8.2.25 BEAR!!!!
Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.
Today's line up: Sacrament Meeting (which included a couple of returned missionaries from Chile speaking to us, Yea Chile!!) Men's Meeting. Missionary Correlation Meeting. Lesson to a family we are just starting to teach. Finished up by attending a baptism meeting for the Chuukeese Group. (I go for the Yooka Laylee music...). Seriously great spirit all day long.
Back home, we read, studied Spanish, did some planning for the next two crazy busy weeks, watched a church discourse, and ate some homemade Raspberry Pie that Hanna made for me.
Hope you enjoyed your Sabbath! If not, let me know and I'll invite you to tag along with us on ours!
SPECIAL FOR DEL AND ELLA: We're glad you're still going to church so we can share spiritual things with you. First, the Avila family came to church again today, even though they weren't responding to our texts all week and most in the Branch thought that we wouldn't see them again for another long while. The mom and teen daughter came. They were dressed to the hilt. We think they went shopping for church clothes, which is a good thing. Means they'll be back to church to wear the clothes if nothing else. And they set an appointment for a temple lesson this week.
We both were struggling with Spanish today. We put in some conference talks in Spanish on the way to church. I didn't understand much. It's like the entire language just up and left. I was discouraged and wondering why we even were assigned here to this Branch. After church, Hanna was distraught and disappointed too. The guy translating today in Sacrament spoke very quietly. So, she couldn't understand the speaker's Spanish and couldn't hear the translation into English. She was feeling like she never gets anything out of church any more.
But, it wasn't a bad church experience. The Avila's came and set up an appointment for a temple lesson. And a gal we taught last week and then ghosted us showed up and asked for temple lessons. (Turns out we had her phone number wrong...) And a new family showed up in church because they'll be "more comfortable" in a Spanish Branch than an English Ward. And asked if there was anyone here that can teach Temple Prep classes. (We were all over THAT question....)
After church, we had about 30 minutes to eat a quick lunch before going to a lesson. I did some praying and grabbed out my new Spanish Conjugation App and worked on it. And then we went to teach the Almegor mom and her two daughters. And her daughter's friend was there too. The spirit was strong as we taught the Temple Invitation Lesson. I got to the part where I invite the mom to prepare to go to the temple and set a date and she started shrieking "si si si!!!" before I could even finish the sentence. She's on date. And wait, there's more. The daughter had brought her friend to church today, so I asked the friend if it was her first time at our church. "Si". Did you like it? "Si." Would you like the Sister Missionaries to come teach you more about the church. "Si." !!! Later she kind of chickened out a bit and said she wanted to go to church some more before having the lessons. Strong spirit. Oh. And the point. My Spanish was near perfect during the lesson. Amazing.
Lesson here: The adversary will stop at nothing to thwart the work. Today he used discouragement and getting us to think that we aren't good enough and messing with our Spanish. We were able, with divine help, to overcome that and put someone on date. Certainly this does not apply to only missionary work, but to all of us that are trying to do and be good. It's a constant battle. Fight the good fight. We have the power to win.
And now we're teaching 18 people in ten different homes with six on date to prepare to receive their endowments. Take that Lucifer!
Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.
See the bear at the Highlands??? Wow! Funny! We spent an entire week in Alaska almost a year ago with great expectations that we would see tons of bears. We drove through the ruggedest of land to see wildlife. Saw very little, and absolutely no bears. We couldn't even find a stuffed one in the Anchorage airport. Sad. We concluded that bears in Alaska don't exist. It's just an Alaskan scam to get folks to come to Alaska looking for bears and spend a lot of money. And then one walks right on to my property last night. FOR FREE!!
Camping anyone? It is perched about ten feet from where we set up our tent....
After taking the boys for a walk (see them chilling in the pic below), I fixed up bacon and eggs for breakfast. And then spent most of the day assigning Stewards to each of the 60 apartments that house the 186 young missionaries in the mission.
In the evening we went to the monthly Senior Missionary BBQ and meeting. Pioneer theme. Lots of scrumptious pioneer food including meatloaf. The mission photographer was there. When they post the pics publicly, I'll steal them and post them for you all to see. Deliciousness and good company. We met one couple who lives in Riverside and knows a lot of our friends up there plus Del and Ella. And another from Idaho Falls that turns out to be like a second cousin or so to Hanna. Small world.
Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.
In the morning we attended District Council with a bunch of other missionaries. Then we rushed back home, had lunch, prepared a couple of lessons, did a bit of reading, took a nap, and watched Gus try to catch a moth in the window.
In the evening, we taught one lesson, had one lesson cancel and reschedule, and had a fun Spanish Class.
It's not too often that we make TWO trips to town in one day, but our mission schedule has changed and Tuesdays for now will feature two trips. Blessings, right?
Retired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.
We got Hanna's Revlimid today, but not until after we gave FedEx a hard time. It was scheduled for Monday. Usually arrives by 1 or 2. He didn't show until 4:52pm and by then we had forgotten about the delivery and had left. We got a cool stickie note saying he would try again the next day. Good luck with that! We were out all day pretty much. We ended up getting a call from the pharmacy asking what was going on. And they tried again today. Third time's a charm! Expensive, poisonous drugs are now in Hanna's possession!
And see the delicious sausage omelette I fixed up?
In the afternoon, we went into town to pick up even more drugs at the Pharmacy and teach three lessons. We encountered the typical parade of combines on the way in and the sunset on the way back.
We were teaching a guy a lesson on repentance in his back yard when the huge thunderstorm hit. We hurried into the garage to finish the lesson. Got soaked a bit. Did not get struck by lightning, but some hit close by. The work went forth regardless.
And the only sad thing that happened today was we finished off Hanna's homemade raspberry pie. Deliciousness!!
Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.
We worshipped in the temple. We dropped off white shirts at the cleaner's. We ate lunch at that grand slam place. We went to the Cancer Clinic where Hanna was deemed well enough to be injected with cancer-killing immunotherapy drugs. We bought cheap Idaho gas. And then finally back at home, we watched a pre-recorded football game. Sadly, the several Big 12 games I had left on my list were not televised, so no watch. Instead we watched Vanderbilt beat up on Alabama. It's always fun to watch the Tide get beat...
Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.
First, we declared it "Old People Go To Breakfast Day"! We took the backroads to Harvester and had some pancakes and a Palouse Omelette. The grain is ripening fast and harvest has started in some places. Hanna says "the fields are white, already to harvest." Isn't that a scripture or something??
Next, and finally, we packed up the JEEP and four-wheeled up to the Stewart Highlands where we set up camp. And then did several days of studying and practicing Spanish and reading. Very quiet place to do so. And we haven't seen any bears. We did see great views, including an awesome sunset, and could build a fire because we are in Idaho.
Peaceful evening to be out.
Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.
At the Highland's: the yellowjackets love dog food. So we gave them some dog food away from where we were trying to study and read and it worked! They stayed away from us.
I got out the .22 and did some target shooting. 70 feet out. Looks like it needs to be sited in a bit better. I did aim low and left and BULLSEYE!
The boys were a mess and got baths. Happy (and clean) dogs!
In the evening, Del, Ella, Luigi, Brooklyn, Justin, and August came over for Fajitas. And we put them to work helping to prepare the grub. I grilled the steak. Fun times.
And here! Have a satellite map of exactly where the Highlands is located at (since some of you have asked...). Halfway between 95 and 6 on top of a high mountain.
And then a bunch of pictures from the game camera and etc. Enjoy!
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