What we do/did ...

When I said we do just about everything in the mission, I meant it. What makes it even better is we do it in a white shirt and tie or a dress.

Holden took this picture of Elder Mathews this morning leveling the washer in the mission office. The cleaning lady kept putting cardboard under the legs to steady it until it was really quite a mess.
PS... I can't tell you how many ties Elder Mathews has ruined here.
So here is a list of all we do/did in the mission.
Find apartments for missionaries, pay apartment rents, make electra payments for all the apartments, make or arrange for all repairs in the apartments, buy appliances and beds and furniture for the apartments, ship appliances to other islands or haul them all over this island, take missionaries to the doctor, take them to the airport, pick up shipments at the airport, pick up missionaries at the airport at 3 AM, send shipments to the other islands from the airport, send shipments by fast ferry, send shipments at the dock on other boats, pay TACV bill for all the flights the missionaries make, get refreshments for the zone conferences or mission leader councils, welcome and acclimate new couple missionaries, go in and out of stores looking for things we need in the mission and sometimes food we are craving -its sort of like a scavenger hunt, order supplies for the mission, get supplies through customs when they finally come, get all donations through customs, organize and distribute donations, alter clothing for all missionaries, arrange for accommodations and entertainment for visitors, figure out how the webcast communicator works and set that up for important meetings, race to open a door for missionaries who have locked themselves out, rush missionaries to emergency room for appendectomies, give blessings, take cars to get oil changes, record their mileage monthly, take them in for repairs, make curtains for apartments, train at Zone Conferences, speak at weddings, teach about marriage with missionaries, go to baptisms weekly and sometimes preside, order and distribute water filters, order and distribute Co alarms, teach temple prep classes, walk along the waterfront when we had a slow morning, go out teaching with missionaries, hold the first sacrament meetings on two islands and help to open them, invite neighbors and random people we meet to hear the missionary lessons, make thousands of accounting journal entries into IMOS, do all reimbursements to missionaries,do all financial adjustments for missionaries, keep the office clean and supplied, buy phones, set up phones on network, give Holden our debit card to cover expenses at the embassies so he can get visas in a timely manner for the Cape Verdians anxious to begin their missions, home teach three families, speak and bear testimony at district and stake conferences, give missionaries pep talks and blessings, pay water payments for all apartments, mend missionary clothing, and laugh at President Oliveira's jokes and funny frustrating experiences. He did make us smile.
And last but not least, receive a call from the First Presidency to serve for three more years.And we do it all in a white shirt and tie or a dress. But also with a badge over our hearts that states our name and then the reason we have been and will be willing to serve again.

This really is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Gospel has indeed been restored and prophets are on the earth again! Our Father in Heaven lives and so does His Beloved Son!