May 25, 1988
I have been transferred, but first let me tell you about my last week in Palo Alto.
Our teaching appointment with Leslie on Thursday came through. We practically flew down to her place but she showed up a little late. When we knocked on the door, her daughter answered and told us that her mother was at her new store in Redwood city. Thinking we got dogged and feeling dejected, we crossed the street, sat in some shade and decided to wait. Maybe we could still get lucky. Then, just as we were about to give up, Leslie drove up.
I
taught the first two principles and the steps of prayer. It went
really well and she was very open with her concerns. It turns out
that Leslie has a degree in anthropology and she has a concern with
how the seed of Lehi got here, or that the American Indians are 100%
direct descendants from Lehi. She says it does not fit with what she
knows. Because of that Milo figures it would take three months
to get her into the water.
As
we started for home after the teaching appointment, Milo got a
flat tire. So we enjoyed a ninety minute walk home. The teaching appointment was really the highlight of the week. At one point, we were turning to a scripture in the New Testament we wanted her to read and I gave the page number as found in the LDS edition of the King James Version. It turns out that the LDS edition numbers pages differently, "There's no such page!" Leslie said. They didn't teach us that in prep, ha ha.
On Saturday, the Menlo Park Stake held a heritage fair. The zone had a booth with many foreign language copies of the Book of Mormon on display and we spent most of the day there. At one point, Elder Milo had a disagreement with Elder Baker and my companion told the zone leader to look him in the eye and tell him if he could see even an ounce of concern. Wow. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, Milo does not appear to be intimidated by anyone or anything.
On Monday, I followed Elder Able in the First Ward elder's car while he ran up to the Stanford Clinic for his radiation appointment.
Transfer calls came out at noon on Tuesday. The call said I was being transferred to Carmel, down by Monterey; in actuality, I have been transferred to the Carmel Ward, but am in a town called Seaside.
Elder Milo left Tuesday afternoon to spend his last night in the mission home before flying back to Louisiana. I spent part of the evening with Elders Whopper and November and went to a dinner appointment with them at a mansion in Menlo Park. The mansion belonged to the owner of the Mervyn's department store chain; his housekeeper happens to be a member of the church. Mr. Mervyn was out of town, and the housekeeper gave us a tour.
I finished packing this morning and Lake and Able drove me up to meet the transfer van at Edgewood chapel. Once
aboard, the van headed south. At one stop Elder Golf got aboard.
He is going to the mission office to become the new mission secretary and be companions with Elder Lima, the financial secretary.
We talked a little and I even helped him with his luggage. I do not
know about him, but I had no hard feelings.
There
were several stops before the van arrived in Salinas, and that is where
I met my new companion, Elder Spandau from Hope, Indiana. He has
a cast on his left leg because he tore some ligaments while jogging
recently. Because of the cast we have a car.
Also
transferred in as the new district leader was Elder Tango, who trained Elder Lake. His
companion is Elder Victor. We drove over to the coast and our
apartment here in Seaside. How ironic is that? In that sub-line
transfer joke they played on me in Palo Alto, they said I was going
to be transferred to Seaside Apartment. After Tango and I got
settled in, the two of us went to Wendy’s for some dinner.
I
am excited about this new area and it is great to have a fresh start.
Even so, it was not easy leaving Palo Alto. I left behind a lot of
members and contacts that I had grown close to. I left behind the
coolest ward mission leader, a great bishop, and some great members, that was not easy. But I figure I will be able to settle in here in just a few
days.
As the name suggests, this town is by the sea, with Monterey Bay to the west, Monterey to the south, and Fort Ord to the north. The town itself seems to lie on a series of sand dunes as many of the north-south streets rise and fall along the hills. This place is the opposite of Palo Alto, which was almost entirely flat; there are also significantly fewer trees as compared to my last area.
Life is Good!
Love
Douglas
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