Rough Week, part 2

An unexpected surprise after church today!

What a nice thing happened after church today!  An older lady, who lives up on a mountaintop about an hour from Petersburg who we visit occasionally and is having major health problems,  sent me this lovely Christmas cactus via another ward member.  So sweet, thoughtful, and generous.  I had admired it last week, and she evidently decided that I should have it. Hope I can keep it alive, it really brightens up our little apartment.

Ariann and Carter

Anyway, this week flew by, as usual.  We had Zone Training in Woodstock on Tuesday (Wayne and I got to be the investigating couple that several missionaries pretended - real played - taking on a church tour). After a three-hour meeting and a quick lunch at Arby's we drove the Elders back to their car in Moorefield, then Wayne and I drove way, way out past Mathias to Home/Visit Teach Paul, Crystal, Ariann, and baby Carter.  Good people, nice visit.  They have invited us and the Elders to a Christmas Eve buffet, too. Something to look forward to.  From there we traveled on to Broadway for the viewing and family gathering for our friend, Connie, who was killed in a car accident last week. We enjoyed meeting her family, but so sad. A nice ending to the day was to skype with grandson Noah on his 9th birthday - what an amazing smile that kid has!

Wednesday we taught a lesson to Becki, her final lesson of the Temple Preparation class, discussing her thoughts and feelings after her first visit to the temple.  We also made plans to go back to the temple with her and a few others on December 10th.  We made a few more visits that afternoon, then drove to Moorefield for dinner with Sonja and her family.  She is awesome, doing so well since her baptism last Spring.  Very faithful and dedicated.  And fun.  A great ending to this day was to skype with granddaughter Kadyn on her 14th birthday!  What a lovely, sweet young lady she is...

Thursday we left soon after noon with our Bishop's wife Lucy, Elder Moore, and Elder Lyon for an hour-

and-a-half drive to a little country cemetery out past the town of Bergton. It was a lovely setting, but was cold and windy (and right by a few stinky chicken houses).  There was a brief graveside service for Connie and we were able to visit more with her daughters, son, and sister.  They seemed to appreciate us coming, especially Latasha - I just wrote a note to her.  She is the only one involved in the LDS church at this time and our visit brought her comfort, I think.  I am glad we went and glad to have known Connie for this past year.

When we got home from the service, Wayne and the Elders made another visit, I went to the nursing home for our regular volunteer work (okay, Bingo, but they do need our help!).  Finally met up back home at the apartment about 7:30 pm.

Friday, busy.  Saturday we drove over 100 miles to Charles Town, to find our friend Woneda, who is in a rehab center there for a while.  She was so, so happy to see us. She was feeling depressed, alone, and forgotten.  We had stopped by her son's home where she had been staying (not a good situation) before she started having more health problems, and picked up her glasses, her false teeth, and some clothes and shoes that she needed.  Also got her some of her favorite pretzels, Werthers, and a little stuffed lion (she loves and collects lions).  While I visited with her, Wayne drove to a nearby store to pick up some other things she mentioned needing.  She loved that we would go all that way to see her and she cried when we left.  I just put a cheery card in the mail for her, hope she gets to move closer soon...

And today (Sunday) a chance to recharge at Church, visit with the ward members we love, worship and take the sacrament, have lunch at Doris and Walter's with their crazy, fun family and Elder Bronson & Elder Moore.  AND receive a lovely Christmas cactus from Vada.  A good day.  Hoping to hear from my daughters and daughters-in-law this evening, we so look forward to their weekly e-mails and updates.  We do miss our family.  Happy 4th  Birthday to Corinne this week.  And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this little blog.  We are blessed in so many ways being here and are grateful for the thoughtful family that has invited us to share their Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.   Remember:  It's not Happy people that are Thankful, it's Thankful people that are Happy.

Another beautiful country church.  Near Bergton.