So, where have we been?!

     Look, I know that none of you, I hope, hang on every word from this blog.  It's generally fun writing it and documenting funny and weird occurrences in our otherwise boring life.  However, things have a way of changing, and we've been a bit tardy on entries lately.
     We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, formerly known as "Mormons."  As you're well aware, many of the 18-25-year-old members of the Church serve voluntary eighteen-month (for the young women) or two-year missions (for the young men).  They are assigned to many parts of the world, and there are almost 70,000 of them out at this time.

     A married couple presides over each geographic mission, of which there are almost 400 worldwide, and they serve for three years.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember that we presided over the Peru Huancayo Mission from 2013 until 2016.  The President of the North Carolina Raleigh Mission was two years in to his calling when he and his wife were assigned elsewhere and had to leave at the end of June. 

     Their replacements are the Maurers, a delightful couple from Brisbane, Australia.  We have 'met' them on several Zoom meetings, and they seem like great folks.  OK, so far so good.

     However, despite trying for several months prior to the changeover and since, the Maurers have been unable to obtain visas to come to the U.S. because all of the American consulates in Australia are closed.  So...

     Near the end of June, we received a call from Salt Lake and we were called to serve as the mission president for an undefined period of time until the Maurers can get here.  This means that we are in charge of greeting the new ones as they arrive, saying goodbye as they finish, and juggling the assignments and companions of the 200-230 missionaries assigned in the eastern half of North Carolina.  This includes, among many other duties, interviewing each one personally every six weeks and holding various meetings with them, at the present time all on the background of strict precautions due to the pandemic.
     We are honored to do so, but this has certainly caused a revision of our previously calm retired lives.  On the other hand, as my Dad said, it's better to wear it out than let it rust. 
     We are growing to love the young missionaries and we hope vice versa.  We found this on our front door the other day:

     Their assignment is not easy, and it has been made even more difficult by the pandemic.  As we have gotten to know the missionaries, there are some days that we kind of wish that the visas for the Maurers would continue to be on hold; there are a lot more days in which we consider knocking on the consulate doors and seeing if we could work something out. 

     Well, back to work.
Dave & Paula