dinner with friends

    

Tomas, Sabrina, and Ilene Rey from Argentina

 

 

John and Susan Haines

happy birthday melody

Love you!

sunday walk

 

 

     

 

 

enjoying the beautiful colors of the evening sky and being together on a Sunday

blooms of sea jellies

A chatty man on the beach this morning warned that if the jellie gets on you it “will raise a welt like a branding iron that will be with you for a long time.” He has been here for over five weeks and never seen the likes of what greeted us on our morning walk. Apparently, “the presence of ocean blooms is usually seasonal, responding to prey availability and increasing with temperature and sunshine. Ocean currents tend to congregate jellyfish into large swarms or "blooms", consisting of hundreds or thousands of individuals.”  

We saw hundreds at the very least and were quite carefully watching our every step.

A random lifeguard jeep motoring on the sand left a sound wake similar to a child popping bubble wrap. 

 

Some of the jellies were nestled, looking quite comfortable, among the seaweeds.

 

 

 

Others seemed to hoping for a quick ride back from whence they came. We also saw many spinning along  in the water having obtained their desire.

 

 

We returned to the condo much sooner than Doug would have liked…to accommodate my Spanish lesson.

After that,  I took our first tennis set 7-5. Only just yesterday, I realized that I hadn’t experienced any muscle failure as we played. My arm is getting very close to fully healed. It is a huge blessing that I don’t take for granted any day.

For obvious reasons the words to this song have been in my head

Jellicle Ball

If it happens to be a stormy night
We will practice a caper or two in the hall
If it happens the sun is shining bright
You would say we had nothing to do at all
We are resting and saving ourselves to be right
For the jellicle moon and the jellicle ball.

cbcc

We are eating and sleeping, studying Spanish and Preach My Gospel, reading, watching a little tv, enjoying the change of scenery, and I think we got half way through a movie last night before falling asleep. Today, we decided to play a little tennis. However, when I went to change into my tennis gear, I discovered to my dismay that I had not packed my tennis shoes. You can adlib some tennis paraphernalia, but not the shoes.  Really, I needed a new pair anyway! Really!

So we went to the ProShop at the Cocoa Beach Country Club after calling four different numbers, all unanswered. They had the shoe, the style, and the size I wanted.        (Big Smile)

However…

When Doug went to pay with his credit card, the Pro explained that they only take cash or check. We had neither with us. It is only about 8 minutes from the condo so we said that we would be back in a few minutes.

“Oh no,” he answered. “Don’t bother. Just put a check in the mail.” And without taking our name or any other identifying information, he handed us the shoes and an envelope and walked out of the shop.

I’ve got new tennis shoes.

el sol

President Benton, from the Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste Mission, sent us a copy of their weekly newsletter today. He and his wife talked with us on the phone this evening for about an hour and forty minutes. It is really exciting for us to be learning so many things about "our mission" and to be able to work with such wonderful people.

 

and the next day…

We ate at the Discovery Beach Bar and Grill.

It was “Italian Night” with an all-you-can-eat menu. The waitress took a quick look at me and correctly assumed, I did not want the “all- you-can-eat” option.

 

 

 

ode to the husband of a skinny wife

I wonder if we will eat in the next life. I mean, I realize that for some people, heaven would not be heaven without food. I am just not one of them. For me, eating is like filling up the gas tank of my car. It is expensive and needs to happen when I would rather be doing something else someplace else. For me the only redeeming value of food is the sociality of eating, reference the “released” blog a couple of days ago.

Most websites about gaining weight say the best way to gain weight is to eat six times a day. Six times a day! That is a lot of sociality. Suffice it to say…Food is just not my thing.

So…here we are staying at this wonderful condo in Cocoa Beach and pretty much the only restaurants in town are the kind normally listed under the generic “Hole in the Wall.”  My husband did some research, with his picky little wife in mind, and came up with:The Green Room Cafe is an organic restaurant located in downtown Cocoa Beach, FL. Our specialties include sandwiches, wraps, salads, real fruit smoothies, tasty vegetarian and vegan choices, wheat- and gluten-free alternatives (including desserts) and homemade soups.

It was delicious!

official documents

We got a package from Salt Lake on Wednesday requesting information for our passports and visas. This meant phone calls to Vital Statistics in Utah and Florida for birth certificates and marriage certificates because only certificates issued within the past five years are acceptable. It also meant fingerprinting and letters of good conduct from the police department and FBI.

 

 

 

Doug and I received our birth certificates, 2 copies each, the next day (Thursday)  from Utah and then I received an email that Brianna’s birth certificate, also 2 copies,  would be delivered on Friday, signature required. We assumed that the package would come around 4 as it had the previous day since it was being delivered by the same courier. Nevertheless, 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, and 5:30 came and went without the appearance of the delivery person. I prayed that all would go well with the receipt of the package and tried not to worry about the fact that we had to pick up the general authorities for dinner at 6:15 and wanted to have the car washed, which hadn’t been done because I had been babysitting the door all day.

The Berge’s unexpectedly showed up at 5:45 and were gracious enough to accept the door sitting job and I headed off to the car wash, only to arrive at 6:01. Yes, that would be one minute after they closed. I found another car wash and met Doug in the Lowe’s parking lot to accommodate our time schedule.

The Berge’s tasked their daughters, Megan and Kirstie, with our door job.

Sometime later, Gail and Derek went to Office Depot and when Derek ran inside to complete an errand Gail noticed a UPS truck in the parking lot. With bravado, she ran over and asked the delivery person if he delivered to Eudora Road. When he answered in the affirmative, she told him that her daughters were waiting for a very important package at a house on Eudora.  He then told her that since they weren’t legal adults, he wouldn’t be able to accept their signatures, nor leave the package. Of course, Gail volunteered to drive back over to the house. He told her that wouldn’t be necessary and just to give him the address…

which…

she didn’t know.

However, she did know my name!

And he did know that the address is also known as the Birdhouse.

And there, in the Office Depot parking lot, due to an incredible turn of events, she signed for the package!

 

Monday our unable-to-be-expedited marriage certificate, 3 copies, arrived. So, we were able to finish up our task list. We were leaving the county offices and heading to the post office to mail all of our documents back to the Departments of State from whence they came to have them all apostilled, 

(The apostille is an official certification that the document is a true copy of the original. Both apostilles and certifications are used by foreign governments to assess the authenticity of an official signature on a document; the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and the identity of any stamp or seal affixed to the document.)

when Doug yelled out, “Stop!” 

There in the stairwell was a black racer, that I hadn’t even seen! Harmless as it supposedly is…I did not want to find out via personal encounter. We gingerly slipped by and reported it to the attendant at the desk in the county offices. (FYI, I did not stop and take this picture, and am sure our racer was bigger!)

I have felt like a contestant on The Amazing Race lately. The big hurry for all of these documents is the fact that  apparently processing time is taking something like 16 weeks for FBI clearance and 10 weeks for Visas, and we are supposed to be leaving on our mission in…..17 weeks. More prayers needed.

released

Elder Kevin Pearson and Elder Robert Gay came to our stake conference this weekend to release Doug and call a new stake president. Friday night, the four of us went to dinner at Goblin Market. Both Elder Pearson  and Elder Gay  have been mission presidents in Tacoma, Washington and Accra, Ghana, respectively. They both took 15 year old sons with them as well. Much of the evening was spent chatting about their mission experiences with an appropriate, and much wanted, dose of advice, for me, personally. The role of a mission president’s wife is not well-defined. They encouraged me to use my talents and be sensitive to the Spirit as I chose how I would fulfill my part of the assignment. I enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, when the main course was finished, only I ordered dessert. I could not bear for the evening to end quite yet.Sunday morning they both took a few minutes to chat with Brianna. It meant a great deal to her, especially when they promised her that our mission to Argentina is not just for her parents and that she would have great joy and wonderful experiences that would bless the rest of her life.

Our new stake president is dearly loved by us. Not only has President Ingalls been Doug’s counselor, but both he and his wife have been our friends. His new counselors, President Berge and President Jackson are  good men that we know, we love, and we sustain. We feel truly blessed by our association with all of them and know that they will lift the members of our stake to new heights individually and collectively.

not too cold

 

for them!

Hannah and Brianna

youth conference

   

youth conference

It is Youth Conference this weekend. The theme for the conference is “Called to Serve”. Hmmmmmm. I wonder if my husband had anything to do with that! While Brianna went off to stay at someone else’s house, we had six girls arrive to stay here.

 

I thought they were only staying for two nights, but when I saw all their gear, I did a double take.

 

Two went home after the first night and then we got another new girl the second night so we ended up with Alexa, Jessica, Rebecca, Lauren and Nellie.  They liked it when Doug and I told the story of our courtship.

My favorite part was Sunday afternoon when three young men came by to share a message. They were talking about prayer and I asked them if they had ever had a prayer answered. Armando, on the left, shared an experience about losing his shoe that was really very cool.

 

 

Doug called me on Sunday afternoon and asked me to come to the fireside Sunday night. He didn’t mention that he wanted me to sit on the stand, nor that he wanted me to speak and then bear my testimony in Spanish! When I asked him about it later or rather mentioned that a heads-up would have been nice, especially since I just learned how to bear my testimony in Spanish last week, and I am not very confident in my ability, he responded that I need to be ready all the time. Rrrrrriiiiiiiiiight.  It was my first time saying anything in public in Spanish. President Ingalls said, “Bien hecho” when I finished. Thank heaven for kind friends.

Update: I noticed that Armando Nielson didn’t have a nice set of scriptures so I gave him an extra set that I own. He sent me this nice thank you.

zone conference

One of our assignments from the MTC is to attend a zone conference. For the past couple of years, President Current in south Florida has been recommending that we meet their mission president. We accomplished both today! It was an o-dark thirty wake up call and 5:20 am departure for the designated chapel. Elder Golden from the Seventy was the visiting general authority. He is from South Africa.

 

Doug and I, President Bob Lake and Rolayne (President Lake is a counselor to President Hales) Elder and Sister Golden, President Nathan and Sister Kathy Hales and President Bill and Susan Current

 

The boys wanted to have their own picture together remembering the good old days when they served together.

 

 

 

The training and talks were wonderful and inspiring. The missionaries themselves were attentive and friendly. President Hale and his wife were extraordinary. Sister Hales used a basketball conversion story about  Fredette and Rogers. She urged Fredette’s advice “not to let the adversary or the opposition get in your head.” President Hales talked about “unplanned” service and admonished us to “go about doing good.” He advised us to inspire those that are available to us and all I can say about that is,  he certainly did.

Fort Lauderdale Northern Zone Conference

Later in the afternoon, we toured the mission office where President Hales showed us how he organizes his mission. Thankfully, he promised to send CD’s.

Sister Hales shared some of her experiences being a mom and a companion to the mission president and how she juggles that.

The day ended at their home, which has had quite an update since our last visit there….ummmm….5 mission presidents ago. We chatted all the way home about the things we want to remember and incorporate into our own mission experience.