Refresh!

March 08, 2026

Refresh!

This transfer was an interesting one. Even though we had only a net increase of two missionaries (three completed their mission and five new missionaries came in), the ripple effect throughout the mission caused several challenges for us housing coordinators. This is because several trios were created where we only had beds and dressers for two. As a result, we had a couple of late nights and miracles. Everything came together last minute to have everything ready in time.

The miracles happen with such regularity that we hope we will never take them for granted. The Lord will always take care of his missionaries. For instance, we were at dinner with some missionaries when the APs called to tell us of a last minute change which created another trio. That apartment needed a dresser which we did not have. Overhearing our conversation, the Elders whom we were having dinner with informed us that they had an extra dresser and that they could deliver it to us that night. we were able to get it all delivered and set up that night. Transfers were the following day - we did not get home until 10:30 pm. The Lord is in the details.

On top of all that, we had already scheduled to refresh an apartment in Kelseyville. While Sister Cawley took care of a transfer presentation at the mission office, Elder Cawley traveled first to St. Helena to set up for a trio of Sisters, then traveled to Kelseyville to perform the refresh. A refresh is what we call it when missionaries have been in an apartment for years with old, worn out furniture and other household items in desperate need of replacement. Elder Cawley took up a truckload of items including three new desks. The old desks and dressers were destroyed and, along with many other old items, were thrown in the back of the truck and taken the two hour drive back to Santa Rosa. The collected trash had to be thrown in the church dumpster that night because the APs needed the truck first thing in the morning to collect the arriving missionaries. Result: Elder Cawley did not return home until 11:30 pm.

In addition, we are now traveling the mission to do a presentation at each zone conference. We had our tech Sisters produce a video showing good vs bad apartment care. They did a great job. We are showing that video along with a few other slides focusing on the Spirit that is invited through a clean and orderly environment (using the House of the Lord as a model). Those zone conferences start tomorrow morning and conclude on Friday.

Since we are traveling for zone conference, we decided to refresh the Crescent City apartment. Crescent City is the farthest north teaching area in the mission (about a six hour drive from Santa Rosa). Once again, we loaded the truck with all sorts of items, including new desks, a kitchen table and four chairs, and headed north. When we arrived, the four Elders living in the CC apartment had already destroyed their old desks and kitchen table. After setting everything up and gathering up lots of clutter, we loaded the truck for a dump run. The Elders were so happy to receive new things - it makes us happy as well.

The drive up to Crescent City is simply breathtaking. The entire six plus hour drive is amazing. This mission is truly beautiful. We feel so blessed and happy to be here doing the Lord's work!