The saga appears to be over!!!

The story of the stolen debit card is finally brought to a conclusion, but not without multiple phone calls and emails. I've become good friends with Elder Whitmer in the mission home and he now knows how to make an international collect phone call.

Even though I am a joint account holder with Preston, the bank had to talk to him because it was his card that was stolen. Everytime I called the bank, of course, I got a different person and had to explain the situation over and over.

So today, Elder Whitmer had Preston come to the mission home office and they were going to make the call to the bank. Of course surprise, surprise, the number didn't work. I get a call from Elder Whitmer, give him another number. Which they try and it doesn't work. I'm not in my office so I tell them to give me 20 minutes to get there so I can call the bank. While I am on the phone with the bank, Elder Whitmer calls me (again) on my cell phone, so we proceed to have a conversation between me and the bank and Elder Whitmer. They give us a number to call collect - which Elder Whitmer doesn't know how to do, and which Christine the bank person doesn't know how to do - go figure! Anyway, we all hang up and hope that they can figure out how to make the collect call.

About 10 minutes later another call from Elder Whitmer, they did make the call, Preston talked to the bank and everything seems to be settled. They have put the money back into the account and reversed the bank charges of about $125.00! While I have Elder Whitmer on the cell phone, Evan calls on my work phone - so another 3 way call.

I ask Elder Whitmer if Elder Wood is there. "Yes" I ask him to tell Preston that I love him - long pause - "Elder Wood your mom loves you". I hear Preston laughing in the background. I ask Elder Whitmer if Preston's face is turning red. He replies "His face is always red". Again, I hear Preston laughing in the background. I ask him to tell Preston that his Dad loves him. "Elder Wood your dad loves you." Again laughter in the background and this time I hear Preston say "I love you too".

I guess in a way I got to talk to Preston today in Argentina! It was crazy - but fun!!!!!

This is Sister Argyle in Argentina......

The words made my heart sink as I answered the phone Sunday afternoon. First I thought someone was playing a practical joke - sounded like a person in our ward - but it was in fact Sister Argyle calling. She assured me Elder Wood was fine but that he had a problem with his ATM card. He tried to use it but it was "eaten" by the machine and he thought something was fishy. She was calling to have me check his account, close the card, etc........

Elder Wood was correct....about $520 taken from his account. I cancelled the card and reported the problem to the bank and transferred the remaining balance out of his account. I hope we will recover the $520 but it could have been worse.

I can't wait to hear the rest of the story - maybe he was at the ATM when a "fish" attacked him - or maybe a guy with a knife - or maybe he had to fight off "robbers" - or maybe......I hope to hear the details in this week's letter.

Wait - I just got an email from Elder Whitmer from the financial office of the mission and he want's to talk to me about the card. CAN'T THEY JUST HAVE PRESTON CALL ME!!!!!!!!!

Okay - Elder Whitmer just called me....on my cell phone....he called Elder Wood to see if he could give me a number to get a hold of me....and of course....Preston remembered my cell phone!!! What a stud.....

So the story from Elder Whitmer is that Preston had just finished meetings with President Argyle on Sunday evening and needed $$ to get back to his apartment. He stopped at a "sketchy ATM" machine and his card wouldn't work. So some guy came up to him and asked him was was going on and then told Preston that he needed to do this...and this...and this... But his card never came out. Well - the "helpful person" was probably the thief!!!!! I asked Elder Whitmer why they just didn't have Elder Wood call me - laughter was the response......

We have decided (Evan and me) which I confirmed with Elder Whitmer - that we will get a new card - CREDIT - not DEBIT from a totally different account. This way the THIEF won't be able to use his account to steal more $$$$$!!!!!!

WHEW - I'm stressed out right now!!!!!

By the way - Elder Whitmer is from Yuma, AZ and has been out about 18 months. He said Elder Wood is a great example to the mission!!!!!

Another one bites the dust....

Yeah - another Science Fair Project is in the History Books! We have actually gotten quite proficient - and have "recycled" many great ideas - always remembering the KISS theory (Keep It Simple Stupid). I found one of the first ones that Preston did - and we didn't know what we were doing - poor kid. I saw some similar Projects at the school this morning. One was titled "Can Lemons Conduct Electricity?" The only thing on the board was a list of items used for his experiment and a picture of a lemon. Another one was on Molecules or Atoms and had a bunch of styrofoam balls glued to the board - didn't really know what they were trying to do. One kid was upset because he had "written" on his board and someone told him he couldn't - I told him it was okay to write on the board. There were boards of all sizes, shapes and colors.

Parker's project was titled "What Makes Ice Melt the Fastest?" This is a picture of the beginning of his experiment. We followed the Scientific process - question - hypothesis - experiment - results - conclusion - charts-graphs-pictures and of course the "Project Data Book". It was displayed nicely with background colors of Red, Green and Blue. We found out several projects ago - to staple everything to the board - much easier/faster than glue sticks or tape.

Can't wait to do another one next year.......