22 August 2019
I've been in Mesa and serving at the ROC for 3 weeks now and it couldn't be better.  Having said that, let me bring you up to date on the adventures I'm experiencing.
This past Sunday afternoon, my A/C quit.  By the time I realized that it was getting warm, the thermostat was at 81.  I called the landlord and left a message.  He called soon after and then came over to see what had happened.  The A/C unit is just over a year old so should be working perfectly.  By the time he arrived, the air had come back on.  No explanation for it stopping, or starting again.

I didn't trust that it wouldn't go off again during the night, so called Scott and Julie and invited myself to be their house guest for the night.

I drove home the next morning and the air was on.  I went to the ROC and when I returned home that afternoon, no air!  Another call to the landlord who came and called the company that had installed the unit.  They said they would have a repairman come the next morning.  So, another trip to Scott's to spend the night.  

Tuesday morning about 10:30, I received a call from the landlord that the repairman had come and fixed the problem--at least temporarily--the unit needed a part he would have to obtain.  Wednesday morning, another phone call from the landlord to let me know the new part had been installed.

So wonderful to have a cool home.  Thursday morning, I woke up, reached to turn on the lamp by my bed--no light.  I thought it was a burned out bulb until I tried to turn the ceiling light on.  The power was out but I didn't know if it was just my home or a larger area.  I read scriptures by flashlight and had breakfast (it was now light outside) and tried to figure out how I was going to get ready for work when, the power came back on.  When I arrived at the ROC, I learned that a transformer had blown and it was a larger area that was without power for a couple of hours.  Positive note:  I found the box so if it goes out just in my little home, I can at least check it.

Through it all, I counted my blessings--Scott and Julie were great hosts and live only 20 minutes away, and the power came on so I could get ready for work this morning.

I have now been trained to work on the El Paso project which means deskewing and cropping newspaper articles for News Bank.  Some are from the 1920s-1940s so very interesting headlines:  "Germans invade the Baltics" and "Of the Few Smart Women in the World, the majority reside in the United States."  We couldn't believe that last one.  

My favorite project thus far is the South African records which are in Afrikaans and, sometimes, in English.  It's been a challenge--detective work to learn to read the language and to figure out their names and the names of their cities/districts.  Google translate and search to the rescue.  I can now read or recognize some of the places and the words on the form.  I'm learned it so well and done so many of the records, that others are asking for my help, which I am pleased to give them.

The weather is hot!!  No surprise.  The last two days when I got into my car at the end of the work day (3:30), the car thermostat registered 117.  I have a great A/C in the car and I live about 2 minutes from the ROC.

Sister Penny Tolman from Farmington UT and I are enjoying finding our way around this area.  We haven't gotten lost--at least not for more than a minute or two--thanks to GPS.  We are beginning to recognize streets and that helps.

The Ward members are friendly and there is a good feeling there.  We had a potluck social on Monday evening with the other Senior Missionaries in the Arizona Mission.  The man who is in charge of overseeing the remodeling construction of the Mesa Temple, and his wife, showed slides of the Architectural drawings and told about the project.  The construction is expected to be finished in just over a year.

The people (60-70) part time senior and young missionaries serving at the ROC are wonderful.  It is a community of loving and dedicated people.  Some of the seniors have physical problems, including two who undergo dialysis 3 times a week and still come in to work.  The young missionaries have physical (twin brothers in motorized wheel chairs) or emotional/social challenges that preclude them serving full-time proselyting missions.