The Blacks' Mission Report

We have had an interesting week.  I may have neglected to mention that our Mission President, President Hewlett, gave us very little guidance as to what he expected of us when we met with him on our first day in the mission area.  He asked us to contact the Summerwood Texas Stake President and get some guidance from him.  I mentioned that we met with him and received his expectations from him and we were told if we didn't get cooperation from the Jacinto Ward Bishop to let him know. Last Sunday, 20Jan, we spent about an hour with the Jacinto Ward Bishop, Bishop Fernandez.  We asked him for a complete list of ward members.  There was a long pause, and then he said he would give us a list, but he wanted to "edit" it first to remove any members that haven't been contacted for 10 years or more. That is not what we wanted, though.  We attended the temple on Tuesday, and while we were there I ran into our Stake Clerk, who asked if we needed anything.  I ...

It has been two weeks since I last wrote.  Much has happened.  I'll try to update on all. On Monday, 7Jan we entered the MTC.  It was also my mother's birthday.  We were a little nervous because we didn't know what, exactly, to expect.  The food was pretty good, but was not designed for those of us that watch our sugar intake, so I didn't eat as ravenously as I normally do.  Sister Black had to do much more walking than she is used to doing.  At one point we walked clear across the MTC campus to look at some new murals that have been painted there.  We were afraid she would not be able to walk it by herself, so we put her in a wheel chair and pushed her to see the murals. We made some great new friends.  Our "other" couple were the Waddoups.  We have become good friends as we progressed through the week.  They are serving in a neighboring mission, the Texas Houston mission.  We are in the Texas Houston East mission. ...

Tomorrow at 9:45 am we enter the MTC for 5 days of training  before heading to the Texas Houston East Mission.  We are grateful to serve, but packing up our house in preparation for leaving was not much fun.  Our goal was to finish putting our belongings in storage on Monday (Dec. 31) by noon and then skedaddle to Salt Lake City to spend a week with my sister, Katy, before actually entering the MTC. However, what really happened is that we didn't finish until 3am on News Year's Day.  Then we hopped into the van and drove as fare as we could before exhaustion set in.  We made it as far as Fillmore and had to stop. Finally, we made it to Katy's house late New Year's Night, about 24 hours later than planned. We've enjoyed our time with Katy.  We will have a nice visit with her children and grandchildren this evening.  Then sleep and get to Provo in the morning.