Bruised and battered, but not broken!

Even though Lydia and Susie are still in online school - we have hit the 1 year of online school mark recently, too...phew, happily all the girls have been able to do sports. I've been so grateful for this. To get outside, to run and move, to participate, to work and meet people has been an enormous blessing for each of these girls. That said, each of them is a little banged up from it, but that's ok - it's the sign of being active, out and about. Lydia sprained her ankle at track practice a couple of weeks ago. Sadly it kept her from playing in national league with her soccer team in Florida, but happily, she was still able to join them and cheer them on. She had such a great time with them, and loves her team so much. It's been such a great thing for her to be able to travel with them and look forward to that this year! Susie also got to meet up with her soccer team and stay with the VandenAkkers and play with them in Arizona. She was also so happy to be reunited with friends and team members. We are so grateful for friends who take in our "orphan" girls and take care of them, and make it possible for them to meet up with their teams.

Goose also broke her arm in her soccer a couple of weeks ago. She said her arm hurt after her game, but she was pretty casual about it, so I figured we'd put a brace on it and watch it for a couple of days. The next day at practice, she got pushed and fell on it again, and then she was definitely protecting it. I knew we needed to get it xrayed, but we had zone conferences all week. So, she did online school at the church building where we had zone conference and we got xrays at an urgent care nearby after we were done. She had a buckle fracture and is out of soccer for 6-8 weeks.

Zone conferences are always a highlight. It's so energizing to be together and to learn together. It's always amazing to watch the Spirit guide us as a mission, but especially Mark and the assistants to what we need to focus on and cover. This last time, we talked about the importance of scripture study. We usually all read a talk together, Mark and I put together a slideshow and lead a discussion about it, then have trainings from the assistants, various counselors in the mission, sometimes stake presidents, and the zone leaders. I always learn so much, and it's always great to hear the comments and takeaways the Elders and Sisters have. Honestly, progress and learning have always been joyful to me, but now they are even more so, and seeing others learn and progress has to be one of the best things in life. Our missionaries are such sponges - they pick things up so fast and are really willing and able to learn so much.

I've also been doing lots of wedding planning. Zelle and Adam will be married in less than 2 weeks - hard to imagine! They have been so well loved and celebrated already. I'm feeling really grateful for ward members, neighbors, friends and family who have loved and supported them with showers, gifts, and wisdom. We are so grateful for the people in our lives. I can't even properly express it! I just feel humble and grateful. It's hard not to be there with Zelle and able to help her with all the wedding things I'd like to, but then an amazing friend or family member has just stepped right in and helped her out however she needs it. The level of details with the wedding and the two receptions is making me doubt my ability to organize it all, but I hope it works out! We even have a life size cardboard cutout of Abby ready to go! We will miss her, but she's doing such a great job in Missouri. She's really happy except for the fact that she's missing her sister's wedding. It's looking less and less likely that she'll make it to Italy, but I think she's making peace with it. The fact that she's so happy in Missouri means it's a lot easier for her to feel good about it.

We loved General Conference and Easter a couple of weeks ago. I especially loved President Nelson's talk on faith. It's so good. Everything really does start with faith "Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief and the conduit of divine power...Everything good in life—every potential blessing of eternal significance—begins with faith. Allowing God to prevail in our lives begins with faith that He is willing to guide us. True repentance begins with faith that Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse, heal, and strengthen us." Amen! We got to watch one of the sessions with one of our missionary districts at our house, and then had Easter dinner with them afterwards, so that was a treat.

Another highlight of these last couple of weeks has been that I got to take the girls to Jekyll Island, GA for their spring break. It was such a fun little place. The beach always has such restorative powers. We read and played soccer and catch on the beach. We also played tennis, and rode horses on the beach (that was funny - Lydia and I had the worst horses...haha, mine kept throwing its head around and actually threw the bit out of its mouth, so that was an adventure), and rode bikes. There are trails with mossy trees all over the island, so that was probably my favorite thing we did. There's a historic area where JP Morgan, the Pulitzers and some other power families used to stay when they came here. Apparently this was kind of their private winter retreat, so it's really fun to ride bikes through the historic area where they had homes and stayed. The buildings are beautiful! There's also the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in the historic area where they have a little museum and rehabilitation area for sick/injured sea turtles. The babies were so cute! One night we were about to go to dinner on St. Simon's island nearby and I got a tornado warning on my phone (popped up and sounded like an Amber alert). It said to take shelter and go to the ground floor or basement of a building. So we made a plan to go to the ballroom of our hotel if we needed to, but luckily we didn't. We rode out the tornado watch in the hotel lobby playing card games. I also had a flat tire one night when we went out to get in the car. The hotel people were so nice and had an onsite engineer come help me put on the spare, and then a nice guest, gave him a patch kit, so he patched our tire and I didn't even have to go into town 1/2 hour or so away to get a new tire. I honestly couldn't believe how nice people were and how helpful. I seriously feel like we were being watched over at every turn. Lots of good adventures and memories made this spring break! We missed our Dad, but were glad he could get a lot done without us bugging him all the time :).

The day after we got home were transfers. I had to get a tooth filled, then run to costco and the grocery store, make dinner for 25 people and have a welcome meeting for the missionaries. Then we were into the training day, and outgoing missionary day. The following morning is early and we send them off, and it ends up being 5 meals in a row that we're feeding missionaries with devotionals, trainings and lots of other things along the way. This time, I was just so exhausted afterwards, I was pretty useless the rest of the day Wednesday. I went to bed around 8 after being pretty useless in the afternoon, and was more functional the next day. I think I need to shift things around and delegate better. The cold Natalie gave us didn't help either. All this said, watching Mark do longer, crazier hours than me, and take on all that he is is nothing short of miraculous. As we were doing the Stone Mountain hike on Tuesday with our outgoing missionaries, he was running back down the hill to help struggling missionaries, bringing them water, and just helping everyone. One of the sisters said in her outgoing testimony that she thought of how the Savior feels about us as she saw him running to everyone and succoring them. It was very sweet and pretty accurate. Anyway, I will always remember the miracle of the strength and energy, the guidance and help that the Lord gives Mark as he cares for His missionaries. It's something amazing to watch day in and day out.

I'm grateful to be here on a mission. While there are times it's hard and feels a little lonely, we wouldn't trade the things we're learning or the growth we're experiencing for anything. We learn so much from the people around us, and we love our missionaries. It is the best work and the best message to be sharing! To end with President Nelson's words from the same talk on Faith from this past conference "Each of God’s children deserves the opportunity to hear and accept the healing, redeeming message of Jesus Christ. No other message is more vital to our happiness—now and forever.² No other message is more filled with hope. No other message can eliminate contention in our society."