Week #6 - Merry Christmas

 

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 first donning this week for sure. I did buy some white t-shirts this week as the ones I brought have logos that show through my white shirts.

Only a portion of the packages

I bought some glue for my diamond paintings and it was supposed to be delivered Tuesday at the office but didn't show up. The office has been getting tons of Christmas packages from home for the missionaries and they have about filled up an adjacent office. Mom and I went in there thinking perhaps my package had gotten mixed up with them. There is another young missionary Perry in the mission
and I thought maybe mine was put with his zone to be delivered. So while I was looking through that zone's packages, mom started to look through the unsorted packages and saw a little package on top and, low and behold, it was mine. There has to be at least five to six hundreds packages all together and how she spied that one, who knows. Another tender mercy.

Mansion decked out for Christmas

Painting of the Vaile mansion

Monday evening we went with some of the other senior missionaries to tour the Vaile mansion here in Independence. It was a nice night and we had a wonderful guide. She started as a guide in 1983 and knows about everything that pertains to the mansion. She said there was much gossip in town about the mansion and the "Yankees" who built it. Independence was a Southern city. The Vaile family was never integrated into the community for that and various other reasons. After it was sold, the new hostess when having guests covered some of the statues and other art as she thought they were too immodest for some to other town ladies to see. We live in a different age. It was beautiful with Christmas decorations all set up. We were lucky to go at this time of year.

As you may know, President Harry Truman was born in Independence and they make sure you don't forget it. There is a Truman library, a Truman memorial, a Truman road and many other businesses with his name included. One of the buildings has a mural with the famous picture of Truman holding up the newspaper proclaiming "Dewey Defeats Truman" as its headline. The seniors plan to visit the Truman library next month so we'll see how that pans out. 

Members have been so thoughtful and giving this Christmas season. One of the Elder's mom sent a package to the mission office with a gift for each of us in the office. Inside the box were gloves for all and a decorated carton with 12 pieces of candy inside for the 12 Days of Christmas. Each piece of candy had a numbered QR code taped to it which led to a Christmas video on You Tube. I can only imagine how long it took her to do that. We've also had goodies brought in by local members for the office staff. It kind of takes the place of our good neighbors in Orem sharing their Christmas goodies with us. Also, Nick and Norma King invited us to their neighborhood Christmas party on Saturday. (Remember that Norma is Colleen's first cousin and they left the mission as we arrived)  We had a good time and ate well. They had wrapped a couple of dozen gifts and each guest was given 50 beans to bid on the packages. I "bought" a Carpenters CD and a children's book. One of mom's gifts was a device that sucks out pimples and blackheads. We left that for the Kings to use again next year.😇

Other highlights for the week:

Elder Hegvik

Got rent paid on all the apartments. Hope I didn't make too many mistakes. I'm tired of paying late fees. Also got the missionaries their funds.

New and departing missionaries and transfers. That always makes for a couple of hectic days.

Got my first store bought haircut in maybe 40 years on Saturday at Fantastic Sams. It cost $18 - cough, cough. Mom loved it.

Not a highlight but include Sister Gines in your prayers. She has internal bleeding that they can't find the source. She is due to go home at the end of January and mom will take over her duties.

Bonus picture of Elder Hegvik, my office mate. He is the vehicle coordinator. There were three crashes within the past week so he has been busy. Sister Hegvik is the mission nurse and they live locally.

Sister Welbern (smartest lady ever) bailed me out on a couple of landlords. One said we owed $1200 but ended up owing us $7. I'm not sure I would have figured it out. They hadn't included our rent payment in October.

Have a wonderful Christmas week and enjoy attending Christmas day Sacrament meeting. We are all so blessed!