It is So Cold out there...

Happy Valentine's Day

Little Backyard Cemetery - very common around here

It is mid-day, the sun in shining, and it has warmed up to about 12 degrees!  It was 7 degrees when we got up this morning, the wind was blowing, the roads were icy - after the Bishop drove to the church from his home about 8 am he decided to cancel church services for today.  So we are having a quiet day, listening to the wind howl while we are warm and cozy in our little apartment.  We can read and study and eat left-overs from the ward activity last night.  We have been pretty busy lately, so it's good to relax a bit.

Instead of using Monday for chores and getting organized for the week, we decided to drive to Winchester to a MALL and to COSTCO!  What fun!  Wayne needed some new shoes and we had a good time shopping and picking up some staples at Costco.  We even treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant.  When we got back in to Petersburg I dropped Wayne off at the nursing home to visit his friend Dave and I came home to try and find places to stash our purchases,  it's nice to be stocked up but difficult to find anywhere to put things, there is no storage room in our temporary home...

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Berryville, about 70 miles from here.  It's always a treat to be instructed by our mission president and his wonderful wife, and our stake president.  Good and dedicated people.  And great to be around the other missionaries and hear their suggestions and miracles.  On the way home we visited Deb F. in Wardensville and the Alexanders in Moorefield.

What a nice surprise Wednesday - a lovely Valentine's Day bouquet!  Wayne tried to pretend they were from him until I read the card.  Thanks Devin and Amie - they are lovely.  So nice to have fresh flowers in February!  We had District Meeting Wednesday morning.  Wayne has a cute story to share from that.  He is so creative and the Elders just love him.  In the afternoon I met Wanda at the church to do some more work on her genealogy.  She sells Avon and brought gifts of lotion and after-shave for Wayne and I - that's a first!  We had fun and she plans to start attending on Sundays soon.  Thursday - more genealogy work, this time with Sheila.  More visits, we went to a very shabby trailer court to try (again) to find a lost member, James. Successful this time and he shared his story of just getting out of prison and trying to get a job.  He is trying to provide shelter and food for his wife and sons, knowing that he could get quick, easy money going back to selling drugs.  He is determined to stay away from that though - we prayed with him.  Hope he is successful.  Service at the nursing home in the evening.

Friday we found another missing member.  Cute little lady, mother-in-law of another lady we are working with.  We had a nice visit and she says she wants to come back...  We visited some other members, then drove to Moorefield for dinner with Dwayne, Katya, their four children, and the Elders.  Katya had wanted to fix German schnitzel for us.  It was very good.  After dinner Wayne entertained the kids while the Elders and I had a lesson with Dwayne and Katya. It went pretty well I think.

Saturday was hectic as Wayne helped prepare for the ward activity and I filled in at the nursing home,
helping some of the residents play "Flip".  No, we weren't doing flips.  We were turning cards over when the listed category was called.  Boring, I think, but they are pretty excited when they win a game and receive a nickel!  Later in the day, the weather didn't cooperate with our activity.  The temperature dropped, the wind started blowing, and it started snowing.  Still we had a pretty decent attendance and everyone who did come had a good time and managed to get home safely afterward.  Our special little family (who we had dinner with on Friday) came, so did the cute little lady JoAnn that we found.  Harold, a man the Elders are teaching and who is scheduled for baptism the end of the month came and had a great time.  I think there were seven less-actives and eight non-members of the total attendance of 50 or so.  We had a great dinner of ham, beans, fried potatoes, and cornbread.  Members brought an abundance of desserts.  Live music was provided by Wayne and his friends - they are pretty popular.  It was a good evening. 

Robin, Traci, and Oscar

Erik

Mandalyn, Calli, and Cadence

Audrey, John, Elder Orton, Johnny

Busy week coming up as we get to take four Elders to the Washington DC temple and also go with ward members on Saturday.  Wayne is playing music at the nursing home twice.  And of course meetings, visits, and lessons to teach.  Hopefully the weather will be better next week and the roads will be good.

Today we are missing our family back home - looking at cute pictures of the Poyfairs and Thuesons having fun together in Utah!

 SHOE POLISH

In our district meeting last week I (Elder Orton) noticed how all of the Elder’s shoes were not polished and looking kind of shabby.  At the end of the meeting I went to the chalk board, drew a circle and wrote “shoe polish” in the circle.  I asked them if they were familiar with this term.  They looked at me like they thought I was a bit “touched” and then I asked them if they knew what shoe polish was for.  They each hesitated a bit as they thought, “Is he for real?”.

I didn’t let up.  With seriousness, I asked for their answers one by one.  “So our shoes will look nice?”  No, that is not the reason.  “So we better represent the Savior when we meet people?”  No, that is not the reason.  “To preserve our shoes and they will last longer?”  No, that is not it either.  “So we won’t look grubby?”  Wrong again! 

By now they were starting to look flustered so I told them I was going to let them know the real reason for missionaries to keep their shoes polished.  They were ready to learn at this point.

Notice the shape of a shoe.  See how most shoes are tapered to a point more or less?  Part of the reason is because it is formed around a foot but the real reason has to do with aerodynamics which is primarily concerned with the forces of drag and lift, which are caused by air passing over and around solid bodies. 

Now consider the polish.  It is a waxy substance that when buffed out leaves a shiny, very smooth surface.  We wear shoes on our feet as we walk.  As we walk, we are moving our feet forward.  Air passes over the surface of our shoes.  When our shoes are not polished, the air passing over them finds resistance, thus lowering the drag coefficient.  This means it takes more of our energy to walk.  When our shoes are polished and we walk forward, the drag coefficient is increased which results in less resistance to the air passing over them and there is less energy required to walk.  That my young elders is the real reason we polish our shoes.  Never forget it.

As missionaries we need all the energy we can find to go forth and hasten the work.  As wise stewards and servants, shouldn’t we do all we can to be efficient?

Sister Orton, why are they looking at me this way?  I hope they got it.

Next time I saw the elders, their shoes were . . . . . . . still not polished except one!  I tried.