Monday, January 29, 2018

The senior missionaries traditionally “volunteer” to help take lights down around the Visitor Center.  Today was the day and since it wasn’t raining but was only cold, the task was on!  Obviously I couldn’t go, and an email exempted any of the sisters who didn’t feel up to the brisk 8:30 a.m. challenge.  Glade wasn’t going to go, but his conscience got the best of him, so he put on an extra shirt and went to help.  No ladder climbing is allowed and the seniors worked on unwinding light strips from the bushes and there were hundreds and hundreds of them.  They only had to work for about two and a half hours.  It was pretty cold and it took “bone-warming” hot chocolate to shake off the chill after Glade came home.

He cheered up, however, when he set out to play pickleball at the church again.  He is getting the hang of this game and had a great time.  He is stiff and hobbling tonight, but not complaining. 

Each day since my fall I assume the kindness and condolences will cease, but it hasn’t happened yet—thirteen days later!  The Sister whose daughter flew here to cut hair for the missionaries last month stopped by today with the gift of a book.  She said “You have probably been inundated with food, right?”  And she was right.  So, her choice was to share something she is reading called The Savior’s Final Week by Andrew C. Skinner.  It is actually three books in one totaling over 550 pages.  The books are a series called Gethsemane, Golgotha, and The Garden Tomb.  It will be deep reading and a spiritual and intellectual journey.  What a beautiful gift.

Another couple who are about 80 years old stopped by to thank me for the nice thank-you note I sent yesterday and stayed to visit for a while.  They are just so sweet, slowing down, and looking pretty frail, but still going strong. 

Then sweet Sister Martinez and Joselyn came by to bring us supper for the third time!  She wanted to make chicken soup, but didn’t have time to make something homemade and stopped at a restaurant for tamales, fried bananas, beans, and potatoes that were cut and cooked like French fries.  We can’t risk hurting her feelings by refusing her offers, since she has already shared so much; so we are just being as grateful as we know how!  She shared with us today that her husband (he fell from a ladder and has been unable to work for several years) has been inactive in church for 15 years.  She and friends have been praying and fasting again and again that he would return to church, and on Sunday, he returned for Sacrament Meeting.  He has never stopped paying tithing all this time, and does genealogy work every day going back about nine generations.  So she was pretty happy.

Tomorrow is a new beginning--as they say--The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.  Even though it is a Tuesday and unremarkable as important days go, it could become life changing when chosen to be so.  Love and Hugs!   😊