If anyone's wondering, we didn't even feel this mornings 6.0 quake in Napa valley up by San Francisco. I have been reading a book about the 1906 quake in S.F. and keep expecting to feel the ground shake any minute! But didn't feel this one. It struck at about 3:30 am and I was awake, as I have had the flu (or food poisoning!), but am starting to get better.
Hope you are all doing okay. We love and miss you.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
The Latest from San Jose
Hi family,
Here it is the middle of August. Summer is almost over, the days are getting shorter, there is a fall "tang" in the air, and school is about to start. Amazing how quickly time goes by.
We have had a busy two weeks. We went to a zone training at an incredible home in Los Gatos. The owner is the mission doctor, and his wife is a lawyer, so that is what it takes to live in a huge home here in the Bay area.
This is it. Yes, that is one home, not two. You can see some of the great missionaries we work with. The bottom picture is their fish pond, and they have a tennis court, a swimming pool that falls over the edge into a water fall, a large spa and at least 3 patios. Really nice! At our training we learned that missionary work can't go forward without the support of the members. We heard some amazing statistics about that. If the missionaries teach someone who a member referred to them, their baptismal rate is 5/1, and their retention rate is 60%. If it is someone the missionaries found themselves through door-to-door or street contacts, the baptismal rate is 60/1 and the retention rate is 8%. So that shows us how important member support is to conversion and retention. So we learned how to involve members more.
We had a great time teaching 3 children last Wednesday, and hope to return and follow-up on that lesson. It's kind of hard, as the kids range in age from 10 to 3, but we showed a "Mormon Message" about being a child of God, and told them about Heavenly Father's love for them. Cute kids!
We then wore ourselves out visiting about 20 homes, and talking to just one person from that effort. So we have decided that is not a good use of our time. We are meeting with bishops to try and figure out how to make our outings more effective. Dad's Aunt Gay said they had to serve 2 missions because it took the first one to figure out what to do, and the second one to do it! How true!
We taught a Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday, and I was pretty nervous, as that is one thing I have never done in the church, but it was actually pretty fun. We figured out how to give a missionary message along with it, so felt pretty good about it.
And we moved!! We finally had had it with the pool and all the wild parties, so we got the housing coordinator to talk to the management, and they had a vacant apartment that we went and saw, liked it, and were in it within 3 days! A whole zone of missionaries helped with the move. They are great kids, and worked hard on a hot, humid day to get us in. We spent a day packing, a day moving and a day unpacking, so it wasn't too bad. We are much happier here, and it is very quiet. We are by 2 busy streets, but hardly hear the traffic. There are a few stereos, but it is still better than the pool. We have a full-size washer/dryer, and a garage, so it is all good. Our new address is:
4135 Ellmar Oaks Drive San Jose 95136. It's the same apartment complex, on the other side.
We saw Paul and Lin last Monday. We had a very nice visit with them. They both look great.
Paul has lost weight, and Lin is beautiful. Her English is very good, and she insisted on buying us a Vietnamese lunch, and some traditional snacks (they are quite unusual). We walked around "Little Saigon", an Asian shopping, eating mall not too far from our apartment. We are going to see them again next month, and Dad is going to go biking with Paul. I don't know what Lin and I will do, but it should be fun.
We helped at a Stake YW function last week also. The girls were being taught how to get on FamilySearch.com, and we helped one young woman get started on that. Dad also found out how to fix the mistakes his cousin's husband has made on his line, so it was a productive night. We took the young Elders out to dinner on Saturday, and went to a "Taqueria", which, according to one guy is one step above a taco truck! The food was very spicy, but good.
Here are the Elders and Sisters that we work with in the Saratoga Stake.
Here it is the middle of August. Summer is almost over, the days are getting shorter, there is a fall "tang" in the air, and school is about to start. Amazing how quickly time goes by.
We have had a busy two weeks. We went to a zone training at an incredible home in Los Gatos. The owner is the mission doctor, and his wife is a lawyer, so that is what it takes to live in a huge home here in the Bay area.
This is it. Yes, that is one home, not two. You can see some of the great missionaries we work with. The bottom picture is their fish pond, and they have a tennis court, a swimming pool that falls over the edge into a water fall, a large spa and at least 3 patios. Really nice! At our training we learned that missionary work can't go forward without the support of the members. We heard some amazing statistics about that. If the missionaries teach someone who a member referred to them, their baptismal rate is 5/1, and their retention rate is 60%. If it is someone the missionaries found themselves through door-to-door or street contacts, the baptismal rate is 60/1 and the retention rate is 8%. So that shows us how important member support is to conversion and retention. So we learned how to involve members more.
We had a great time teaching 3 children last Wednesday, and hope to return and follow-up on that lesson. It's kind of hard, as the kids range in age from 10 to 3, but we showed a "Mormon Message" about being a child of God, and told them about Heavenly Father's love for them. Cute kids!
We then wore ourselves out visiting about 20 homes, and talking to just one person from that effort. So we have decided that is not a good use of our time. We are meeting with bishops to try and figure out how to make our outings more effective. Dad's Aunt Gay said they had to serve 2 missions because it took the first one to figure out what to do, and the second one to do it! How true!
We taught a Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday, and I was pretty nervous, as that is one thing I have never done in the church, but it was actually pretty fun. We figured out how to give a missionary message along with it, so felt pretty good about it.
And we moved!! We finally had had it with the pool and all the wild parties, so we got the housing coordinator to talk to the management, and they had a vacant apartment that we went and saw, liked it, and were in it within 3 days! A whole zone of missionaries helped with the move. They are great kids, and worked hard on a hot, humid day to get us in. We spent a day packing, a day moving and a day unpacking, so it wasn't too bad. We are much happier here, and it is very quiet. We are by 2 busy streets, but hardly hear the traffic. There are a few stereos, but it is still better than the pool. We have a full-size washer/dryer, and a garage, so it is all good. Our new address is:
4135 Ellmar Oaks Drive San Jose 95136. It's the same apartment complex, on the other side.
We saw Paul and Lin last Monday. We had a very nice visit with them. They both look great.
Paul has lost weight, and Lin is beautiful. Her English is very good, and she insisted on buying us a Vietnamese lunch, and some traditional snacks (they are quite unusual). We walked around "Little Saigon", an Asian shopping, eating mall not too far from our apartment. We are going to see them again next month, and Dad is going to go biking with Paul. I don't know what Lin and I will do, but it should be fun.
We helped at a Stake YW function last week also. The girls were being taught how to get on FamilySearch.com, and we helped one young woman get started on that. Dad also found out how to fix the mistakes his cousin's husband has made on his line, so it was a productive night. We took the young Elders out to dinner on Saturday, and went to a "Taqueria", which, according to one guy is one step above a taco truck! The food was very spicy, but good.
Here are the Elders and Sisters that we work with in the Saratoga Stake.
Sisters Ellis and Christensen, us, Elders Ayotte and Babcock
Christensen and Ayotte are scheduled to be transferred tomorrow! It is hard on them, but they know that's the way the mission is run. It's kind of hard on us, too, as we get pretty close to them.
We had our outgoing missionary fireside last night. It went 3 hours! We are losing 27 missionaries, and they each bore their testimony, plus we heard from recent converts, and had a bunch of musical numbers, so it can go on, but is an amazing meeting, and very spiritual. The closing song was "The Spirit of God" and the outgoing missionaries stood when they sang about the armies of heaven. It brought tears to everyone's eyes, including mine! And then everyone else stood, and we raised the roof! We always fill the Stake Center where it is held. The members like to come and say goodbye to the people they have gotten to know.
Well, we have a dinner appointment in a few minutes. We don't get many of those, so like to take advantage of them! We love you all, and appreciate your love and support. We feel your prayers.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
My website
I have just two seconds, but I wanted to post the link to my classroom website. I love how it is turning out. I need to finish a couple of sections still, but it will come. The important stuff is there.
http://www.mrsamystaley.com/index.html
http://www.mrsamystaley.com/index.html
Monday, August 4, 2014
"P" Day Ramblings
Monday is "P" day, a day to do laundry, shop, rest up from Sunday, which is not a day of rest! We had a 7am meeting, which means we got up at 5:30 (which is way early for us!) and were in meetings until 5pm. We came home, thinking we wouldn't be able to stay, as the pool had been an absolute zoo Saturday night, and is usually the same on Sunday, but we got home and were pleasantly surprised to find it quiet, with only one family there. So we enjoyed a nice, quiet evening at home, reading and studying and relaxing.
This last week was good; lots of activities, visits, etc. We were invited to a member's mother's home for FHE on Monday. Her brother and daughter and a friend were also there, none of them members. We had a nice visit. The brother is an airline pilot, and had lots of harrowing stories to share with your fly-phobic father about close calls and the trouble pilots have with air traffic controllers! Great! I'll never get him to Europe now! The mother has Alzheimer's, but was very sweet. She and her friend both married pilots during WWII, and had lots of interesting stories to tell about that time. It was a great evening.
We are working on finding single adults in a new area. During the last two weeks, we have visited 12 homes and have only been able to talk to one person we were looking for. We have talked to their mothers, dads. sisters, friends, but these people are never home! But the one we were able to see is a great guy. His name is Chris, and he is an ex-con, ex-addict, tattooed to the hilt, quite rough around the edges, but amazingly, we were able to establish a rapport with him. We told him we had been 12 step missionaries in the prison in SLC, and that put him at ease. We all shared prison experiences (hehe) and we actually got an appointment to return this week to begin teaching his children the Gospel! We are very excited. We have been teaching singles and working the 12 steps with one sister, but this is our first chance to teach the missionary lessons. I told Dad I wouldn't feel like a "real" missionary until I could teach those lessons, so here's my chance!
One home we were looking for on Saturday was on top of a mountain, along a narrow winding road. We traveled that road for about 10 miles, finally found the home only to be stymied by a locked gate! So frustrating! We call people sometimes to get an appointment, but they don't return our calls, so dropping in is our only option. Dad says, "That's missionary work!" Who knew?! But we aren't giving up!
We went to the bishop's storehouse to serve on Wednesday, and it was a great experience. There is only one in the valley, so it is very busy. We met a lot of nice people, who we helped with their food orders. One was a sweet blind lady, who had the prettiest smile.
We took 2 people to the family history center, and helped them find their elusive grandparents and great grandparents,
We have a MSA Family Home Evening tonight. We are supposed to bring our favorite book and tell why we like it. I started to list some of my favorites, and got to about 12. I decided I can't pick just one! I'm actually reading one (listening to it on my I-pod) that might get on the list. It's called "The Invention of Wings", by Sue Monk Kidd, the gal who wrote "The Secret Life of Bees", which is already on the list. I highly recommend it.
One of the sisters who comes to all the MSA activities is a new convert of about 8 months. She actually joined AA a year ago and quit drinking, so this week marks her one year sobriety anniversary. She told us about that last week, saying that she quit going to AA when she joined the church, because she dropped all her drinking buddies, and wasn't living that life style anymore. So she called the gal who is her sponsor in AA and told her she wanted to come to a meeting on her one year date to receive the cake they give to everyone who makes it that long. She was told that since she no longer attends, she didn't qualify for a cake. She was upset! So I thought I'd make her a cake tonight and put a candle on it in the shape of a one! Dad said she might not want everyone in the FHE group to know about it, but she announced it to the whole ward in fast meeting yesterday, so I think she'll be okay with it!
No pictures to share today. We're hoping the family will post pictures of the camping trip. We want to hear all about it, and see all your smiling faces! Please give us all the details. We thought about you the whole time, but were too busy to get too down about not being there!
Enough for now! We love and miss you all. Tracy, Happy Birthday Wednesday. We are sending a small package, but it might be late. We're a little slow lately! We hope you all have a great week!
This last week was good; lots of activities, visits, etc. We were invited to a member's mother's home for FHE on Monday. Her brother and daughter and a friend were also there, none of them members. We had a nice visit. The brother is an airline pilot, and had lots of harrowing stories to share with your fly-phobic father about close calls and the trouble pilots have with air traffic controllers! Great! I'll never get him to Europe now! The mother has Alzheimer's, but was very sweet. She and her friend both married pilots during WWII, and had lots of interesting stories to tell about that time. It was a great evening.
We are working on finding single adults in a new area. During the last two weeks, we have visited 12 homes and have only been able to talk to one person we were looking for. We have talked to their mothers, dads. sisters, friends, but these people are never home! But the one we were able to see is a great guy. His name is Chris, and he is an ex-con, ex-addict, tattooed to the hilt, quite rough around the edges, but amazingly, we were able to establish a rapport with him. We told him we had been 12 step missionaries in the prison in SLC, and that put him at ease. We all shared prison experiences (hehe) and we actually got an appointment to return this week to begin teaching his children the Gospel! We are very excited. We have been teaching singles and working the 12 steps with one sister, but this is our first chance to teach the missionary lessons. I told Dad I wouldn't feel like a "real" missionary until I could teach those lessons, so here's my chance!
One home we were looking for on Saturday was on top of a mountain, along a narrow winding road. We traveled that road for about 10 miles, finally found the home only to be stymied by a locked gate! So frustrating! We call people sometimes to get an appointment, but they don't return our calls, so dropping in is our only option. Dad says, "That's missionary work!" Who knew?! But we aren't giving up!
We went to the bishop's storehouse to serve on Wednesday, and it was a great experience. There is only one in the valley, so it is very busy. We met a lot of nice people, who we helped with their food orders. One was a sweet blind lady, who had the prettiest smile.
We took 2 people to the family history center, and helped them find their elusive grandparents and great grandparents,
We have a MSA Family Home Evening tonight. We are supposed to bring our favorite book and tell why we like it. I started to list some of my favorites, and got to about 12. I decided I can't pick just one! I'm actually reading one (listening to it on my I-pod) that might get on the list. It's called "The Invention of Wings", by Sue Monk Kidd, the gal who wrote "The Secret Life of Bees", which is already on the list. I highly recommend it.
One of the sisters who comes to all the MSA activities is a new convert of about 8 months. She actually joined AA a year ago and quit drinking, so this week marks her one year sobriety anniversary. She told us about that last week, saying that she quit going to AA when she joined the church, because she dropped all her drinking buddies, and wasn't living that life style anymore. So she called the gal who is her sponsor in AA and told her she wanted to come to a meeting on her one year date to receive the cake they give to everyone who makes it that long. She was told that since she no longer attends, she didn't qualify for a cake. She was upset! So I thought I'd make her a cake tonight and put a candle on it in the shape of a one! Dad said she might not want everyone in the FHE group to know about it, but she announced it to the whole ward in fast meeting yesterday, so I think she'll be okay with it!
No pictures to share today. We're hoping the family will post pictures of the camping trip. We want to hear all about it, and see all your smiling faces! Please give us all the details. We thought about you the whole time, but were too busy to get too down about not being there!
Enough for now! We love and miss you all. Tracy, Happy Birthday Wednesday. We are sending a small package, but it might be late. We're a little slow lately! We hope you all have a great week!
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