Happy Birthday Elder Orton!

Happy Birthday today to Elder Orton!  A Spiritual Giant,
spending his birthday home teaching and serving!

Ready for car inspections

Kind of a strange week - too much drama and not enough sleep for us old folks.  But we made it through, now on to a new week.... Last Sunday evening, our four Petersburg Elders told us the news for the upcoming transfer day: Elder Lyon will be moving to a new assignment and a brand-new Elder will be coming to our area with Elder Barzee as his trainer.  I'm excited - we've not had a new Elder in our area yet. Monday morning the Elders brought their cars over for Wayne to do inspections.  Different plan - the new Elder was ill and had to go home from the MTC,  Elder Lyon is still leaving, Elder Barzee will move in with the other two Elders and the second apartment will be closed. Well, I don't

like threesomes (too much rowdiness and silliness) but not my call, so okay.  Later in the day they were told that another Elder had to go home, Elder Barzee will be moving to another area to take his place and we will be down to just the one missionary apartment with two Elders in it.  Elder Barzee and Elder Lyon had to work very hard to get the apartment cleaned plus getting packed to leave by Wednesday morning.

Tuesday we had District Meeting here in Petersburg.  The two Romney Elders came,  one of them, Elder Farr who

Elder Farr, Aubrey, Vanderveur, Barzee, Lyon, & Briggs

served in Petersburg before going to Romney, is being sent to another area also. So, sadly, from our area three Elders are moving on, we had to have a party right? Actually I skipped the District Meeting because I was helping someone with genealogy, then went home to fix lunch.  After the meeting, Wayne and the six Elders came over to our apartment for lunch.  Also our ward mission leader who lives nearby stopped in too.  It was fun. 

So we got up very early Wednesday morning, loaded Elder Barzee's stuff in our van and picked up Elder Aubrey and Elder Briggs.  Elder Lyon and Elder Barzee drove the mission car with Elder Lyon's stuff and the two bikes.  Three hour drive to the Columbia Stake Center.  It was a great transfer meeting and the usual chaos when the meeting was over as luggage, bikes, and missionaries were transferred.  We drove home to Petersburg, dropped off our passengers then went to the Bishop's home for dinner.  Bishop and his wife Lucy are wonderful, their home is lovely, their two handicapped daughters are pretty fun too.  Wayne stayed there after dinner to help with a youth activity while I went to the church to work on genealogy.  I try to be there every Wednesday night, to either index or work with ward members.  Finally Wayne got back and we went home together, pretty tired from a long day.  We went to bed about 11 but after midnight the phone rang.  It was from the hospital where a ward member had just passed away and the family had asked for us to come up. So of course we did, we knew the woman who passed away quite well, she was 80 years old and had recently been in the nursing home for rehab from a broken arm. We also knew several of her daughters (inactive), it was sweet that they wanted us to be with them in their time of grief.  We talked to them for quite a while, prayed with them, talked on the phone with another sister that couldn't be there, and they gave us the phone number of an estranged sister and asked us to contact her with the news.  It was after 2 am when we got back home.  But a special time we shared with them.  We are going to Helen's viewing tonight and her funeral tomorrow.  

David, on his birthday/baptism day - 17 Jan 2015

Charles, Ashley & David

The rest of the week has been busy as well.  Good visits and service opportunities.  Another cute 8-year-old from the ward was baptized yesterday. Last night a family in the ward invited us, the two Elders, and the Ward Mission Leader to dinner.  They turned their house into a diner (Momma's Place), the kids were waiters and bus boys, they had printed menus, and other fun effects.  We enjoyed it and so did they.  The ward members are so good to us here - how could we be so lucky as to be sent to this lovely place with such good people?  We see little miracles daily and are over-whelmed at His tender mercies. 



 Loved the poem from our RS lesson today:
    I know not by what methods rare, But this I know, God answers prayer.
    I know that He has given His Word, Which tells me prayer is always heard,
    And will be answered, soon or late.  And so I pray and calmly wait.
    I know not if the blessing sought  Will come in just the way I thought;
    But leave my prayers with Him alone, Whose will is wiser than my own,
    Assured that He will grant my quest, Or send some answer far more blest.