7-12-25 Island Music and Nephi
Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.
Sacrament Meeting. (We both testified. In Spanish even.) Sunday School. Missionary Correlation Meeting.
Then we drove over to the other church building, found some shade to park in, ate lunch, read, and took a nap. For about two hours. And then we went inside and attended a baptism the Chuukeese congregation was having. We didn't understand a word they said, but the atmosphere was festive (including Yooka Laylee prelude music) and the spirit was strong. Two other folks who attended decided also to be baptized later on in the upcoming weeks. The work is hastening!!
There are three awesome missionaries that serve this Chuukeese congregation. And they will spend their entire mission doing so. No transfers to another area. The language and customs are difficult and this is a hard mission. But these guys are awesome! They work hard, follow the spirit, and provide a lot of service. And they have fun doing so. Today is a day they will never forget. It's an honor to serve with such dedicated, faithful, hard-working young men.
Back at home, we had leftover chicken soup along with fresh homemade raspberry jam on bread and popcorn for dinner. And watched the movie Homestead. Intense movie with a great Christian theme.
Hope you all had a great Sabbath too!
Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.
I spent most of the morning trying to fix the invisible dog fence. With no luck. I fix the issue (usually a bare wire), it comes on for a few seconds, then back down. I find and fix the issue.......and repeat. I have half a dozen holes in my lawn now from "fixes". And it just continues. All of a sudden, after working consistently fine for over a year, it does this. Weird. Finally, it got too hot out so I called it and went in. A discussion with Grok lead to some tests I could run on the transmitter, which may need replaced. Or keep going until it runs out of breaks. Or replace the entire thing. Or get a new expensive wireless fence. Sigh...................... Thankfully, the boys are trained well enough that they don't run off, just because they are obedient that way. No reminder needed.
In the afternoon, I paid the bills, did up the books, and did the usual daily studies. And worked on cleaning up the kitchen from our busy weekend.
In the evening, it was time for recreation, the watching of a prerecorded football game. Texas Tech upset of Iowa State with last second TD, ruining their unbeaten season. Great game.
Frivvy and Gus were acting majestic, so I took their picture. And in the evening, Hanna was too busy freezing tons of raspberries, so Frivvy watched the game with me. He was happy. He loves football. And for the record, Gus never even looks at the TV. He just naps on the floor at my feet. Very different dogs.
Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.
Old people must eat. So...we planned meals for our week. Created a grocery list. Drove to Worley. Ate salads at Red Tail and played some Rummy. Bought cheap Idaho gas. Drove to Plummer. Bought the groceries. Drove home. Unloaded. Put everything away.
Yes, we saw our first combines out operating today. I think that is seed grass they are harvesting.
We bought the boys a new toy to fight over.
After all that, we had a short bit of time for a nap, studies, and to prepare a couple of lessons. Primarily taking lessons we created during our mission to California and translating them into Spanish.
In the evening, we went into Spokane Valley and taught three lessons.
Tonight we taught a man about prayer. The spirit was strong. He absorbed it. And...the spirit beckoned me to up the sincerity and quality of my own prayers. Yes, we are doing a lot of good for other folks on this mission. Bringing them closer to Christ, helping them become a happier people. But in doing so, we are doing the same for ourselves. A powerful concept.
Retired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.
First thing, before the little darling yellowjackets were even awake, I ventured out and obliterated two of their most recent nests. After breakfast, I used the weed wacker to obliterate a bunch of tall grass and weeds from places too steep to mow. And more work on the dog fence. Transmitter test passed. And it still wouldn't power up the fence. Break tester indicated a break in a totally different area of the fence than Monday's. After a long marital discussion, we finally decided to give up on it and just buy a new GPS wireless system. Bye bye hard earned money. Glad I like these dogs. I then wanted to obliterate the entire old fence equipment, but Hanna stopped me, suggesting that I give it away instead. Really? To whom? Someone I hate?....
Special Note: While weed wacking, I scared up a small snake. Harmless Garter Snake. I did NOT obliterate it. Just let it crawl away. Maybe it eats yellowjackets...
After morning walk pics of the boys. Frivvy having sweet dreams on the couch and Gus hiding out under the counter waiting for the accidental dropping of food.
Afternoon included studies and translating a lesson into Spanish.
Off to town for early afternoon lesson. Early dinner at Wendy's where they have this fry sauce they call "Chili". Then we went searching for folks to teach and were invited into two homes. That doesn't happen very often! Great night. We found a family to teach and prepare to take to the temple some day. Great night.
Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.
Morning: Studies. Afternoon: The new dog fence arrived and I spent time trying to figure out how it works and how to set it up. Ready to go. Except it needs an adapter to charge up. Ordered. Will be here tomorrow. This is cool stuff. Anything with a GPS is cool to me...
Evening: Full Missionary Hat comes on. We started by having dinner at the home of one of our Stewards in North Idaho. Our next appointment rescheduled to next week. And we weren't due anywhere else until 8. I felt like we could run errands or even take a nap. My companion, however, had this feeling that we should drop in on this one particular family that hadn't been to church in a long time. OK. Let's go. We arrived and the mom answered the door and invited us in. As we talked to her she told us they had experienced a death in part of their family yesterday and obviously were sad and mourning. And that she and her daughter had actually talked about their need to come back to church. And then a bit later, we knocked on their door and invited them to come to church. (And have a lesson). They were touched and committed to come to church. We prayed with them before leaving.
Coincidence? Pure inspiration? Being in the right place at the right time? Being led by God? You decide..... I know which it was.
The late appointment was with our Spanish Tutor and her dog, Lucy. Pictures below of part of the lesson and the dog, that likes to growl and bark a lot at me.
And finally, here, have a picture of a fire season moon.
Being a missionary is a great experience.
Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.
Here! Have a picture of a famous Hot Dog Sandwich, made popular by my Dad apparently. It was what was for lunch. Also the temple and the dogs chilling in the evening.
District Council Meeting. Out of the 12 of us in attendance, 9 serve in a non-English assignment. Amazing. They taught us lessons on the atonement, authority from God, Commitments, and asking spirit-led questions. Lots of successes were had the past week or so and the atmosphere was very positive. We love serving with these younger missionaries.
Afterwards, we ran some errands. To the UPS store to pick up some copies of my Mission to Chile Journal for my grandsons and to the cleaners to drop off 8 white shirts. Then back to the temple parking lot where I consumed that delicious sandwich and took a nap in the truck.
Worshipped in the temple.
Then we had dinner at that Red Bird place with the "Hermanas" that serve with us in the Spanish Congregation. Great burger. Great talks about the work and life and the awesome people we serve.
In the evening, back at home, we did our studies. This is an exhausting day of worship, serving, and hanging out with other missionaries.
So why wasn't it a "rejuvination day"? Because we were already rejuvinated when we woke up! Great week being a missionary. Every single door we knocked on we got an answer and were allowed in and had a lesson or prayer or both. We found three new families to teach and a man who wants to be baptized. When we came in last night, we were on cloud nine! And woke up with that same spirit and attitude this morning. While in the temple, we felt a strong spirit of gratitude coming from God for our service in this small congregation. God had a place for us. People were waiting for US. And we're just getting started...
"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." - Jesus Christ
Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.
- The boys woke up rambunctious again. Wrestling on the couch. So I took them for a walk. Post picture walk shows them a bit more docile.
- And I threw in a picture of Annie the Cat too because she was belowing loudly for some food.
- I wrote "ugly chicken" on our grocery white board list. Hanna had to ask me what that was. New brand? New way to cook it? No. It means it has no skin or bones. The other kind (with skin and bones) is called "tasty chicken". We eat thighs mostly. Breasts seem to dry out way too easily when cooked. Some restaurants ought to use thighs too......
-Breakfast and Rummy at Gateway Cafe.
- And an old Toyota Landcruiser parked next to my new Gladiator. Classic!
- Pile of delivery boxes on the porch obviously indicates that it was a very busy week. (Today's production included opening and putting away.)
- Gussy worked on chewing down the Moose Paddle. Happy dog. Frivvy, who found it years ago, usually nicely shares it. Sometimes.
- They were trying to bale hay across the street. Brought back nostalgic memories from my youth.....of a typical hayfield only partially baled and the baler in the shed broken down.
- They came back later to finish the job and didn't get far before it broke down again. More nostalgia.
- Hanna cleaned out the bathroom cupboards.
-I installed the new wireless dog fence. Now my dogs appear to be mobile and wrestling Geocaches.
- A majestic picture of Gus. They both can look like they originally came from Scottish Royalty at times. Oh wait! They do!!
In the evening, we had our date night. (Sorry, no pics...). We watched "Green and Gold". Awesome movie, especially if you like farming, family, football, and faith.
And today, someone was trying to kill me. Seriously. On our walk this morning, this typical two-trailer truck came by, about ten feet from the sidewalk we were on. And about 20 feet after passing us, the second trailer came uncoupled and came crashing apart. Gus totally freaked out and did all he could to get loose and get away. I held on to him though and calmed him down. And then saw what just happened. Close call.
And then coming back from breakfast, we are on a long stretch of straight road and here comes this pickup driving on MY side of the road right towards us. What the heck? I had my options. Swing over into his lane (the ultimate game of chicken). Drive into the shoulder/pit. Or even drive into the should/pit and up onto the 3 foot steep embankment into a field. I honked (probably worthless thing to do) and started heading for the pit while wondering if my truck would go up the embankment or just ram into it and wondering if the other driver would correct right or left, when he finally swerved into his own lane and passed us without hitting us. What the heck? I was tempted to run him down and ask what he was doing. But didn't. (I hate confrontation...)
Two words. "Protecting Angels". That's all.
And the pictures loaded backwards. Confusion. But I bet you can figure it out.....
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