Three weeks ago 23 new missionaries and 22 bikes arrived in the mission. Elder R's bike, which had been ordered several weeks before his arrival, never came. After numerous phone calls and emails between Elder R, Elder's mom, Elder's dad, bike shop and me, the bike was "resent" and arrived at the office, in need of being assembled, yesterday. I won't go into the details of the missing bike except to say that the bike shop finally found the invoice and said it was shipped, but they didn't know where it was shipped to. Really? An expensive bike and no tracking number? Hmm. Mom thinks it just wasn't sent. So, a replacement was sent and is now here in the office.
Elder L's cousin contacted him about 2 weeks ago and said that he and his brother were planning on flying out to visit for a few hours on Saturday, Sept. 13. They both worked for, and retired from, United Airlines and can fly free but always have to go stand-by.
Sister Astle, our sweet St. George sister now serving in the West Bank (New Orleans), has a birthday on Friday. Elder L & I talked about going to NOLA to take her and her companion, Sister Jewett, out for dinner. Just a quick trip on Friday and back Saturday morning--in time to visit with the cousins.
Email from cousins yesterday saying that they're coming in Friday and leaving Sunday if there's a flight, so could we get together for dinner Friday night or breakfast on Saturday, just in case they can't get a Sunday flight and have to leave early Saturday afternoon. Sure.
Scratch Friday dinner and anytime Saturday. How about Monday to NOLA. Not a good idea, because Elder R's bike really needs to get to him and we're the obvious ones to take it since we're going there already. And, he just happens to be in the same district with Sisters A and J. In fact, the elders live just a few blocks away. Easy drop off. So why can't he wait another week for his bike? Because they're in a biking area with no access to a car, and the bike he was borrowing just broke.
This morning Elder L & I were still trying to figure out how and when to go to NOLA. We can't go tomorrow, because he and Elder F are going to DeRidder to look at apartments. DeRidder is about 3+ hours away from Baton Rouge and the opposite direction from New O. They'll be lucky to get back to BR by 4 or 5. Leaving at that time to drive to NO would be insane. Maybe we could run down there tonight.
Then, at about 10:30 am, the office door opens and who should walk in? Sister Jewett and Sister Astle. NO WAY! What on earth are they doing here? Sister J had to drive all the way into Baton Rouge to pick up a prescription. Hooray! It was so good to see both of them and find out that they had to wait to pick up the Rx, and yes, they had time to go to lunch. So off we went to Longhorn Steakhouse with Elder Trainor, Elder Steele, Elder Fontenot, Sister Astle and Sister Jewett. So how's that for a very happy solution to all of our concerns.
They're now on their way back to the West Bank with Elder R's bike happily attached to the bike rack on the back of their car. Happy, happy day!
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