February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Winter has finally arrived!  We have had snow and cold weather.  We have about an inch of snow and it has stayed.  Batavia has about 3 or more inches and other areas around have more.  It was below zero on our way to church today, but it is supposed to be up to 43 again next Saturday.  It is supposed to be 30 tomorrow.  (I don’t know how they predict the weather or how accurate it is)

We began our week with arriving missionaries last Monday.  We received 2 Sisters and 6 Elders.  They were so tired at the dinner at the mission home on Monday night.  We make them a nice meal and then give them about 3 hours+ of meetings following.  Seeing how they had to get up at the MTC at 3:30-4:00 a.m. and fly all day to get here is it any wonder that they have a glassy stare during the meeting?  They are completely immersed in missionary life!  We made a nice ham dinner for them, and they seemed to like it.  We make enough for the ones coming here on Monday night and then the ones leaving on Wednesday will have the same meal at the mission home on Tuesday night.  This was the last time we will do it that way.  Our transfers from now on will be reversed; we will serve the returning missionaries on Monday night and they will fly out on Tuesday morning.  The new missionaries will arrive on Tuesday evening and they will have their meal that night.

We have had transfer meetings when new missionaries arrive and other missionaries are transferred on Tuesday afternoon.  However, the church has asked that we discontinue the practice of holding transfer meetings.  In the past we had them come to the mission office and we had a nice meeting and the new missionaries were assigned companions and the returning missionaries were able to leave their testimonies with those attending.  This practice took about 2+ hours and some missionaries were out of their areas for most of the day with travel and the meeting (and they couldn’t just say goodbye—they had to stay and talk and talk and talk).  So now they are to meet in areas and make the transfer without wasting any time.  The companions for the new missionaries will meet them at the Hill Cumorah and attend a training with them.  It should streamline things quite a bit, but I really liked seeing them come and go.  We tried doing this new system last Tuesday and it was complicated and long.  It’s hard to get missionaries from one end of the mission to the other without some delays and trials.  Next time should be easier, I hope!  Elder Merrill and Elder Spencer are working out the details.

We attended a voluntary church discussion group on Wednesday night at our stake center.  Our ex-stake President was the presenter and he gave some interesting information.  We had to introduce ourselves and some of the people seemed to be there to delve into the ‘mysteries’.  If it gets too weird we probably won’t go to all of them.

We had hair night on Thursday and I got a cut and color.  It always feels better when it is covered up.  I hate the ‘skunk line’. 

Friday night we went to the Temple and then out to dinner at Moe’s.  It was all good.  We went with the Spencer’s and had a good time.

Saturday we went over to Batavia and went with the High Priest’s bowling.  We bowled 2 lines and then had dinner at a restaurant attached to the bowling alley.  It was funny, we didn’t know where the bowling alley was and Siri kept saying that we had arrived and that our destination was to our left.  We couldn’t see a bowling alley and so Dennis turned the corner and the bowling alley was directly behind the store on Main Street.  It was hidden down an alley and I was surprised that Dennis found it.  It was fun to bowl—but when did they make the lanes so slick?  The shoes and lanes were like trying to walk on ice and then the balls that were available either had little kid fingers or were so heavy it was weird.  (I guess I’m used to bowling with the WII and bowling with a 3 oz. control thing and on nice carpet that doesn’t slide is much different.  I can bowl over 200 on the WII, but I was lucky to get 88 for real.  I came really close to beating Elder Merrill the first game.  He stepped it up on his second game and got 138.  He still has great form (even though it was slick)  I was afraid of falling or doing the splits in front of the branch, my form/technic was less than desirable.  We ate with them and came home.  

Our Branch President kept falling on one knee--ouch!

That hour drive gets a little old and it was a little difficult to make myself want to take it again today—but we did.  There must have been some others that felt the same way about the cold, because we didn’t have 1 Primary child there today.  (yes, NOT one)  So, all of us Primary ladies went into the Relief Society and enjoyed the meeting. 

After church we went to the Lehman’s and had a nice ham dinner.  I had made a salad and cookies to take and it was nice to visit with them.  After the clean-up we went home teaching to Sandra and Susan.  Susan is the one with the leg that has given her problems for over 8 years and last week she was hospitalized for 2 large cysts on her tummy.  They were giant and very sore.  They had to be lanced and she has home health coming in daily now to pack them.  I feel so bad for her.  Sandra, her mother, was hospitalized in Jan. and found out she is diabetic.  She has lost another 10 pounds and has such sadness for the way she is now required to eat.  She really hates it!  Their landlord passed away last week and they don’t know if they will be able to stay in their apartment or not.  They have to have an apartment that is HUD approved and that the landlord will approve that also.  They heirs of the building may not agree to do that with them.  There is always something to keep people from feeling secure.

We just got a text from Marilyn (Dennis’s sister) that says that her daughter, Becca, is living in Arizona now and that Layne and Gaylene Gneiting lives nearby and has been very nice and invited her over and is welcoming her.  We were glad to have the Gneiting’s here and they are helping Becca there.  Isn’t that great?

Each week leaves me with feelings of gratitude.  I am so thankful to have the gospel in my life and know that it is true and have the opportunity to serve.  I am so thankful for a great husband who is loving and kind, helpful and happy.  I am so lucky!  I love my family and friends.  I am grateful for everything I have been blessed with; capacities, freedoms, abilities, and knowledge.  Sometimes we don’t feel that we measure up, but we still need to be grateful for those things we DO have. 

The greatest blessing of all is to have the support of our family and know that we couldn't do this without their great love and help.