Diversion Day -Barat Zone, I want to have a house on that point – right now it is a restaurant, the Sisters had fun.

A toss and turn night – they seem to come in spurts – but I always went back to sleep. No one was on Skype – no one has been on for a number of days – also no Sunday letters from the grandchildren. But that is OK – we got a letter from Lynn Wardle letting us know about some of the things going on in the ward. He also mentioned that Brian borrowed his lawnmower – I guess ours is not working. I will have to ask Bob or Mike to take a look and see if cleaning out the sparkplug will fix that. Usually that is all it takes.

Today was diversion day for the Barat Zone and we certainly diverted from our regular missionary regime. Although Monday is our regular P-Day, we usually spend at least part of it doing something related to our call. But today we just relaxed as a zone and went to the beach all day.

We met at the mission home. We got there early and so we had some time to sit in the Peterson’s home and watch part of the Pioneer Day Celebration program from Saturday. BYUTV is the only English speaking program they can get on their TV.

When we loaded the bus, the elders sat in the back, the couples in the middle and the sisters in the front. Segregated seating was required according to mission rules. I was not surprised when President and Sister Marchant joined the outing – they are very much hands on and it was a very good way for him to become closer to a large group of his missionaries. They had come in from Surabaya late last night and did not get home until after midnight but they did not appear to be tired.

During the trip to and from the beach we had a great chance to talk to them about the mission, everyone’s history, and other things. It is one of the blessings of our calling that we get to see and talk to the mission president so much.

As you can see from the pictures the beach is long, white and clean. And since it is weekday, there is hardly anyone on it except fishermen, salesmen and us. The couples – except Mary who does not walk well in the sand – took a nice long walk down to the point. There was enough breeze to make it very enjoyable. And the rest of the day went the same. Mary had a great time gathering seashell by the seashore. One last picture of the whole zone and we left for home.

I thought everyone would sleep on the way back, but most stayed awake and talked. Elder Kane and got another chance to talk to the President – he and his wife are going to be wonderful leaders for the next 3 years. It is hard to believe they have only been here 3 weeks. It seems like they have been here forever.

By the time we got home, neither of us were interested in much except to grab something to eat – mine was bread and peanut butter – relax a little and head for bed. I read some from the Kitab Mormon but could not really concentrate. The day of sun and walking I think caught up with me.