Necessity is the Mother of Invention

We spent these two weeks either working hard or hardly working. En realidad, we do have many activities, we just have to invent them. We’re still reading the news, instruction manuals, and genealogy sites.

Westward vistas from our patio.                                   

Our apartment setup is almost complete. We find we need far fewer supplies and gadgets than at home. Living simple is easy. When we take our list to the store we find we eliminate half of the items. The overriding question: “Do we really need that?” Generally the answer is: “Let’s wait another couple of weeks and see.” Since we walk a ways to work we did buy umbrellas. Pretty odd for us to live in a city where it actually rains.

The additions to our office include: computers in the office which have easy internet access, an office telephone that rings only for the person who used to have it, a few desk supplies including a whole magnitized container of paper clips  and a box of paperclips, a coat rack we ‘borrowed’ from an empty office, a credenza, and a larger desk with drawers for me. Did you know they even make desks without drawers? John picked up an in-out box; now I can leave him notes. Glaringly absent from the above list is a boss. No director yet. I view that as a good thing. It stretches our resourcefulness. The Church is still in the process of choosing the best possible man to deal with us. Okay, he’ll probably have few more responsibilities, qualifications, and challenges than that.



We voted Oct.4^th! Now that's COOL! We completed ballots on line, printed them, then took them to the US Embassy along with 600 other US Citizens living here. Loved it! We showed our passports (imaging, having to show ID to vote) then dropped the ballots into a ballot box. We even got an "I Voted Today" sticker, a little American flag, and candy wrapped in red, white, and blue. And, we got to be on US soil. I love America and I love being in this country that allows us, as foreign guests, to still vote.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching General Conference last weekend. Satellites were invented so talks by the Prophet and the Twelve Apostles could be broadcast around the world. They bring joy to my heart and strengthen my determination to follow our Savior. One of the high lights was the announcement of a Temple for Tucson.

This last week we had the great pleasure of a dinner invitation to the Rogelio and Lucricia Nores home in a grand apartment in a downtown high-rise. Rogelio and the Curt Atkisson, the husband of a cousin of John’s Mom (do we need a pedigree chart for this?), worked together for many years. Curt told them we were coming and we were welcomed and treated as family. Such a lovely evening which we hope to repeat.

We spent last Saturday working on and photographing a multi-stake Helping Hands project. The group painted the entries and quad areas of two grade schools and the outside of one. They certainly sparkle now.

There were few workers when we first arrived, then in swarmed the teenagers. What hard and happy workers they are! The Young Men and Young Women worked all day scraping, sanding, sweeping, wiping down, masking, painting, and scrubbing. One school has only ninety students, most from homes with only a mother. They love their school. On school days they receive all three meals at school. The appreciative Diretora had not told the children what was to happen to their school over the weekend and can hardly wait to see their faces when they arrive Monday morning. We met several Public Affairs Specialist from throughout the city and obtained contact information. John emailed photos to the specialists who wanted them and to Directora Sandra, and recently completed his first news release. What a rewarding day! If this is the kind of work Public Affairs Specialist get to do, bring on more!

“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the site of God and our Father.”

                                                                                                                 Thessalonians 1:2-3.