Hi family and friends,
I finally had time today to post a lot of pictures on facebook, so this won't be a picture letter this week. If you want to see what we have been doing this week, look up Michele Frost on facebook and you'll see plenty.
We have had a crazy, crazy week with transfers, missionaries leaving and then returning, extra missionaries coming, the right ones NOT coming, one came for just a few days until another one takes his place, and the AP's came just to . . . I don't really know why. We sent four missionaries off and expected four more but when we opened our door Friday morning there were seven new missionaries. Wow!!!!! I'm so glad I'm not President Woolley trying to juggle all this mess. The main problem is that Kazakhstan has decided to not let our missionaries preach there anymore and they won't give visa's to our American missionaries. So President is sending in a couple of Russian missionaries to try and get signatures from people so the Government will allow the Church to even be in Kazakhstan. Two American Sister missionaries who are already there will stay because their visas are still good. They won't be able to preach but they will be a good support for the members who are there. It's kind of sad because every missionary who has served in Kazakhstan has loved it there. The people are very friendly and receptive to the Gospel, it's just the government that's having a hard time. Maybe this is a weeding out process before we lose Kazakhstan as a part of our mission in July, I don't know.
After the first four missionaries left we had one sister and one elder left here. Well they couldn't be alone nor could they be together, so Norm and I did splits with them. I was Sister Williams companion for two nights and 1 day and Norm was Elder Urmston's companion. The slumber party part was pretty fun. Elder Urmston stayed here in our apartment with Norm and I stayed downstairs in Sister Williams apartment. The rule is lights out at 10:30. So we said our prayers, got in our beds and Sister Williams was sound asleep in about 2 minutes. Well, I don't work that way. I layed there for about an hour before I could finally fall asleep and then woke up three times in the night. The second night I went to bed on time and then snuck out to the kitchen to read for an hour until I could fall asleep. Both mornings the alarm went off at 6:30, Sister Williams got up and got ready for the day and I just kept sleeping. On my! That's why we're the Senior Couple and they are the young missionaries. We just can't keep up with their rules and luckily we don't have to. It's so great to be the SENIOR Couple!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!!
With all our extra missionaries this week and no one having any time to shop, we fed them pretty consistently every day. They are so cute about calling and asking if we have food we want to donate, or leftovers we don't want, or any pity in our hearts for starving missionaries. Of course we love taking care of them, but this morning we ALL went grocery shopping together and we made sure they all bought enough food to feed themselves for at least a few days. It was an unusual week so we didn't mind helping out at all.
We're starting to feel a little anxious about getting everything done before we leave ~ only eight weeks to go. That gives me a little bit of a sick stomach. We have projects to close out, trainings to give, files to clean up and organize, an apartment to clean, clothes to get rid of, and souvenir shopping to do (much to Norm's dismay). We're so excited to get back home to our family and friends but thinking of leaving is really hard. Oh well, we'll make it and be just fine!
We love you all. We've heard from so many of you and we love that! Thanks for thinking of us and supporting us through this experience. I can't say enough about how great serving as a Senior Couple is. I hope all of you who are even considering it, will give it some serious thought and do it! This is by far one of the best decisions we have ever made and will affect us for the rest of our lives.
We love you all!
The Frosts
