Lots of Weddings!

We've received 4 wedding announcements from 5 of our former LABRM missionaries in the past several weeks, and we're so thrilled for all of them!

Todd Helie and his wife, Rebecca, were married on April 11 in the Las Vegas Temple

Abby Thornley and fiance, Steven, will be married in the Brigham City Temple on May 9

Billy Watkins and Jenna Schmutz, both LABRM missionaries, will be married on  May 7 in the Salt Lake City Temple

Thomas Mecham and Taylor will be married June 20 in the Rexburg Temple, I think

Some Faces We've Missed

Oh, Yay! Elder Trainor came into the office today! We really enjoyed him for the short time he served here as an office elder. Today he and his companion, Elder Toone, came to Baton Rouge to attend the temple with a former investigator, now member, from Natchitoches who was going through for the first time.

I did ask him about his new hair color! He wanted some highlights and another elder told him to just use some hydrogen peroxide. My next question for him was, "Did Elder M  by any chance mention that the more you get in the sun, the lighter it becomes?" No, he neglected that part, which Elder Trainor found out after doing a 3 hour outdoor service project!

Mandeville Elders--Elder Toone and Elder Trainor

Missionary selfies are so much better than the pictures I take! Here's Elder Trainor, Sister McEntire, Sister Hunter and Sister Hockemier

One more selfie that also included Sister Astle and Elder Toone. Three of these sweet sisters will be going home after next week's transfers. Only Sister Hunter will be left. And Elder Trainor leaves after the next transfer in June. We have a huge number of missionaries leaving in the next 3 transfers--almost 60--but there's no where near that many coming in:(

Sophie's Back!

I'm always so happy for Sister Hansen when the twins come into town. Actually, this time it's just Sophie for 3 weeks, but Maddy will be here later next month. It seems like I was just writing about them beginning their Junior year at BYU, and now they'll be Seniors. Today Sophie is a temporary companion for Sister Widdison, a Covington Sister, while a little change is being made as her companion left today. They'll probably only be companions for an hour or two.

Sophie and Sister Widdison. a Covington Sister

Sister Hansen with two of her girls

Resolution

So glad we came into the office today, even though it's Saturday. It was fun to find elders that we don't see very often. And Marc just happened to have a package of fresh apple turnovers from Sam's Club. They disappeared in a flash!

While we were here I checked the emails, and that was a good thing. Referring back to Tuesday and the foreign calls, the travel office has been working since then to find a flight from Paris to Lille. They were still having trouble getting a flight or a train ticket as of Friday. Then I found the email saying that, after rethinking, the parents had decided to come into Paris to pick up their missionary. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Travel still hasn't booked anything.

Elder Lehr and Elder Richardson, Baton Rouge Zone Leaders, and Elder Horrocks and Elder Carson, BR So Spanish

Elder Cole and Elder Stevenson

This week has been so quiet and especially today! I'm pretty sure the phone didn't ring more than 5 times today, and.that's pretty rare. I'm as ready as possible for transfers, and they aren't until April 28. The Office Elders were out of the office for 2 days so they could attend the last of the Zone Conferences for this quarter, and the Assistants have hardly been around at all. Talk about lonely.

Tonight we went to Cracker Barrel with the BR North Elders, Elder Cole, from the Salt Lake area, and Elder Stevenson, from southern UT. They've been companions since the last transfer in March and were also companions in the MTC. We enjoyed getting to know them and hearing about their interests and talents. Elder Cole is into drama and music but plans to go in a medical direction post mission. Elder Stevenson quite an artist, according to Elder Cole, and will pursue that down the road.

Elder Nield's Artwork

Yesterday, when Elder Nield was here, someone mentioned that he was drawing on the whiteboard in the President's office. No problem. Pres. Hansen only uses it when we have our Monday meetings. I happened to walk back there today, and this is what I found. Pretty impressive!

Missionary Pack Rats

This is what greeted me this morning when I walked into the back room. The office elders had to clean out an apartment that we're vacating, and this is what they found. Holy Cow! Those elders must've been stockpiling church supplies for years. Unbelievable how much they had--55 copies of the Book of Mormon in English and Spanish, Bibles, Triple Combinations, 72 DVDs, 2 DVD players, 2 hymn books, a variety of church manuals, choir music and instructors' guides--one printed in 1972. Then there were the pass along cards, pamphlets in English and Spanish, family proclamations and baptism & confirmation forms numbering in the humdreds, maybe thousands! At least I can say that the commissary shelves are abundantly stocked.

Elder Condie and Elder Nield, the Slaughter Elders,(yes, we do have an area called Slaughter) were in to get an estimate for their car that was hit by a fire hydrant while making a U-turn. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Elder Horrocks and Elder Drollinger, 2 of the Baton Rouge Spanish Elders, also stopped by the office. It's always nice to have them pop in and say hi. I asked them what exciting things were happening, and they told me about their appointment and dinner with an investigator last night that went very well. The investigator even invited a friend who was passing by her house to join them, which she did. They found out that the friend was baptized when she was 12 but is less-active now. Also, the said they had $100  fried cheese sticks for dinner. I thought they were kidding. Nope. The lady had ordered them from South America, and that's what she paid for them. Suddenly the elders decided they were quite full.