Week Two in Sunny San Diego!

Erica - This one is for you! Picture taken in the early morning while we're out walking!

Our place only has 3 rooms (including the bathroom), but it does have a pool!  Elder McGuire tried it out one day this week.  Senior Missionaries have very few rules! 

And Elder McGuire's golf clubs arrived (Thanks Natalie!)  I don't know if he'll get to use them, but due to lack of storage space, they are now a living room decoration!

Best thing this week!!  Picture taken at FHE on La Jolla Beach.  This is taken with an investigator that we have gotten very close to - Lei Ma.  She is from China, and has been here as a student.  Her planned baptism date is August 16, right after church. She is a real sweetheart who is totally committed to the gospel plan. The enthusiasm of new converts is so exciting to us!

The other great thing was going to the temple on Friday morning.  We did an endowment session.  I had the privilege of  taking my cousin's name - Ray and Myra Ward's daughter, Raylene.  I never knew her, but after having a strong impression one day that I needed to look up her brother's name (who had passed away when I was a teenager), I discovered that she had passed away a year ago, and had no living family to do her work. (The rest of the family had their work done years ago.) Now it's completed, except for sealing to her parents, which I will do next temple visit.  It's so wonderful to be able to go once a week.

We have been spending most of our time at the Institute, working on class prep and studying more of the Teaching Handbook.  We will be teaching the class on Isaiah this Wednesday night while the Institute Director is out of town.  We also went to lunch on Friday with the other Senior Missionaries that are involved with YSA or Institute.  It was great to get together and share ideas.  Apparently, we will meet once a month.

We also had missionaries over twice for dinner: the missionaries assigned to the YSA 1st Ward, and the ones assigned to YSA 2nd Ward.  It was fun, and we felt like it was a nice service for them. Working with YSA Wards, they rarely get dinner invitations.  We're hoping to do that at least twice a month for each companionship.

And Friday, after the temple and lunch with the Senior Missionaries, we decided to go to Sea World.  (The Institute was closed because the carpets were being cleaned.) There are a few benefits to being in San Diego!  Other than that, we did laundry Friday night (at the laundromat), and house cleaning (which takes about an hour due to our small living quarters!)