Our young single adult (YSA) group has been a really cool part of our mission experience. We’ve seen the group grow significantly during our time here, and we’re excited for the direction they’re going. Today was our last activity with them, so of course we had to have a party.
Yasmine shows off her handiwork on the cake they made for us.
We had a good dinner and lots of laughs. Of course we finished the night with a final group photo.
Celia had college class and couldn’t make it, but she joined us via phone (see her a little right of center?). And one of the ladies’ boyfriends, Luis, showed up. That broke the usual tradition of me and a bunch of women.
Today was our last p-day with the missionaries. P-day is always a good time, and we’re going to miss hanging out with them. When we walked into the church, no one was around, which was strange. We checked one of the rooms and suddenly they all jumped out and screamed “Surprise!”. Party horns blared and confetti exploded.
It happened to be Sister Brown’s birthday, so there was a “dual” cake. Everyone was sad that we’re leaving (NAY) but happy for her 20th birthday (YAY).
Here she is, dancing to some Mexican fiesta music we turned on.
There was, naturally, a piñata. After Elder Ginos and I took our swings, Elder Searcy finished it off.
It was a lot of fun to celebrate with the birthday girl and the rest of the gang.
We’re heading out of California in a few days, so I went for one last run on the streets of El Centro. I really don’t enjoy running, but I know it’s important to exercise, so I go out roughly three times a week. Even in the early morning, the temperature is pretty hot.
Here I am on the I-8 overpass:
I’d much rather be playing ultimate, but running is a good way to stay in shape. Back in Montana I might need to get a treadmill…
Last September I started decorating our little apartment with photos from our mission. It was a fun way to fill the walls (and much cheaper than buying artwork!). Now that we’re coming to the close of our mission, I printed one last batch of photos to fill the wall. We now have almost 450 pictures on all three walls of our living room!
The missionaries visiting our apartment love finding themselves in our photos. In fact, a few of them appear in quite a few of them. Some have served with us in the Valley for four months or more; others served for a couple of months, moved to San Diego, and then came back for a few more months. It’s awesome to step through all our photos– which are roughly in order from start to finish– and remember these great people and great experiences.
For the past year, we’ve been doing our best to help in community service throughout El Centro. Our food distributions are definitely the bulk of our service, but we’ve helped package that food, give beds to kids, clothes to families, organize a thrift store, and several other things. A few days ago, we got a call from a Baptist preacher who runs a small church in town. He needed help painting the inside of the chapel, and asked if our missionaries could do it. It was sort of strange– why not have his congregation do the work?– but the missionaries were thrilled to paint, and there’s never a reason not to help our fellow Christians.
This morning we went to work.
It was a lot of fun, and when we finished the chapel looked as good as new. We cleaned up a few paint drips on the pews (sorry!) and posed for a picture on our way out.
The preacher was so grateful for our help, and we were grateful for the opportunity to serve. I love that the missionaries have a “reputation” for helping in the community!
Every month, the senior missionaries all get together for an activity. It’s been so much fun hanging out with these yahoos over the past year, and tonight we celebrated with the group one last time. Just like our final zone conference and farewell with the Merritts, it was hard to see everyone and know we’d probably never be together like this again.
These are fine people, all willing to sacrifice a year or two of their busy lives, giving up time with families and friends, to come to San Diego to serve the people and the Lord. They’re all inspiring to me, and I’m going to miss them a lot.
Living two hours from the action in San Diego means trips to the city for mission functions require a lot more planning than the rest of the missionaries, who live within twenty minutes of whatever is happening. It means packing the “Valley Vans” with young missionaries who all carpool out and back. Today was zone conference, where all the missionaries gather for training. As is tradition, in the group chat we all traded photos of ourselves on the drive.
Zone conference is always good, and it means we have the opportunity to see so many of our friends who have “passed on” from our area to other areas in the mission. What a hoot.
There’s always good instruction and lessons, fun conversations catching up with friends, and of course a chance for meals out with senior friends.
This will be our final zone conference, so our mission leaders, President and Sister Merritt, invited us over to their home afterward. President Merritt is famous for making homemade ice cream and sharing it with “departing” missionaries the night before they leave for home. We joined our friends the Knudsens and Woolstons, who we’d met on our first day at the MTC.
The six of us are all serving one-year missions, so we came in together and will be leaving (approximately) together. We’re actually staying an additional two weeks so we can finish the seminary school year. The Merritts are also finishing their three-year assignment in about a month, so farewells like this are bittersweet for all of us. What an amazing group.
