Busy week.....

Outside the Orlando Temple

The sisters who are going home this week.

It was extremely busy this week in our mission. We had 16 new missionaries arrive on Tuesday and went to the Orlando Temple on Wednesday with the 12 who departed on Thursday morning. We helped purchase, prepare and serve dinner at the Hale home (our President) on Tuesday evening for 30 people, lunch on Wednesday for those transferring for 140, and dinner the same night for about 30 for those departing the next morning besides our regular days at the office. Monday was spent buying and preparing some of the food for Wednesday. We never got home before about 9:00 and sometimes as late as 10:15 on Mon, Tues and Wed and we got up at 4:30 am to get ready to fo to the temple. It was a 3 hr. 15 min. drive each way. When we got back to the office on Thursday we had to catch up because of missing Wednesday. We hold the mail for about 3 days before transfers so it was really backed up on Thursday and Tim had to get all of the new addresses and changes in apartments into the computer before I could print labels for the packages and letters. We left the office Thursday about 6:30 pm.
President Hale told us today that he has made arrangements with the Director of the Hawaiian Cultural Center to host the senior couples in Jan 2011. He told him he we would give him a couple of days at his condo if he would treat us like he would the Prophet. He plans to have us all come to his condo on Kawaii for a few days reunion.
The President also told us the other evening that he knows the President of Guatemala and that his wife is involved in humanitarian work so a couple of years ago he worked with the Church to give a special humanitarian award to Guatemala's First Lady. President Hale flew on the private jet to go to Guatemala to pick her up and then escorted her to Salt Lake where she received the award and then flew back to Guatemala with her. HE KNOWS EVERYONE!!!!
About a month ago I got an idea about 3 am to put a "chapel card" in all of the "mail only" offers that I send out. The card has a picture of the chapel in each area, address and times of the meetings. The missionaries use them to give to some of their investigators. Some people do not want the missionaries to deliver the items they request (DVDs, Bibles, BofM etc) so I just mail them out. Last week one of the missionaries told me that a lady showed up at church and said she had received an "invitation" to come to church. The missionary didn't know what she was talking about until I explained to her what I had started doing and she said, "That must be why the lady showed up at church." It is interesting how the spirit directs even the referral secretary (me) to do things that can help get investigators to church.
LIFE IS GOOD!!!!