Good-byes

This was a week of fond but sad goodbyes, as we saw seven missionaries complete their missions. Two of them were Sister Nekesi, a Samoan who lives in Utah and who lived in our same apartment complex for awhile, and Elder Queen, whom we met in the Orange Third Ward in our first Sunday here in the mission before we met any other elder or sister at the mission office or elsewhere. He was on his way home to Colorado

and then to BYU-Idaho. (He wants to be a chef!)

The week went fairly skidding by before we knew it. More baptisms this weekend, plus a funeral on Friday for Gary, who had been asked to sing in a men's choir for Dr. Andrew Bauer, an aeronautical engineer for McDonell-Douglas in Long Beach. How singular that of the two funerals Gary attended this summer, they were both for aeronautical engineers! Dr. Bauer actually invented a wind-powered vehicle which could go faster downwind than the wind pushing it. His wife has been one of our wonderful ward organists. Speaking of which: Gary was also asked by the organist at the funeral, Jim Anderson, to turn the pages for him while he played prelude music of the masters like Bach, Dupre, Franck, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens. It was a trip for him to not only hear this great music but be seated next to a very good organist who has played organs all over Orange County. (Finally, speaking of organists, we have discovered a fabulous new organist who not only has fabulous technique but is a great showman as well. Go into Google with the name of Cameron Carpenter and watch him perform "Stars and Stripes" on YouTube. He is fun to watch and listen to.)