Off to Brazil--Finally!

I thought I was going to have to go home and start the day over after getting off to a bad start. We received notice of one new missionary so I was making up the usual "new missionary" packet. It took 4 times to get the President's letter printed correctly! First attempt it printed on the color copier, but the letterhead was in the laser printer. Second try printed upside down and doubled sided. Third attempt I stamped the President's name upside down. Finally achieved success on #4. I readily admit to some of those mistakes but not all. Last night the router was changed, and I'm sure some of the settings got mixed up. At least that's how I rationalize it.

Because of 2 of our elders leaving, we've had a few changes made in the mission. Elder Jenson, on the right, is finally off to Brazil after waiting forever for his visa. He went into the MTC in December, came to LA in January, received notification that his visa had come in, and was scheduled to leave 2 weeks ago but was in an accident. It wasn't serious, but it was decided to keep him here for 2 extra week to be sure he was physically OK. He actually came out with 2 other elders going to the same mission in Brazil. The other 2 were only here for one transfer, got their papers, then left in March. There must be a reason that Elder J had to stick around.

Elder J was born in California, but the family moved to CO when he was 2, and that's where he's been ever since. He's one of 10 children and the 4th son to serve a mission. The birth order is boy, girl, boy, girl, etc all the way down the line, which makes him about #7.

Elder Larkin is Elder J's current companion, or at least he was until today. Now he has Elder Adkin's former companion, because Elder Adkins is coming back into the office! Oh happy day! This is actually one of those good news-bad news kind of situations. Sadly, and I mean really sadly, Elder Steele will be going home in 2 days. He has had some health problems for several months that the doctors can't seem to resolve. (I'm beginning to wonder about the doctors in LA.) So he's going home to get better. And that's all I can say without tears.

So, the good news is obviously that Elder Adkins is coming home. He's a seasoned Veteran in the office which will make the transition very smooth. Actually, Elder Lauper sort of campaigned to get him back. Learning all that needs to be done is no small task. Elder Trainor is doing a great job but hasn't had quite enough time to learn everything and train a new office elder.

Elder Adkin's former companion, Elder Hacking, is Elder Larkin's new companion. There's a picture of him on the Oct. 1 post. He's the 3rd of 5 children and has and older and younger brother and sister. His parents and 3 siblings will be picking him up in 3 weeks in their RV. Nice that he doesn't have to worry about overweight baggage and sending his bike home. His oldest sister won't be accompanying the family to pick him up, because she just got an internship with "The Friend," the Church's publication for children. Now that doesn't even sound like a job. It just sounds like a ton of fun. Isn't that what Mark Twain said. Something like, "if you find a job you love you'll never have to work a day in your life." (That's probably a bit paraphrased.) I hope Elder H's sister loves her new job.