Funny week. We planned very well, and some things worked out really well. Other things worked out well, just not liked we had planned. We were able to do a Family Home Evening last Monday night for a family that doesn't come to church. It went very well. We know the mom and three kids pretty well, but the dad has been pretty evasive. Well, this time he came in for home evening and participated, was even quite friendly and chatted afterward. Wanted us to have some deer bologna that he and his father had just made. It was a nice evening.
Tuesday we had District Meeting, dinner with a nice couple, then met a pair of our missionaries in Moorefield and drove them to an appointment way out of town. It was with a single woman, so they couldn't go without us, and we have met her before and were glad to go with them to see her again. She joined the church many years ago, was active for a year or so, then had personal problems and drifted away. She contacted the church recently and wants to be taught again and reconnect. Nice lady, good visit. Wednesday Wayne and the Elders here had a service project so I got to catch up on paperwork, genealogy, journal, etc. In the evening I worked on genealogy at the church and Wayne made a hospital visit.
Thursday I had such a great plan in place for Visiting Teaching. Worked with my companion and one of the women we visit who is very difficult to catch. It was all going to work perfectly. At the last minute my companion couldn't go and Wayne had already committed to something else. My route is long, over a hundred miles. But I went anyway by myself. Didn't know they had a little snow and some ice on the roads. But I did fine. Had good personal visits with four women who are a little isolated and really appreciated the contact. At one home I also visited with the nonmember boyfriend and asked him if he would like to begin the missionary discussions, he agreed and we set a time to begin teaching him! (We have one missionary here who would do a high 5 and yell "Score!" at that news.) I had a good chat with a member friend in a nursing home and drove a windy narrow icy road and steep driveway to another. On the way home I stopped in Moorefield at the home of Sonya, who we took to see the lights and visitor's center at the DC temple in December and is now taking the missionary lessons, and invited her to come to Petersburg to our Relief Society night meeting. She came with me and we arrived at our church just in time for the 6:30 pm meeting (I left at noon for my VT visits). Sonya had a good time and another lady offered to take her home. Nice, since I was pretty tired. While the women had their RS meeting, Wayne had gathered a few musicians together in another room at the church to play guitar, banjo, mandolin, & harmonicas, and sing in preparation for a ward activity he is putting together for Valentine's Day. Two of the participants have been less active, it's a good fellowshipping and fun activity for them. It was a good day.
Friday we made a hospital visit and also visited a few ward members who need encouragement. Wayne set up home teaching visits with a less active man who needs to get out and do something. From 6 to 7 Wayne sang at the nursing home, then we picked up a pizza, got a few groceries, and headed home. The groceries included a couple nice steaks that we intended to broil for Wayne's birthday dinner on Saturday. But --- we had a nice lunch with the Bishop and his wife Saturday (Bishop Kimble even made a pineapple-upside-down birthday cake for Wayne), then headed out expecting to make about four visits before going home for a little birthday celebration. As we left the Bishop's house we got a phone call from an inactive man in Wardensville, about 40 miles away, that his daughter was sick and he didn't have transportation, could we come get him and his little girl and take them to the hospital in Petersburg. So, of course, we did. He is the huge black ex-football player for the NFL Ravens. His daughter Clarissa is adorable, one of our favorites. She has blood problems and picks up serious blood infections quite easily. We had a good visit with Will on the drive, then waited at the hospital for hours with them while the doctors did tests and consulted with other doctors. Our hospital is quite small and they finally decided to send Clarissa and her dad by ambulance to a large pediatric hospital in Morgantown, about three hours away. Then we went home and had leftover pizza. Wayne appreciated all the cards, emails, other messages, grandkid letters, phone calls, and skypes he received. He would have loved to join the Boise group as they celebrated December and January birthdays at Toucano's. The Skype from the restaurant only made his mouth water and wasn't too satisfying. But thanks.
We couldn't have our birthday steaks Sunday because we had agreed to take a couple of our Elders to a dinner appointment at some members' home that is quite a ways out. It was nice- good, generous family - and we made a visit to a good friend of ours after that, she enjoyed meeting the Elders. We have visited her often since we got here and she came to church last week for the first time in years.
So anyway, we hope to have Wayne's belated birthday dinner tonight, but we had other good plans for today too, but found that our trusty van had a flat tire this morning and Wayne has spent the morning figuring out how to get the flat off, the spare on, and taking it to a repair place. We need to get the van serviced, again too, we are really putting the miles on it here, and a few dents (bad road caused one, a tree ran in to us another time....) We have many good plans for the coming week, we'll see what better plans come up. We are excited to have a mission conference on Friday with Gifford Nielson! Love his enthusiasm.
In answer to your concerns, we were not in the part of the state that had the water problems recently. Nor did we get the frigid weather and storms, although it is expected to get pretty cold here later this week. We kept forgetting to take our camera with us last week so no pictures - not of the house on stilts that we saw down by the river or the deer by our apartments or of sweet Clarissa or of her daddy's humongous Super Bowl ring. Sorry. Wayne had a good phone conversation last night with friends from La Grande, Lonnie and Pat Shurtleff, who just got their mission call to the Wichita Kansas Mission. Congratulations, you'll love it. Our love to all. We are good here, happy, busy, having great experiences and a few challenges. Love news from home.
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