Training, Organizing and Driving

 Senior Missionary Council was held this week and we had a new couple, the Smiths from Idaho, come in.  I have put together a folder that contains reference sheets to the things that we talk about when we train the new couples so that they have something to refer to.  We usually train them the day after they arrive and they're usually jet-lagged so we don't expect them to remember much of what we say. 😊  They are trained in the basics of housing, vehicles, finance and office protocols.  The first counselor in the mission presidency, President Pitman, and his wife train them on “Australia”.  They even have samples of Vegemite, a popular spread here, for them to taste.  

                   

I’m getting things organized so I can function here in Australia.  They keys for all the flats hadn't been kept current and that was my project last week.  They had red metal tags on them but we had a bunch of blue metal tags so I used them and re-numbered everything.  I kept them in zones like they were but put them in districts as well.  The board was already set up and numbered--yay!

That was my 3rd organizing project at work.  We refer to a lot of spreadsheets and tables of information that have to be updated constantly.  It's quite a challenge.  Luckily, I like that kind of stuff and find joy in color-coding!  Heehee.

At our flat, we have a large closet that is about 5' wide and 8' tall by about 2 feet deep.  It has one shelf at desk level in it.  We already have a desk in our living room so it was basically a storage closet and an inefficient one at that!  I tackled that this weekend and now it is lovely and functional.

Tim was sick this week and I convinced him to stay home Thursday and Friday.  His cough is really bad and his lungs hurt but no fever.  The mission nurse said he just needed to stay home and take care of himself.  He's been pushing himself too hard.  He has put so much furniture together that his right thumb is popping— trigger thumb.

Well, it's an endless battle trying to get our job done but taking care of ourselves too.  Haven't found that happy medium yet.  Our goal is to find joy in the journey, right?  Since he's been sick, I've been driving to work alone.  The signal indicators are on the right-hand side of the steering wheel and I keep hitting the windshield wipers, which are on the left, instead--pretty common for Americans here. I have invented a "training tool" to prevent me from hitting the wipers when turning.  What do you think?

I back off as soon as I feel the cut off water bottle and go for the right-hand side.  It works!  Tim just shakes his head at me.  Love you all.  Hope you're all happy and well.  We pray for you all!