40th Anniversary!

   We love working in the office.  Sometimes it is slow and we finish our work early and have time to work on our Sunday lessons, do genealogy, etc.  But once the missionaries start coming in they bring an energy with them that we love!  We love to hear the stories of people they are teaching.
  We had our 2nd Training Meeting this week.  Marc has the biggest part of training, teaching the new missionaries how to stay alive and how to not wreck the new mission cars.  I have the smallest part of the training--explaining how to be sure they get their mail, fill out baptism forms correctly, and how to order name tags.  (Although I do have the most important part--feeding them!)
   As I was waiting in the kitchen for the missionaries to come get their pizza I noticed, to my dismay, that there was a roach crawling around inside the soap dispenser.  I later called the facilities people and they told me to be sure and get rid of it because it would be bad if it made a nest in there. "You're telling me!" I thought, "no way am I opening that dispenser!"  Fortunately, one of the local elders (who is always asking if there is anything he can do for us) walked in the office.  I said, "There's a roach in the kitchen soap dispenser, and there's a reward . . ."  He and his companion were off like a shot to get a can of Raid before I could finish the sentence.  The conquering heroes came back in a few minutes to report that they had killed 18 cockroaches!  They even brought back 16 of them in a paper towel as proof.  The heroes received their reward (whoopie pies) the very next day.
   Yesterday (Saturday) Marc and I finally got to celebrate our 40th anniversary.  We went to Oheka Castle for lunch.  Oheka is the 2nd largest private residence ever built in the US and, like Old Westbury, is the sight of movies and tv shows.  The food was amazing and as we ate, the owner, Gary Melius, came by and talked to us.  We had just seen him on the show Mega Mansions.  He was very nice and we told him a little about our mission.  He said he was sorry Mitt Romney hadn't won the election, so we bonded.
   After strolling the grounds at Oheka, we drove a few miles to 'Sagamore Hill', the home of Teddy Roosevelt.  When we got there, the first thing we noticed was the bus from the BYU TV show "American Ride" in the parking lot, and after walking the grounds for a while, we saw the crew near their bus.  They noticed our name tags and came over to talk to us.  We didn't get to talk to the star, Stan Ellsworth, as he was on his bike talking on his phone, waiting for them to get around to shooting. It made us feel (almost) like we were the celebrities.
  Sundays are harder because our teaching situations are difficult. (My primary class is too noisy and Marc's 12-18 year-old class is too quiet.)  But it makes us feel needed and we keep reminding ourselves we did pray to serve where we were needed!  The best thing about Sundays, though, is that the following day is Monday and we get to go to the office again.

In the office.  My desk is to the right.

My favorite place to be.

Oheka Castle

Oheka Castle courtyard

Oheka Castle Gardens

Teddy Roosevelt's home

Makes me miss home

We saw this bus in the parking lot.  When they noticed our name tags they came over and talked to us.  It made us feel (almost) like we were the celebrities.

We didn't get to talk to Stan Ellsworth.  He was posing, waiting for the crew (who were over talking to us) to start shooting.