Visas, Tacos and Olive Garden

Yesterday was such a busy day that by the time we got home I was exhausted and didn't have the energy to think.  I did manage to get through the mountain of referrals mentioned on Tuesday. Another 2 hours, but I felt very accomplished by the time they were completed.  The rest of the day was spent doing the usual daily tasks--sending emails, answering a myriad of phone calls and trying to decipher what some people were actually saying, adding to the "Sister Olsen" pile, etc.  I'm actually very glad to have a lot of quirky little things happen, because that gives me more questions to ask and more things to learn.  We're running out of supervised time, and I want as many things to wrong as possible before the Olsen's leave.

This morning we received word that we're getting 2 visa waiters in addition to our 11 others coming on March 4.  Visa waiters are exactly what it says.  They're missionaries going to foreign missions whose visas didn't arrive at the MTC before they were scheduled to leave, so they're assigned to a mission somewhere in the United States to serve until their visas arrive.  We have several already here and doing a great job in English.  Two of our VW's came in with the last transfer on January 22.  Their visas came yesterday and they'll leave on March 3.  We have another elder who's been waiting for his visa for 8 months. No clue how that works out since they're all going to the same country.

It took a good portion of the morning to get everything together for the VW's.  We usually have 2-4 months to prepare the files, but I wanted to complete them before Sister O's return to be sure I could get everything done without her help.  Success!  In a nutshell, this is the procedure:  A labeled file for Sister Wall which includes the medical and dental information and insurance and a file card with pertinent data (name, missionary number, email, medical ID, arrival and release dates, picture, parents info, bishop and stake pres names & addresses, ward & stake), summary page for Pres Wall with the same info as on the file card, labeled file for the office which includes similar info and duplicate file card.  Sound likes very little work for all the time it took.  Lucky for me to have those 2 computer screens or it would've taken even longer.

Here's our office Elders Watkins and Adkins.  It's not the best picture but I laughed so hard at their description of lunch that I wanted to attempt a pic. These 2 go out to lunch every day (I'm guessing they have daddy's credit card because there's no way the amount of mission money they get would cover that) and are on a quest to find the best places to eat for the least amount of money.  They were going to have the "best hamburger in the South" but it's a food truck and it moved to New Orleans. Guess we'll try it when it gets back to our nect of the woods.  So today's lunch was la lengua tacos at La Tiendita.  Ryan conned me into them one time when the 2 of us were in Tijuana.  Anyway, the elders were describing what the pieces of meat looked like--the top of and underside of a cow tongue. It really was quite humorous.  Elder Watkins said he only made it through have the taco before giving up!

Tonight we went to the Olive Garden AGAIN!!!  I'm quite sure I'll never go to OG again for the rest of my life--unless one of the grandchildren requests it.  This was the farewell dinner for the Olsen's and the English's who both leave a few days after our next transfer.  The English's have been serving in Baton Rouge, Spanish speaking, as MLS missionaries.  Interesting thing is that Sister English speaks Spanish but Elder English doesn't.

With only 2 weeks of office time to go before we're really on our own, Marc and I are both feeling that we might actually be ready to take over when the time comes.  Hooray for us!  More like hooray for us that the Lord has absolutely blessed us to be able to understand, remember and accomplish the required work.