A Common Question, "What does Miriam do while Bob is at work?"

Okay, I will confess that I have loved the last 2 & 1/2 weeks where I didn't have any obligations except the ones that I put on myself. ie: P. S. E. J. St. R. S. C--Close family know what they are. I have loved keeping up with family & friends on the computer, my 2 hour walks, reading at the library, wondering on the beach and even wandering the store streets. I do get up with Bob at 6 am and accomplish those things. But I have felt like I have a bit more to offer than that so I will tell you what took my time this last week. Monday I walked into the Auckland Mission Office and asked if I could help out . These people could not have been anymore excited. They all indicated that the woman who was their receptionist and help, left 2 weeks ago. They just knew that if they were patient and had faith the Lord would provide. Pres. Cook said he prayed me there. I will be called as a Church Service Missionary. I am a bit nervous about it but I will try to relax. I didn't sleep very well that night but when I went in the next morning it was Grand. (As Joey would say..oh, by the way, you need to look at his blog this week, he had a great letter.) That afternoon I was able to go on a split with the full time senior sister missionaries. Wow, that was awesome. I wish I could do that everyday. But I am pretty sure they will try to use me once a week. I worked with a Sister Jackson from Syracuse Utah. Her youngest son is on a mission in Mexico and her husband has passed away. She is so awesome and we had a terrific appointment with an investigator.

On Wednesday a few ladies from the ward drove me down to the Hamilton Temple. It was Stake temple week. People take days off of work and even find places to stay down there to do it. We drove 2 & 1/2 hours to get there. Served all day and then drove home. Elder Nelson and his wife were in the last session with us. We shook his hand a few times that day and had a little chat. It was so sweet. It was such a beautiful drive and I enjoyed getting to know these good ladies and NZ from real NewZealanders. Although the one is from South Africa and the other from the UK. It is fun, the aussies, kiwis, english, south africans, etc. They all can tell where the other ones are from because of their speech. There is a cute, fun bantering back and forth between them. ("Kiwis are this..", "Aussies are that..") It is all in good fun. (Our Sunday School teacher counted 17 different nationalities in our class)

Thursday I walked to visit a 80 year old woman that I met in the grocery store 3 weeks ago. I ended up staying the day with her learning and enjoying her life with her. What a truly wonderful woman she is. She has never married and lives in the same house she was born in just 50 min south of me. (by foot, I haven't needed to drive yet, I still need the exercise.) I was sent home with fresh things from her garden. I hope to visit Dorace often. It was such a lovely day. I will get some pictures of her on the blog in the future. Friday I worked 5 plus hours at the mission office. I answered phones. Spend 1.5 doing the mail and several hours filing. Visited with quite a few Elders and had a really nice day there. So there you have it. It was a wonderful week and one I would love to do time and time again. I will go into the mission office three to 5 days a week, just depending on their needs. A bit more than my last calling as a Church Service Missionary for the YW in SLC.