Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

I've been fighting a head cold all week. So far, I haven't taken any days off or missed any appointments but I sure haven't felt "with it." Yesterday, we got home from the temple about 1:30. We had a dinner appointment at 3:00 and I laid back in my chair for a few minutes. Bad mistake. Colleen started shaking my leg at 2:45 and I had no idea what was going on. I was totally out of it. I've done that same thing two or three times this week and it is not a good feeling. I think I'm about on top of things today although I'm still feeling drugged and weak. transfers Thursday morning was transfers and, as I have not witnessed one, I made a point of going down to the stake center to watch. It was a big let down. I thought there would be some kind of drama to the pairing up of companionships but, no, no drama. When all the missionaries had gathered in the parking lot, the assistants opened up an app for viewing and then the missionaries wandered around to fin...

Keegan (L) and Eric The big news this week was Keegan opening his mission call. We were able to download Teams and watch via the internet. Keegan and his friend Eric decided to announce their calls at the same time, so they had a gathering at Eric's home to read their calls. Keegan will be going to the Czech/Slovak Mission and enters the MTC on August 16. He will learn to speak Slovak which, I think, is somewhat akin to Russian and Czech. We are proud of him and know he will make a great missionary. Eric was called to Argentina. Training Mom mentioned our release date is coming on quickly. I have started training Elder Healy on the finances. He will have a big job for about five weeks while waiting for our replacements, the Parkers, to arrive. Elder Healy will get some help as a couple of other senior missionaries have been asked to come into the office three days at the start of each month to help out. That is the busy time for vehicles. Elder Healy plans on taking over finances p...

Sister Creer and the  Sommerfeldt's  Last week was a good week for senior missionaries arriving in the mission. Sister Creer will be in the office as mission secretary. She is learning from Sister Welbern who was so good to come in and take over when Sister Kearns had to have surgery. We would have been in a world of hurts without her.  Sister Welbern heads out on a trip next week. Sister Ramirez, who speaks no English, came to us from Mexico and is excited to be here. The Hall's arrived to take the place of the Bradford's in our Riverview branch. They fit right in and hit the ground running. All will be a great blessing to the mission. Our replacements, the Parker's, will be here the first week in June. Sister Welbern It's been an interesting week for the weather. We had tornado warnings one day this week and I guess the wind and rain and hail were bad up north and west of us. A couple of the missionary cars had hail damage. Then Friday there was a 3.5 earthquake i...

This might even be shorter than mom's letter. We are both tired after a short night and a long day. I keep thinking each daylight savings change that it might be my last one. I've been hoping for such for many years. Just watch. The politicians will get their act together just after I die and fix things. But until then, I'll keep hoping. We taught Sister Silva the first temple prep lesson before church this morning. Her husband, who received his endowment a few months ago, sat in with us. Sister Silva sat in on his lessons so most of this will be a review for her. Both have had a hard life but are progressing well in the Church. Minus the Sisters Saturday evening we were to have all six missionaries from the Branch over for dinner. In the afternoon, Elder Healy called and said we had a problem. The Sisters from our Branch had called and said their car was stolen. They were asked if it could have been towed. "Oh,no. We were parked in our assigned parking place." Th...

Even colder after a warm day Gas prices and temperatures were in fluxuation all week. The gas had been going down a couple of cents every week or so and got down to $2.62. Then bam. In just one day it was up to $2.99. It seems to me the fuel in the tanks at the station would still have been worth the $2.62 but then I don't understand high finance.  The temperature has been about as crazy as gas prices. The days have been fairly pleasant with temps around 60 degrees. One afternoon, it was 76 degrees and that night it dropped to 17. That was a rude awakening that winter is officially still here. But that only lasted a day or so and today it is 81 as I write. inspection team Mom told you that I've been skipping out of zone conference meetings. Shame on me but I can't hear much so thought it was a better use of my time to help Elder Healy with the cars. It was a cold morning but not as cold as the other two zone conference days so I lucked out with that. My job was to check the...

 I liked the format for this blog that I used last week so I will keep doing it. Just a reminder that this is actually my "journal" and not just for communicating with family and friends. And that tells you how good a journal keeper I am. Mom has done a daily journal entry for years so when I'm asked where my journal is I can point to her...can't I?  😟 Audit form So nice to have audit done! Tuesday was the day for the annual mission audit. Bro. Ransom from the stake conducted the audit again this year. He's a nice guy and there really wasn't much to worry about. We again passed with flying colors.  Totaled There was another bad auto crash again this week. It was entirely preventable. The Elders were going 70 mph on a dirt road, hit a bump, went airborne, and came down on the nose of the car, then flipped and came down on the tires. It was basically a brand new car and it was totaled. Needless to say, those Elders won't be driving again on their mission. T...

Mom stole most of my thunder so it will be mostly pictures today. (Another way of saying I'm being lazy) Osborn was baptized today. He lives directly across from the chapel and has been attending once in a while for the last two years or so. He told the branch president when he first came that he wanted to attend but "don't bother me with the missionaries."  He can barely walk so it took two to baptize him and they did a great job. Darren was also baptized today. I don't know much of his story but from what I understand he was in a foster home of a member family from birth to three years old and then taken by another family (foster?). A few years ago he reconnected with his first foster family and came back to live with them. He then asked if they would adopt him which they did. The whole family was thrilled.  A few weeks ago he told them he was getting baptized and quite a few family members showed up today. His mom gave a touching testimony at the meeting. For s...