Last Week in Florida

Sunday, March 11 was a busy day.  Our sacrament meeting starts at 9 a.m. and we lost an hour of sleep due to the switch to Daylight Savings Time.  We woke up at 7 a.m. to finish preparing our talks and getting fish stew into the crock pot.  It was hectic.

Sanford's brother and his wife drove all the way from Louisiana to be with us.  Our son and his children from St. Augustine also came over to spend the day.  After church meetings, we went to our house for a simple meal of fish stew, rolls, and salad.  Elaine had some mix for cheese biscuits, and she turned that into a fun baking experience with  the grandkids.

For dessert, we were able to pull cake out of the freezer.  Last weekend was Sanford's retirement party, and a colleague had crafted an amazing cake in the shape of a decapitated fire ant.which has been the focus of so much of Sanford's professional career in recent years.  There were abundant leftovers which made for an easy treat today.

For our sacrament meeting talks, Colleen told about the reasons why she had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including a living prophet, the principle of personal revelation for each of us, that we view Jesus Christ as our Savior and big brother, and that we are assured that our Heavenly Father cares about each and every one of us.

When she sat down, Colleen whispered that she had forgotten to share her testimony in bahasa Indonesia.  At the end of his excellent talk on Grace, Sanford invited her back up to share that testimony.

Sanford's talk on Grace was a great segue into the Relief Society/Priesthood lessons on perfection.

This next picture was taken while we were recovering from the busy morning.  We are standing in front of a batik map that Sanford brought back from his first mission.  It is special, but the reality is that the Indonesian mission is much larger now, spreading from Sumatra into Sulawesi and Timor Leste.

That afternoon we headed to the stake center for our setting-apart.  Our stake president thought to take the picture of everyone.

Great Inventions

We are so grateful for the people who invented the stuff that will make our lives easier as we travel and relocate across the globe to do the Lord's work in Indonesia.

I have become a fan of the Trtl Pillow for long flights.  Unlike the linflatable pillows, this one is flat behind my neck, which I really prefer.  And some memory foam pillows come up so high that I can't use headphones, but this is low and loose enough for over-ear headphones.

This travel plug has served us well on trips to Rome, Greece, Prague, Vienna, Budapest.  We hope it will work most places in Indonesia.  It has 2 USB ports and 2 plugs.

This is the largest power bank available that is safe to fly with.  It has slots to charge two different devices.  It will be handy if we want to show a video and power in the tablet is waning. 

 How can they make a large suitcase weighing less than 5 pounds?  It is narrow PVC pipe covered with thin cloth.  Hopefully it will stay together once it is full.  We are limited to 44 pounds per suitcase (most missionaries get 50) because that is the limit for the local airlines that will eventually take us to our final destination.

My usual crossbody bag was not quite large enough for a 10-inch computer.  A full-sized backpack would be hard on my back.  This half-sized single-strap Travelon bag will be perfect.









RIGHT:  My razor only works with 110 current.  I found this new one, which plugs into USB so will work around the world.







We are glad to have these tools and toys to as we head out on our mission.