Can we come up for air??

Almost everybody has heard by now, that Waldo was called to be the president of the Manama Bahrain Stake, which encompasses the entire gulf region (9 countries & 16 units). It is almost the same geographical area as what he covers for Ford. (his other full time job!) Oh! I forgot--there are 56 servicemen's groups that are also the stake's responsability.

This picture was taken the week before the Stake conference that has changed our lives so much. We took advantage of the opportunity to visit our son Waldo when Elders Holland and Clausse were in Kuwait and got this picture. Nobody know what was coming. We were just happy to see our son!

For our friends and family who don't "speak Mormon", a stake is an ecclesiastical area which supervises individual units, or churches, made up of wards- like parishes- and branches. They tend to be smaller here in the middle east, because we don't have regular church buildings, we rent large houses. Actually, in Saudi Arabia the wards meet in schools.This stake has 16 units, which is a few more than what most stakes in the rest of the world have.

So we've been busily visiting different wards in the UAE and Qatar. It's quite an opportunity to visit the different countries and meet with different people.

Waldo has been on a business trip to Detroit for the last week, and took last weekend to make a surprise visit to his mother, which is great timing since next Sunday is Mother's Day. (at least in the US--I found out that the UK celebrates it in March! So there are no more chocolates or flowers on sale for this weekend!) It's probably just as well...less pressure, which I appreciate, and so does Waldo. this weekend we will be speaking in the Doha First and Second Wards. so we get to talk about mothers, anyway!

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.....

The other day I had a fender-bender, a small accident that scratched my beautiful car and has given me a minor stiff neck, which the chiropractor can help with. It was my fault, I simply looked down at the wrong time, and when I looked up, it was too late to stop. I just bumped into the gentleman in front of me. Fortunately we weren't going very fast, so no one was hurt. What I learned was this:

• When things work in Dubai, they work very well.


• It's true here like the rest of the world, you can never find a cop when you need one! During the week the road we were on is crawling with them, but not Saturday!


• I had my drivers' lisence confiscated, so I had to go to a downtown police station to pay the fine and pick it up, so I took a taxi, not knowing exactly where the office was.Turned out it was very easy to find, just down the street from Waldo's office.


• Taxi drivers still know best; apparently there is one office for paying fines, and another for paperwork--he took me to the right one.


• I went in, found out what to do, went back and forth between different desks a few times to ascertain that my lisence was indeed there and that the fine was paid,


• The polite officer helped me with the computer screen to look for my record, and when it occurred to him to change it to English, I went ahead and paid the fees with a credit card.


• Then I went to the man with the box full of confiscated lisences, got mine, watched him say with a grin, "halaas" (finished) and rip up the ticket!


• Once I got into the office, the entire exercise took half an hour!

Then of course I had to go outside and find a taxi, at noon, in the sun, and it was about 100F. Not one of my favorite things. However, it was a Ford taxi, so I felt a little better.

So now I'm driving Waldo's car til he gets home...(Veeerry carefully!) and my car is in being repaired.

Everything needs repaired these days. The microwave stopped heating, so Shirley and I had to find the Black and Decker repair shop and take it over there, and I had to call the LG repair people because the dishwasher motor is burning out.

How do I know this, you ask? Because it is making the same sound that it was making last year when they replaced the motor! Of course these things happen about 3 months after the warranty expires!

On a positive note, the English classes are going well. Right now I have a young Emirati man who is planning to take the TOEFL so he can go to an American college, and a German lady who is recently arrived, and wants to start to work. You need English to survive here (and after my experience with the police, I know that Arabic wouldn't be a bad idea either!)

So tomorrow, all the repair people will get paid, and we will have appliances again. Also, the weather is supposed to clear up--sandstorm over- so it should be a lovely day, and best of all, only one more day til Waldo gets home! Everything's great!