Prayers for Krissy

This week started out great as we heard from son-in-law Patrick that after months of unemployment  he had

been offered (and he accepted) a great job opportunity with a good company.  He will be based locally but may have travel commitments as well.  We are very happy for him and the family,  it's been a long, stressful ordeal.  As they looked forward to getting back on their feet, a new challenge was presented to this faithful family.  Their 14-year-old daughter, Kristen, went to the doctor for a check-up and was diagnosed with diabetes.  She was immediately sent to Primary Children's Hospital, where she is spending several days as they regulate her blood sugar (which was sky high) and teach her and her family the skills to manage her new-found condition.  They will accept this new challenge with their usual steadiness, perseverance, and faith - but we

sure wish we were there to offer help and support.  Good luck, Krissy - our prayers and those of many others are with you.

We did have more snow on Monday and spent a quiet day, mostly in our snug apartment.  Good thing we rested up because the rest of the week we were on the go and the time just flew by. We had a District Meeting in Romney on Tuesday, then we visited our friend Robin and her friend Tracy, who wants us to start teaching her about the Gospel!  Then we picked up Elder Bell and Elder Mordecai and went a few miles south of town to the home of Walter and Doris Whetzel for dinner and lesson. Wednesday Wayne took returning member John Parks home teaching while I worked on genealogy for John's wife Audrey. Audrey has been meeting with the Elders and had a baptism date set in April, but has decided that she doesn't want to wait that long, so the date is now set for March 29th!  That's pretty exciting.  In the evening I went to the church with a member neighbor, Becky Hovatter, and worked on genealogy with her.

John and Audrey Parks

Thursday we made a 2 1/2 hour drive to Frederick, Virginia, for a conference for the senior couples in our mission.  It was really nice,  good to see our friends, and receive instruction and encouragement in our assignments.  Our Mission President Mark Richards and his wife are awesome, we are so fortunate to serve with them. They read a letter of appreciation from our bishop, that was pretty special for us. We also talked about future activities for the senior couples and decided that in April the couple that is assigned to serve at the Naval Academy at Annapolis will give us a tour - that should be interesting.  In June we are all going to Gettysburg too.  And the mission president is going to arrange a temple day for us soon.  The conference ended with a nice lunch at 1 pm, then Wayne and I hurried home to pick up the Elders again and drive them 14 miles outside of Petersburg, to the area called Upper Tract where we had a dinner appointment with Baxter and Sandy Borror (no, we were not too hungry - but it's not always about the food...).  After dinner they got out a fiddle for one of the Elders to play, a guitar for Wayne, and Baxter grabbed his banjo, and they made a little music for a while before the Elders' message.  Fun.  Several related families live on the same road, so we made the rounds visiting before we headed home.  Another long day for us old folks ...

Friday we taught our first lesson to Robin's friend Tracy.  Robin sat in too - so it was officially a "member present,investigator lesson" - that's a good thing here in the mission field.  It went well.  Tracy gave us brownies, too - we eat way too many sweets, but what can we do?  It would be rude to refuse.

Saturday we took four ward members to the Washington, DC, Temple.  The weather was beautiful and so was the temple.  It was a great experience and they really appreciated the ride,  it had been quite a while since any of them had been.   We were happy to change our clocks last night,  we like Daylight Savings Time.  Good attendance at church today - Robin & Tracy came, Audrey & John Parks,  Sonja & her son Joseph,  our big black ex-NFL football player friend Will Taylor (for the first time since we have been here!),  another returning member Joan Stahl,  and a good turnout from the regulars.  I taught the Relief Society lesson,  then we had the Parks over for dinner.  After we ate, Audrey and I went back to the church to work on genealogy while Wayne took John to do some home teaching.  When they left we drove to Moorefield to sit in on a lesson the Elders were teaching to our progressing investigator Sonja.  She is really coming along,  learning, studying, so enthusiastic and sincere.  She has given up coffee and is really close to setting a baptism date,  we are really excited for her progress.  What a busy, fun, exhausting week - like I said, it flew by.  Many opportunities to bear testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to learn and grow, to serve, and to feel the Spirit in this wonderful, amazing work we are privileged to be a part of.

Nice to talk to Cameron and Julie on their birthdays last week.  This coming week our beautiful Cassidy will turn 12!!  Happy Birthday, Cassidy!   Thanks to Katelyn and Krissy for the letters - we LOVE to get mail. And thanks to Klora and Kendra for the fun emails, pictures (cool horse), information about hummingbirds, and captions for the pig picture. You guys are great.  Thanks to Kyle for the beautiful hummingbird picture for our friend Woneda - she will love it!  Krissy - our prayers are with you.   Love to all.

Potomac River, near Petersburg - Wayne experimenting with a new camera

     

We drive by this pink house often - my kind of color scheme!

Cabin in the woods