Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

As mom mentioned, it was a slow week, and especially so for me. Not much excitement but we did have another guy with mental problems drop in on us. The one previously seemed more like he was joking but this one was a little more scary and intense. He went on about knowing where 500 billion dollars was, some nonsense I didn't understand about empty vaults, and, after 5000 years, the end of Christianity. All I told him was that he ought to have a visit with the police. He was disgruntled and finally left. Mom is going to be a little more discreet about who she lets in the door. It is locked electronically and she can communicate with the person outside with a speaker. She said she thought this guy was a repairman. I am assuming the Church history in this area brings out the crazies. Yikes! I had another "what were they thinking" incident on Friday. Sister Ethington got a call from a couple of sister missionaries saying their electricity had been shut off and, sure enough, i

Cars/missionaries piled up in the parking lot That was a quick week. Time flies when you are having fun. Transfers were this with fifteen new missionaries arriving and the same number departing. Elder Hegvik had it arranged to switch out ten old vehicles with new ones at transfers. Elder and Sister Ball substituted for Elder Hegvik as he was gone. It turned out to be a very rainy day and the poor Ball's got drenched. Most of the missionaries were packed in the office and taking good advantage of the candy jar. That went on for about two hours before they were all on their way with their new vehicles. I helped get the old ones down to the shed area where they will await a trip to the auction. The Ball's couldn't use help during the exchange as they didn't want too many hands in the pie and getting things fouled up. Eighty-six cars are to be switched out before the end of the year and it seems most of them are coming at this time. I think there are something like 25-30 mo

Good to be gone Elder Hegvik had us pick up 20 new Nissan Rogues this week on Wednesday and Thursday. I drove the mission van the second day with 12 missionaries in it. I was extra careful with the precious cargo I had on board. Both coming and going it was a downpour but all made it safely. A truck did come this week and pick up eight of the vehicles which was a blessing. It was fun to watch them do their thing. The biggest problem is still where to park all the cars safely. We had Sister Welbern's farewell party Friday after work. Not sure who I will be able to run to when I hit a problem but I'll survive somehow. She gave us all a characterization drawing of the office staff which was amazing. She had sister senior missionary, who was released along with her husband a while back, draw it off of a photograph. She had never seen half of us. There are some talented people in this world. Sister Ethington's daughter from Utah came out to visit her for a couple of days on Thur

It was a slow week for finances. But that was a good thing as Elder Hegvik was ill Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which happened to be the busy time of the month for the vehicle coordinator. He has to get driving logs for all the vehicles, receipts for all gas purchases and a report to the Church by the 10th or else all gas cards are blocked and no fuel is bought. Three of us worked steadily for three days and got things pretty well done. Between Sis. Welbern and I we got into the CARS program and figured out what needed done. The hardest part was reading the gas receipts. The missionaries take a picture of the month's receipts and text/email them in. Some can hardly be read even with a magnifying glass. Sis. Skousen, a single sister missionary who helps Elder Hegvik the first few days of the month, did most of that work. Another problem was that many cars had been traded in and switched with new cars so that the gas logs were lost in the shuffle. Thankfully,  Elder Hegvik was pre