Amazing Transfer Week

 


We keep thinking that "this is the week that we will catch up!" When we do that, Heavenly Father seems to say "nice plan, but keep dreaming!" Monday seemed to give us a glimmer of hope as we were able to get a few key issues taken care of with getting the missionaries paid, etc. Tuesday was  our normal meeting day compounded with the "salientes" or missionaries who were going home. One of them was one of the Assistants to the President, Elder Guevara, who we really grew to love. He was in his exit interview with the President when we finally had to go home for the night so we missed getting to say goodbye which was sad. 

Wednesday was a real adventure. First off, we heard that the flight for the missionaries from the U.S. was delayed 5 hours. This was both good and bad. Good, because it gave us time to get everything prepared logistically. Bad because we were not able to do a lot of things that we normally do to welcome them. It was really a tight turn around for President Heckmann who had to still interview them all, decide who their companions needed to be, and to get them on planes, trains, and automobiles to get them to their assignments. Afterward he told me that even though he didn't have the time he wanted, the inspiration still came, and he knew that they were all where they needed to be. In the middle of all of this we found out that after the salientes were dropped off at the airport, their flight was cancelled. The airline ended up putting them into a hotel for the night, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for their families who were gearing up to welcome home their loved ones, who had to wait until the next day. We know about that worry as Sarah and Ryan lost a day going back to the U.S. because of airline problems. 

Thursday after transfers is usually our catch up day. However, this week, right when we got to the office and sat down at our computers, the power went out. It stayed off until almost 2:00 and so we had to try to think of things to do other than what we really needed to do, but couldn't without our computers. President Heckmann invited us up to his house where they at least have a lot of natural light while we waited. It was nice to visit with them though, but we had to hit it hard once the power came back on. 

I realized on Friday that we are about 12 weeks away from coming home! That kind of blew my mind. In about 8 weeks we will probably start to train one of the couples in our mission to do the office job so that they can train our replacements. We also found out that even though President and Hermana Heckmann are going home on June 25th, they have to be out of their house on about the 9th so that FM can go through and paint the prepare the home for the new mission president. They will be living in hotels and traveling through the mission in kind of a "farewell tour". That means it will probably be a little tougher to corner President for all of the stuff that he has to approve! It's all starting to get real!

This brings me to something that I learned this week while going through the Come Follow Me reading. I'm trying to put myself in Moses' shoes and imagine what it would have felt like for him when the Lord kind of matter of factly said "lift thou up they rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it." No big deal, just defy all of the laws of gravity and physics and divide an ocean! Sometimes I feel like I am facing something that is beyond my ability to do. I worry and fret, but what I should be doing is remembering Moses. He put his trust in the Lord and the children of Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. My little problems are nothing compared to that. I just need to trust that the same God who parted the Red Sea will help me through my own tough times if I just trust in Him and move forward on the path He has asked me to walk. We can trust Him, and that is something that I need to always remember.

One thing that we have no problem remembering is how much we love all of you! Have a wonderful week!

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