Old Town

Look what we saw in the sky this week!

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site is part of San Diego’s Old Town.  Old Town is known as the Birthplace of California.  Old Town consists of the Historic State Park and a lot of shops, museum and restaurants.  I think the Mormon Battalion is the best museum there.  I might be biased, though. 

Can you see Craig waving from the rocking chair in front?

There are many, many special events that go on in Old Town all year long.  Many times both the Sister missionaries and the Elders help out at special events.  Twice a week, two Sisters go clean the Courthouse in the State Park.  The Battalion showed the local Californios how to make fired brick and built the first Courthouse from them.  Here is the reconstructed Courthouse.

And here is a sign in the courthouse about the Battalion.

Old Town is a fun place to go.

The flag is on Presidio Hill, where the Battalion was stationed.  There is a statue of a Battalion soldier and some plaques about the Battalion there.

Craig and our Director at the Wells Fargo museum in Old Town.

View of Old Town from the Battalion Tower.

Transfers were on Tuesday.  We had one Sister go home and no new ones from the MTC, so Sister Brown was called back from full pross to fill the hole.  The traffic was really bad the day of transfers and Sister Schmitt, the Mission President’s wife never made it to the transfer meeting.  So President Schmitt stood on the stairs with the rest of us for the pictures.  He is the only one wearing a regular suit.  During the transfer meeting, I gave the tour to the 5 new Sisters and 16 new Elders in the California San Diego Mission.  They were delightful.  

Already time again to inspect the cars during zone conference.  We heard the President got the award for the cleanest car.

Senior missionaries checking cars.

This is what the missionaries get if their cars aren't as clean as the President's car.

 At the Battalion we have quite a few books about the Mormon Battalion.  I am into the second of two volumes of Historical Fiction about the Battalion.  The other day I got a call from a man wanting to talk to the Director, who was not in.  As I was taking the message, he gave me his last name and I asked if he was related to the author of those books.  He IS the author of those books, Sherman Fleek!  We had a delightful conversation for about 45 minutes.  He asked what characters I liked, what I thought about specific characters, and how I liked the format of the books and then he told me some stories about who some of the characters were based on.  He also told me a story from his own life that was inspiration for a pivotal part of the first book that even his own wife didn’t know!  I was happy to hear there will be 7 more books in the series, although the one I am currently reading is the last one with the Mormon Battalion.  Time marches on and the Battalion’s enlistment comes to an end.

A Sister had me take a picture of the phone with Sherman Fleek's name and the book next to it during our conversation.  Cool!

Today you get to meet our whistling Sister, Sister Lehmitz from Wyoming.  She is the champion at waving and greeting people.  She stands in front of the Battalion waving at everyone that passes by and whistles while she works.  She is good!  She attended the University of Wyoming before her mission.  She loves language.  While she was called English speaking, she has also learned the tour in Spanish and that has come in very handy.  She wants to learn the tour in Mandarin and just this week she was learning a few signs in American Sign Language. 

She likes to read, ride bikes, cook and bake and eat.  She loves giving tours and gives a lot of them!  She is thankful Sister Rasmussen fixed her skirt and blouse so they can be worn again.  (The skirt and blouse is the coolest costume and in San Diego September is summer!)