Settling In

It's Sunday again. We attended two wards this morning trying to find out for sure which ward we are geographically situated in. Last week we went with the office Elders to Boa Viagem Ward but were told that we are not living in that ward and since Pres. Emerick said we should attend the ward we live in, we went to Setubal II Ward this morning. Then we found out from the Elders in that ward that we should be in Setubal I Ward which met at 10:20, so we stayed and attended that Sacrament Meeting. The Setubal I Ward Bishop said that we don't live in his boundaries and should be in Setubal II ward really. . . We're still not sure what ward we're in, everyone else seems to know for sure but they all contradict each other. . . Oh well, we were able to partake of the sacrament twice, which is a good thing, right? And with Ed translating for me we got along just fine. I even volunteered to play the piano for Sacrament Meeting; can't express myself verbally but through music was able to participate almost fully.

We are settling in somewhat. Our duties in the office are somewhat limited but feel that in time they may be expanded. In other missions the Senior Couples fill the duties of Financial Secretary and Executive Secretary to the President. Our Mission President has young elders filling those positions and so they are sharing parts of their responsibilities with us (in other words, we're lightening their loads).

We:
1. are the "official mission historians",
2. file mail and packages which arrive to be held until Zone Leaders pick them up or they are
delivered at Zone Conferences,
3. input baptism/confirmation information into the Church IMOS computer system, (there are 300 baptisms every 6 weeks in our mission, so there are several records to input each day),
4. file all weekly letters from the missionaries to the President, and,
5. will be inspecting the missionaries apartments, to be sure they keep them clean and in good repair. We've been told we should arrive unexpectedly to inspect so we can catch those still sleeping, thereby encouraging them to arise on time and get to work studying, etc. We'll find out how much fun that might be.

Occasionally, we've had time on our hands at the office with nothing to do. We're not very good at that, so, it won't be long before we find things to do, or make things to do. When talking to the Bishop this morning we offered to help with activation so, if there's not much to do in the office we'll start working on that. At the Zone Conference a week ago, we were told that "to rescue is as important as baptizing" (or some words to that effect). We agree with that and are anxious to serve in that way. In the meantime in our free time we've been studying the language and studying the map of Recife and surrounding areas trying to locate where the Zones are and learning about the missionaries in our mission.

We love getting your comments and hearing from everyone at home. Our internet service is sometimes spotty but we've found that skyping works quite well. So good to see faces and hear voices from home and family. You are all missed.