers.  So many of these changes will only last for 5 weeks (we have short transfer schedule next time because of the 4th of July).  We will have quite a few threesomes.  This creates a few housing problems because missionaries have to share a bedroom.  Many cannot fit 3 in a bedroom, period.  After working on the schedule all morning, I then spent some time calling missionaries last night.  I could really feel the spirit as I called each one and explained they'd need to get their apartment ready for 3 missionaries.  I told them I know they can't fit 3 in their bedroom, but they will have to figure out how.  They will also have to borrow furniture from members for the 5 weeks.  Every single missionary I talked to was sweet, cooperative, and willing to do what it takes to make it work.  They accepted the challenge with grace.  I felt so humble and so grateful for their example of faith, courage, and cooperation.  Some even said, "We are so excited to have three!"  

Thanks to our kids for their prayers and support!