Happy birthday tomorrow to sweet Aunt Diane
tomorrow! (It is also Grandpa Merv’s birthday—he would have been 106)
Dear Family,
We enjoyed your fun messages and pictures
celebrating Valentine’s Day. I surprised Josh with his own hydroflask—I think
he’s the last one in the family to have his own. Even Ivory loves to sip from
her mom’s. We love you all! And enjoying the love from our family made the news
of the latest school shooting even more shattering. Oh. No. Not. Again. Our
hearts are broken. When I was a little girl at Redwood Elementary we practiced
hiding under our desks for earthquake drills. Today our babies practice drills
for gunfire. Why, oh why does any gun owner need an assault rifle?! Alanna told
us tonight her school has had two lock downs for fun incidents.
Monday we drove to Montrose so Josh could
interview a mother and daughter for baptism. Both soooo excited! (We didn’t go
to their baptism on Saturday because of a visit from Elder Nattress).
Tuesday we went to a district meeting, then I
made SWIG sugar cookies for the neighbors and we delivered them that night.
Wednesday, while he was on the weekly ZL conference call, the Monument sisters
and Redland elders were in our dining space to share area books as the sisters
transfer out this week. We fed lunch to two more sisters who came to use a
phone for a job interview. At 7 pm we went to a Pear Park fundraiser dinner for
the 15 YM in the ward. I didn’t have high expectations but was pleasantly
surprised by the preparations and their earnestness—all dressed in shirts and
ties, towel draped over their arms, doing their best to act polished and
professional.
Thursday we left early for another drive to
Montrose to clean out an apartment. The day included a trip to the landfill, a
wait at the dentist, elders buying cleaning supplies (they had managed to
‘lose’ their toilet brush), getting a prescription filled, and then another 45
minute drive to inspect another apartment. Back to Clifton in time for the
monthly missionary social where we met Sister Brouchard. Her husband died
unexpectedly on January 4th and her youngest son is only 8. We
hadn’t met her yet but she said, “I didn’t want to come but the Holy Ghost kept
bugging me.” We talked with her about the temple and Josh was able to get her connected
to the stake executive secretary so she could get a recommend to do temple
baptisms. She said, "I knew there was a reason I needed to come." She
shared with us some of the trials and miracles of the past few weeks.
Friday was transfers. Even though the transfer
train from Denver was delayed almost an hour, the meeting went smoothly. Except
for one set of elders who had lost their phone so they couldn’t pass it on to
the trainer and his new greenie. Then their car started rattling and smoking on
their way to Montrose so they had to call us from a borrowed phone. We already
had two elders in the car and had to drop them off before we could meet the
stranded elders. Gave them my phone and told them to drive carefully to the
repair shop. Josh took me back to our apartment so I could fix dinner for a new
mother. He met the elders at the repair shop and drove them to Montrose (75
minutes) while I delivered the meal (a blessing we have two cars). After a late
dinner we went back to Orchard Mesa to move the rest of the belongings from the
old apartment to the new. And throw out more junk and trash. What a day!
Saturday we had lunch with Elder Nattress at
noon, and then a mini-MLC with him for almost three hours, which was a
spiritual feast. He's an Idaho boy and quite a good storyteller. That night we
went to a Vocal Point concert, which was our first foray to downtown GJ and all
the cute shops and sidewalk art. We left home this morning at 5:40 am for a
stake mission council in Montrose, then went to church at Pear Park. It is a
holiday weekend, so the Giffords had company--their son and daughter-in-law,
and two of their friends--and they all came for dinner, which was fun. Fun to
visit with all of them.
When we take missionaries out to lunch I enjoy
taking their picture and then sending it to their mothers. I love getting back
excited thanks for the picture. At one lunch I took their picture, sent it,
then opened my fortune cookie: Angels are among us; when you find them,
cherish their presence every day. :)
Family news: Jim and Lucy went to the Senior
Center for the Valentine luncheon and Mom especially enjoyed getting picked up
by the free shuttle. The Kufeld family spent a Valentine weekend in Jackson and
took the sleigh ride through the Elk Refuge. Haleigh went to St. George to
spend the weekend with the Sadlers and Walkers at soccer games for Addi and
Will. Addi played in four games and made it to the quarterfinals but lost in
double overtime sudden death. Will’s team plays tomorrow for the championship.
A little irony is that Ivory is getting her two bottom teeth and Ella and Joey
both showed us they’d lost their two front teeth. Laney went to the temple to
do some baptisms. Thanks for sharing your family activities with us.
While driving this week I
selected a new album and accidentally touched the last song of the group’s
Christmas album instead of the first song of the hymn album. I just let it play
and received a sweet insight. What if we sang, “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” in
our hearts while partaking of the sacrament? Such a joyful message should be
something we feel each week, not just sing in December: “Oh, come, let us adore
him, Christ the Lord.” At one of the baptisms we attended last week a
speaker said that when he reported his mission the stake president asked: “Did
you hear the Savior’s voice on your mission?” The question has nudged me to
think about recent moments when I have heard the Savior’s voice. It's a good
question: When and how have you heard the Savior?
Tomorrow we drive to Rifle and will have dinner
with a stake president. Tuesday is MLC in Vail and then back to GJ for Train
the Trainer. Another busy week. We’re enjoying our mission! Have a great week.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM
