Br-r-r-r-r-r !

My winter garden, Paper Whites (Narcissus), blooming already - so fun!

So cold all week.  Windy and snowy some days too.  Our District Meeting scheduled for Tuesday was postponed due to weather, the mission cars were grounded for part of the day and the Elders got their exercise shoveling snow. Wayne was not feeling well most of the week too, so we got off to a slow start.  He wasn't feeling the greatest by Wednesday either and the weather

President & Sister Richards with granddaughter, Lucy,
who is visiting with her family

was cold (about 10 degrees and windy) but he wanted to go to the scheduled senior couple get-together at the Mission Home in Ellicott City, near Baltimore (about 3 hours away), so - over my objections - we went. It was very nice, but sad, as we bid farewell to three great couples who are going home:  the Larsens, from Astoria, Oregon, who have been serving in the office; the Dittmans from Alaska, who were MLS (Member Leader Support) in a small ward like us; and the Mills from Sandy, Utah, who worked with the Young Single Adults in the Baltimore area.  Our

Mission President's wife fixed a lovely dinner for us and we had a nice

evening.  We met two new couples to the mission, the Smiths from Utah who will be working in the mission office and the Howards, who are local and will be working for FamilySearch in records preservation.  It is interesting to hear what other couples are doing and learn about the variety of ways available to serve.  President Richards also told us about the newly called Mission President who will be replacing him July 1st. Long drive home, but safe.  

Senior couples who are coming to the end of their missions:
the Mills, Larsens, and Dittmans

Had to get up early the next morning (Thursday) to take our four Petersburg Elders to Romney for interviews with President Richards followed by our District Meeting.  After the meeting we inspected the living quarters and car of the Romney Elders, then I went to the local nursing home to visit our friend Woneda. She is doing okay and sent me on an errand to the store to get her some raisins.  I wouldn't let Wayne go in the nursing home, he was still a little sickly.  When we got home to Petersburg we had an hour for a little rest, then took Elder Briggs and Elder Aubrey south of town about 15 miles, to the Upper Tract area, for dinner with members and great friends, Sandy and Baxter. Sandy fixed us a wonderful meal and even gave us leftovers for the other Elders. Wayne and Baxter entertained us with guitar and banjo pickin' before our message and prayer.  Fun day.

It was Friday already and time to get back to actual missionary work.  I left Wayne at home and went up to our nursing home to visit Helen - she thinks she may get to go home soon after rehab for a broken arm.  I also checked in on Robin and Traci.  Picked up Wayne and we tried unsuccessfully to see a few people, then drove to Moorefield for a nice, long visit with our new family, Dwayne, Katja, and kids.  Good to see them, they talked for a long time about their recent trials.  Hope they all get healthy soon and continue with the missionary lessons.  They are awesome.

Weren't we lucky to find this treasure on our way up to visit Jack & Debby?

Saturday we made several good visits.  Encouraging folks to come to church, checking up on struggling members, and just being friends.  It was a very good day and we made a few return appointments for next week. Nice Sabbath Day today and now Wayne is off to Stake Priesthood Meeting in Winchester with a full van load of four missionaries and two other ward members. Glad he is feeling better.  Have a great week, we plan to. 

Winter shot of Wayne's favorite little valley
(By the way,  guess who is turning 72 next Sunday?)

Our real treasures - these pictures keep us going....