Dear Family,
We don’t really have a set schedule, though we
do try to exercise and do personal study each morning. Every day is different.
Tuesday a sister with the Norovirus spent the day throwing up in our bathroom
and sleeping in our extra bedroom so her companion could work with other
sisters. Josh went to a District meeting so I had a quiet day to read, study,
and write letters. That night, on splits with the elders, Josh met the Nye
family--Mel Sadler’s sister and brother-in-law. Almost daily we receive little
affirmations that we’re in the right place at the right time. Wednesday was a
visiting teaching luncheon with 8 other women and then we drove to Denver for
presidency meeting and we planned Zone Conference, MLC (mission leadership
conference), and a visit from Elder Nattress. Thursday we enjoyed a trip to the
Fort Collins Temple and did initiatory and a session, visited with Cynthia Crookston
(who loves her job as assistant recorder) and chatted with the recorder as he
raved about how indispensable our sweet niece is to running the temple. We had
just a few minutes to visit with Myra in Loveland on our way back to Denver,
and made it through the traffic to arrive right on time for a dinner with all
the office missionaries. President Gifford served his mission in Italy
and loves good Italian food so we ate at Maggiore’s Little
Italy. I have to admit—almost better than Carmine’s in NYC--they had Nutella
cheesecake!
Friday we drove to from Denver to Granby so
visit with the elders and during a snowstorm Josh navigated Berthoud Pass.
Check out some images. On our way back to I-70 we went through
Silverthorne, home of the first gold medal winner for the US in the Olympics,
arriving in Fruita just in time for Joan’s baptism.
Saturday we went to a baptism at 11 in Montrose,
took the elders to a buffet lunch at Guru’s Indian and Nepalese, then drove to
a 2 pm baptism in Land’s End, and later a baptism for the Spanish Branch at 6
pm. Four baptisms in two days—and those were the ones close enough to attend. A
weekend of spiritual feasting. The elders and sisters are on fire for
missionary work! So wonderful to see a son baptize his father. But sad for the
20-something whose family is Catholic and none would attend his baptism. In
Land’s End, the counselor conducting shared his own conversion at age 35, about
the same age as the brother getting baptized. He said, “Changing was hard. I
even went to a bar and had a drink and snuck a smoke the morning I was
baptized. But the Holy Ghost is real. When I was confirmed I
was promised that I would no longer desire cigarettes and alcohol and I
haven’t. It has been 40 years and I’ve never once had a desire for cigarettes
or alcohol.”
Josh turns 65 in March and has spent hours
negotiating with Social Security, Medicare, his insurance supplement, and my
health insurance. Arrgh! Keep working is my advice. Don’t retire. It’s too much
paperwork to quit your job. :)
Missionary moments: At a ward social we met Mike
and Natasha who have been baptized 2.5 years. Josh asked them why they hadn’t
gone to the temple. “Don’t have the priesthood.” “Why?” “The day before I was
supposed to get it the bishop caught me smoking, so I figured that was a sign I
wasn’t ready.” Josh encouraged Mike to talk to the bishop. He did, and was
ordained the next Sunday. Now they’re preparing for the temple! We didn’t meet
Joan until her baptism, but when the sisters told us she’d been taking the
lessons for 3.5 years and went to church every Sunday President Holt said,
“Give her a baptism date.” "Oh, no. The ward says not to push her."
"It's time sisters. Give her a date." They gave her three dates, Joan
prayed about it, and then on Fast Sunday bore her testimony and announced to
her ward she was getting baptized on Friday! Three of the previous sister
missionaries who had taught her drove from Provo so it was quite a reunion of
happy sister missionaries.
The need for the youth to
develop musical skills is more apparent each week. The elders and sisters lead
the music, play the piano, and perform musical numbers. Some play with one
hand. Some can’t carry a tune. But all give talks and bear testimony and all
are willing. Their faces shine with the light of the Gospel and their hearts
are happy in the service of their Savior. One of the missionaries
shared in his testimony that as a child he was angry and rebellious. He learned
about God at Catholic preschool. When he went with LDS friends he felt love for
the first time in his life. The Gospel changes lives. These young missionaries
inspire me! This is transfer week so we
have apartments to inspect and furniture to move. When you have 15 departing
missionaries and only two arrivals, some areas will combine and apartments
remain empty until we receive more missionaries in March.
The wards in Colorado love and accept without
hesitation; they truly mean it when they say, “Come as you are.” Women and
children wear pants more often than not. Tattoes and blue jeans abound. A
Sunday School president is 4’ 8’, bald, wears black jeans and black sneakers,
and hangs a big chain from his belt to his pocket. Members talk about songs
like Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” in testimony meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awzNHuGqoMc
Family News: James and Sue have submitted their
papers for another humanitarian mission in Europe. They are hoping for Romania.
This week Facetime gave us a chance to see the Badillos making sugar cookies
and catch up on all their news. We also saw 5-month-old Ivory cooing and
laughing. We loved the videos of Kai’s basketball game and singing in the car.
Haleigh had an Olympic-themed party with friends. Wish we could nibble on some
of Addi’s red velvet Valentine cupcakes. Becca
has been busy with pageants for Miss Elko and outstanding teens. Congrats to
Jace for an outstanding performance with his second grade class as Stormy, the
Singing Snowman!
Thought on personal revelation: “You’ll know it
is direction from God when the next second another voice tells you that you
cannot do it.”
Have a wonderful week! Sure do love ya,
Karen/MOM
