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During our mission conference, there was a lunch provided by a local church group. One of the tables they set up had a variety of desserts, including these cookies:

With a list of all the things they don’t have, I was kind of curious what was actually in them. Cardboard?

Once every transfer (six weeks), our entire mission gathers for a conference. It’s a pretty big event, and is filled with lessons and training and a few fun activities. It’s an opportunity for us to visit with the other senior missionaries, and reconnect with younger missionaries who have left our zone for other areas of the mission. Our first conference back in June wasn’t as fun because we didn’t really know anyone, but now we bump into a couple dozen friends and enjoy catching up with them.

One of the things I really enjoy is seeing a big crowd of young adults gathered with a single purpose, eager to learn how to improve at the single task they have for the next two years.

Our mission leaders, President and Sister Merritt, give multiple lectures, and both of them are dynamic speakers who have a knack for putting things in just the right way that the missionaries can understand and apply their lessons. But there are also sessions where the young missionaries themselves are leading and teaching.

I love watching all of them develop and hone life skills like time management, organization, planning, relationships, diligence, and even how to handle rejection (missionaries are constantly rejected!). I wish I’d learned some of those skills at their age, in a nice comfortable classroom, rather than through hard experience.

It was fun and inspiring. For the next six weeks, we’ll get to sit in our local “district councils” where the small group of missionaries we’re serving with meet to talk about their specific areas and challenges. That’s where these lessons really apply. It’s good to be a part of this work.

The life of a missionary isn’t exactly glamorous, and in fact at times it’s just the opposite. Today I attempted to un-clog the shower drain at the hermanas’ apartment.

After initially getting a good gurgle sound and seeing water come up, everything clogged up again and I had to give up the fight and call the landlady. Dang it.

Kyra finished her summer job as a nanny, and had a couple weeks until starting a new job as a teacher’s aide, so she decided to hop on a plane and come down for a visit. We warned her that August isn’t exactly the best time to be in Imperial Valley, but the timing worked for her (and us) so we spent a few days together.

Since San Diego is about thirty degrees cooler than El Centro, we all agreed that was the place to be. We booked a hotel room for a couple nights, and enjoyed three days in the amazing weather in the city. We started at Balboa Park, which is always fun.

Kyra found a sign that she said described her well.

Since she’d been up at 3am to catch her flight, and Pepper and I had been up at 5am for seminary, we were a little tired. The car was a real party wagon as we drove around…

A friend had recommended a homemade candy shop in the area, so we stopped in and spent an exhorbitant amount of money on a bunch of chocolates. They were very good.

About half a day was spent touring the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier built at the end of World War II.

It’s amazing, and we could’ve easily spent a few more hours exploring the ship. But the beach was calling.

It was a glorious beach day: sunny and warm (but not too hot). The beach wasn’t too crowded– I figure much of the summer rush is over– and we enjoyed some relaxing time with sand and surf.

We went to Hodad’s downtown, which is good but doesn’t have quite the feel of the original restaurant. The burgers were still awesome, and the shakes can’t be beat.

Since there’s only one size, technically I can say i ordered a small.

Another day we wandered around Seaport Village, which is a cool little area with a lot of shops and street vendors.

We hit some more parks, just to revel in the beautiful weather. Days like this make it obvious why people choose to live here.

We also enjoyed a hibachi lunch at Benihana…

… and a fabulous steak dinner at Outback. (Steak not shown below)

Our three days in San Diego passed quickly, and it was time to head back to the valley. There, Kyra and I made snickerdoodles for the first time (thanks for the recipe, Mom!).

Of course we had to go to the dunes, which are always great. It always means getting up before sunrise, but it’s worth it.

With our snowboards in tow, we surfed a bunch of the dunes and hiked around for a couple of hours.

Since we didn’t want to do much outside, we spent a few days indoors enjoying time together. It was good to play a couple of card and board games again– it’s been a while. We talked and laughed. She helped us work on seminary lessons. The hours flew past, as they always seem to do, and then it was time to head back to the airport. On the way we stopped at a little sushi place that was fully automated. It had a little conveyor belt where the sushi dishes rolled past the table, so you could grab what you want.

There was even a little robot that scooted around the restaurant delivering drinks.

It felt a little strange to have a sort of mini-vacation for a few days. We’ve been so focused on missionary work for the last three months that it seemed like we were slacking in our duties. Yet at the same time, it was really good to get a brief respite. And especially good to do it with our favorite daughter.

This evening we got a call from the missionaries. Their car had just been hit by another driver who’d run a stop sign, and they weren’t sure what to do. We headed over to the scene of the accident.

The car wasn’t driveable, so they were waiting for a tow truck and talking with a police officer on the scene. No one was hurt, thankfully, and the officer was a little amused by the situation. The other driver, after hitting the missionaries, sped away. But she left something behind.

The entire front bumper of her car– along with the license plate– was lying on the side of the road! Also, a bunch of neighborhood people had been outside in their yard, witnessed the accident, and chased her down on foot until the police arrived. Lesson: if you’re going to commit a hit-and-run crime, be sure to take your bumper with you, and don’t drive slow enough for the neighbors to catch you.

I was looking at “novelty ties” (long story) and found this one:

And as much as I’d love to have a tie with all sorts of equations on it, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy this one. I mean, look at all the bad math on it! Squared logarithms! Improper integrals! Weird notations! It’s like whoever designed this thing was flipping through a calculus book but didn’t really know anything about it.

Pity.

These days, the August temperatures continue to soar to around 110 every afternoon. The only time anyone wants to be outside is when the sun isn’t around: either crazy early or later in the evening. We’d been busy with a lot of projects in the apartment and at the church, and were feeling a little stir-crazy, so we decided to stretch our legs a bit on a walk.

We headed out around 6pm, which was probably too early. It was still stupid hot.

But we’re no dummies… we wore our swimsuits! We went about three miles along sidewalks and canals, finally returning to our apartment complex where we jumped into the pool.

Ahh, much better. The water feels like a bath– with the summer sun baking it all day (and most nights), it’s not a crisp, cool, refreshing temperature. But just being submerged felt oh so nice.

A new missionary moved to the valley today, and on his first night here, he texted to ask if we have any hair trimmers. Yes. Then he asked if I’d cut his hair. No. But Pepper will.

He came over and put his faith in her.

Although Pepper’s been cutting my hair since before we were married, she admits she’s sort of a one-trick pony. She only knows how to do a single style (which I like just fine). We asked Elder Steinhour if he was okay with it, and since he didn’t really have any other choice, it’s the cut he got.

In the end it looked pretty sharp, and I think he was happy. He kept saying he wanted a full buzz, but he had such thick, luxurious hair that Pepper insisted she just trim it. If he decides later to chop it all, we’d be happy to oblige. He hasn’t asked yet.

Every six weeks it’s time for the missionaries to be transferred. We’ve learned now that it’s sort of a bittersweet time. We’ve had that time to become friends, and then it feels like everyone gets split up. It’s rare that a companionship of two missionaries stays together for more than one transfer in a row, although normally at least one of each pair remains in the area.

So today we had to say goodbye to several good men…

… and women.

We’ve had a lot of fun with these hard-working missionaries, and we’re excited to meet their replacements. Onward!

Sometimes I see a meme and think, “OH YEAH”…