I will let Wayne tell about our Preparation Day last week, so on to the rest of the busy week. On Tuesday we had District Meeting in Romney (45 miles away). We took our 4 Petersburg Elders and met the 2 Elders from Romney at the church in Romney for reporting and training. Then we dropped our Elders at Burger King and went to the Romney boys apartment for the dreaded "inspection". They had worked hard to have everything neat and tidy, so cute. Wayne did car inspections too. It would have been fun except for the cold wind blowing. We came back to Petersburg for apartment and car inspections here. Wayne replaced a light bulb and cleaned out a clogged drain. In the evening we helped with Bingo at the nursing home, followed by a couple of visits.
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| Elder & Sister Orton with Mission President & Sister Richards |
Wednesday we drove 2 1/2 hours to Frederick, Maryland, for a Senior Couples Conference. That was great, good training from our Mission President and really nice to see our friends - the other senior couples in the mission. We all went to Golden Corral for lunch afterward. Wayne and I drove back to Petersburg, stopping on the way at our Bishop's home for tacos with Bishop and his wife, and the 4 Elders. We got home just in time for me to pick up Becky Hovatter, a single lady in our ward, and take her to the church to work on genealogy for the evening. She is trying to get ready to go to the temple for the first time and we are getting some family names ready for temple work, hopefully some incentive to keep her working on her goal. We also got to Skype our cute granddaughter Klora on her 12th birthday - she is
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| Near Harper's Ferry where the Shenendoah River meets the Potomac |
such a neat young lady, growing up so fast. Oh, we miss our grandchildren....
Thursday Wayne sang at the nursing home, he enjoys that and they enjoy him. In the afternoon we had fun finding more people who are on the ward list but have not been seen for years. Good success on several visits. In the evening Wayne helped with Bingo again and I went to our Relief Society night meeting. We had soup and bread, and watched the recent RS General Meeting broadcast. They had a very good attendance - and many pots of delicious soup.
Friday was a big day for me. I haven't driven much since we got here because Wayne always drives when we are together and we are always together now with only one car. But this day, I drove without him to do my visiting teaching. To Moorefield, then down a narrow road to a rutted dirt lane to pick up my partner, Janet Kiplinger. Then to some nearby apartments to visit a handicapped shut-in wonderful new member, our friend Woneda. Wayne and I have visited Woneda several times and she is so happy to have visitors from the church. She and Janet hit it off well too. Then we drove way to the far reaches of our ward to Crystal List. It was a beautiful day and a fun drive, we had a good visit together, and with Crystal. After taking Janet back to her house I drove back to our apartment and found I had put 105 miles on the van. Wayne spent the day ironing white shirts, preparing his lesson for Sunday, paperwork and household accounting, etc. But we still had more driving to do. We picked up 2 of the Elders and drove 14 miles to the home of Sandy and Baxter Borrer who had invited us to dinner. Sandy had fixed us a wonderful meal, way too much, and of course we had to be polite, so we were stuffed. Had a nice visit with them, they are great people. Saturday, more paper work, then more visiting. The weather the past few days has been wonderful, but there is a wind advisery for tonight and tomorrow. Today is Sunday and it was great, good attendance at church and afterward we took a couple of the Elders out visiting to take the sacrament to a couple sisters with health problems who can't get to church. That's one of my favorite experiences, the Spirit is so strong when those young missionaries reverently bless and pass the sacrament in the homes of those ladies who appreciate it so so much. Good week. And time to relax tomorrow. Happy Birthday Monday to Noah and Wednesday to Kadyn.
(Wayne's turn) Now I get to add a little bit. You remember I mentioned about being on my mission a long
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| Elders Orton & Muhlestein - Missionaries together 50 yrs ago |
time ago and having Petersburg assigned as part of my area? Well, a few weeks ago we took a ride up to Spruce Knob which is the highest point in West Virginia (4862 elev). There is a big rock that juts out a bit over this look out point. It brought back a memory of me and my companion driving our little Rambler out onto the rock so we could take a picture. I still have that picture somewhere. Anyway, I had to think about who my companion was at the time we did that. Then I remembered that it was Elder Muhlestein. I began to wonder about him and what ever happened to him. I started doing searches on my ipad for that name. My search took me to a Lynn Muhlestein with an address in Elkins, West Virginia. Could it be the same one? I was unable to locate a phone number so a couple weeks went by without knowing. I finally got hold of the Harrisons that were assigned as missionaries there. We were in the MTC together. They got me the phone number and I called the Muhlsteins and it was fun to talk to my old missionary companion. He had come back near the area in the service and just kept visiting this particular family and married Linda Phillips from Elkins and in later years has made Elkins their home. So this last Monday we went over to Elkins (only about 60 miles) and had a little reunion. It was really fun to get together. I wondered who that old man was now that used to be my missionary companion but it was great to know that he and his family are still faithful. It is just another of those tender mercies that we appreciate. Is all this chance?
Today at church, one of our speakers was a visitor from across the mountain the other way. It was Laird Walker, a cousin of Aunt Annette who was originally from Nampa. In talking with him we discovered that we were in this same mission at the same time but our paths never crossed. It was fun to talk with him and his wife. He said to be sure to say hi to Mark and Annette. Sooo Hi.
These little things help us quite a bit when we are missing everyone from home so much. Another tender mercy that we are greatful for. We certainly have much to be greatful for and are loving this area so much. We have so many friends here and are mostly busy.
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| Elders Ashby & Williamson with Woneda Kenney |
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