January 18th, 2012

Sister Wilson (new ward member from IDAHO FALLS!)

Beautiful Michigan Sunset

Brother & Sister Wilson

Another week has gone by!

We are working hard and doing our best. Time will tell if it is enough.

District conference was canceled last week, which is highly unusual. There was a special training meeting in Lansing for the district leaders and a leader from the MTC in Salt Lake City. Elder West was asked to come to that which makes me guess that when transfers come this weekend, he will be a district leader. We fully expect he will be leaving us as he has been serving in BC for six months. He is a wonderful missionary. He works hard and is as enthusiastic as they come. His red hair matches the spark he has inside. Because he was in Lansing, we were able to have Elder Ferons with us all day. He is such a wonderful young man.

We had a busy day and then we all went to the Wilson's apartment for dinner. They are a WONDERFUL young couple who just moved here from Layton. She is a food scientist and was making cookies in Layton. Any cookies you find at Target stores, she created the recipe for and decorated. She has a job working for Post now. She is developing new cereal flavors for them. Can you tell she loves to cook? Well, we walked into the apartment and we felt like we had been swept into Sarah's house. The aroma was wonderful. Sarah, they fix curry just like you do. They had a huge pot of it. It made us all flash back to you!!! Garth is working at 3rd 5th Bank and will be working on his master's degree shortly. They are great missionaries. They have been wonderful fellowshipping the people who come and he goes out with the elders often.

The next day was my birthday. I was not wanting to have a fuss so we didn't tell anyone. Elder Hendrickson did not know that I felt that way and on Wednesday mentioned it at the church. A lady in the ward who is 79 1/2 years old told me that she thinks I am about the same age as she is. OK... I had night mares for days. The highlight was receiving calls from and visiting on the computer with our family. That is what life is about. I appreciate all of the cards I received also. Thank you all so much. Kristin, I got your package and loved it. We had a lot of appointments so we waited and celebrated on Saturday night by going out to eat. We went to a Chinese Super Buffet. It is amazing. There are five or six different cases you can go to for a huge variety of yummy dishes. (The only thing that is not as good as the Mandarin House or better is the sweet & sour chicken.) There is a row of sushi. There is a dessert bar. There is a place where you can go and choose what you would like and they stir fry it for you right then and there. We went there weeks ago with the Konkright family.

On Sunday we had several people we are fellowshipping come to church. We were pleased. One family did not. I was worried. As bad as this sounds, the good news is that they were home with a fever and throwing up. They did not chose to just stay home. They will be there this week. We just love this family. They are wonderful. The elders thought I was awful to say that I was glad they were sick. I really wasn't glad they are sick...just that there was a legitimate reason for them to stay home.

Sunday night we went to the Brandon/Chen family's house. Their young son, Zachary, is thirteen years old and is a violin prodigy. He plays as well as most college students I have know. They home school so he can practice during the day, which he does for at least six hours a day. Every Saturday his parents drive him to Chicago to play in an orchestra, take lessons, and play ensembles. He is incredible. He played for us for an hour. He played, among other pieces, Vivaldi's Summer, and a Mendelssohn piece. What a treat for us!

Monday we took our first Monday prep day. We have changed to those so we are off on the same day as the elders. When we want to leave town we will just change it. We cleaned the apartment, washed & ironed laundry, shopped for groceries, and generally relaxed. I finally broke down and bought a good dutch oven to cook stews, etc. in. I have needed one. I took stew to someone in it yesterday. My recipe needs a real heavy duty pan.

We continue to work our way down the ward list. We are meeting some great people. One ninety five year old lady was on the do not visit list. Elder Hendrickson charmed her on the phone. She let us come visit. She could only hear him, so he yelled at her so hard that he was hoarse. She very loudly, so I sat there with my head ringing. She told us a lot of stories. Her grandmother used to shoot guns with Annie Oakley. She enjoyed the visit a lot and we will go back again. She is pretty alone.

Today was district conference in Kalamazoo. We missed most of it. Our car smelled like it was burning rubber as we arrived at the exit in Kalamazoo. We dropped the elders off and went to find a Honda dealer. They looked it over and found nothing wrong. We had no more trouble. Strange.
I've been knitting some baby hats, and doing a little sewing. We have four babies coming in the ward.

The weather is getting colder, as I understand it is at home, also. We cannot complain.

We have a wonderful baptism on Saturday morning. I'll tell about it next week.

We love you all. The gospel is true and it helps people  in their lives. We hope everyone will step outside your comfort zone and share it with someone. Jesus is our Savior. I am grateful to him for all He has done for rme even if I don't understand it fully. Have a good week!