We were up early – at least early for us – so we could tour along the coast before the traffic got terrible. The trip turned out to be one we probably will not do again anytime soon but was worth doing once. There is water everywhere in Southern Florida and any water near the ocean has lots of boats. After we got home I noticed I did not take any pictures of rows of yachts but they are there and I will capture them later.

  

Of course the first water we saw was the lake behind our apartment that stretches from swimming pool to swimming pool. When we went looking for a way down to the actual waterfront we found ourselves in a cul-de-sac that had three or four houses for sale. This obviously empty modern beauty caught our eye. The last picture shows the canal or waterway behind the building and you can just see a good size boat anchored behind some house.

  

Another attempt to get to the sea got us to another dead end. The first picture was taken from a dock that reached out into a lake. The boats here were smaller and the houses across the street seemed small and older – I am sorry I did not take a picture. As I was walking back to the van a man came out of a house and he obviously was wondering what I was doing on his dock. I told him I looked to make sure there was no sign saying stay off and we had a nice conversation. I found out that this humble home sold for close to a million dollars before the bubble broke. They now sell for closer to $500,000. As I started to leave I thanked him and gave him a pass-along card.

On our way home we took a side road called Old Griffin Road. It was obviously an old main road – (New) Griffin Road is a 6 to 8 lane modern main road – and ran along a beautiful tree lined canal with lots of places to park and take pictures. The last two gives a good idea of how peaceful the area and how modest looking most of the houses are. They probably sell for a million dollars or more.

I had a very special spiritual experience that takes a little telling. It started yesterday when Mary and I went out to the Weston area where we asked to serve and took family group sheets and pedigree charts to a couple of families of recent converts. It was a chance for us to be of service but also gave us a chance to get to know the area better.

As we drove down a short street in a gated community we saw the assistants coming towards us. We stopped and talked for a moment and found they were going to visit a family that we met at church last week to see how they were doing. We soon parted and we finished dropping off the sheets before heading back home.

This morning I wrote in my journal how it was quite a coincidence that we happened to be on the same short street at exactly the same time as the assistants. I wondered if there was some reason for that to occur. Later in the day the assistants came into do some work in the office and I mentioned to Elder Neeley that wasn’t it unusual that we met there. I then asked how the family was doing that they visited and he said that the mother had a major problem giving up coffee. She grew up where drinking coffee with the family was a social event and she did not think she could possibly give it up.

I told elder Neeley that I had exactly the same problem before I was baptized because when I was young the family always drank coffee for breakfast and with other meals. I told him perhaps if I went with them to visit I could tell her my story and testify that she could stop. He agreed and we are going to try to do this either Saturday or Sunday. So although it took two days and a lot of spiritual nudging I think I finally am going to do what the Lord wanted done. Hopefully the sister will make the right choice and give up coffee so she and her family can enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

From the beautiful morning reflected in the lake to a Senior couple get together where we never seemed to stop laughing, it was certainly not a bad Friday the 13th. Elder Beagley and myself managed to get the gas card receipt report complete and sent in, I took care of the phone report that needed to be checked and finished, and we figured out a better way to do things in the future.

Mary had a quieter day finishing an afghan for our newest grandchild, getting out the mail and making a salad for the wonderful get together at the mission home with president and sister Anderson all the senior couples and the Graffs who served here and left not long before we arrived.

   

   

The calm morning reflected in the lake. When missionaries get together there is always lots of food and talk so Mary is getting food and sister Collins is talking to sister Sommerfeldt and sister Graff.

The next row starts with sister Steimle, the Graffs, and sister Beagley. Next is brother Graff, the Beagleys and the Collins. And the last picture is elder Sommerfeldt getting ready to take a picture. Memories they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

Elder Graff provides a constant stream of jokes and startling comments. And from what was said it never stops. Not in airplanes, restaurants or even Church. He certainly kept all of us laughing.

If you have never been involved in a transfer day, you will not really understand how exciting it is and how busy it is. Every 6 weeks a group of missionaries goes home and another group comes in to the mission. In an ideal world the number that come in would exactly match the number going home. If more are released – which today was 10 – than come in – today it was 4 – then some active area will probably be closed down – today there were three areas either closed down or absorbed into another area. Also this means some cars need to be turned in along with their gas card and phones.

  

The calm before the storm. All the cars neatly parked while the missionaries are in transfer meeting. Then the musical cars starts with missionaries moving lots of luggage and bikes. It is something to see 100 elders and sisters getting the right people, their luggage and bikes in the right vehicles. It must be the Lords work because mere mortals could not make it happen so smoothly.

  

Elder and sister Beagley arrange Ensign and other supplies to be picked up by the missionaries. The mail carefully sorted and laid out to be gathered by them. Elder Beagley explaining to a sister about how to get her oil changed at Pep Boys – he is probably busier than any other senior missionary and he does it in a very efficient and kind way.

Since all missionaries the serve here in the Fort Lauderdale mission must have bikes, there are bikes of those being released to be sent home or donated  and new bikes for the incoming missionaries to be distributed. Add to all this a ton of luggage, lots of bicycles, and of course missionaries to be jockeyed around and you get an idea of how many things have to be coordinated every 6 weeks on Transfer Day.

Today was the first time we were part of the logistic team from the office that were involved in all of this. In the past we just saw the scrambling around as the missionaries changed companions without realizing everything else that was going on. Also here in Fort Lauderdale we have a larger number of missionaries and vehicles than the other missions we have served.

Mary and I were responsible for the mail – you can not send mail the last week or so before transfers because of missionaries being moved from one area to another so we have it available for pick-up. We worked out a program that I think worked quite well with about 80% of the mail being gathered up and all but one of the packages. These were sent to the missionaries new addresses by the end of the day.

I then helped with getting the cars shuffled around. When we were done we had two cars that were turned in because the areas they were in had  been closed until the next transfer when a lot of missionaries are coming in.

Finally we had volunteered to help Sister Anderson prepare lunch for the new missionaries and their companions who stayed for training by President Anderson. By the time we were finished we were rather tired so after picking up a car from Pep Boys we came home for lunch and then went back to the office to take care of the mail that came in and that which was left over, help some with cars, and then the office staff basically called it a day and everyone went home.

In Six weeks the party is on again….

When we were serving in South Africa we were introduced to the idea of having a Last Supper on the evening before transfers because this is the last time most Districts and Zones will be together as one. We decided to start this tradition here but we need to hold a Last Lunch instead of a Last Supper because the missionaries can only eat with families when there is a non-LDS present. So today we had our first one with our district plus the Zone leaders and the two sisters, Pack and Beck, who live with Sisters Hong and Holder. We kept it simple with hot roast beef sandwiches, french fries and fruit salad. For dessert we served root beer floats. A good time seemed to held by all and we were able to get individual pictures of all the missionaries…except I somehow missed Sister Hong…and a couple of group pictures. Here are some of the highlights….

   

The Elders got the living room and balanced their plates on their laps or whatever flat area they could find. The sisters and Mary got the table where they could eat like humans. For dessert they all got together in the living room where the took pictures, told stories and laughed a whole lot. Missionaries just love to get together and share their experiences.

    

Elder Smoot decided on two root beer floats at once…he is a growing young man. Then of course there is the group pictures…one that they can send to their family and one that they can share and laugh at. I have no idea what broke sister Hong up so completely but she sure looks like she is having fun.

The missionaries thanked us many, many times but we are the ones who give thanks. Thanks to these fine young men and women who have dedicated a period of their lives to share the love of the gospel that they have with others. To the great parents who raised them, taught them values, and now support them as they serve. The the Kingdom of God on the earth that provides such a wonderful program for inviting others to come unto Christ. And of course to God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gives meaning to all of this. We have so much to be thankful for and especially today.

  

P-day and we spent most of the day at home while I continued to feel about 65%.  I went to the store this morning and this mother and four ducklings were looking for breakfast. The ducklings are cute but they will grow up to be some rather ugly ducks. I do not know the name of the bigger gray bird. The egrets were quietly standing around on one leg…why do birds stand on one leg?

  

We seem to regularly have rainbows in our fountain. We hope it brings us luck. Our youngest grandson Colin made it to 3 weeks and is obviously the apple of Jim’s eye. Kristy writes in her blog that he has gained almost a pound is the last 10 days and that is good.

After a day home with lots of sleep and huge doses of vitamin C, I woke on Thursday feeling much better. Not anything like 100% but good enough to go in to the office for the morning. Before that I called Elder George to see how the special 2 hour harvesting session went yesterday and found that the district did not quite make it’s goal, overall the mission did great. The goal for the mission was to give bless 200 homes and they blessed 368! That means they got that many new contacts and a good proportion of them will allow the missionaries to come back and teach them. The work is going to really take off here in the Fort Lauderdale mission.

We got some great news yesterday – our dear friends the Barnards who served with us in Indonesia back 2007-08 just got their call to go back to Indonesia and will report the MTC in New Zealand in March. When they get out there will be four couples who we served with in Indonesia back in the mission field – stretching from Florida to Thailand to Indonesia to Botswana. We feel a little jealous of those who get to visit foreign countries but we know that we are serving where the Lord wants us to be. We are not yet sure what special reason – and we know there is one – that we were called to serve here at this time but we know that we will find out if we are diligent in serving.

.  

I decided that I should put some pictures in each post and I really had no new ones from here so I have included our youngest grandson Colin, two fine missionaries from Durban Elders Richey and Maremela that we served with in Richards Bay, and out Christmas tree from South Africa which we unfortunately had to leave there. Going through mission pictures brings back so many great memories and hopefully ones we take here will do the same when we are on our next mission.

Slept well but woke up with that scratchy throat that tells me a cold is coming on. President Anderson said the other day that our flu shot should make for milder colds and I hope he is correct. I went into my massive Vitamin C dosage mode and so I am taking lots of it and drinking vitamin C.

I felt well enough to go into the office and when I got there Elder Sommerfeldt told me I had been chosen to help him deliver a replacement sofa to one of the elder’s boarding and a fan to another. So for the next four hours we were busy picking up a sofa from a storage shed and delivering it to Miami.

I am not sure the sofa we delivered to Elders Owens and Hansen was much better than the one we took out but they seemed happy to get it. I am sorry to say I forgot to get a picture of these two elders or the quality sofa we delivered. It was strange to see them both in sweaters…I guess they have become too acclimatized to the hot Florida sun so when it dips down into the 50’s they are cold. I must say that it was a lot cooler this morning than usually but I am not ready for a sweater yet…in fact I did not bring a sweater. But I did bring a light coat.

By the time we got back I was not feeling well so I had Elder Sommerfeldt drop me off at our apartment. It turned out Mary was home having lunch. I decided I was not going back to the office but would sleep and take more vitamin C and try to stop this cold in it’s tracks. Hopefully if I stay home tomorrow also but Thursday I will be ready to get back into the saddle.

As we delivered the sofa and fan I had a chance to talk to the missionaries about a special two hour Harvesting program that is going to take place through out the mission. All said they were prepared and one companionship was actually going out for two hours today and practice for the real thing tomorrow. It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm most of the missionaries have to be obedient and also believe in the power of their call as servants of Jesus Christ. I will be really surprised if the mission does not far exceed the goals that each zone, district and companionship have set. The Lord is sure to bless them as they diligently go out and Harvest.

  

Since today is a holiday for most of the world, the office was not open. But we had some great experience. It started with District Meeting where we met with 10 missionaries and were taught about how to be better missionaries. Each time we meet I am more impressed by the quality and dedication of the Fort Lauderdale missionaries and especially those in this district. They set high standards and goals for their work and plans on how to achieve them.

Today the main training was about the conversion process with Elder George using Helaman 5:23-46 as an example. I got a lot out of this training and found things in this section of the scriptures that I had not noticed before.

The pictures above show two elders who are not normally at our DM. Elder Olson on the left serves in the Miami area and Elder Kealamakia is one of the Assistants and is usually with Elder Neeley.

Sister Hong led the music and I kind of hope she does not see this picture I took from just in front of her. She and her companion sister Holder are hard working and successful missionaries who seem to love their investigators into the Church.

The last picture is of the bagel shop where we ate lunch. Mary had a very good Ruben and I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich. The real treat of the lunch was one of the best cole slaws I have ever eaten.

We also had a nice experience when we came in. The mother of the owner brought us our menus and then noticing our name tags sat down and talked with us about Church – she did not know much about it – and her life. We could not believe that she must be 8 – 10 years older than we are because she looked younger. She is Jewish so I gave her a Family Forever pass-along card and told her she could learn more about the Church by going to mormon.org.

We got our weekly letter from President Anderson with this story that shows how the Lord has prepared ways for us to touch the lives of those who are ready. We just need to have the faith to inquire and then follow up.

““We felt like we needed to go through the former investigators in the area book to pray and find out who was ready to receive the missionaries again. As we went through about 100 old teaching records we prayerfully narrowed it down to 50… then 30… and then 20. We then prayed to know who we needed to go see today. He had been dropped after being taught almost everything … We went to go visit him and he was very open to having us come in and talk to him. We sat down with him and then left a blessing on his home. He got up wiping away tears and we knew it was his time to be baptized. We invited him to be baptized and he readily accepted. It’s amazing to see what happens when we rely on prayer and find those who are ready to accept the Gospel. I know that we were guided by the Spirit to him and because of our praying, our practicing (role plays), and planning, we were able to do what the Lord wanted us to do.”

First let me say that it was a great first day of 2012 because we got to take the sacrament. But there were some twists that we could have done without.

First we went to what we thought was Ward Council and found that it was not happening because it was New Years Day. We were not the only ones that made the mistake. The second counselor, the YM president and a ward clerk all showed up.

The second mistake was thinking that it was Fast Sunday. With Saturday being New Years Eve it seems everyone put Fast Sunday off until next week and we did not get the message so we fasted. This again is no big thing because it means we can either have two Fast Sundays this month or just treat next Sunday as if it was a regular Sunday. I will probably do the former since I could use the blessings.

So a new year has started and we are committed to spending more time out visiting in the mornings and evenings. This will be easier because we now have a ward list with all of the birthdays.

I also want to write that I am looking forward to studying the Book of Mormon. I started the day by reading President Benson’s 1986 conference talk and there were a number of powerful thoughts there. I will try to truly ponder and pray about what we read and prepare for SS class.

           

I did not take any pictures today but our Durban RM James Luwanga, who served with us in Swaziland and later in Richards Bay,  posted this on FB and I felt that it was something I could also say. We do love Africa…we are winning!