August 4- August 10, 2014

Another wonderful week in our mission!
We are having so many memorable experiences this blog can barely skim the surface, but I try!
Once again the disclaimer that the spiritual, missionary sides of the mission are harder to photo document than the outdoor PDay ones so while the photos are unbalanced, are experiences are not. Everyday is a day of growth, of learning, of sharing , of wonder, of gratitude, of testimony building.

That said, onto another fun and full PDay...whale watching!
We heard from many other couples serving with us that the whale watching was amazing here- one couple saw 13 whales while another saw 3 different types of whale species. So, we decided to brave it,  in spite of our sea-sickness tendencies.  We traveled out to sea for about an hour and a half where we stopped to search for any spouts. We saw two humpbacks , Northstar and Hippocampus, whom we followed for over an hour. It was good to see them but honestly we were disappointed at not seeing more. We were gone for about 4 hours total.  It was a lovely day and the views coming in and out of Boston Harbor were spectacular. Loved seeing it from the sea!

As we were in Boston proper, we decided to eat lunch there and looked up our handy-dandy food app and located yet another Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins nearby...Sam LaGrasse's- famous for their sandwiches.  We ordered the one featured on the show, Chipotle Pastrami. My oh my, was it good! Juicy and messy and finger-lickin' good!

We had to cut our day a little short because we had to prepare for a dinner get-together that our Temple Presidency puts on every 6 weeks or so for all the missionary couples serving in the temple.
It is pot luck.  After dinner we had a fabulous Family Home Evening where different individuals shared stories of their pioneer ancestry. It was inspiring and we heard some incredible histories. I regretfully did not take any pictures. I will do so next time!

While Dale spent time on the phone and computer doing his medical assignment, I spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to figure out how to set up this blog. :)
I also put together several "Boxes of Sunshine" to deliver to people in our ward who needed a little cheering.

Thursday we spent in the temple once again.  It is a refreshing and peaceful part of our weekly schedule that we look forward to. We always go out to dinner afterwards with Susan and Mike - another event we look forward to!

Friday we had a wonderful Zone Conference with just our Zone.  What incredibly capable leaders these young missionaries are! We are always, always so impressed.  They uplifted us, instructed us, inspired us and managed to make it fun.  Sadly , again, I didn't think to take many pictures.

We had to say goodbye to one of our district leaders, Elder Motes.  We also had to bid farewell to Elder Tom and Sister Marjean Harris, who have become dear, fun, close friends.  They were in our district at the MTC so we got to know them there and were so excited to find out they were assigned to wait for their visas to Brazil in our mission! And then, even more delighted to find out they were also serving in our ward and in our same district here! We will miss them terribly. They were a light in our lives and such fantastic examples of dedication to the Lord and His work.

Elder Motes

 Elder Tom and  Sister Marjean Harris:  Missionaries Extraordinaire!

Saturday morning was spent with Elder and Sister McBride who took a few hours to teach the Moores and us how to use the new family search websites to help our investigators and new members (and anyone really) find their ancestors online. Afterwards, all of us along with Elder and Sister Miller, went to Panera for lunch.
The rest of the day was spent preparing for Sunday. (i.e...making brownies  :)!)

The week was full
and we went our way rejoicing!