OUR FIRST WEEK IN THE MISSION FIELD
Sunday morning June 9th was our first Sunday here in Oakland. We were introduced as the NEW missionaries replacing "The Chases". Elder and Sister Chase left a great legacy for us to follow. The schedule of the church meetings is not like we were use to. Sunday School is first at 10:20 AM then Relief Society/Priesthood and finally Sacrament meeting. The building we meet in is next to the Oakland temple. I am not sure how many wards meet there but at least the Tongan Ward or two and several Oakland Wards meet there. In our area there is also a Spanish speaking branch, and a Chinese speaking branch.
Because our ward has very few children and youth we combine primary and youth meetings with the Oakland 1st ward,which is probably why our meetings start at 10:20.
After meeting lots of people who we will not remember all of their names for awhile we were wisked off by Elder and Sister Taylor (they are office staff) to a barbecue at a member of the bishopric's home. Brother and sister Neuman are an awesome couple who love to entertain and it was great to meet a smaller group of people who we could remember names and faces.
Later in the evening we went to a mission fireside. It is called "Why I Believe". It is put on by our mission and the assistants to the president conduct and they have several people share their conversion story and there is a musical number and it is powerful. A wonderful spirit where no one wants to leave. We went home physically and spiritually fed and fell asleep when our heads hit the pillow.
Monday was shopping, and shopping and shopping. We needed to buy everything for cooking for the kitchen. The dishes, pots, and pans and all of the silver were here but no spices, flour, sugar etc. I totally forgot how much stuff you have to buy to cook. We were totally spoiled in the MTC and we did not cook much while packing and moving.
We had to find stores, with help from Elder and Sister Eves upstairs we found what we needed, the basic Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Lucky, and Target stores. What else would you need:)
However we kept having to go back to the store to get stuff we forgot. It has been 40 years since we stocked a kitchen from scratch. We think we finally have it all and now just need to make lists of replacement stuff now.
We did not need to cook on Monday night because it was the monthly Senior Couples Family Home Evening. Elder and Sister Eves drove us and another couple brought us dinner. Talk about loving and feeling cared for, we certainly were. There are 15 couples in our mission and almost all of them were there. Another couple arrived in the mission when we did. Elder and Sister Ford are living in the west San Francisco area as Church Education System senior missionaries. We had a picnic dinner and two Elders shared stories about the Oakland San Francisco area. The first one talked about the early Latter Day Saints who settled here. They came in on the ship Brooklyn when the pioneers were migrating to the west. It turns out two of the men at Sutter's fort who discovered gold happen to be from the Mormon Battalion and were working at the fort to earn money to go back to Salt Lake with and provide for their families. We learned about the Mormon leader who led the Saints on the Brooklyn and what happened to him.
Later we learned about the World War ll effort of the Richmond area. Which was where the park was. A man named Kaiser who was a welder and ship builder later became owner and founder of Kaiser steele, and Kaiser Permantente medical. He had several shipyards here and built ships for the US government and employed most of the people in this area, especially women. There is a museum dedicated to "Rosie the Riveter", nearby and the S.S. Red Oak Victory is laid to rest here. You can see remnants of her in the bay near Kaiser Shipyard 3. Lots of great history here, I later looked up some more of what is here. Saving it for visitors!!! That evening was perfect for a picnic.
Tuesday we unpacked, did our laundry. Pay laundromat, darn, but we will get use to it. We did more shopping and bought a desk for Sister Felt, and a bookshelf and of course more food. We also met with the missionaries assigned to work in our ward. They are the assistants to the president and are awesome missionaries. We met to see what we could help them with and what they could help us with!!!
Wednesday was an awesome zone meeting. A member of the area presidency spoke and boy was he inspiring. Then we had district meeting and met the young Elders and Sisters in our district. They actually practice teaching parts of a discussion. For some reason I did not know that. I guess I thought they just knew what to do naturally!!!I am planning to get a picture of our district before transfers.
Then we went with the Elders Watson and Amori to teach a new investigator named Rauel. We also went and shared a message with a less active sister named Bintou (she is from Mali, Africa originally) and we sang a hymn and talked about "Lehi's vision of the tree of life". It was a great day.
We spent Thursday studying, planning and just getting ourselves use to the idea that we were actually here on a mission. Friday we went to the temple and did an endowment and saw Sister Franco, Liana's other grandma (she is Jordon's grandma, and Liana's grandma in law!). So much fun to see someone from home.
Because our ward has very few children and youth we combine primary and youth meetings with the Oakland 1st ward,which is probably why our meetings start at 10:20.
After meeting lots of people who we will not remember all of their names for awhile we were wisked off by Elder and Sister Taylor (they are office staff) to a barbecue at a member of the bishopric's home. Brother and sister Neuman are an awesome couple who love to entertain and it was great to meet a smaller group of people who we could remember names and faces.
Later in the evening we went to a mission fireside. It is called "Why I Believe". It is put on by our mission and the assistants to the president conduct and they have several people share their conversion story and there is a musical number and it is powerful. A wonderful spirit where no one wants to leave. We went home physically and spiritually fed and fell asleep when our heads hit the pillow.
Monday was shopping, and shopping and shopping. We needed to buy everything for cooking for the kitchen. The dishes, pots, and pans and all of the silver were here but no spices, flour, sugar etc. I totally forgot how much stuff you have to buy to cook. We were totally spoiled in the MTC and we did not cook much while packing and moving.
We had to find stores, with help from Elder and Sister Eves upstairs we found what we needed, the basic Walmart, Costco, Safeway, Lucky, and Target stores. What else would you need:)
However we kept having to go back to the store to get stuff we forgot. It has been 40 years since we stocked a kitchen from scratch. We think we finally have it all and now just need to make lists of replacement stuff now.
We did not need to cook on Monday night because it was the monthly Senior Couples Family Home Evening. Elder and Sister Eves drove us and another couple brought us dinner. Talk about loving and feeling cared for, we certainly were. There are 15 couples in our mission and almost all of them were there. Another couple arrived in the mission when we did. Elder and Sister Ford are living in the west San Francisco area as Church Education System senior missionaries. We had a picnic dinner and two Elders shared stories about the Oakland San Francisco area. The first one talked about the early Latter Day Saints who settled here. They came in on the ship Brooklyn when the pioneers were migrating to the west. It turns out two of the men at Sutter's fort who discovered gold happen to be from the Mormon Battalion and were working at the fort to earn money to go back to Salt Lake with and provide for their families. We learned about the Mormon leader who led the Saints on the Brooklyn and what happened to him.
Later we learned about the World War ll effort of the Richmond area. Which was where the park was. A man named Kaiser who was a welder and ship builder later became owner and founder of Kaiser steele, and Kaiser Permantente medical. He had several shipyards here and built ships for the US government and employed most of the people in this area, especially women. There is a museum dedicated to "Rosie the Riveter", nearby and the S.S. Red Oak Victory is laid to rest here. You can see remnants of her in the bay near Kaiser Shipyard 3. Lots of great history here, I later looked up some more of what is here. Saving it for visitors!!! That evening was perfect for a picnic.
Tuesday we unpacked, did our laundry. Pay laundromat, darn, but we will get use to it. We did more shopping and bought a desk for Sister Felt, and a bookshelf and of course more food. We also met with the missionaries assigned to work in our ward. They are the assistants to the president and are awesome missionaries. We met to see what we could help them with and what they could help us with!!!
Wednesday was an awesome zone meeting. A member of the area presidency spoke and boy was he inspiring. Then we had district meeting and met the young Elders and Sisters in our district. They actually practice teaching parts of a discussion. For some reason I did not know that. I guess I thought they just knew what to do naturally!!!I am planning to get a picture of our district before transfers.
Then we went with the Elders Watson and Amori to teach a new investigator named Rauel. We also went and shared a message with a less active sister named Bintou (she is from Mali, Africa originally) and we sang a hymn and talked about "Lehi's vision of the tree of life". It was a great day.
We spent Thursday studying, planning and just getting ourselves use to the idea that we were actually here on a mission. Friday we went to the temple and did an endowment and saw Sister Franco, Liana's other grandma (she is Jordon's grandma, and Liana's grandma in law!). So much fun to see someone from home.
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