5-10-25 Missionary Busyness

Retired Life. Sunday.

Happy Sabbath!!! Here, have a Jesus Picture!

Since the last few days (or should I just go ahead and say weeks??) has been crazy busy. So we tried to make today an actual day of rest. We kinda did.

Church. And we make it appoint to arrive early so we can greet everyone as they arrive. As a missionary, this is one of our favorite things to do. Sacrament Meeting. Sunday School. Missionary Coordination Meeting. Meeting with the Sister Missionaries. Then we were supposed to go to a Branch Luncheon, but were exhausted, so skipped it. And we were supposed to have a teaching appointment after that, but it cancelled.

At home, we had leftover Stewart Stew for grub, then took a nice long nap. Spent the rest of the day in studies, creating a spreadsheet of information about the Stewards (the folks that inspect the missionary apartments.)

The excitement for the day.......Gus seemed to be fully trained on the invisible fence, so we are paying less and less attention to him when the boys go out. Well, while reading, there's a knock on our door and there is our neighbor with Gus. He Escaped!!! But he was excited and happy! More training to go...

I had a higher rate of Spanish Comprehension today than last week. But felt like I was fumbling for words when I spoke. It may have been the exhaustion. I need to speak Spanish more at home. Hanna got asked to pray in one of the meetings and was told she could do so in English. Now way. She used her Spanish and did just fine!

Finally, I just want to say what a blessing it is to serve with Sister "we can only extend your life for 24 months using extreme treatments and you'll never walk again" Stewart-Longhurst. She has an incredible spirit about her and attracts all sorts of folks that just want to hug her and listen to her message. God saved her for this mission. I have no doubt of that.

Retired Life. Monday.

Actually, we're not feeling very retired. This mission gig is keeping us pretty busy.

In the morning we planned out our busy week, made up scrumptious menus, created a shopping list, ordered it on-line. Quick and easy. No old people lunches or Rummy. We were so quick about it that I got some other needed chores done, like topping off the hot tub and changing the filter, taking out the garbage, and taking the boys for a walk.

We spent the afternoon in the Mission Office with the housing missionary, using technology to assign out various apartments to the Stewards to be inspected. And then we went and taught a lesson to this sweet lady that really wants to go to the temple soon. Great experience.

Once done there, we took the nasty looking truck through a car wash, bought a tree to transplant in our back yard, and picked up the groceries. (Sadly, they were out of Reese's Big Cups.)

At home in the evening, we did our studies.

All in a day's work for a missionary.

I failed to take any pictures of us doing anything today, so I had Grok draw a picture of the three of us in the Mission Office working away. And I did take some pictures of what was going on in the love seat next to me while I was trying to read. And also, here have a picture of an Elk up at the Stewart Highland's. She's looking for the fox no doubt.

Retired Life. Tuesday.

First, some pictures of our creatures. 1. Gus took Frivvy's toy and ran under the bed with it. Result was an under-the-bed tug-of-war. Fun to watch. (Frivvy won), 2. Who made this mess? Not me! 3. It has been fun to watch these two bond. They are inseparable best buds now. If they get separated, there is a lot of whining and pouting.

Morning: We did our studies. And planned our missionary evening. We felt underprepared during yesterday's lesson, so we put more into it today.

Afternoon: Project time. More training of Gus on the fence. He's doing better. I got out the lawn sprinklers to see which ones were going to work and which ones need replacing. I noticed we had yellowjacket queens in each of our three traps. And we planted a tree in our backyard. The only tree on the place. Our neighbor was working in his field across the road while we worked on our yard and tree.

Evening: We taught a gentleman a lesson about the temple and he set a goal to be prepared to go in July. We stopped by another lady, she didn't have time for a lesson, but wants us to come back tomorrow for a lesson on the temple. Then, we have a family we are getting to know and work with that owns an Ice Cream Shop. So we went to get ice cream. But ended up in the wrong place. Embarrassing. But we think we found a very awesome new Mexican Restaurant to dine at! It looked very delicious. (Thankfully we didn't look like ICE so we were allowed to enter.) And then we found the Ice Cream Shop next door and I had a scoop of Reeses (makes up for Safeway being out of Reeses yesterday) and Hanna had Mango. Major delicious! The mom of the family was there and we had a good chat with her and she was excited we came by. Lastly, we dropped by another family and talked to them in the door. Hanna made great friends and had brought them pumpkin cake, you can't go wrong with that. Missionary work is always entertaining. And delicious.

To practice our Spanish, we are trying to speak only Spanish to each other and I am reading my scriptures out loud in Spanish. And now, (big brother is listening) about every third song on our Christian Music Pandora Channel is in Spanish. It can't hurt.........

Retired Life. Wednesday.

Today was that day where Hanna's deadly cancer-killing drug arrives via FedEx and requires a signature so we can't leave the house. No matter, we weren't going to leave anyways until evening.

Morning, (its becoming routine now...) studies and take the boys for their walk. Afternoon, (a short nap first) worked more on setting up the sprinklers, trained Gus some more (I think he is trained now for sure...) and then worked on paying bills and doing up the books. Plus we did some lesson prep for TOMORROW'S lesson. Impressive, right?

We put on our Missionary get up for the evening. Taught a Temple Invitation Lesson to a sweet lady. She committed to prepare and go and set a date. This was our first ever 100% Spanish lesson. She speaks no English. My Spanish was far from perfect, but she understood what I was trying to say and felt the spirit. And she apologized for not having learned English yet. Sweet lady. After the lesson, we dropped in on several members to try to set up more lessons to teach. House 1: not home. House 2: Family members were home, but the lady we were looking for was not. We still had a friendly conversation with them and Hanna offered them a Book of Mormon. No takers. House 3: No one home.

Food. Ham and cheese omelettes for breakfast. Old People Steak for dinner. Yum Yum. We enjoy having the time to cook meals now that we are retired.

Retired Life. Thursday.

The boys settled down nicely and were really cute last night. So, here, have some cute Golden Retriever Pictures!

We had a little bit of time for out studies in the morning before having to head to Post Falls for Hanna's every-28-days-cancer-killing-drug injection. She passed all the blood tests, was deemed healthy, and was given the injection in the stomach. Several of the cancer nurses are members of our faith and really liked and were excited that we are missionaries.

We ate sack lunches in the truck. See the picture of my delicious "leftover hot dog" sandwich. Had some time to burn before we had a temple lesson in Spokane, so ran some errands. Topped off with cheap Idaho gas. Picked up drugs at the pharmacy. Picked up a bunch of plants and flowers at the nursery place. (This put Hanna in a very good mood!) Dropped off some stuff we no longer need or want at Goodwill. And picked up some exterior door weather strips at Lowes.

At Goodwill, the guy helping me saw my name badge and asked if I was Mormon. He went on to tell me he used to go to our church, but hadn't in a while. I asked if he had a Book of Mormon. He said he left it behind when he moved. I offered him one. He got excited and took it. Book of Mormon placed.

We taught a lesson to the really sweet lady we have met with a couple of times already. She gave us chocolate to boot.

Back at home, I took a break and watched a previously recorded football game. UNC vs NC State rivalry game, complete with brawl after the game.

As missionaries, we have learned to be flexible and change schedules at the drop of a hat. We had decided that cancer injection days would not involve lessons and going out to find people to teach because the injection wipes Hanna out. Plus she is high on Benadryl (or should that be "low") as part of the gig. But, this sister wanted to be taught today and we just couldn't say no. So, yes, we taught a lesson before leaving town. Hanna did well and did not fall asleep during the lesson.

Here, also have a picture of Hanna posing at the Cancer Clinic. They are part of the Medical Professionals that have kept her alive so she could be a missionary. Huge gratitude.

Retired Life. Friday.

We are starting to call this our rejuvination day. Everything we do builds us up as missionaries.

We spent the morning in District Council Meeting. Three lessons. Praying with Faith. Using the Covenant Path to invite folks. And how to properly deliver an invitation. All good missionary stuff.

We ate sack lunches in the truck. (Yes, I had another leftover hot dog sandwich. Delicious!)

In the afternoon, we worshipped in the temple.

Then we went and had tacos at the place we walked out of a few nights ago. Best Mexican place I've been to. La Michoacana across from Winco on Sprague. La Nueva Michoacana is an Ice Cream Shop close to next door. Dang good ice cream there! Don't confuse the two. Or just go to both.

In the evening we did our studies. Got done early so chilled and watched an episode of Heartland. (Jack survived his heart attack.)

Pictures:

- A deer at the Highland's yesterday.

- A picture of us from 2018 just hours after we arrived at the MTC. One of our favorite missionary pictures! (Came up in my memories from three years ago, shortly after Hanna's cancer diagnosis. I posted a note with it saying we would overcome and serve again. And wow. Here we are...Miracles happen!)

- The temple.

- I had Carne Asada and Hanna had Fried Cactus and eggs. Authentic Mexican food. We'll be back. (The cactus had a tangy flavor to it and wasn't bad at all.)

- They had a ton of cool pinatas hanging in the restaurant.

- Record number of yellowjacket queens are being caught in our trap this year. Is this good or bad? Good because each queen represents one less yellowjacket nest this summer? Or bad because there are so many of them and who knows how many more are out there that we're NOT catching?

Finally, there was quite a buzz yesterday about hot dog sandwiches. Turns out my Dad used to feed those to us. My kids ate them and now my grandkids enjoy them. That's four generations of Stewart hot dog tradition! (Scots rule!!) I bet your family don't have any traditions like that! And two requests for recipes, so here goes: I like the hot dog flame broiled on a grill. Must have grill marks and some lightly blackened spots for additional grilling flavor. Two slices of bread. Smother on Mayo. A slight film of sweet pickle relish on one slice. Cheese on each slice. (Pepperjack is my favorite, but any you like will do.) Add two hotdogs, sliced lengthwise. Add a small bit of ketchup to the dogs. Close. Eat. Enjoy. Dogs can be hot right off the grill, or cold later on as leftovers. Yummmmmmm........................

One of the folks that asked about it are our "pizza friends" we ran into today. I suspect Dominos will soon be offering a hot dog pizza. Perhaps inside the stuffed crust surrounded by cheese..........I'm drooling already!

Retired Life. Saturday.

Pictures of elk from the Highlands. Looks kinda like a momma and baby. Someone tell me why the deer and elk don't mingle and show up in the pictures on the same day?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! Today, Saturday, is Mother's Day for Mexico and many other Latino Countries. Our Spanish Congregation held a Mothers Day Celebration Movie Afternoon which we went to and enjoyed. One of the guys we are teaching came and brought friends.

We also declared it "old people breakfast out" day and tried out Harvest Moon and their new owners. We were leery. But the food was higher quality and the service great. Plus they had highlights of both Eagles Superbowl Games playing on the TV. No worries.

After the movie, we did go out and try to find a member who only has weekend late afternoons off. He's working two jobs. No one answered. And then we went home and did our studies. But not until after we raided Wendy's so we wouldn't have to worry about dinner once we got home.