Works of Art

Signe and the others senior sisters design a bulletin board for the office each month. This month's we thought was a work of art, featuring all the Prophets of the Restoration and a little note attached to each picture of what they were each especially known for.

Next, the most amazing tree we've ever seen is right in the front yard of our Ward building. It is called a "Coral Tree," and, as you can see, is covered with thorns. Spring has sprung around Orange County, and flowers are EVERYWHERE! Lilies (the Easter kind) grow wild, along with innumerable other varieties. Signe keeps the camera in her purse, so it is handy when we see a stunning site, which happens on a daily basis.

"The earth it did sha-ay-ayke!" Although Gary slept through it, Signe was rudely awakened by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake a few minutes after 4 on Tuesday morning. She felt a jolt, and then the bed shook for about 15 seconds. Later we discovered that when we asked the elders about it, invariably one elder felt the earthquake while the other one slept! Little damage, no injuries, but it makes some people in California nervous. Each missionary (including us) has his or her own Survival Kit, should a bigger one hit.

The car that was in an accident last week? The Church's insurance company told Gary this week that they are declaring the car totaled because of the extensive damage. We are so grateful that the four elders were protected!

Temple Tours on Saturday: many missionaries and investigators showed up for both the English and the Spanish sessions. During cookies and punch time Gary was able to talk to a highly educated man from Hungary. We hope he was touched by the Spirit. Then at 5 we represented the mission president at one of the twelve baptisms we had this weekend: this one in Costa Mesa. The person being baptized was a wonderful older lady by the name of Rebecca. The service was very nice.

And believe it or not, six weeks are over and another transfer happens tomorrow. This month we've received five new sister missionaries (including 2 of them ASL for the Deaf Branch) and one elder. One of the new sisters is a good friend of one of Gary's graduate students from BYU.