A Whole month

Wow!  We've been on our mission a whole month!  We can't believe it.  Time really goes fast.  We have had some fun and interesting experiences this last week.

We attended 2 college institute dinners for young single adults.  The one feeds about 20, the other over 100.  Dad and I helped out in the kitchen in the second one, and they got him to wear a frilly apron.  They said it was his initiation!  We had a good time, but were pretty worn out when we got home.  The senior couple missionaries that run that institute are really great.  He got kidney cancer when he got out on his mission, but is doing quite well now.

We haven't had much time to do anything "fun" this week.  We were going to go to the San Jose Art Museum today, but are worn out from yesterday.  Our meetings started at 7am and ended at 7:30pm.  But we don't think every Sunday will be like that.  We have 4 Stake Presidencies/High Councils to meet with to introduce ourselves and our Single Adult Initiative, plus zone leaders/sister trainer leaders to talk to, so it was an especially busy day.  But good!  They are enthusiastic about it, for the most part.  Now we just have to get the lists of the thousands of mid-singles, and we can get started!  Whew!

We went to a few garage sales on Saturday, looking for a few more kitchen items.  I found a bread pan, because I am too cheap to buy a new one ($8).  Plus a couple of patio tables.  We have a very small patio, and I planted a tomato plant, as there was a planter already there, and bought a flower pot, and needed something to put it on.  So now we can sit out there when it's not too hot and enjoy the view of the swimming pool (!)  People have big parties there, as it has a barbeque grill.  It gets pretty noisy in the evening, but we're not here much then.

A friend gave us some "nopales", which are cactus paddles.  She told me how to cook them, so I tried it.  They taste okay, kind of like green beans, but they are full of slimy stuff!  When you boil them, it's supposed to get rid of the slime, but there's still some left.  I can't even eat mushrooms, so you can imagine how I felt about that!  But at least we tried, right?

It got really hot last week - 98 one day.  We take a walk every morning, and got lost one day!  We had to pull out our google maps app to find our way home.  Funny!  But the mornings are nice and cool, so it's a great time to walk.  There are two families of geese here on the grounds.  The one has 4 babies, the other 5.  They are so cute!  We hope to post some pictures of them.

We are adjusting pretty well to our new life!  I have my moments when I get pretty homesick, but try to keep busy.  We are going to visit some of the single sisters this week, and I am baking cookies for 2 zone leadership meetings.  We have a barbeque tonight at the Mission Home with the president and his wife, and all the other senior missionaries.  That should be fun.  Again, we'll try to send pictures!  I thought I had posted a picture of Dad in his apron, but it's not here, so maybe Dad can help me with that.

 

 

 

I did it!  The middle one is the Cattrons, the Senior Couple we lived with when we first got here.  He had a heart attack in the  MTC!  But he is doing well now.  They are from Montana.

The bottom picture is this goofy mechanical lady Dad was intrigued with who is advertising something!

 

So there you go!  The latest from San Jose!  We love you all and miss you.  Hope to hear all your news here, and remember, mail is good also, as are phone calls.  Or personal visits! hehe