Mission: A Week of Coughing!

For some reason I cannot shake the cough.  It rather colors everything because I am sleeping more poorly than usual.  Coughing while answering the phone is not good.  Several good suggestions of what to do about it have helped a little but not gotten rid of it.

Last night was so bad that I stayed home from Church today.  I tried to sleep sitting up on the couch and do think I slept a little this morning.  Eventually I got up and picked up the table then taped a map together and hung on the wall so we can see where we are and where we need to go.  AAA has some very good city maps.  By getting two of them I could cobble together a larger one.

Dear One came home from Church to tell me that we are on for a Temple Preparation class TONIGHT!  Well, that will be enjoyable.  Just need to take the water bottle and lots of cough drops in my pocket. Now to get prepared.  I think as part of the class we will show "Man's Search For Happiness", a video that had a huge effect on me when I was 17 years old.

Red roses in the Rose Garden October 14th!!

The office was jumping this week!  Two brethren came from Salt Lake City to do some training with Elder J, the vehicle coordinator.  They spent all morning and then left at 1 PM.

The same day Sister J and Elder J, Sister T, and I went to one of the church buildings about 35 minutes away to check it out for the next Arrivals/Transfers day.  We wanted to figure out the flow to make things run smoothly.  Things to be concerned about were building entry (there are two levels in this building), luggage storage, supper bag lunch location and eating space, orientation location, cars/cards/safety conversations, interviews with President, interviews with nurse,  bedding distribution, waiting space.  We met Elder and Sister B and the zone leaders there (the ZLs opened the building for us then left for a teaching appointment they had) and went through the building several times until we had a feel for what would work most efficiently.  We have fifteen new missionaries arriving so some things will be easier than last arrivals when there were 27 new missionaries.

Shortly after we left the apartment complex heading out for this adventure, my phone rang.  What?!  It was the bishop of our ward asking Dear One and me to come see him at our own church building that night.  Elder J, the sisters, and I returned shortly after 7.  I gobbled down something quickly then Dear One and I were off to church.  The bishop had asked me to text him to say when we arrived.  So I did.  All this electronics is such a new thing to me. I was up with computers but the phone and texting, that is new stuff.  Sometimes it works, sometimes I delete a call before I even get to answer it because I swipe the wrong way.  R-r-r-r!

Some kind of Japanese vegetation near the entrance kiosk at Japanese Garden

So the bishop asked us to take an assignment in the ward:  to teach the Temple Preparation class which I mentioned above.  We have two brothers who are preparing to enter the temple, though they are on different schedules so we will teach them one at a time.

Sister B called one day this week to ask if we sisters in the office would help with the departing missionary dinner in early November.  It should be fun.  We will have two soups that can be served over baked potatoes, green salad, and homemade finger desserts.  I am trying to decide what to make.  I just saw a recipe for Almond Joy Cookies that looks good.  I want to try it out.  I will have to take all but a couple to the office for missionaries to eat because I just know that I will not be able to leave them alone.  Elder J suggested cheesecake, but I don't see that as a finger dessert.  Suggestions?

The big adventure of the week was taking a train ride to Washington  Park in Portland.  Getting my "stroller" onto the train was rather tricky the first time because we did not realize there was a wheelchair entrance.  Duh!  Of course there would be.  The return trips was much easier!

Train station under Washington Park heading towards Hillsboro

We took the free shuttle from the Oregon Zoo (without stopping at the zoo since this was just an exploration trip today) up to the International Rose Test Garden and the Japanese Garden.  The Japanese Garden is going to be trickier because it is not very accessible.  We shall see what we can do next trip.  The shuttle driver was a bit cranky when we got on.  I asked if I could bring the stroller.  He said yes.  It was tricking getting it up the stairs and shoved in behind his seat.  On the way back I noticed there was a spot which said--handicapped people wait here.  When the shuttle arrived I noticed there was a wheelchair lift in the bus!!!  So I went to the door and asked if there was a better way to get into the bus.  He heaved a big sigh and said okay fine.   So he was as nice as pie though he did kick the lift a couple of times....  Listening to him on the walkie talkie thing it appears that he was just there to be a help during the lunch hour.  Maybe he had not had lunch yet...that would make me crabby.

Mount Hood in background about middle of picture.

At one point in our walk we could see Mount Hood so I took several pictures.  Not really visible but if you use your imagination you can see the white peaks just above the trees mid-picture.