February 2022 - the ups and the downs of life!

First things first, on February 1, Lydia got her mission call. She went to open in by herself at the temple grounds in Provo, then called Mark and I. We were waiting at the bottom of the Stone Mountain trail for our missionaries to arrive to hike with them when she called and told us she's going to Barcelona, Spain - Mark's mission!!! What exciting news. She's thrilled and we're thrilled for her. Later that night she opened her call on the phone with all her sisters and then had a reading at her dorm lobby.

We also started out this month with transfers - and we're off! Transfers are always incredibly busy with all the associated events. I'll quickly desribe the process: the week before and any other time if he has it, Mark is working for hours on the transfer board - who will go where with which companion. There are so many factors to conisder (language spoken, time out, time in a certain area, if they've served with a certain companion or in that area before, if they're training or in leadership, etc). When that's complete on Sunday, the Assistants come over and review it then start making calls with Mark. Following that, our outgoing missionaries do a farewell zoom call with anyone they've taught or members they've known and loved, and their families are invited to join. On Monday, I prepare food, and Mark picks up missionaries at the airport with the assistants and STLs. The Egans have been helping me with dinner, too, for the last several months and it is SO helpful. I'm grateful. When the missionaries arrive at the Lilburn stake center, we welcome them, take a picture, feed them, and love them hard! Then we have a short welcome meeting and send them off to bed. Most of them are exhausted and can't really focus too well on what's being said anyway.

On Tuesday morning, we feed them breakfast, then have some trainings. We first train them in stations: a driving/phone setup/photo station, interview with President one where I keep time and go over a few things with them in the hallway while they wait, one with our mental health counselor, Sister Westover, one with housing and finance. They usually have a deer in the headlights look and most of them either haven't slept super well, or didn't sleep as long as they're used to or are a little jetlagged. I'm not sure how much of it goes in, but we try. Then Mark and I do a short council discussion of one of our favorite talks that we have the missionaries read that morning "In the Strength of the Lord" by Elder Bednar. We discuss what the enabling power of the Atonement of Christ is and how it will help them in their missionary service. Then the new missionaries "contact" their trainers - they have to try to place a Book of Mormon in a role play and if the book is accepted, that's their trainer. Once they've met their trainers, the Assistants go over some Preach My Gospel trainings, then we sing "Called to Serve" and send them outside to take pictures with us and their trainers. From there, everyone else arrives to transfer and general chaos ensues - hugs, greetings, talking, exchanging SIM cards for phones, getting new cars/keys arranged for new companionships, tagging luggage for outgoing missionaries, getting any housing supplies or keys traded if necessary, and various interviews and issues that arise. It's a busy time to say the least!

From there, we have lunch with our departing missionaries and take a picture with them by the mission sign, then either hike Stone Mountain or have a meeting. We swap the order depending on the weather. (if it's summer months - then we do a sunset hike and meet first, since it's slightly cooler with the sun down) In our meeting we talk about following patterns they've worked so hard to learn and develop here. We talk about potential traps of the adversary and how to avoid them, and we talk about confidence and faith going forward. The missionaries share something they've learned on their mission, and have an outgoing interview with Mark. We eat dinner somewhere in there. They seem to like bbq with mac n' cheese the best. They sign our quilt, our journal and our Book of Mormon, marking their favorite scripture (all of these treasures are gifts from thoughtful friends - we love them more with each passing transfer!)

Wednesday morning, we feed them breakfast, then meet at the office with enough time to finish up interviews, and then say goodbye! It's always sad to see them go, and it always feels like our most experienced missionaries are leaving - because they are :). It's just always a little unsettling, but new ones rise to the ocassion and it always works out!

Ok that was not so quick, but it is kind of fun to record some of the details of a process we knew absolutely nothing about (I had hardly ever heard the word, let alone knew what one was when we did our first disastrous one - especially so since they hadn't been having transfers due to covid. Noone knew what to do or what the routine was...) So it feels like a big accomplishment that we have a routine and procedure for these busy days. At the end of the week, we have district leader training, weekly devotional and MLC (Mission Leadership Council with all the zone and training leaders). So it's a busy week when we talk about transfer week!

At the end of the week, Suse got to head out to Orlando to meet up with her cousin, Anna, Aunt Mea and Uncle Mitch at Disneyworld. So fun! She's also starting her track season. At the end of January, she went with a small group from her high school to Alabama where they had an indoor meet. She did great, placing 2nd in long jump with a jump just over 16 ft, and doing well in her other sprints. This month, her sprints are going well - she worked hard in the off season to stay fit, and has been really diligent about her hip flexor exercises and core exercises, and her times are already faster right off the bat with no hip soreness.

Mark and I had several Stake Conferences this month, and a fireside with some the coal mountain stake youth about serving a mission. We had a different speaking engagement every weekend this month, so our public speaking is definitely getting lots of practice.

For President's Day weekend, we got a visit from Lydia and Abby! We love when our girls come to visit. They came to a day of zone conference with us, came to one of Suse's track meets, played some tennis, took walks, and got popbars - chocolate dipped popsicles with toppings, which is one of our favorite treats here. It was so good to have them home for a minute. We miss them!

We sent Lydia a care package for birthday month and I set up a massage for her to work out some knots from track. About that, though - she hasn't been able to do her workouts as usual because she couldn't get a negative covid test forever...trace amounts in her system that show up on the tests a couple of weeks later. As she's finally been getting back to workouts, though, she says her heart races and she doesn't feel normal. Unfortunately she got the covid vaccine just a few days before she tested positive for covid, so we don't know what all is going on, but it doesn't seem good. As if we didn't already have enough feelings towards covid...I also learned that my dear Aunt Jen has breast cancer that's more aggressive then they thought and she'll have to do chemo and radiation and treat it aggressively. She's 51 and her two older sisters also got it in their 50s. Yikes. Anyway, these things all felt really heavy this month...

One highlight was taking my friend, Toyin, to the temple. She wanted to visit the temple even knowing she can't go in. She's so full of faith and so knowledgable about the Bible. It was an awesome experience reading the first vision account in the parking lot of the temple.