TIME MARCHES ON....

The announcement yesterday of President Monson's death was sad.  Even though he's been frail for awhile, and we knew that it was coming, it's always a loss when someone we love passes away.  It would be hard not to love the Church president, no matter who he is.  Each of them bring their own personality and life experience with them to the calling.  I am anxious to see what the emphasis of our next president is.  I have thoroughly loved President Monson's emphasis on "the one".  It has been a great reminder to look beyond what our daily tasks are and to find that person who needs help and how we can provide that help.  To never be too busy to help, to never let a task to be done be more important than a person to help.  I so need that message.

On the same vein...I was looking forward to watching his funeral on the computer this afternoon...only to find out it's next Friday!  I thought that was awfully fast for a church president's funeral.  Well...that gives me something to look forward to next week.

It's Tuesday now.  When we came to work yesterday it was on icy roads.  Ice...no snow!  This morning when we came in it was foggy.  Supposedly we're in line for snow on Saturday.  I'll believe it when I see it! The weather forecast here changes as much as we change clothes.  Don refuses to call this work.  He prefers service.  So I just quote D&C 4:3 to him, "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work"...so I guess we can call it either.  Some days it does feel like being back to work.

Don is doing such a good job.  I am so grateful for the way this has worked out.  He has such a strong desire to do things the right way and to do everything he can to keep the missionaries safe.  Seeing him work on power point presentations, and spread sheets to make things run smoothly is great.

This post has been a long time in the making.  We are now into Thursday, January 18.  This is my first day back to the office since last Thursday.  The office was closed on Friday d/t  forecasted freezing rain, sleet, and snow.  The roads were going to be dangerous and President Hughes asked everyone to stay in that day.  Don and I had to come in early that morning to take one of our missionaries to an orthopedic surgeon to have his shoulder looked at but we were home before noon, when the front moved in.  On Wednesday last week, we took this same missionary and his companion to the Urgent Care to have his shoulder checked out.  He has been a bike elder and on Sunday night was riding home, hit a patch of black ice and slammed into a wall...hitting his shoulder as he went over the handlebars.  Anyway...long story short, we sat in the germ infested UC waiting room for about three hours with them.  Don got sick first...on Friday and then I followed on Sunday! I've still got the cough, but if I stayed home for a cough, I'd never be here.

We did finally end up with about three inches of snow!  And...school has been out since last Friday!  Amazing!!  Because some of the secondary roads haven't been cleared, they don't want to send the school buses out. So...a week's vacation for 3 inches of snow.  I'll bet our kids would love that!

Wasn't Pres. Monson's funeral wonderful?!  I especially loved his daughter's memories, and how everyone commented on how loving and kind he was to everyone. I will miss hearing his stories and examples in conference but look forward to hearing from President Nelson.  I have always had a special feeling for him.  He has such a kind way about him and has given so much to the world, medically as well as spiritually. I am anxious to see where his presidency will lead us.

Another post without many pictures.  This one is from my office window, showing our enormous amount of snow!  The weekend is supposed to warm up and then get cold again next week.  Beargrass Creek, which runs through Cherokee Park was pretty much frozen over two weeks ago.  Not anymore.  Maybe I can talk Elder Breinholt into a movie this weekend!  Love to all...

2018 HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!  Well...we all made it through another year.

It's finally gotten really cold.  4 degrees on the way into the office this morning and it's supposed to be 14 on the way home.  The next couple of days are supposed to be even colder.    Even bundled, with leggings and socks on under a long skirt, sweater, coat, scarf, and gloves couldn't get me warmed up! But there's a change on the horizon...it's supposed to get up to 38 on Saturday.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have six missionaries going home.  They are leaving early to begin the Spring semester of college.  One of them is Sister Moore.  She and Sister Wilde were our first set of sister missionaries in our ward so we got pretty attached to them.  Saying goodbye is always hard...but harder with some more than others!!  One of the sisters, Sister Dotson, gave me a thank you card.  We've worked hard together the last 6 months to get her to this point.  It was touch-and-go for much of that time but she made it.

As usual, our New Years Eve was uneventful...bed at 8, sleep before 10, I didn't even buy any Sparkling Cider!  President Hughes said he got a call just after midnight from one of the Shawnee Elders telling him, "They're shooting guns out here".  Shawnee is one of the rougher areas in the mission (it's a suburb of downtown Louisville).  The Elder said, "What should we do".  The President told him, "Whatever you do, don't go outside".  The gunshots stopped about 3:30.  Evidently, shooting guns into the air is the customary way of welcoming in the new year in Shawnee.

I've decided instead of making a list of resolutions that will get broken the first time I take a bite of something fattening, I'm going to follow Angie's idea of having a one word mantra this year.  Hopefully focusing on this one word, will lead to the other things I would normally put on my list!

We went to a beautiful baptism on Saturday afternoon.  The woman getting baptized is 30, and has had a rough life.  She actually asked for missionaries to teach her.  She knew some Latter-day-Saints at one time and like how they led their lives and how happy they seemed, and when she hit rock bottom, she called the number at the bottom of one of the LDS commercials, asked to be taught, and was baptized.  She is so sweet and had a ton of friends come to the baptism, not to mention family who were skyped in to watch.

One of the things I am noticing...or learning...from my mission is to be more accepting.  I read a really good article by Jeremy Goff about the "culture" of Mormonism, and was sad to say I recognized myself in some of his examples.  Not that we purposefully do any of these things (hopefully), but they have become part of the fabric of our church lives.  We get used to a certain stereo-typical Mormon...especially in some geographical areas...and when someone doesn't "fit" those stereotypes, we don't know what to do.  If I learn one thing from my mission, I hope it is to be more inclusive and to recognize the gifts that each individual has to offer.  Putting all of our diverse gifts together opens us up to greater understanding and love, and allows us to become more Christ-like.  And isn't that our ultimate goal?

Happy New Year!!!