hmmm...what to say

i haven't been writing because i don't feel like i have much to say, but here goes anyway. another week has passed in the mission field. we figured out today that we will have been gone five weeks on tuesday. it feels like at least five months! no kidding!

part of me feels like i have been on a long vacation with jon. not because we have been doing vacation stuff, but because i am in a strange place, here without my children, and i am spending a lot of time side by side my hubby!

this week two of our missionaries were sent home. belated confessions. very, very emotional. they had both been serving a year or longer, so i am happy for them, to have finally come clean so they can get their lives back on the right track, but so sad for them, because the Lord was blessing people through them and they will miss the joy of serving. president took one to the airport monday morning at 9, and the other thursday morning at 3am. who made those flight arrangements?

tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday were spent interviewing missionaries. i have loved the chance to meet and get to know each of the sisters and elders one by one this week. i really think i have names with faces and a couple of facts to go along with each one. it is coming slowly but surely. we still have two more big days of interviews next week before we finish. it is exhausting when each day is over. the Lord blesses you in the process, but when it is done, president feels it for sure :).

today we went to the middletown ward. a man, tj woode and his son, benjamin were baptized yesterday. we were sad that we couldn't make it, so we decided to be there when they were confirmed. it was a great ward! we have never been to clearlake and lakeport before, so this was a new drive for us. beautiful! but a curvy mountain road up a canyon and then down again. a couple of times. i told jon, "i feel like i should be on the back of a horse, and this should be a dirt road." it reminded me a lot of wyoming. again, it was about an hour and fifteen minute drive. the lakeport zone has always come to ukiah to meet us there for the "meet and greet" and zone conference. it was good to see the area for myself. i need a little visual to work with :).

tonight, cheryl winn (one of my first teaching visits) was baptized! what a sweet experience. she is truly the definition of "the pure in heart!" i am so blessed to have been there. afterwards we stopped by the office for a second. this week when we drove away, jon spotted two deer. sundays and the wild animals at the office seem to go together! have a happy week! love to all!