Like the Mormon Battalion, we followed the prophet and
enlisted for 12 months. Like the Mormon Battalion,
our 12 month mission has brought many blessings. We are grateful we had this opportunity to
serve.
Monday we had our last shift at the beautiful San Diego
temple grounds.
Tuesday we went through a session at the temple and then had
our last shift at the Battalion. As we
said goodbye to the Sisters that night, it was teary for me. After they all got home safely, Craig and I put
up a seven-foot banner in the break room that we had been working on as a surprise. It had about 200 pictures we had taken of
everyone over the last year. It was such
fun to make!
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| Group hug at the end of our last shift. You can't really see me on the right. |
The next morning was transfer meeting. We needed to bring our costumes back and turn
them in, so we came as the meeting started.
Not many changes this transfer.
As everyone went to the front steps for pictures, I went down on the
sidewalk to take my own pictures. But
President Schmitt thought we should be IN the pictures, even though we didn’t have
costumes on. One of the Assistants to
the President came to get my phone as he has done for the last few
transfers. He also took fun pictures of
himself and the other Assistant, as usual.
Another ‘last’.
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| Regular transfer photo, includes the two new senior couples! |
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| This is the first time we have taken a crazy picture. I don't think those in the front knew what was happening. President Morgan, on the top left hand side, has been called to be a Mission President in Santiago, Chile, in July. |
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| President Morgan (2nd counselor in the Mission Presidency), us and the Schmitts. |
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| Thank you, APs! |
Afterwards, the Sisters all went to look at the banner. The loved it as much as we hoped they
would. It was fun to hear them talk
about various pictures and all the memories they found there.
Later that day we had lunch with a Sister who went home last
December. She and her mom were visiting
San Diego during her spring break. It
was so good to see her again! We started
packing up all of our stuff, then went to see another companionship.
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| Sushi with Nikita and her mom |
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| Sister Owens and Sister Dunaway |
On our last whole day as missionaries in San Diego, we did
lots of fun things.
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| Ocean Beach |
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| Bronx pizza with Sister Larson and Sister Saathoff |
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| Crown Point beach and a great view of downtown San Diego |
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| Sister Nicholls and Sister Cazares |
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| The beautiful temple at night |
We also did some un-fun things like pack the car and clean
up. Craig was able to fit things in
every inch of space in the car. I wouldn’t
let myself think about leaving too much or I would get weepy.
We left San Diego on Friday morning. Good-bye, life changing San Diego mission!
A quick list of things we learned or learned more profoundly
on our mission. It is by no means
complete.
God loves us
God loves to forgive
Miracles happen every day
Wearing costumes and talking to picture frames isn’t the
worst thing in the world
Battalion Sisters rock
Be careful where you get a Cali burrito
Mission Presidents should get a free pass into heaven
We have worked with 39 of the finest sister missionaries in
the world
Missionaries have great faith
Repentance is everything
My relationship with Craig is stronger because we served a
mission. And I love him even more than
before.
The Atonement is real and can be used in my life and yours
on a daily basis
A few more pictures you might like.
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| Hardtack.... |
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| ...is nasty |
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| We miss this already. |
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