I had forgotten just how busy a mission can be

The Augusta Chapel is about 15 minutes ride (especially if you don't get trapped in the roundabout) and we arrived in time for Relief Society and Priesthood to begin.  Their schedule is flip flopped with the Gardiner Ward and they have the auxiliary meetings first and then sacrament meeting last.  It is quite different to do things this way but it means that both wards get to vacate the meeting house at the same time - they arrive at the same time too and so the parking is interesting.
One of the members was so delighted to meet me.  She had an uncle who was on R&R in WW2 in Sydney and all he could talk about was his time in Australia and she has had a life long dream to go to Australia.  The main thing stopping her is the cost.  I would like to add the 16 hour Jumbo Jet ride from Los Angeles to Sydney for my list of things to stop me from going to Australia.  In any case, I am glad that she is so enthralled with Australia and all things Australian.  One person heard me talk and said that I could not possibly be from Australia because I don't talk like Crocodile Dundee...............well, you have to realize that when he was discovered, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) was on the paint crew that takes one year to paint the Sydney Harbour Bridge..........and yes, I do not speak like him and nor would I want to..............for starters I am female, and I am from Queensland, not Sydney where he was launched into his movie career............there is a difference you know.
Bill was asked to play the organ and was sustained in the meeting and set apart after the block was over.  He loves to play the organ and I watched him "Dance with the Organ" and he was very happy.  A member in Prescott said that her joy was to watch Bill play the organ and how he moved when he played and she thought he looked like he was dancing with the Organ.
I went walking in the late afternoon.  It is 1.6 miles from our apartment to the first traffic light and that makes 3.2 miles total.  It is not much of a challenge here because there are absolutely no hills on this road.  Across the river they have hills but not this side.  I took some pictures of places along the road.  Saw some furniture on the side of the road and wondered if it was going for free and asked the man in his driveway if they were for free.  He was most upset that I would ask that and he gruffly pointed out that the price tag was on them and did I not see it?  I did not because I approached the furniture from the opposite side to the price tag.  I think we could have had such a nice conversation if he had not taken offense so easily.
There is a restaurant on the way to the Light and it looks like it is a local 'watering hole favorite'.  The parking lot is always jammed with cars and I can smell fried fish and steaks as I pass by.  They also sell ice cream but I doubt if it could ever taste as wonderful as the ice cream from Zesto's in Lincoln.
I did not sleep well Sunday night.  I was so worried about meeting our trainer on Monday, mostly because I have forgotten most of what  we were taught in MTC about the camera etc.  Early in the morning I received an email from him saying that he would not be there till Tuesday but that we should go into the Archive building and play with the equipment.  Yeah Right!  I would be in debt the rest of my life if I broke any of it.  We went in anyway and could not find how to turn on the computer or even if one of the boxes on the desk was even a computer.  The setup of lights and stuff looked like a chamber of horrors and the room was so cold.  They keep the humidity and temperature at optimum level in this building so that the aging papers do not deteriorate.  I think I will be wearing my heavy snow coat as we work as a result.
Monday night was a horrific night.  David has decided to move out of the group home and move in with a placement in Snowflake/Showlow area.  He is most anxious that I talk to the lady who runs the group home up there and I called her and instead of a ring tone, my ear was blasted with what sounded like acid rock.  Well with David's affinity for certain inhabitants of our society, it did not set well with me and I texted him telling him that with 'acid rock' as a ring tone, I was even less than excited for him to move in with her group home.  He sent that text to her and then my phone rang and I got my ears blistered by her over her professionalism and her training and what right did I have to say that her ring tone was acid rock when in fact it was Christian Rock music.  Well, I tell you, the blast in my ears was so foreign and hard to hear, that there is no way I could ever discern that it was a song about Christ and his atonement.....so for about 30 minutes this lady and I fought with, for and over David.  It was almost like she was berating me for having put him in the group home in the first place.............well, she has not walked in my shoes, not even for one minute has she?  I was hoping that while I was on this mission that I would not have to do any verbal sparring over David and what he is doing.  I still do not know if she is a valid group home.  It is rather interesting to note that when David steps over the line and threatens to leave, the present group home staff call me and enlist my help to get him to stay with them.  But - if I want to know what he is doing etc. I am told by them "Well that is a privacy concern that we cannot discuss with you." Isn't that amazing?  When they need help they are not backward in coming forward in asking for my help but if I need information "its privacy". 

 Almost a Halloween Chamber of Horrors.......but this is where we will be doing the digitizing.

 Ah Yes!  he was hard at work on that PB&J sandwich...........learning new things are a challenge.

 Manuel Sanheuza setting up the next challenge for us.

 The State Capitol -  just across the parking lot from the Archives building.

 A fungus that sprouted in the stump of the tree after the rain.

 The Local Watering Hole - Bright Red and you cannot miss seeing it - and the aroma is inviting as well.

 These two pictures are of the only RED LEAVES I could find............and they are spectacular

So you can easily guess that I did not get much sleep on Monday night either and at 8am on Tuesday we met with Manuel Sanheuza, our trainer, whose home is in Montreal and he travels all over the North Eastern USA and eastern Canada training missionary couples like us.  He is a very warm and patient man and I was very pleased to be in training with him.  While he was teaching us the apparatus, all the trouble with David and his antics melted away into the background - but I was still tired nonetheless.