Spring...in February?

The whole time Angie and Mike were here it rained.  And then it rained after they went home.  And it kept raining.  And then the Ohio River rose above flood stage and we had widespread flooding along the river in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  The beautiful park we drive through to and from work has the Beargrass Creek that flows through it.  The park was closed due to high water and when it re-opened we could see that the water had left a 6-8 foot mark on the trees.  There are many who ended up with flooded homes and/or basements and businesses.  Truly a hard, sad time for them.  On the up side (if you can call it that) the lawns are all green, the trees and bushes are budding and the daffodils are blooming. So...even though it's not officially Spring...it's beginning to look like it!  If it's anything like last year when we got here, we're still in for cool, rainy days mixed in with the warmer sunny ones!

The Priors left this morning.  They will be missed.  Before we came out on our mission, I had asked my friend, Patty Jones, if there was anything I needed to know because she and Terry had been out before.  She said, "make sure you find someone you can become friends with."  Women seem to need that more than men...Sister Prior was my friend out here, and I will miss her.  It was nice just to have someone to talk with and we did things as couples together too.  They are returning to Basin City, WA but have a daughter in New Harmony and a son in St. George so we plan on meeting up lots.

The Mortensons are the Priors replacements.  She is 81 and he is a couple of years younger.  They don't have the drive that Sister Prior had and are a little more laid back but they'll find their own way of doing things and do just fine!

Monday now...We have staff meeting this morning, transfers tomorrow morning, temple with the returning missionaries tomorrow afternoon, Thursday is MLC...so one of our busy weeks. Then next week Tues-Fri are zone conferences! I'm giving a power point in zone conferences on bugs...it's getting to be that time of year.  I kind of have a few slower weeks between Fall and Winter sicknesses and depression and Spring and Summer bug bites and humidity problems. 

AJ got home on Friday night...it was so fun to see Amy get her hug and Jon struggling to not cry!  And then Jacob opened his mission call on Saturday and he is going to Scotland/Ireland!  A place he has always wanted to go!  He'll fit right in with his red hair too!  The Lord truly knows our hearts, our desires, and our needs.  I know that we are sent where we are supposed to be and am excited for him to find out why he has been sent to that area of the world.  Since he has Murphy's from Ireland, and Campbell's from Scotland in his ancestry...it seems a perfect fit!

Fast and Testimony meeting was very tender yesterday.  We were fasting for moisture, especially snow, in Southern Utah.  Elder Pedersen (from Cedar) is being transferred to Indiana and he bore a really nice testimony.  Our two sister missionaries are going home Wednesday and they bore sweet testimonies.  Sister Shepherd said she has often wondered why she was sent to different areas because they were hard, or had few baptisms, etc. and then one day, reading in Jacob 5: 20-21, she discovered why.  It's part of the allegory of the olive trees.  When the master has grafted in good branches onto poor trees, and has gotten much good fruit.  The servant questions the master and asks him why he planted these good branches in the poorest spot of the the vineyard.  And the Lord of the vineyard tells the servant not to Counsel (or question) him.  He says, "I knew that it was a poor spot of ground".  But he nourished it for a long time and it brought forth much fruit.  It reminds us that the Lord does know all.  We may be placed in hard situations but He will help us through them and we will be better for it.

We've been having a fun adventure with Flat Stanley the last couple of weeks.  Diego sent him to us for a change of scenery.  We've wanted to take him to the river and across to Indiana but haven't been able to because of the flooding.  We'll get over there this weekend and get some pictures so he can get back to Diego.  I'm sure he's missing his buddy! 

Well...enough for this time.  No pictures this week.  We'll make up for it next time.  Love to all!!!