Ames All Around...and then some: Meanwhile.... as we await our 100 day mark

As posted earlier...we are only days away from our 100 day mark! It will be a very symbolic day indeed, proving to ourselves that we made it through the "adjustment period" and we will be able to consider ourselves officially acclimated! Meaning we really have to be on top of our game! Big goals indeed, that include keeping up with our blog on a regular week schedule, and just keeping up with our new schedule period! Here are some of the highlights of the past 100 days!
We took the first Saturday and Monday after we arrived, somewhat getting getting organized, attended church/our ward on Sunday, and then Tuesday we were off and running or rather, driving. The assistants Elder Border and Elder Smith picked us up at the crack of dawn and we spent the entire week touring the mission, meeting ALL of the missionaries.

Fort Worth skyline....I think

Waco is one of the furthest areas of our mission, its about a 2 hr drive

As we toured the mission, we would meet the missionaries at one of the church's, where they would all pile into the benches. Jessica, Jacob and I would say a few words and then these anxiously awaiting missionaries would finally get to not only hear from, but meet their new Mission President, literally. He had each one of them come up and we got to meet and shake each one of their hands. It was so much fun and we just loved every minute of it. President Ames wanted to be able to look into each eyes of each missionary, and though not sure what we were expecting to find, what we found was more inspiring that we could have imagined. Missionaries and Senior couples that were dedicated, driven, disciplined, delightful, diligent and so devoted! We immediately loved them and were excited to serve them however needed.

After touring the mission and meeting all of the missionaries, we finished off the week, Friday, Sept. 5th, where we were introduced to what it called, MLC. Missionary Leadership Council. It is held monthly and it consists of the Mission President and his wife, assistants to the President (Elder Border and Elder Smith), zone leaders, and sister training leaders. It is here, that we all counsel together and discuss the needs, goals, and vision for the mission. Its awesome and so inspiring to hear the insight and knowledge of these young missionaries. The next couple of weeks were interviews, where President Ames will interview with ALL the missionaries. He would leave at 6:30 AM return by 11:00 PM- grueling schedule to say the least. We were constantly shocked at how invigorated he was when he got home. Although, he did complain of his neck being really sore from the position he would keep while talking with these missionaries. (Only those who have had interviews with him would understand)but needless to say its a very engaging position. He would then share how amazing these young Elders and Sisters are, and would share with us some of their conversion stories and sacrifices to be here on a mission. Normally the Mission President's wife will train and visit with the missionaries while they are waiting for their interview, so Kim is very excited to be able to do that next time. The following Saturday we were given an open house and we would have to say our most favorite part was the surprise we were given, when some of our missionaries in the area came out from the upstairs and sang to us and the guests, "Called to serve- Forward! Texas Fort Worth"! We were all thinking..."we could do this for three years, no problem"!

We then had a few days to enroll in schools, get needed shots, attend a rodeo (so we could call ourselves Texans) get Jessica's license, Rodney called his two counselors/mission presidency, among other things that needed to be done.