Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

An oldie but goodie We are in for an exciting week coming up. Tomorrow is our last staff meeting with the Ames' (and they're bringing donuts!). Each week we read a few pages out of "The Refiner's Fire" by Elder Alvin R. Dyer. We will finish up the last three pages tomorrow. If you want to read a good history of the Church in this area, that is one to read. Elder Dyer served as mission president here. I'm wondering what we will do each week with President and Sister Sommerfeldt. Tomorrow night, President and Sister Ames will come to the seniors' Family Home Evening to say goodby to the seniors. Mom and I have to make a run Monday afternoon to Costco for a cake that is being made for the occasion.  Couples are asked to come up with something to do for FHE and this was my contribution - with some encouragement from Sister Ethington and mom. Maybe I'll try to do the same with a welcome night with President and Sister Sommerfeldt. Thursday President Sommerf

There's not much to report this week. Mom told about her trip to and from Utah and her adventures with Delta airline. It is pretty sad when you have delays on both ends of your roundtrip. I picked her up at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning and was somehow able to stay awake until then. I'm getting where I don't care to drive at night. The GPS took me through the middle of Kansas City on the way home and I didn't appreciate that. We were thankful to be safely tucked in bed that night/morning. By Monday night I was ready for a good night's sleep. Jim Gable (L) and his friend Dick Today was a nice Father's Day. I've heard from most of kids. Mom got me a couple more diamond paintings so I have enough that I will be kept busy for the next while. I've gotten so that I enjoy doing greeting cards as I can whip one of those out in an evening. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Jim Gable, from our Russia mission, stopped by and spent Tuesday night with us.

President and Sister Ames Colleen made a surprise visit to Utah this week. She attended staff meeting Monday morning. President and Sister Ames just happened to be going to the airport that morning so she rode with them. She was supposed to take off at 12:30 but an airplane part needed replacing so was delayed. After MANY false starts, the plane finally took off about 1:30 a.m. Poor mom! I don't think she got much sleep that night. Monday night was the staff farewell dinner for President and Sister Ames which I attended but didn't get much enjoyment out of it as I was concerned about mom. At one point we had decided to go to the airport and bring her to the party but as I was leaving to pick her up she called and said she didn't feel good about leaving. So she ended up spending well over 12 hours waiting for her plane. I'll let her give you the details of her week. I wanted to make sure mom felt missed There has been lots of rain this week so my morning walks have been

Monday I set a new standard in the office. I didn't spend a penny. I've never had a day where there were no bills to pay or a reimbursement to be made. It actually makes for a slow day. I am glad we had staff meeting scheduled as that took up most of the morning. I made up for not spending any money during the rest of the week.  Mighty Missouri at sunset Mom told you we've started walking in the mornings as soon as we get to the office. We wear our walking shoes to work and change when we return. As there are lots of trees it is fairly easy to find a street that is shaded. Even with that, I'm hot when we get back and I spend the first few minutes in front of the fan. There are lots of ups and downs with a number of stately old homes in the area. Quite a few of them have plaques inbedded in the sidewalk telling a little history of the home. Many are very nice but I wouldn't like to be in charge of the upkeep. Sweethearts Monday evening, some of the senior missionarie