Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

It was a cold and windy day. It is getting late and mom told you most of the news. This past week we hit the year mark on this mission so have six months to go. I got a bitter-sweet phone call from my cousin Kay that my Aunt Nell had past away last Saturday. It was bitter in that she is no longer with us and was the last of my dad's family. It was sweet in that she was 98 years old and was pretty much blind and deaf and ready to go. She and Uncle George were so very good to me when I was living with Grandma Perry after I had graduated from high school. I spent over two years there before I joined the Navy. Kay did the yeoman's job of watching out for her these past many years. Doyce and his wife Melissa Mom and I enjoyed our trip to visit and dedicate Uncle Burt and Aunt Diane's gravesite. It certainly was a beautiful place and very peaceful. Doyce and Melissa Stracener went with us and we had a fun time talking to and from. They were thoughtful enough to bring some flowers

I hope he is saying one for me I've mentioned before that there are tons of squirrels running around. (I think I sent one to the promised land with the car the other morning). This week there seemed to be less running around than normal with only 3-4 scurrying around the grass where we park at the office. Usually you can spot 6 or 8. It makes me wonder if they are getting ready for their long sleep. I've learned that they don't hibernate as such but merely sleep. And I've learned that what we see are tree squirrels as compared to ground squirrels. What an educating blog I write! There was a squirrel last week that was "praying" by a car when we went in the office and was still there when we came back out later so I took a picture. I hope he was praying and not dying. As mom told you, the highlight of our week was a visit from President and Sister Bennett. They took us to lunch at Cafe Verona and caught us up on all the latest news from Russia. They don't k

It's never ending Friday had to be one of my least busy days in the office. I got very few emails, no mail, and had the rent mostly paid. I can always fall back on working on the mission history for the year but I will do most anything to procrastinate that job.   Thursday the departing missionaries brought in their bedding so mom spent that night and the next doing laundry. We didn't end up with any mattress covers so they must have been left on beds.😨 Our washing machine is nothing fancy but keeps cranking out loads. Birthday flowers I enjoyed the walking tour we took on Saturday. I wore gloves and a knit hat which I was glad for. The rain held out which was also nice as we forgot umbrellas. We saw some places we haven't seen before. We read that Wilburn Boggs had hired church members to work in his tailor shop and another person, a judge, had Joseph Smith and others over for dinner. These two then turned on the Saints and were part of the crowd that forced the Saints ou

Enjoying conference.  We watched conference in the living room so we could sit in our recliners. I also moved the table on which I do my diamond paintings to the living room so I could work on it while watching. I've found I do much better listening to the talks if I keep my hands busy. We were able to view all five sessions. When moving the computer back to the extra bedroom the power cord shorted out with a bang and a puff of smoke. I'm glad we got conference in. The cord had been twisted at the point where it goes through a hole in the top of the table. I ordered a new one from Amazon (thanks Alisa) and it got here Wednesday. We're thankful it blew after conference. It was actually quite nice not to write in the blog last week. 😁 One delivery. We love Walmart and Amazon! We are getting lots of new missionaries this next two transfers. The transfer this week includes 29 new missionaries with only nine returning home. The pressure is on to find apartments (and furnishing