We Fly Today

We survived the second week being trained for our service in the office.  We each had different reactions to the training.  One of us really enjoyed it and the other not so much.  Can you guess which one?  What I hadn't counted on was that we would develop such good friends and that it would be just as hard to say goodbye to them as it was to say goodbye to our children and grandchildren.  

Last Saturday was our P-day and we experienced doing our laundry at the MTC, shipped some very heavy books to New Caledonia to lighten our suitcase load, and met some friends of the Mautz family, Glade and Judy Hunsaker, from Champaign days, at the temple.  One of the couples that we got to know well is the brother of Judy so after we got finished at the temple we went to dinner and got caught up on each other.  As we were leaving the resturant, Glade suggested that we another old friend as well.  Shauna Larson was the wife of our former Stake President in Champaign.  She was quite pleased to see us and we visited too long, but we are glad to have done it.

Sunday was Easter at the MTC.  No Easter bunny, but our good friend Mima Kearl sent us a care package.  We shared the treats in our office classes and so everyone says thanks, Mima.  

We attended Sacrament meeting in one of the Branches, then listened to "Music and the Spoken Word" before Priesthood and Relief Society.  The meetings weren't quite like we have at home as in Relief Society we had a member of the Relief Society General Board.  I'm sorry to say that I can't recall her name without going to my journal but she is the daughter of Elder Wirthlin.  We had a relaxing afternoon and then went to a Fireside in the evening.

We had two more French lessons and had to say goodbye to our instructors.  They were very helpful to us both and it was like saying goodbye to our sons when we left them on Wednesday night.

In the course of the week on one of our breaks, Carl and I went out to get some air and walk about a little.  We were somewhat startled when we heard someone call us from the ramp of the mailroom.  It was Fred Axelgard.  He is the son of some friends from Virginia and he had seen us out the window and hurried out to say hello.  Freddie served in New Caledonia and returned home last August.  We set up a time to meet on Thursday for lunch to get more of the scoop about our our area.

Thursday finished up our week with a simulation of office work in the field.  This is where we applied what we had learned.  It was a little scary for Carl and me when we started to make transfers.  I opened up the page to do it and realized that I had not seen that page at all.  Panic.  I asked the teacher about it and was told I wasn't crazy because I had not done that exercise.  Carl and I and two other couples were getting trained in something else when it was taught.  Three of the couples, including us are going to be doing a new system called IMOS which stands for Internet Missionary Operating System.  This will be implemented in the Fiji Mission in June.  Carl hopes we don't have to spend too much time doing office work because there is so much to do with the church members there.  

Thursday morning we woke up to about four inches of snow on the ground.  It was fun watching the missionaries from other parts of the world who had never seen snow before.  Two days before, we were walking around with light sweaters in warm sunny weather.  We think we will like the weather in New Caledonia just fine.

To prove it is a small world, we met some other old friends at the MTC.  I was getting some more water when I turned and saw our friend Kathy Hinckley who was there with her husband, Clark.  He has been called to be a Mission President in Barcelona, Spain. (Don't tell.)  I'm not sure she remembered us until we started talking a bit.  They were in our ward in Bloomfield Hills and I was their son Spencer's CTR teacher.  He and Chris were in the same class.  Yes, it is President Hinckley's son.

Thursday as we were having our last meal at the MTC, Carl looked up and saw a former Stake Presidnet from our days in Naperville, Il.  They did remember us.  He is a counselor in one of the Branch Presidencies at the MTC.  When we told Chris about meeting them, he remembered their name.  He say he remembers praying for them.  The funny thing about that is that Chris was five when we moved 

Well, this is too long.  Sorry.  I don't know when the next post will be.  We leave in about two hours for the airport.  We fly to LA and have a layover of a few hours flying out of LA at 11:30 PM.  We skip Sunday altogether arriving at 5:30 in the morning on Monday.  Our mission President told us we would be met by some missionaries and will ride in an autobus for 4 hours before we reach the Mission office.  I don't want to think about that trip.  

We are excited though to finally get our adventure really started.  Keep us in your prayers and tell us if you get tired of our blog.    I will let Carl read this and add his own comments.  We love you all and will be thinking of you.  Just as a side note.  I've written so much this week that this will be my letter to the family.  Hope you don't mind.  

Pictures are #1 our district, #2 us with Fred Axelgard, #3 statue on the grounds, #4 our French tutor, Guillaume Bergeron.  At least I hope that is the order.  Once you upload, you don't see them again.

Au Revoir