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| 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.
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| 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 inspired and encouraging words in both meetings. He certainly exemplifies love for all. Sorry about the picture. It was taken from far away and very quickly.
I'm tired of the super cold weather. I usually don't let the weather bother me much but this has been extreme. I felt sorry for my car as it's not used to sitting out all night. But it was a trooper and started and ran well. The fan did make a funny noise on the coldest day but got over that. I've ordered a cover for the windshield from Amazon so that should help with the scrapping. We did just about everything we were asked to prepare our apartment for the cold - faucets drip, heat up, cupboards open - but still had our pipes freeze. I was impressed with the maintenance response as about 10 minutes after I called a worker showed up. No slum lords here. He didn't do much about the problem but just confirmed that, indeed, our pipes were frozen. He had a bunch of other calls to respond to. Workers spent at least four hours isolating the frozen portion of the pipes. After four holes cut into the ceiling they finally found the spot. I think from now on they will start in that area as the pipes out of the heater go up an outside wall. Hopefully,, sometime this week we will get the holes patched as we are heating the space between floors and it takes a bit of furnace time to heat the apartment.
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| The first of four holes |
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| Hot water at last! |
Christmas eve we had four other senior missionaries over for dinner. Sister Alia from Hawaii, Sister Harding from Arizona and our newest missionary, and the Moses' from Idaho who you met in a previous post. We had an enjoyable time together. Mom made her rolls plus the traditional Christmas dinner of ham, baked potato, beans, and a jello salad brought by Sister Moses. That made me feel right at home. Nowadays people scoff at jello but it is still one of my favorites. I showed some clips on You Tube of mom and my favorite Christmas songs from the Tabernacle choir programs and then read the Christmas story from Luke. I think all had a nice time.
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| Christmas Eve dinner |
Christmas morning was very low key. Decorations consisted entirely of hanging up Christmas cards on a string. Mom gave me a pillow so I can read comfortably in bed and I replaced her heated throw blanket which had quit. Deb was good to us and sent a box of goodies from Canada. After church, we were able to Facetime all the kids so that was nice. It makes being away from home so much easier than when you had to rely on snail mail to communicate. Tonight we get on Zoom to have a mission wide devotional.
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| Me and our loot |
Speaking of which, as the internet has almost become an essential in missionary work, the Church will begin paying for senior missionary internet service starting January 1. Only basic internet and no bundles with other services. Not sure how it will be implemented but it will mean more bills for me to pay. It will save us about $50 a month.
Next week I will be writing in 2023 and that is hard to believe. I am getting old. Have a good week and be safe over the New Year's holiday.
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| Our decorations |
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