Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

Table set up for zone conference  Merry Christmas Day everyone! We've had a very nice day in the mission field. Sacrament meeting was special with a wonderful spirit. I love singing the Christmas hymns. There were a few testimonies borne and a lot of music. This past week we've experienced how musically talented some of the missionaries are. Some performed at zone conference and a couple during our sacrament meeting today. Our grandkids need to keep up their musical training as it will be a blessing to them in the future. I guess missionaries are now encouraged to bring their instruments with them as two played the cello, one a flute and a couple of violins. They were impressive. Troy and Joseph and half of Pres. Maloney 😏 Tory and Joseph were baptized after sacrament meeting. What a special day to be baptized. Both had a good spirit about them and Tory seems like a lifelong member. President Maloney baptized both of them. He is a wonderful branch president and spoke some insp

  The lower level is ours Last week I included some pictures of our apartment complex. This is what it looks like from the outside. We are the bottom apartment and there are eight apartments in our unit. The picture is taken from the the area where cars are parked. We sure do miss having a garage. But, as I tell my kids, that is a first world problem. But with temperatures predicted to turn bitter cold this next week I think we will miss a garage even more. And speaking of next week. Wednesday through Friday are zone conferences and we will be going to the Friday one in Lee's Summit. And, coincidentally, temperatures are predicted to be extremely cold those three days. On Thursday the high is supposed to be 2 degrees and the low around minus 10 degrees. Wednesday will be even worse as the wind is going to be in the 25 mph range which will make the wind chill factor somewhere around -30 degrees. Thank heavens it is expected to last only a few days. My long underwear will get their f

Out for our walk Collen and I decided that we need to get more exercise as we sit most of the day at our desks with our responsibilities. The most exercise I get it walking to and from the printer. So this week we began walking after eating lunch and it was nice. A bit cold at times but it still felt good to get outside and get some fresh air. We take about thirty minutes but not sure how far we walk. On Thursday, one of the Elders was driving past when he saw us and took a picture to share with us. For some reason, I rea lly like the picture. Now if I get fat sitting at my desk I can at least say I tried to stay in shape. Our apartment complex has a gym but I haven't convinced myself to get up at 5:30 or so and walk in the cold to the gym. Maybe come springtime it will be different as i t's not like I'm not awake. We do need to set an alarm to remind us of our walk as Friday we got so busy that we forgot. The Remnant Church headquarters On one of our walks we went around t

Mom, brother and the three girls The branch had a baptism last evening and three cute sisters were baptized. There was a good spirit the whole meeting and a good turnout by the branch. The stake president and mission president were in attendance. One of the girls wanted it on Saturday evening as she is shy and hoped not many showed up.  Many times our wishes don't come true. The mom is speaks Swahili and hardly any Baptism selfie English and is not a member. The little brother is a hoot as you can probably tell from the picture. The branch was well represented as the Y.W. president and Primary president welcomed the girls into the organizations. The youngest will be leaving Primary soon. The sister missionaries who taught them sang a song and did a really nice job on it.  The mission president suggested to the missionaries that they "fast" for the month of December in order to reach their goal of 360 baptisms for the year. They had 302 as of Thursday so it will be a stret