Fall is in the air

West Virginia fall yard decorations

It's so nice to have cooler days and chilly nights.  We haven't had to run the air conditioner all week.  Gives us a little more energy too.  We have had a nice week. A nice relaxing Preparation Day on Monday. Tuesday was our Zone Training in Woodstock, Virginia, about 60 miles away.  We took the five Petersburg Elders with us, that included our District Leader Elder Rodrigues, who had to be there at 9:30 am, but the rest of us didn't need to be there until 10:30.  Oh, well.  Wayne needed a new watch and found just what he needed at their Wal-Mart - which is much bigger, nicer, and newer than the Wal-Mart closest to us, in Moorefield, about 13 miles from Petersburg.  Our meeting was good, with instruction and encouragement. My favorite part is the miracle reporting.  Nice to hear good things that are happening all around our zone. We didn't get back to Petersburg until 4 pm,  then we made a visit to a less-active family that we just love, followed by service at the nursing home.  Whew - long day!

Wednesday was very productive but took a lot of miles to visit less active families and individuals who live quite a ways from Petersburg.  But good visits and promises to come to church tomorrow - we'll see.  We ended up in Moorefield at Sonja's for dinner.  She is amazing,  works full-time, has several of her adult daughters, a teen-age son, and a young grandson living with her.  She was baptized in April and is rock solid. She struggles to feed her own crew, but wanted to feed us and the Moorefield Elders.  We had a nice dinner and good lesson afterward.  Love her.

Wayne is just fascinated with rusty old trucks and equipment -
will someone explain this to me....

Thursday was frustrating when we drove about 15 miles out to Upper Tract to a previously arranged appointment and when we got there no one was home.  But that gave us time before our next appointment to head up a valley to find the Spring Run Fish Hatchery that we have been wanting to visit.  They raise West Virginia's famous Golden Trout there.  We arrived just at feeding time too and that was fun to watch.  We want to take my sister Judy out there when she comes for a visit next week.

Back to Petersburg in time to visit Robin and Traci, then to the nursing home again to help with Bingo. Friday we helped our neighbor Becky hang some curtains and her shower curtain.  Then we drove up to Romney to help with their branch activity.  Wayne sang for them and we also borrowed a corn hole set from a family here and took it up there - it was well used.  We must get a set to bring home with us, our kids and grandkids will enjoy it, I think.  The activity was fun and we got to see Elder Farr and Elder Mordecai, a couple of our favorite missionaries.  The people in that little branch love them too.  Today (Saturday) our bishop and his wife had all seven of us missionaries over to their house for lunch and a birthday party for their daughter Katrina.  So nice of them and very good spaghetti. We had to rush home though so Wayne could get ready to go to stake High Priest meeting in Winchester, stopping on the way to pick up his High Priest Group Leader.  They, of course, had a meeting before the meeting, so had to be there by 5 pm and won't get done until 8 pm, then an hour and a half drive home. Was it rude of me to watch the BYU-Virginia football game without him?  Yes. But I did anyway. Bad 1st half, good 2nd half.  Do you think he will stay up late to watch it when he gets home?  Maybe.  But we have Ward Council at 8 and a full day, taking Elders visiting in the afternoon.  Oh, well.   Anyway, we have had a good week.  Trying to be useful. Working with good people and loving them so much.  Feeling blessed.   Looking forward to my sister coming next Thursday.  Love to all.  Happy 4th Birthday to Gage Sunday.  What a cutie!