Blog up and running at last!

Just a word about the title of this blog. Due to some foot and hip issues, I’ve been relegated this past year to the hated arena of women-who-walk-around-in-comfortable-but-ugly-shoes-because-they’re-too-out-of-shape-or-too-old-to-wear-attractive-footwear. That’s me . . . sigh. Gone are the strappy sandals of my youth. Gone are the three-inch stilettos of my dating years (yeah, right!). Gone are the chunky clogs that dot the sales ads. Gone are . . . well, you get the picture. But here’s the happy news: I was shocked, as I clunked into the missionary training center in early June and beheld (the very first thing I checked out, actually) the footwear of my fellow mature missionary women: They were ALL wearing comfortable-but-ugly shoes! Yes! And the following observation nearly made me faint: SO WERE ALL THE TWENTY-SOMETHING sister missionaries! It looked as though all of us shopped from the very same website. Woo-hoo! I guess we’re all just determined to hit the ground running during this unique time in our lives – with “running” as the key verb and the motivation for the “comfortable-but-ugly-shoes” that now line our closet floors. Ah-h-h-h, SUCH a relief to know I share similar footwear tastes and needs with those noble sister missionaries I encountered during our two weeks of training.

Sunday, 4 July
I’m a little slow at getting this blog up and running. Three problems:
1) Technical difficulties manipulating this site (well, my brain is old, after all!)

2) We’re still laying the groundwork for our work here – difficult to get our bearings when the departing mission president told us the day after we arrived: “Military specialist missionaries are on their own, Petersens – go forth and see what you can accomplish!” Well! That takes a lot of initiative and planning. We’re bombarded with so many volunteer ideas as we seek for and pray about them. Now we have to settle down and put our ideas to work! We’ll meet with the new mission president soon (we hope!) and see if his philosophy is the same as the old president’s were.

3) Just plain busy getting our apartment in order. Everything from how to arrange the computers, printers, and work tables in this office to trying to adopt the standard young missionaries’ sleep schedule as stated in the missionary manual: 10:30 pm – 6:30 am (sorry, not gonna work here with a lifetime night-owl married to a lifetime early-bird) to, “Sweetie, will you please remove the door to the laundry room so I can move freely between the fridge, the pantry, and the laundry room itself in the one square foot of space I have?” and the resulting protestations from “Sweetie” himself. Sigh . . . too many practical matters to work thru before we can get down to business!

We have had some great experiences so far, however. We went to a spiritually high transfers meeting (where the missionary duos are switched to other companionships. We were happy to learn that the Petersen companionship is still together!) upon our arrival. It ended with fourteen departing missionaries bearing their testimonies who had honorably completed their missions. Gosh – so many levels of spirituality and gospel understanding. I will elaborate on one of them at a later date. Awesome.

Alan was asked to teach institute at the last minute this past Wednesday due to the sudden and tragic death of the other teacher’s daughter. The lesson was on the Savior’s atonement and boy-oh-boy did he do a great job. He’ll teach again this week.

Alan struggled for days to create a new database to keep track of the missionaries – our primary duty -- for HQ in SL. It turned out great but only with Idaho daughter Kirsten’s long-distance input. (Hooray for the younger computer generation!)

I took photos and put together a first-ever combo bulletin/branch newsletter for today. In the two years they’ve been a branch, I guess they’ve never had a bulletin. The branch presidency seemed pleased. Such a great spirit there. We both stood and bore our testimonies during testimony meeting. It was so wonderful on Independence Day to look into the faces of those sixty soldiers and thank them personally -- who are sacrificing so much to serve their country. Fort Sam Houston is the home of Brooke Army Medical Center – the soldiers trained here are all combat medics – physicians, nurses, dentists, EMTs, etc. Some have been to medical school and nearly all have served missions. One young man got up and told the congregation that he hadn’t been to church in eight years but he’s always known that Jesus is the literal son of God and that His church was reestablished after a long apostasy to this earth in 1830 by a prophet of God – Joseph Smith. It was a moving five minutes.

The hospital will soon begin to train all armed service medics here, not just the army. Our branch is expected to triple or quadruple in number. We may have to find a new building to meet in! We expect to be teaching new and reactivated member lessons galore. Woo-hoo! Our direction will be well-defined in no time!

There’s so much more to tell you – especially about what a young woman said today in our Relief Society meeting about her interpretation of bringing our broken hearts and contrite spirits unto Christ for healing. I’ve never heard such a clear definition,

HOWEVER,

I don’t want to take any more of your time. I was planning to blog only on Sundays, but I’ll have to make an exception and tell you her comments tomorrow.

ALSO TOMORROW

we’ll be doing that office rearranging I mentioned. I need to be subtle about my suggestions. Alan has lived here on his own since April. He put up quite a squawk about my moving the trash can from the dining room (yes!) to the laundry room the day we arrived back here. And those kitchen towels lining the top shelf of the bookcase? Gone. But not without hurt feelings. Now a whole room full of work tables? Gonna be a battle here (but a nice one!) I can tell already.

I’ll keep you posted – oh, I get it! *Posted* with *posts*!!

Happy 234th birthday, America! We love you!
With great and grateful affection,
Sister Lindy-Lou