Musser Mission Blog

 This week has been pretty special for us. Alicia and her sweet family showed up for a couple of days to spend time with us before their cruise. We started the week with trying to get things done ahead of time so that we could take time off with the kids. So, Monday and Tuesday were pretty long days. They installed a new security system because of the breakin, and so we're a little nervous about always being the first in the office to get the code entered before the cops get called. We now have special codes to enter and special "key" words to use if the alarm gets tripped. It probably cost the Church more than we would lose in a dozen break-ins, but it does give us a little better sense of security.  On Tuesday we also were able to tune into the Funeral of Linda Van Dolzer, Heather's dear mother. It was a very sweet tribute to a very sweet lady. Heather did an amazing job speaking, and the kids sang "Gethsemane" accompanied by Peter at the piano. The Spirit...

 Transfer week is always hectic, and this week was no exception. What made this one different was that we sent home two of the missionaries that we have grown close to working in the office. Elder Gwilliam was the travel secretary, and Elder Peery was one of the APs. We also had an AP, Elder Spilsbury, and our travel secretary, Elder Baxter (our wonderful Brit) go back out into the field. One of the reasons that we wanted to serve in the office was to be around the missionaries all the time. The problem with that is that we grow to love them like our kids and then we have to ship them off to other areas, or worse, send them home! Next transfer will see 3 missionaries who served as APs in the office go home. I know that they all get replaced, and we get the chance to love some more wonderful missionaries, but this is hard! I am certain that there will be many pieces of my heart get ripped out as these wonderful young people move on to the next stage in their lives. It's just how it ...

Elder Baxter, Elder Alexander, and Leon Prince who was ordained an Elder today.  This has been a week of the Lord showing His hand in the work. Next week is transfer week, and as part of the transfer we are losing a secretary and an assistant. The assistant leaving was something we all knew was going to happen. The secretary leaving was only speculation. Elder Alexander who has been our technology secretary loves to try to get information out of the assistants so that he can have the "latest scoop" on the rest of the mission. It was fun watching that all play out as he really wanted to know if Elder Baxter was going or staying. President Heckmann had some fun with that and waited until the new secretary actually showed up to have a "big reveal" with the secretaries. Elder Berge came into the office and they both kind of freaked out a little but then President Heckmann told them that Elder Berge was actually there to replace Elder Alexander and that Elder Alexander w...

 This has certainly been the craziest week we have had in the mission field. It started early on Monday morning when we got a call telling us that the mission office had been robbed. President Heckmann had to leave early to get to the airport, and ran down to the office to get something and saw that someone had broken in and robbed us. He told me to get in as quickly as I could, and call the Police and the Facilities Management people. The thief broke the lock on the front door and forced his way in. The office had been ransacked, and they found our little safe, and found the key to it hidden in a drawer. They got away with between 200 and 300 Euros. They went through the rest of the office as well. It was obvious that they were looking just for cash because they left a drawer full of brand new cell phones. They also left behind some pretty expensive office equipment for which we are grateful. The police came in, looked around and told us that they were going to send a team in to d...