Farewell to Budges!

Yes, we will miss Elder Ron Budge and Sister Rosalind Budge very much! But their 18 months is now at an end. They have taught us well, but

now it is our turn to work in this little kingdom of dedicated saints called missionaries! And missionary work is still the most important thing. This morning we began our first day without the Budges. And what should happen a short time later? An Hispanic student came into mission office wanting to know more about our church. Coincidentally, one of our Samoan elders (with impeccable Spanish) sat outside my office and taught this young man for one hour. Gary only understood the language of the spirit!

Sunday was no less a miracle. For the first time on our mission we had to go into the office on Saturday -- for only 30 minutes. During that short time a man with a foreign accent called the mission office, asking Signe for the closest LDS ward to him. It so happened to be our Orange Third ward, where we happened to see him in all three meetings Sunday afternoon. The man is an Iranian, knows the Book of Mormon is true, and wants to be baptized! So this morning Gary gave the elders a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Joseph Smith pamphlet in Persian.

Friday we had a some entertainment, for a change. Our new friends in the ward, Carl and Kathy Brague, took us to Lawry's Carvery in the South Coast Mall for dinner and then to a performance of Steve Martin (and his banjo) with the Deep Canyon Rangers bluegrass band. It was a very funny night with one of America's best comedian-actors as well as the incredible musicanship and talent of the band, especially of the fiddle player, who was better than Signe had ever heard before. Beautiful Segerstrom Hall was full to the brim -- with laughter and awe. Watch for Steve Martin and this group tour the country these next few months. Steve's CD "The Crow" has even won some awards -- he's quite a composer, too.

And speaking of music: Thursday night was Signe's rehearsal with the Orange County Mormon Chorus and Orchestra at the Newport Beach Stake Center. Sunday night Gary rehearsed with the Orange Stake choir to prepare for the 18th annual nativity scene Christmas program, which lasts three days.

The day-to-day tasks continue to surprise us. We were just leaving for lunch today (Monday) when our Korean sister missionary called (in tears) to tell us she had been in an accident with another car this morning. Once she came into the office to fill out the accident report and show the damage to Gary, it took all of us to comfort her, including our Korean office elder, who was at least able to speak to her in her fluent Korean language.