Blessings unmeasured.....

Yesterday (Saturday) one of our Elders needed us to take some medication to him down around the Miami area. It was about a 45 minute down and 45 minute back. when we were about 3 exits from getting off of the freeway and 8 minutes from home, the lights went on in our car saying we were losing power. It started to jerk funny but Tim didn't take the exit. Just as we passed the exit, it really started jerking. Fortunately we were able to make it to the next exit and found a shopping center parking lot just off the off ramp so we coasted into it and headed towards a parking stall. Before we got parked, the car died completely and Tim lost all power to drive it. Luckily, we were only 5 minutes from the office and got AAA while on our mission. We have never used them but were glad we had them yesterday. They showed up about one hour later and towed us to the office where we picked up a mission car and headed to Auto Zone to get a new alternator. They wanted over $300 to install one and so Tim said he would do it himself.

The guy putting in a temporary battery to start the engine so we could drive it onto the tow truck.

Tim watches, wondering what we should do.

There she goes for a ride!

We got all hitched up and the guy told us to climb into the truck. There were only 2 seats so he made Tim crawl up between the 2 seats and sit with his legs crossed for the 5-minute ride to the office. We told him we were missionaries for the church and that we had been delivering medicine to a missionary. He said that he used to live by the Fort Lauderdale Chapel and had talked with some of our missionaries several years ago and thought they were very nice young men. When we arrived I asked if we were under our 5 miles. After 5 miles, AAA charges $5 per mile to tow. He said, "Oh, sure." I then asked if he wanted to see our AAA card and my driver's license but he said "No, I'm supposed to but it's okay. Just have a good day and God bless." He never asked any more questions and off he went.

We got the alternator and Tim began installing it about 10 minutes before it started to rain and rain and rain!!! It poured for about 2 hours. He finished in 1 1/4 hours and saved us the $300. About an hour after he finished, the sun came out and the rain stopped.

We were SOOOOOOOOO blessed that it didn't happen in Miami or on the freeway in an unfamilar area. We would NOT have known where to be towed or where to buy a new alternator. We were able to go to our apartment so Tim could change clothes and get his tools which we wouldn't have had if it had happened in Miami. Heavenly Father loves us and we know that! He watches out for his missionaries.

Nightmare Phone Woes......

Tim is now the vehicle and phone coordinator as well as his financial job since the Dallings left on Wednesday. He carries 2 cell phones around with him and has been getting a lot more calls. This morning one of our Zone Leaders from over an hour away called to say that he had forgotten to take his cell phone out of his pocket when he baptized a guy last night so he needed a new phone. Easier said than done. First of all we were grocery shopping (our preparation day) so we had to finish and then go into the office and pick up my phone before taking it to him. Mine will just be a temporary one until Tim can get him a permanent one on Monday. It took us 2 1/2 hours and about 1/3 tank of gas to get it to him. It is the 2nd Elder this week to do the same thing. The other one was only 20 minutes away.

Quest for weight loss.......

Just an update on our "diet". We have finished 2 weeks now and I lost 6 lbs. and we think Tim has lost at least 15. He claims he is having a hard time keeping his pants up. Tonight we went to a salad bar for dinner. I was so proud of him. He didn't go back for any seconds. He said his stomach was saying he was full but his mind wanted more but he resisted. Way to go Tim!! I wished I had that much will power. I had to go and get about 4 bites of an apple cobbler. We'll be back at it on Monday! Tim used to say that he and Elder Dalling were going on a milk shake run when they had to take cars anywhere. Now he says, "We're going on a carrot run."

Wiped out from Zone Conference.....

This week we had 3 days of zone conference in which we were quite involved in picking up the food each day, helping to get the hamburgers BBQ'd, tables set up with food and helping with the games in the afternoon. The games were done to teach the missionaries about "team togetherness". They were very unique. I believe they are a lot like the games that are played at BYU Youth conferences. We were so tired each night. Janet found it difficult to even walk after the 1st day.

Elder Black got the veggie and fruit trays and

Tim got the hamburger.

Tim has become quite the shopper!

We had to form a 3-basket train to get everything

out to the car.

Both Elder Black and Tim are engineers so it

took us a while to get everything in "just right".

Besides this food we had to pick up a sheet cake

and ice cream. All that was left at the end of the

lunch was a few veggies.

Meetings...diets.....and Valentine love!

This has been an interesting week. We are getting caught up in the office and I am even getting ahead on some of the letters. Because it was Valentine's Day today, we had a LOT of packages come through the office. It wasn't as bad as Christmas though.
On Monday I went into the Presidency meeting with President Hale and his 2 counselors to take minutes. It lasted about 1 1/2 hours. We then had a staff meeting that lasted for 2 1/2 hours. When we were done it was time for lunch. By the time we got back from lunch it was 2:30 and I hadn't accomplished a thing.
We made it through our first week of our diet. We both feel a little difference in the way our clothes fit but nothing huge. It was hard on the days we had off to eat because we don't want to gain the weight back that we tried so hard to get rid of. Tim actually had hot dogs, broccoli and cottage cheese for his first "free" meal. I am really impressed with his attitude. I managed to make it to the exercise room and do the treadmill and bike for about 40 minutes 5 times this week. Hopefully that will help along with the dieting.
We went to the Hogge's for a Valentine get-to-gether with the other 4 couples Saturday night. During our dinner we were given a paper that listed a person on it. We were to take on the personality of that person. I was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. We were also given about 3 facts about the state of Idaho because we were also celebrating the departure of the Dallings. Mine was something like 1) the world’s largest man-made geyser is in Soda Springs ID 2) the fruit belt of Idaho is near Lewiston, etc. We were supposed to incorporate those facts into our dinner conversation. It was pretty hilarious. Tim was Elvis Presley and he was soooo funny! Whenever someone would say something, he would say "Thank you. Thank you very much." When someone would ask a question I would say, "If you would come with me to see the wizard I know he could answer that...etc." We were to guess who everyone was.
We talked amongst the group about how our husbands could go all day long without noticing or talking to us. Sister Welch said they drove hundreds of miles coming here without saying a word to each other. Sister Black said she once experimented to see how long it would take Elder Black to notice she had some Minnie Mouse eyelashes on and it took him 3 days before he finally asked what she had on her eyes. Then Elder Welch said he had gotten in trouble before and wanted to know “How do you tell when your wife has had a haircut?” Tim told him to see if there was a charge on his credit card or if there was a missing check. We all laughed so hard. I am going to miss our association with the group.

Diet or slow death..................

Tim and I started a diet today that the Dallings told us about. You eat specific foods for 3 days and then eat sensibally what you want for the next 4. You are supposed to lose 10 lbs. each week for the 1st month and then taper off. Elder Dalling lost 60 lbs on it before coming on their mission. He is going to do it with us also. Sometimes we have dinner at the President’s home on Wednesday evenings so I asked Sister Dalling what they did on those weeks. She said they did it on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I told Tim that and then said, “Or we could do it on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and then we won’t feed the missionaries on those days.” He said, “Why wouldn’t we be missionaries? What has that got to do with the diet?” He had heard me to say “be” instead of “feed”. I laughed so hard my head hurt and then he started to laugh. We both started to choke on our pineapple and had to be careful so we didn’t choke to death. This morning we could have 2 T of peanut butter on a dry piece of toast and 2 slices of fresh pineapple. We can also eat all the bananas, apples, carrots and celery that we want.
For lunch today we could have 1 piece of dry toast with a small can of tuna (no mayo). It was VERY dry. As Tim was opening the can of tuna, he said, “Do we have to have this whole can? I said yes and he then said, “I think I will have some of the tuna in it too.” He is funny. I think I put the whole can in my mouth before I swallowed any. It just kept accumulating in my cheek. Finally I got some carrots and ½ an apple to try to force it down. I am NOT fond of tuna. I told Tim that I could feel the 2 lb. of fat falling off of my body already. He said, “I know. I almost tripped over it in the parking lot.” What an experience. It almost felt like we were eating fake food at a little tea party. We had a good laugh about it again.
Tonight we could have 2 3-oz pieces of meat, 1 cup of green beans and 1 cup of beets with 1 T of vinegar. Tim doesn’t like red beets so he is substituting pickles for the beets. I chose to get pickled red beets and forgo the vinegar as it is already in it. I took off to exercise while Tim was fixing his dinner. When I got home, I asked how his dinner was and he said, “I tried your beets and got all of them eaten before I realized I forgot to put the vinegar in so I drank the tablespoon of vinegar straight.” That gave me another great laugh. It was almost too much for me to eat. I was getting sick to my stomach. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings.