After a rocky start, Monday turned out to be great. First I was able to get my iPad to find wi-fi sources. Then I went to the office and got to help out with some problems before heading to the Sprint store and get my phone up and running…never thought of taking out the battery to reset the phone, so I learned something for future use.

Then we prepared lunch for some very special guests.

While I was at the office in the morning the APs came in to make their accountability calls. Basically these are stewardship calls to the zone leaders to find out why some people did not get baptized, what they are planning to teach each district leader and share with the districts, and any exchanges they plan to go on for the week. If they feel it is necessary they do some suggesting and training. it is often a spiritual experience listening to these young leaders counsel with other young leaders.

After getting my phone working I came home and helped Mary get lunch ready for our special guests – the APs. Usually we have lunch with them 10 days before transfers but since we will not be here for the next transfer, we decided to have lunch so elder Plowman could share one with us. It has been many months since he came to a last lunch when he transferred out of the Fort Lauderdale zone.

 

They got lasagna, salad, and garlic bread for lunch which was followed by pumpkin pie and ice cream. At least they look happy.

 

 

After lunch they started sharing some stories and one of them completely broke up elder Gust. I can not remember what it was about but all of the elders joined in. I guess the last picture means the other three have to carry elder Plowman until he learns what to do.

We then went to the office and who should show up in their p-day clothes and with their bikes but the fab four…we had to take some pictures and perhaps the last one with these four wonderful friends who are missionaries.

 

I noticed that elder Gust was wearing a T-shirt that I had not seen before. He inherited it and it seems to be one that the Fort Lauderdale Zone had printed at some time. If anyone knows when I would love to know they were the Kings of Zion. I took the last picture to show a car that was in the right turn lane and when the turn signal turned green she moved over into the middle of the intersection. I thought she was going to just turn right instead of left – I have seen this happen before at this intersection – but instead when the light turned green she went straight across. It is truly interesting driving in Florida.

I guess it is important that I have a memorable last Monday morning because it has been very interesting.

First when I got up to go to the gym I found that my new phone would not respond to any efforts on my part to wake it up. Annoying but nothing really terrible because I will take it in to Sprint and have them tell me what I did to make it not like me. Oh, yes it is charged!

Second I get to the gym and find that my iPad will not connect to the management office wifi. When that happened I realized that it would not work yesterday at the chapel either but that is not unusual since it is often down. Again no big thing because I have 3G and nothing was going to stop me from getting in my exercising. But when I got home it would not work on our system either.   Tried a number of things to get it to connect but without success. If I can not figure out what is wrong it means a long trip to the Apple store which I do not look forward to. Again no big thing but annoying.

But then when I was getting a little annoyed at the way the day was going I got on the Tembe Elephant park’s webcam and was greeted by this sight…

 

If you have ever been to South Africa you will know what animal this is. Also you will laugh – I certainly did – because  it is amazing how often this is the view you get of many animals. When I saw the picture, everything kind of fell into place – do not sweat the little things, enjoy what you can.

I trust that all of you are having or had a wonderful Monday morning in this beautiful world that the Lord has provided for us! If not, read the experiences in the post below and you will certainly feel better.

I passed my phone on to Elder Singleton so there were no calls from missionaries asking for rides. We have gone directly to the Fort Lauderdale chapel so seldom that when I turned right where we usually go straight Mary tried to correct me until she realized that I was going the direct way. I confessed to her that it also took me a moment to remember to turn.

I took only two pictures today.

We picked up Mike Warren a number of times to bring him to church while he was investigating and even afterwards if he needed a ride. He is very special and will be a great addition to the ward once we can get him in a white shirt. We also will keep in touch with him to encourage him to stay active. When we got home from church Mary noticed that the hibiscus plant under our front window had two beautiful blossoms and I had to take a picture as a memory of our last Sunday.

 

I did not take this beautiful picture. It was taken by a sister Caroline McCulloch and can be seen on the Fort Lauderdale construction website http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/fortlauderdale/construction/

I told Mary I want to go out to the construction site some evening this coming week and see what picture I can get from on top of a hill to the East of the temple at sunset…then hopefully we can come back for the dedication.

Elder and Sister Singleton asked us to lunch and we suggested that we go to one of our favorite places – the 15th Street Fisheries. This would give them a chance to get to know how to get there as well as see part of the inter-coastal waterway. Of course it was raining quite hard when we left the office but it cleared up enough that they got to take a walk on the dock after lunch.

Our hosts and the beautiful Koi pond.

P-day clothes and the Jungle Queen goes by. We suggested that the take a ride on one of their p-days

A small boat pulled in with two young men aboard and they soon laid out their catch for a picture. I got both the fish and E/S Singleton admiring them.

One of the small yachts docked along the river bank. We had never noticed this sign before because we had not sat inside the restaurant. We had also not seen pelicans around.

 

When we were on the docks, Mary pointed out these birds on the roof of the restaurant. At first I thought they were statues as each was in a different pose, but there is no doubt that this big guy is real.

 

I also had not noticed this rather large sign before. The Singletons took a walk along the dock to look at some more boats docked in an inlet. I got them strolling back to the restaurant before we headed home. It was a great lunch – I had a delicious lobster roll – with some very good people. I am just sorry we will not have more time to get to know them.

BTW – As I was driving back to the office it started pouring rain. However just before we got there, it stopped so we were blessed both at the waterfront and at the office.

 

Bishop Tanner has written to say that we will be giving our mission report on the 19th of May. We would love to see any of the wonderful missionaries that we have served with and/or their parents. It will be held at Edgemont 11th Ward 3050 Mojave Lane in Provo starting at 11:00. Following Sacrament Meeting we will have an open house at our home.

Since I do not like to post our address in a public forum, we will have the address and how to get there at the meeting. If you can not make the sacrament meeting you are still welcome to drop by our house. Just send leave us a request on our blog and I will send you the address.

So Thursday started out with me beginning to pack my clothes that I am not going to need for the rest of the mission or when traveling. I noticed that the last thing that went into the bag was my extra suit with my name tag and it seemed like a perfect picture to show packing. Later after going into the office for the morning to work with elder and sister Singleton, I stayed home and begin the packing of the kitchen while Mary went back do some more training with sister Singleton.

The pictures are in reverse order but I way too lazy to change them. Sisters Johnson and Forbush came in to talk to elder Bare and stopped to talk to sister Collins. From the look on her face, I think Sister Forbush is adjusting well to the mission. Two other sister companionships came in and it is obvious that sister Gordon is getting great training on going for the snacks from her trainer sister Dougal. Sisters Merrill and Stegelmeier are long past that training. We are going to miss all of these sisters…

As I mentioned the pictures are reversed so the first one you should have seen was the one with us all being proper missionaries. Speaking of proper missionaries, The APs assisted by elder Silva who had to wait at the office for an afternoon flight home to Peru, sang a song in Spanish for me. I thought that I had shot a video of it but missed it and only got a picture…It would have gone viral on UTube for sure.

Thursday morning is stressful for the APs as they have to call each Zone and ask for who is probably going to get baptized on Sunday. They only want the name and ages of those who the missionaries really think will be baptized. They are graded on a scale of from 1-5 with 5 being almost certain. The APs then report the 4-5 possible baptisms to President Anderson.

 

This is the first time elder Plowman got to be on the asking side of the conversation. In the past he has been one of the ZLs that needed to report. 5 great missionaries together for about the last time. A few hours after I took this picture elder Silva was winging his way to New York on the way home to Peru…that is right he had to fly 1200 miles North and then fly the same 1200 miles back South some hours later to get him to Peru at a reasonable time. I am glad I do not work in mission travel – they do amazing things.

 

On Thursday night the missionaries who will depart for home tomorrow come to the mission home as soon as they get back from the temple. Since we will leave before the next group will depart we were invited to this one.

We arrived early and were able to help prepare dinner…that is another last as we have had the chance to do this a number of times for different events. It is always fun to work with sister Anderson as she gets ready to serve another meal to 10 to 80 people.

Unfortunately I left my camera plugged into the computer at home because I downloaded all the pictures from earlier in the day. I would have run home and got it but we were needed. But when the missionaries arrived E/S McCormick were kind enough to let me use their phone to take at least a few pictures. So the event did not go completely unrecorded! I think I will ask some of the missionaries who went home to share some of their pictures with me.

As soon as the departing missionaries arrive at the mission home, there is a blessing on the food and they dig in. Elder Edwards’ mother will be happy to see he is getting salad before he hits the meat and starches. Elders Silva, Chamberlain, Maki, Edwards, and a wide smiling Kata are ready to get started filling their plates.

The two B’s that are finishing their mission, Elder Beer and Sister Beck pose for their picture. Elder Dowdle carries his heaping plate of food while elder Chinchilla can be seen in the back ground.

The letter reading group grew to three when sister Andrus joined them. We have had the great experience of serving near both sisters for much of our mission. President Anderson watches over the food while sister Collins helps out. The Collins have been busy almost everyday for weeks as they try to find housing for all the new companionships. Then they have to fill them with furniture, and everything else the missionaries will need. They are an amazing couple who have served for at least 3 years and are planning to continue serving as the housing couple. We will miss them very much.

Elder Silva and Sister Lake get their food…I can testify that those rolls in front of sister Lake are wonderful. Even though I am trying to keep my weight down, I can not pass up the rolls. Elder Beer continued to attract the sisters…now the party includes sister Lake.

 

I am not sure if Mary was guarding the salad bowl or making sure each missionary had something green on their plate besides delicious green beans.

After dinner we gathered in the living room and President Anderson asked each missionary to share a special spiritual experience that they had on their mission. It was very interesting and spiritually uplifting to hear how they were led by the spirit to special people who the Lord had prepared to hear the gospel from them.

Then it was time for a departing group picture before we had final hugs and goodbyes. Hopefully we will be able to see some of these great missionaries again after we get home. But no matter where we are the memory of their great spirits and friendships will be in our hearts.

NOTICE…11 Pictures added on Friday Night. Somehow I managed to leave out some pictures when I transferred them to the blog…They are about 2/3rd of the way down the post. So if you looked and did not see your missionary, you might want to look again…

Transfer day is a wonderfully crazy day for President and Sister Anderson, the assistants and most of the senior missionary couples.

The first thing that happens is all the departing missionaries come in to the Plantation chapel by 5:30 and drop off their luggage and bikes before getting into vans and going up to the Orlando temple. This transfer there were 13 missionaries being released so it took two vans and two couples. Elder and sister Collins are old hands at this while this was elder and sister McCormicks first chance to accompany the missionaries. I do not have any pictures of this because at 5:30 I was just rolling out of bed. However we twice had the experience of going with the missionaries and we loved it…well maybe not the 7 hours of driving but the spirit of the temple more than made up for that.

Just as I have gotten pretty good at taking lots of pictures at the transfer, we attended our last one here in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission. For the last time we had the chance to see and hear the sights and sounds of a transfer meeting. What a joy it is to hear 50 -100 dedicated missionaries sing, recite their purpose, gasp and smile as the assistants reveal the new callings and companionships, and then the joyful musical chair like movement when they say ‘you can now make the change.’ There are big hugs for the companion that they have learned to know and love in a way that they have never known anyone else. 24/7 they have shared each experience, joy, heartache, and even problem. They then go and find their new companion and give another big hug. It is too bad that every parent can not share in this wonderful experience. It is one of the great blessings we have had the opportunity to share on our last two missions.

Then President Anderson gives some counsel. Once again he urged the missionaries to not make transfer meeting an excuse for a non-productive day or week. He shared a number of letters from missionaries who heeded his counsel and promise at the last transfer and went to work as soon as they were back in their area and dropped off luggage. The stories told how the missionaries were blessed with amazing success when they had faith and were obedient to their president’s wishes.

The toughest part of the meeting for me was the singing of the traditional closing song…”We’ll Bring the World His Truth.” I could only sing about 1/2 of any verse as I felt the spirit and perhaps a little sadness of all those faithful missionaries singing with such spirit and zeal. They are truly doing what the title suggests and we have been greatly blessed by in a small way helping them.

I hope some of you parents who read this blog in hopes of seeing a picture of your missionary find one or two here. I have tried to take as many companionship pictures as possible. Enjoy!

Being very obedient missionaries, most of them were in the chapel soon after 8:00 and studying their scriptures. The front two rows were filled with the 21 new missionaries who probably are still trying to recover from jet lag and waking up yesterday – if they ever went to sleep that is – in time to catch the bus to the SL airport at 4:30. Elder Bay and Tesch who are down in Homestead Zone were one of the companionships that stayed the same but they still came up to bring other missionaries. They sat on the back row and had a great view of the meeting.

All the missionaries involved in the transfer was asked to be at the chapel by 8:00 so they could spend some time studying and pondering the scriptures. I did catch a picture of elders Jones and Hunt in the hall. They had been serving as ZLs up in Coral Springs but both left the meeting with new companions and positions. Elder Richardson is on the end of the group of missionaries intent on studying.

Elders Elliott and Loucks have been companions but they also got new companions. One of the things that missionaries look forward to is getting mail. Since a good portion of the missionaries move each transfer we hold letters and packages or about a week before transfer meeting so it does not get sent to the wrong address. E/S Ellis carefully lays out the mail on hand so the missionaries can stop in and get their’s after the meeting.

I mentioned above the changing of companionships that occurs zone by zone. Once the assignments are read they tend to jump up, give their old companion a big loving hug and immediately find their new companion and greet them the same way. They then sit down in the zone that they are assigned. My short term friend and companion for about 20 minutes, elder Mendenhall will be trained by elder O’Neill in the Miami Beach Zone. I am sorry that I will not get to know elder Mendenhall better but I know he will be well trained by elder O’Neill.

Elder Langford – who I really look up to at 6′ something – will train elder Passey while they serve in the way down in the Keys. They will have the privilege of having Elder and Sister McCormick in their area. They will never worry where their next meal will be coming from. Ever smiling elder Burt has a new companion in elder Marcusen. I always mix elder Marcusen up with elder Martineau – not them personally but their talents. Elder Marcusen is a marvelous piano player…I am not sure how elder Marcusen plays.

Elder Chartrand is going to be trained as he serves with our friend elder Rugg as they serve in the Fort Lauderdale Zone. Sister LeBaron will be trained by sister Judkins in the highly Spanish speaking Hialeah Zone.

Elder Andelin – elder Burt’s recent companion – will serve with elder Brakey in one zone further North – the Coral Springs Zone. Elders Tesch and Bay stood still long enough for me to take a companionship picture

They then were joined by elders Fisher and Allen for a group shot. Elders Fisher and Allen will serve together in the Miami Zone. Elder Hoole is now serving with elder Elliott – see above – up in the Palm Beach Zone.

Sister LeBaron got to meet elder Ellis as sister Judkins looks on. We are going to miss elder Wardell very much – he is training elder Hutchinson while serving as one of the district leaders in the Hialeah Zone.

 

Sister Eldridge will be trained by sister Montgomery-Brown in the Miami Beach Zone. Elder Pierce – who always has a smile on his face will be with elder W. Brown and they will serve in the Coral Springs Zone. I did not notice that I took pictures of an sister and elder Brown one after another. I just grab as many companionships as I can and snap a quick picture.

A big smile from elder Torres who is now a companion of ever smiling elder Pond. They will serve as ZLs up in Stuart Zone. They will put many, many miles on their truck as they cover the largest zone in the mission. Elder Thompson is going to be trained by one of the best – elder Hunt – while elder Hunt serves as one of the zone leaders in Homestead zone. Elder Hunt is another missionary that we have had a chance to serve closely with.

I have to say that I smiled when I read that elder Williams was to be our old friend elder Marsh’s companion and that they would serve as Zone Leaders in the Miami Beach zone. A basketball injury is not going to slow down elder Claude who is going to serve with elder Rockwood up in Stuart Zone.

Elder Wilson is back in the area as he will serve as one of the DLs here in the Fort Lauderdale Zone. He will serve with elder Rondo who lost his companion elder Pond to the Stuart Zone. Sisters Jackson and Herrera share a big hug as they will now serve as companions in Stuart Zone.

Sister Forbush will be trained by our long time friend sister Brooke as they serve in the Fort Lauderdale Zone. Speaking of the FLZ, elder Smoot now has elder Bloom as his companion as they serve as ZLs in that zone. Elder Bloom was recently a district leader here before spending some time up in the Coral Springs Zone. We glad to have him back and with elder Smoot…however we will miss elder Edwards who has departed for home.

Elder King has a new son to train – elder Ward. They will serve together in the Hialeah Zone. Our very good friend elder Toeava is now companions with elder Osborn as they serve in Miami Zone. Although we have never served in a district or even zone with elder Toeava I feel very close to him. Maybe it is because of his great hugs but I think it has much to do with his great spirit.

Another picture of elder Hutchison and elder Wardell…more to come further down. Sister Houghton will train sister Smaellie while they serve in the Palm Beach zone. I am hoping that sister Smaellie’s parents will post her weekly letters on her blog so I can keep up with how her mission is going.

Elder Winslow and elder Lee who are not now companions and I do not think they were ever companions but I managed to get a picture of them together. This is the first picture taken of the new Super Nova YSA area…also known as the Assistants to the President. Elder Plowman will be a great addition to elders Shipley, Stewart and Gust…

Then I snagged President Anderson going by and got a shot of him with the APs. I finally got a picture of elder Rodriquez with his trainer elder Lee. They are going to be serving in the Hialeah Zone.

Elders Kafton and Page will now serve together in the Homestead Zone. Elder Ovard will train elder White as they serve together in the Miami Zone.

Elder Petersen will train elder Blackham as they serve in Belle Glade. Ever smiling elder Doria is training elder Barbossa in the Palm Beach zone.

Sisters Schneider and Ellett will be serving together in the Palm Beach Zone. I hope sister Schneider likes this picture…she told me yesterday (Thursday) that she has not been pleased with prior ones. Sister McKay will be trained by sister Tuai in Hialeah Zone.

Elder Aul and elder Lamb will spend this transfer down in Homestead zone. Sister Clayton is the trainer for sister Moody in a new area in the Royal Palm Beach ward.

Sister Nimer has a great trainer in sister Sablan who has only been out 12 weeks but is already a seasoned missionary. This is just a small portion of the parking lot and the excitement that occurs when the meeting is over. Missionaries, luggage, and bikes are moved around. Then there are final hugs before getting into their cars so they can head off to their new areas and start working so they have their standard of 8 blessings before the day is over.

 

Sister Baumann and her trainer sister Aloi will serve in the Palm Beach Zone. They get two pictures because I love the one with sister Aloi laughing at something I said just before taking the shot.

Elder Plowman clowns around while elder Shipley explains to sisters Clayton and Moody how to use a fishing pole to become fishers of men…anyway that is how I interpret this picture. Elder Claude and elder Jones just happened to be close to each other so I took their picture.

 

Elder Curtis will serve with elder Shaffer up in Jupiter. Elder Shaffer has the honor of being the last missionary called to the Orlando mission before the Stuart Zone was transferred to the Fort Lauderdale mission.

 

After they leave the chapel many of the missionaries stop in at the office to pick up supplies. They almost all stop in the hall to see where they and their friends are on the big board. Elder Bay seems to have more interest in my taking his picture than elder Tesch and others. In the right hand picture I caught elder Richardson, Tesch and others looking at the board.

One of the reasons that the missionaries love to come into the office is that sister Bare feeds them bananas, pastries, cheese with crackers and lots of snacks. Elders Burgon and Jones , the two zone leaders in the Coral Spring zone got in a picture.

Then they stopped by the board to make sure they are still on it. Elder Jones got to carry the supplies they picked up. Elders Guitierrez and Martineau not only serve together in the Hialeah zone. I think they also have the longest combination of last names among the elders. Among the sisters it is Montgomery-Brown and Eldridge. A bit a trivia that everyone needs to know.

Elder Brown did not quite get to a smile but his companion elder Mackley did. They will be serving together in the Coral Springs zone. I am not sure if elder Webb is whistling or what but his companion elder Pingree is certainly smiling about getting to serve in the Miami Zone.

I can not believe that elder Bloom actually is the only missionary in this picture. Sister Bare is in the background busily refiling all the goodies. Sister Price will train sister Orton in one of the Hollywood areas.

Sister Judkins is showing off something on their phone to sister Le Baron. I managed to catch 3 companionships of above average sisters together. Sisters McKay, Tuai, Clayton, Moody, Sablan and Nimer.

 

The same sisters giving the mission’s famous thumbs up sign. Later in the afternoon when everyone else was gone, elder Wilson and elder Rondo stopped by for a visit. Since they are only about 2 miles away we will get to see them regularly.

Well that is it for transfer pictures…I hope that you found your missionary somewhere among this group. Other than elders Fuluvaka and Underwood with their companion I think I managed to get all the new missionaries and their trainers. But I did get them in the arrival pictures!

21 new above average missionaries arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport on Tuesday afternoon and we had the privilege of being asked to help greet and pick them up. From the airport most of them were taken to the hotel near the mission home where they would spend their first night in their mission field.

But before they got to drop onto their beds, they were brought to the mission home where they were fed a delicious home cooked meal, interviewed by President Anderson, had their picture taken a couple of times, instructed by the Assistants about the mission, and then some of them went out to have the opportunity to place Books of Mormon.

We all arrived just minutes after the plane from Dallas made it to the gate. A single man came through the gate and I asked if he had been on the Dallas flight. He told me he was and that there was a large group of ‘your folks’ gathering behind him. A couple of minutes later elder Blackham led the first group through the gate. Elder Mendenhall was close behind. President and sister Anderson greeted each with handshake and hug…the sisters just got the handshake from the president.

Although we had known their names for months we could not put a face with the name until we saw their name tags. I got to know some of them quite well in just a couple of days. Elder Mendenhall was followed by elder White. I think in the second picture elder Chartrand is getting a hug with sister Eldridge waiting to be greeted. In the back is sister Anderson greeting the sisters.

Sisters LeBaron, Forbush, Nimer and Eldridge are around president Anderson. That is elder Rodriquez coming through the gate with the last of the sisters.

 

After the greetings the next stop was the luggage area where we quickly got all the luggage. There only seemed to be a half dozen other passengers picking up luggage. It would have been a very empty plane if our missionaries had not been on it. Everyone and their luggage went to the parking garage where we filled a pick-up and our van with luggage and a couple of other vans with missionaries.

The assistants are in charge of making sure everyone’s luggage is stored and all the missionaries are accounted for. However as we drove out of the airport Mary asked if anyone had counted the missionaries in the vehicles and I told her I sure hoped so.

The next stop is the hotel where room assignments are decided and the missionaries take just enough time to drop their luggage and come back down. While we were waiting for the rooms to be sorted out I had a chance to take some single photos. Elder Thompson and sister Smaellie were the first.

The there was the delightful sister Forbush and elder Hutchison with the thumbs up sign.

Sisters Nimer and McKay seem chipper for people who have been up since 3:00 and traveled some 2500 miles on planes.

 

Elder Underwood got in the spirit of the occasion as did elder Blackham.

Elders Chartrand and Mendenhall got their pictures taken. Elder Blackham seems to have been able to get into many of my pictures. Probably because he is a big young man and is hard to miss.

Elders White and Rodriquez seem to have color coordinated their ties for the day. If I remember correctly their MTC district did it on purpose.

Elder Fuluvaka already has a number of friends here in the mission because his brother served here and only went home a few months ago. Instead of a thumbs up he is giving a Hawaiian greeting. After everyone is loaded into vehicles we all went to the mission home where the first thing to be done is to have pictures taken. First they have individual pictures taken to be put on all the board cards. It is a picture that will haunt them the rest of their mission. 16 – 22 months from now the same picture will be in their departure packets so they really need to have a nice smile.

 

Elder Hutchinson was the first elder…I completely missed the sisters. Elder Shipley is taking pictures of elder Gust taking pictures while a line of elders wait their turn.

A second shot of elder Hutchison and then elder Rodriquez.

Elder Ward gets his turn. The sisters get to always be first in line for food.

This week sister Anderson was the hostess for four dinners and a lunch. It is a good thing she loves to cook. President Anderson is the go to man for cooking meat. He cooked perfect rib-eye steaks for us on Friday night. While the sisters were getting their food the elders lined up for their second picture which is with President and sister Anderson. These will be sent to their parents with a letter saying that they arrived safely.

Some of the elders had already filled their plates when it was time for their second picture so elder Hutchison and Ward are seen snacking on some delicious rolls while they waited. I was taking a picture of elder Shipley putting away the back drop for the pictures when elder Stewart stepped into the shot. I have noticed he does that often.

Notice the food heaped on these elder’s plates. They usually remark how wonderful it is to eat a real meal after weeks of MTC food. Seconds are highly suggested and happily taken by many.

Elder and sister Bare helped out with the preparation, serving and clean up of the meal. The president usually eats meal – if he has time for one – while standing and talking. Sister Anderson was just getting out the dessert when I took a last picture and left to go back to the office. It was a nice experience to take part in this for the second transfer in a row. From the reply above I am glad to see at least one parent found their missionary among my photos.

If you have been following our blog you have read about our famous Last Lunches that we put on for the district where we are serving. Our first one here in Fort Lauderdale was held back in November 2011 and today marked our last one. The only missionary who was at both of them is Elder Smoot.

We love to have the missionaries over for a nice lunch and lots of pictures. They love the food and just being with each other. They start talking as soon as they get here and basically do not stop until we shoo the last one out the door.

We are really going to miss this opportunity to serve some of the missionaries who serve with all their heart, might, mind and strength to bring others unto Christ.

Elders Thorne, Brimley, Turek and Van Wagenen showed up early to use our computers for their hour of e-mailing. But before we let them on line we put them to work cutting and buttering the bung for the beef dip sandwiches. Well at least elders Brimley and Van Wagenen did while their senior companions looked at the pictures on our Kodak picture frame.

With a stack of buttered rolls in front of him and our Believe sign behind him elder Brimley tried to do his e-mail but he had a problem with the computer that kept him from getting to ‘myldsmail.’ Also much of his long letter to his family was eaten by the computer when he tried to send it. Hopefully he was able to get on line at the library later in the day and complete it. Since I know the Brimley family reads this blog, if you some of you did not hear from him, it was our computers fault, not his. This was elder Turek’s first time to a Last Lunch and he got my big computer.

Mary made a couple of beautiful salads that were greatly enjoyed but there was a lot left to send home with the missionaries. This was elder Edwards first and last Last Lunch so he had to have his official LL picture taken.

Then there was the companionship shot but that was followed by an impromptu leaving picture. I think he was trying to say that in a couple of days he will be leaving the mission for the journey home.

8 missionaries gathered around our table while the rest ate in the living room. Elder Smoot ate most of his meal walking between the two groups, the ever vigilant zone leader.

Around the table were sisters Escorbores, Bean, Smith, Chavous and Fletcher. They were joined by elders Van Wagenen, Edwards and Thorne. While the missionaries were eating, Mary took a well deserved break.

Sister Smith did a great job of cutting and serving up the brownies. I added lots of ice cream and elder Turek acted as waiter. Elders Brimley and Andelin ate their dessert on the couch.

Then it was time for more official first time pictures starting with elders Brimley and Thorne.

Then it was elders Turek and Van Wagenen’s turn.

Next up the sister trio of sisters Chavous, Smith and Escorbores. Since sister Escorbores is leaving this week it will be sister Chavous who will continue training sister Smith.

The final – and in this case really the last – companionship to stand in front of the famous door for their picture is sisters Fletcher and Bean.

Then it was outside for the last district shot. After a very dignified picture there had to be the crazy one with elder Van Wagenen the victim of the famous hold him while elder Smoot has dessert shot.

There was actually 4 pictures taken but I only showed the best two. In the others sister Fletcher’s hair refused to cooperate as the wind blew it over her face. We then posed with the two great missionaries who will be leaving just 10 days or so before we do – elder Edwards and sister Escorbores.

 Elder Edwards has only been zone leader here for one transfer but we have seen and got to know him over the last half of the mission. We then got to have a picture with all the great sister missionaries. We will miss their smiles and their spirit – not to mention sister Beans delicious birthday cakes.

Just as the party was breaking up – we only have them for about an hour – the assistants arrived and had their first meal of the day. We have grown very close to elders Stewart, Gust and Shipley and are glad we will have them around until we bid farewell to Florida and the mission.