(Dear Family, I am attaching my missionary journal entry for our first week in the mission. It has a lot of detail that you may want to skip over, but I've included a lot of names to help us remember people we've met. We've had an extremely busy week, but rested well last night so off we go again today! I have an appt. with Dr. Payne tomorrow at his clinic and will get myself established in his office as one of his patients. There are basically no rules for senior missionaries contacting their families. You can call us, we can call you at any time and you can come visit us but we can't leave the mission area without permission from the President. I forwarded George's invitation to you to come stay with them. They have a big, lovely home and yard and have been so gracious and kind to us. We loved the card that came from the Turleys this week, it was the only personal mail we received and it lifted our spirits--thank you Emmett! We have both really enjoyed the past week and look forward to many more like it here in the mission. We send our love to all of you. Elder and Sister Hunt)
Monday: We left home around 10 am to begin our great mission adventure. Mom called during breakfast to see if we were caught in the middle of a big snow storm somewhere as they had just heard that I-40 was closed by Flagstaff. There were flurries and patches of snow, but the sun was shining and it was a “blue sky day” for us. We stopped in Gallup for lunch at the Sizzler and frozen white stuff was falling then. As we walked into Sizzler we spotted a pair of elders and also a senior couple at one of the tables. We made our lunch selections (after being given a 50% discount for missionaries) and sat near our compares. We learned that the senior couple were the Halls who are serving in Lupton and Elder Lindsey and Elder Questenberg who serve in Gallup had joined them for lunch. The elders were anxious to be out the door to go play basketball since Monday is P-Day in our mission.
We arrived in Farmington around 4 pm (NM time change) and drove straight to the mission office (at 400 West Apache Street) which is in the basement of one of the older chapels here in Farmington. When we went into the building through the upstairs side door and were greeted by the elders in the area playing basketball and the sisters on the stage playing games. We were directed downstairs where we met the Langkildes, Fallons, and Jameses at the mission office. Elder and Sister Langkilde are full-timer missionaries and have been here since the mission was organized in July 2010. Elder Langkilde was one of President Jones’ old roommates from BYU and they have been close friends through the years. Elder Langkilde is responsible for all of the missionary housing and cell phones; Sister Langkilde handles all of the baptism and referral paperwork and assists her husband with his duties. Elder and Sister Fallon are Church Service Missionaries and work in the office Monday-Wednesday each week. Elder Fallon handles the mission finances; Sister Fallon takes care of the mail, ordering, is the receptionist at the front door, and answers all of the incoming office calls. Elder James and Sister James are Church Service Missionaries and work in the office five days a week on an “as needed” basis. Elder James manages the fleet of mission vehicles; Sister James is the president’s secretary who handles his correspondence and makes travel arrangements for everyone in the mission. President and Sister Jones were in Gallup at a Zone Conference and were out of the office for the week so we haven’t seen them yet (Pres. Jones was scheduled to join the Winslow Stake trail ride on Friday and present an evening fireside message). The office staff folks were warm and friendly and didn’t seem in any hurry to leave so we stayed and visited for a while. We were told that we would be given a choice of which office duties we would like to assume as both the Langkildes and Fallons will be leaving the mission in the next little while. We will be trained in both of their work assignments.
Joanne had sent us directions to get to their house so we drove straight here after leaving the mission office. Their kids were on spring break and family was in Virden so we didn’t see them until Wednesday. They left a key for us under the doormat and what a delightful surprise it was for us to walk in to our little cottage! Joanne had stocked the cupboards, refrigerator, and even left a little welcome basket on the kitchen table for us. They recently purchased a grand piano (Jimmy found them a smokin’ deal in Aztec while moving some folks there) so they moved their smaller family piano into the apt. It didn’t take us long to move our “stuff” in and get settled in. The only thing the apt. lacked was a curtain over the kitchen door windows. There is another door in the bathroom which opens to their pool area.
Tuesday: We began office training with the Fallons. Sister Fallon is having some serious health issues and the office work is exhausting for her. She expressed the desire for an early release so I may be the answer to her prayers. She was patient and kind with me and sat at my side as I did the front office job. Dennis worked with Elder Fallon in the finance office. We took a lunch with us and after the work day was over we stopped at the Mikasa Japanese Restaurant. It was OK, but we won’t be going there again. We stopped at Wal-mart to get some odds and ends, including fabric for a kitchen door curtain. We found that Albertsons carries Anasazi beans and Blue Bird flour, both local products. After we got home we called Jimmy and Sandy and set up a lunch date with them for the next day.
Wednesday: Jimmy and Sandy took us to the Golden Corral for lunch. We food was good and we really enjoyed the visit with the Paynes. Sandy figured she wouldn’t have to volunteer to feed the missionaries again for a while. After lunch we continued our training with the Langkildes and didn’t leave the office until after6 (they both LOVE to visit). We stopped to pick up a few groceries on our way home and when we drove into the driveway the Payne family was all out in the yard. George was shooting baskets with Isaac and Josh and Joanne were doing yard chores; they hadn’t been home long before we got there. We invited Jared to come give us a little concert after dinner so he came over with his folks and we enjoyed visiting with them and Jared played us his Beethoven recital piece. He is REALLY a good piano player! I played “O Fair New Mexico” for them and Dennis got out the maracas to spice it up a bit.
Thursday: Elder and Sister Barr are Church Service Missionaries and have been coming to the office on Thursdays and Fridays and take over the duties the Fallons have filled. Thursday and Fridays are really slow days at the front desk; I foresee some changes being made to the work schedule. During our lunch hour we went downtown to get a map of Farmington at the Chamber of Commerce office and followed the directions given to us by Sister Langkilde. We got down to 100 West Main and couldn’t find anything that looked like an office so I decided to just sit down on a park bench and call Joanne to find out where we needed to go. I pressed the “J” on my phone and then called. When a soft, deep male voice said “Hello” I just jumped into my dialogue thinking one of Joanne’s boys had answered the phone. There was a pause and the deep voice responded with, “I think you have the wrong number.” Being a little confused I asked who I was speaking to and was really surprised with the answer, “This is your son.” John and Joanne’s names are next to each other on my phone and in my haste I called John – but it was sure good to hear his voice! He was at work so I hung up rather quickly, but I chuckled over the incident all afternoon. After we left the office for the day we drove over to Kirtland and looked around since President Jones told us we will probably be assigned to that area for weekend for “Member Leader Support” which is referred to as MLS in missionary vernacular.
Friday: We spent the day working with the Langkildes. It was pretty fun entering baptism reports into the church’s computer program and also sending referrals out to the missionaries. In the afternoon we went on a shopping errand with them to a used furniture store where they find many of their “treasures” to furnish missionary living quarters. Three young elders met us there to help load the furniture into a trailer. We also went to the AP’s house which has a LARGE garage that is used for storage and picked up more furniture there with the intent of taking it to a new trailer that was delivered this week for a senior couple at Bitter Springs. We didn’t get back to our apt. until after dark (again!).
Saturday: We met the Langkildes at the mission office at 8:30 am for the trip to Bitter Springs which is located where the road forks to go left to Jacob’s Lake instead of going up the big hill to Page. It turned out to be quite a trip! We spent an hour or so at Walmart picking out housewares to help furnish the trailer. It was pretty much a straight shot from Farmington across the reservation. We turned west at Shiprock and our first stop was at Teec Nos Pos to drop off a vacuum cleaner to Elders Thompson and Busdicker there. They had an infestation of bed bugs last week and were in a bit of a mess from that. Our next stop was at Kayenta for gas and then we headed for Tuba City. We’ve always wanted to drive that way and finally had our wish fulfilled. Elders Grisham and Cody met us at the Echo Canyon chapel at Bitter Springs to help unload our trailer. They were big, husky elders and saved the day for us. They made unloading a washer and dryer look easy (but they were huffing and puffing a bit after they got them into the trailer!). The beautiful new chapel there was just dedicated last week and it is a little jewel in that majestic setting. We left the little trailer pretty much ready for a senior couple to come live in. We drove up the hill to Page for dinner and then took the northern loop back to Kayenta. On our way we stopped at Kaibeto to check on a trailer there that has been moved in for elders to live in next to the senior couple, the Cutlers. Then we stopped at Bluesalt to check on the Hunsakers’ trailer by the chapel there. We stopped for gas in Kayenta and were finally on our way back to Farmington. It was after 1 am when we pulled into the mission office parking lot, having drive over 500 miles. We were grateful that George’s ward meetings start at 1 pm so we could sleep in.
Sunday: We DID sleep in a little, but not enough as we were both drowsy during meetings. I was looking forward to watching the Tabernacle Choir broadcast on out little TV, but forgot to turn it on at 9:30. It was fun to watch George preside over his ward and sit with his family. They invited us to dinner at 5:30 and we probably overstayed our welcome. I made a batch of cookie dough after meetings and took it with us, hoping that someone would help bake them (our apt. doesn’t have an oven). Isaac (11) volunteered and had fun using the cookie scoop I had. He counted up the cookies he had scooped out and said it was over 100! Zone conference is Tuesday so there will be a lot of missionaries in and out of the office on both Monday and Tuesday. I don’t think it will take much to peddle Isaac’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
