Lessons Learned

25 June 2017

Well . . . if you’re still reading my emails, thank you! Thanks for putting up with me and the difficult, funny, challenging, fun, amazing, boring things I write about. If you’ve ever had enough, just cry UNCLE and I’ll understand and take you off the mailing list. I’ll be the easiest JUNK MAIL you’ve ever stopped. But, will you still write me? Because I sure look forward to every email. Last week was a good week! I heard from many. It makes for happy happy days.

So I learned a BIG lesson on Tuesday . . . the hard way! Malcolm had drafted a letter for one of the Area Seventy’s here (Mormon jargon for a higher-up person in the church) to a member of Parliament who had chosen to resign, and asked me to print it on letterhead, sign it electronically, and ‘post’ it so
that it went out that same day. No problem. I do this quite often. I noticed that there was something missing on the letter but as I am still learning ‘the British way’ of doing things, I assumed it was the way it was suppose to be. Malcolm must have realized it too and emailed me about it that evening and asked me if I had caught it before mailing it out. You know that sick feeling you get in your stomach when something is wrong? I had that. The thought crossed my mind that I could tell him yes I caught it and he would never know, because I hadn’t sent him or the Area Seventy a copy yet. But then, Elder Christofferson’s talk came to mind and the quote from last week:

“Putting one’s integrity on hold, even for seemingly small acts in seemingly small matters, places one in danger of losing the benefit and protection of conscience altogether.”

So I emailed him back and told him the truth. “Yes, I saw it, but no, I didn’t fix it. And I am so sorry.” I told him he should fire me. I was so mad at myself and sick to my stomach. I’m really good at beating myself up when I make stupid mistakes. I took a good beating. Malcolm didn’t answer back, so the beating continued. Finally, he emailed me back (probably was eating dinner during that time) and took the blame and told me we could fix it tomorrow—no worries. I felt better, but still so upset that I didn’t listen to that thought that says, “that doesn’t look right.” Next time you bet I will.

I had a difficult time falling asleep that night, and for some reason I began thinking about all of you and who I hadn’t heard from for a while. I am forever wondering about what is going on in your lives and how you are doing. Remember my friend Liz who let me know not long after we came on our mission that her mom had passed away -- my second mom as a young child? My thoughts went to Liz, and that I hadn’t heard from her since then, and I hoped she was ok, and I’ll bet her mom’s funeral was really good, and I sure wish I could have been there . . .

The next morning at work I’m still feeling bad. The mail for the day comes early, and we had two pieces of mail addressed to us personally. The first was from my sweet cousin who regularly sends me thoughts or quotes from things she has been reading along with a heartwarming note that always makes me feel good. And the second piece of mail . . .wait for it . . .was from Liz. It included a two page hand-written letter and a CD. She made a copy of her mom’s funeral and sent it to me because “I thought you might like to listen to it if you have time” she said.

We’ve had an entire week without rain! We had two days that were close to 90 degrees, but not consecutively. One day hotter than a hot potato, and the next day nice and cool. Even I am missing a little rain because the lawn in the garden is getting very dry and things are drooping outside. Despite it all, the flowers are still beautiful, and Gordon continues to water them by hand. Tomorrow starts a forecasted week of rain, and I’m sure I’ll be wishing for the heat again. Is it the weather, or is it me that is fickle?

Thursday we met with the missionaries again and fed them lunch. This time I made pulled pork and we all had pulled-pork sandwiches. That was a nice change. Our new missionary, Sister Besendorfer, is from the Boise, ID area. She was in the MTC with Sister Crandall and knows her well. Sister Crandall (from our Kaysville Ward) went with Sister Romero to Coventry (Costco area), about 15 miles from here. She will love Sister Romero.

Yesterday was our Gadfield Elm field trip with the Ward. There were about 20 of us that went. We picnicked together, then had a meeting inside the Chapel. Gadfield Elm Chapel was the first LDS Chapel in the UK, and still is the oldest existing chapel in the world. Great men like Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Bruce R. McConkie, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Jeffrey R. Holland have preached from the pulpit. It is dedicated ground owned by our Church, and we enjoyed learning some of the history of it from the missionary couple there, Elder and Sister Haws. Elder and Sister Haws live here and were called on an 18 month mission to be hosts at the Gadfield Elm Chapel . . . seven years ago . . . Yikes! One interesting fact that I learned is why the chapel is out in the middle of nowhere! It’s because when the Church of the United Brethren built the chapel before most converted to the Mormon Church, they were not allowed to build a place of worship within two miles of an existing Church of England or
Catholic Church. I’m sure there still is not a chapel close by, as it is pretty isolated. It’s a beautiful area, and we felt a great spirit there. Ron also talked about some of the history of the chapel, some of the great men who had stood where he was standing, and shared some personal stories. I always love to hear him speak. He did a great job. The Sunday School President who arranged the trip send Ron this email this morning:

Elder Partridge

I appreciated hearing your testimony yesterday
The great and the good have born their testimonies in that little chapel in the middle of no where and yesterday you and your testimony was added
You are a great man with an incredible testimony thank you for sharing it with us yesterday
We are blessed to have you and your wife in our ward

Thank you
God bless you both

Sidenote: I made Corn Salsa (Texas Caviar) and took it to the picnic. You know how much a recipe makes . . .a good sized bowl! The bowl was practically licked clean by the end of the picnic. It’s fun to share my American recipes with new people.

And speaking of ingredients for recipes, I have a quiz for you. Without Google or any other source, can you guess what these items in our grocery stores are? They all have a different name in the USA:

Coriander
Courgette
Aubergine
Jelly
Swede
Rocket

It’s quite interesting to try and find all the ingredients for a recipe from home I want to make. Google is our best friend at the grocery store. Ron Googles . . .I find. We’re a good team!

This afternoon, very soon, we are on our way to Chorley for a Pageant Meeting. We will stay overnight in the Temple Accommodations and be home tomorrow morning. We are excited to see our Pageant friends, but we will miss talking to most of the family today. Thankfully we have talked with Amanda and Alisha several times this week, as Alisha has been in Utah for a visit along with a conference at BYUI. And we will talk to Zack and Hilary and their boys!

I am so thankful for my many blessings, and count you as some of the most cherished blessings we have. I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who let’s me know often that He is aware of me. I’m grateful for good health and enough energy to do what we need to do to fulfill our assignments. I’m thankful for the power of prayer. I’m grateful for the many good people I rub shoulders with here that are teaching me so much by example.

Have a wonderful week, and continue to make the BEST choices, always with integrity (that’s for my children and grandchildren…the rest of you don’t have to pay attention to my preaching!)

Love to all!

PS: Here’s the answers:
Coriander - Cilantro
Courgette - Zucchini
Aubergine - Eggplant
Jelly – Jello (really it’s more like flavored gelatin squares)
Swede - Turnips
Rocket – Arugula lettuce

How did you do?

Happy Father's Day!

18 June 2017

The UK is celebrating Father’s Day today also, so we join with you in honouring our fathers from across the pond. My own father has been gone for over seven years now, and I still think about him almost every day, and often the quiet lessons he taught me pop into my mind. He was a man that taught more by example than words. These lessons come to the forefront of my mind often:

· If you don’t give your opinion on everything, then when you do choose to, people will listen.
· When you make a purchase, buy the very best. If you can’t afford to buy the best, wait to purchase until you can.
· Save, save, save your money.
· Treat people fairly.
· Work hard.

I honour my husband and companion for the man and husband he is. He’s a great dad to our children, and I think the grandchildren think he’s pretty awesome too. We celebrated yesterday by going to see “Wonder Woman” at the cinema and then to dinner. Sharing a bucket of popcorn and a coke with him at the movies is something I love to do. Today he was served a traditional English treat for breakfast, Scones with jam and clotted cream. Yum.

I also honour my son and two son-in-laws for the great dads they are. And I am very blessed with a wonderful father-in-law who has always treated me with love and respect. I am so blessed!

And last but not least, I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and His son, the Father of this world, Jesus Christ. His atoning sacrifice allows us all to live with Him again. I am so grateful for that knowledge.

It has been a glorious weather week this past week. It has truly felt like summer. The temperature reached over 80 several days, including today. We pulled the fans out of the hall closet yesterday to keep it cool in our flat, and they’ve done the trick thank goodness. But at Church –- a hotbox. So you can guess how Primary went today. . . bless their little hearts. We aren’t complaining. It feels lovely. Someone at church said to me today, “We’re having Utah weather this week!” It feels good.

We were in the office Monday – Friday this week which is unusual, but there was plenty to do so the week sailed by. Tuesday was transfers for our missionaries, and we lost one Elder and one Sister. Our new Elder is from Pasco, WA, and our new Sister is from Sydney, Australia. She also is a trainer like Sister Wood, so she is only here for a week until they each get a newbie companion fresh from the MTC. We were able to help Sister Romero get her two very large, heavy suitcases to her flat while she rode her bike from the train station.

Thursday we took lunch to the four missionaries after their District Meeting. Instead of getting Subway sandwiches or Five Guys, I made Alisha’s recipe for burrito filling and took it in the crockpot along with 16 tortillas and all the fixin’s. One thing England does not have is good Mexican food, so the missionaries thought they had died and gone to heaven. All 16 tortillas were GONE! I wish I had brought more. If you need a good and easy recipe to feed a group, it’s a good one! (I make it just for the two of us and freeze portions in bags. Love it.) Thank you Alisha!

Because there hasn’t been any rain this week, Gordon has been outside watering the ‘garden’ most days when we get home and we have been able to chat with him a little. Friday he told us that the ‘decorators’ would be here on Monday to paint doors and trim. They are always making improvements to keep it looking so nice. I took the opportunity to ask him some questions about this place we live, and I found out the history. It’s interesting to me, so I want to journal it, but if you’re not interested, skip the next two paragraphs.

Before the current buildings were built ten years ago, this use to be a manor owned by the Eversleighs, thus, the current name of our complex, Eversleigh Court. It was a large L-shaped manor with a carriage house in back. I looked up Lord Eversleigh to see if maybe someone famous lived here, but, alas, Lord Eversleigh is just a fictional character in a book sold on Amazon. Wouldn’t that have been fun! When the Eversleighs sold the manor, it sat vacant for a while until some kids were messing around, started a fire, and the whole place burned down. Sometime after, the owners sold it to a builder who re-built the manor to look the like old one, but now instead of going into the actual home through the big double doors both in front and on the side, the doors take you to a hall and into separate flats. Each flat is individually owned. Some flats have two bedroom and some are only one. I asked Gordon how much our two-bedroom flat would cost to purchase, and he said about 180,000 pounds, or about $225k. There are 22 flats in all now in Eversleigh Court including the two back in the newer Carriage House.

Left: Front view – ours is second floor on the right
Right: Attached to the left side – the ‘L’

Carriage House

Gordon oversees the maintenance of the complex with no compensation. He hires the gardeners, the decorators (painters), the window washers (every six weeks they come!), and every little thing to keep it looking beautiful. And a fine job he does. I’ve attached some pictures. Gordon is a funny man, and when he smokes outside on the porch, the smoke comes right up through our opened windows (cough cough choke choke), but we just politely close them until he’s done. We are ever so grateful for Gordon and all he does, and so grateful for the nice place we have to live while we are here.

You may have seen on Mormon Newsroom that Elder Christofferson was here in England speaking at Oxford last Thursday to a group of law students. He spoke about the time in his life that he worked as law clerk for Judge John Sirica during the Watergate trials and all that he learned. Malcolm attended the symposium representing Public Affairs and said it was brillant. I read the transcript of the event and have been pondering Elder Christofferson’s message for the past three days. My favourite quote:

“Putting one’s integrity on hold, even for seemingly small acts in seemingly small matters, places one in danger of losing the benefit and protection of conscience altogether.”

Elder Christofferson believes President Nixon had “many points along the way” that he could have stopped the cover-up “with an awakened conscience.” Instead, he said the president got deeper into the cover-up conspiracy.

And Elder Christofferson’s suggested remedy:

“A life devoted to service to others allows conscience to flourish. Service provides a natural barrier against the ills that flow in the wake of self-will and self-interest.”

Service is an important part of my life. It keeps me grounded in doing the things I know will make me happy in the long scheme of things. I see so many examples of service from so many of my friends and family both here and at home. I see so many people in my generation taking care of aging parents. I’m so thankful for those who are taking care of mine! I see you serving your children and grandchildren, neighbors, and friends when there is a need. And all those who serve the children at Primary Children’s Hospital are a great example to me. I feel so blessed to be associated with you and learn from you.

I agree with Elder Christofferson when he said, “The life lesson I took away from this experience was that my hope for avoiding the possibility of a similar catastrophe in my own life lay in never making an exception – always and invariably submitting to the dictates of an ethical conscience.”

So there’s some food for thought this week.

We’ve been on our mission for over four months now, and Ron and I were just saying yesterday that we feel like we’ve finally settled in. The first month was like an exciting new adventure. But like even the best of vacations, at some point you want to go home. The second month, when it felt like we had been gone long enough and it was time to go home was difficult. Getting into the routine of getting up every morning and being out the door by 8:30 am and not getting home until 6:30 was hard. And we were so tired every night. And it was cold and dark outside. And the learning curve at the office was difficult. The third month I think we both spent being homesick. We thought about home, thought about all the things we missed, and it wasn’t getting easier. There was so much to learn, and I made so many mistakes, and my self-esteem was rapidly declining. I kept asking myself, “What was I thinking? What am I doing here!” And Satan was right there agreeing with me. Then, all of the sudden, things did begin to feel a little easier. We have learned so much about Public Affairs and feel like now we are helping with the work rather than being the newbies that need babysitting. We are still learning new things every week, but we have more of a grasp on our purpose and what we were sent here to do. There is still a list of things we miss (of course all of you are on the top of the list), things like our bicycles, our Acuras, our king-sized bed, McD’s $1 drinks, (by the way, has the McDonalds in Kaysville gone out of business yet? J ) but it’s no longer hard to get up and go to work in the mornings, we’ve learned how to cook together, clean together, and do laundry together, and we know neighbors and ward members and co-workers and we have fun with them. So life is good, and we think we’ll stay another 14 or so months.

Thanks for all your love and support through this journey of learning we are on. We couldn’t do it without you, nor would we even try. In your own way, each of you are blessing us more than you know. Thank you for keeping in touch . . . keep ‘em coming!

Happy Father’s Day to every dad reading this, and love to all . . .

Guess what? It's Raining...

11 June 2017

Rain, rain, and more rain, with a little reprieve. But mostly rain. One day we are opening up all the windows for fresh air, and the next we want to turn the radiators back on. The weather is so fickle.

How are our trusty family and friends! It’s so fun to hear from you. It’s really great when we hear from someone that we haven’t heard from since we left, especially if it’s to share some good news and keep in touch! As for bad news . . .we are still grateful to hear from you and add you to our ever-so-long prayer list.

9:56 pm and the photo isn't enhanced.
It's really this light outside!

This week was a slower week. Malcolm was out of the office Monday and Tuesday, which can mean more work sometimes and less work sometimes. Mostly when it’s more work, like fielding phone calls, etc. it falls on Ron. We had a little of that this week.

Wednesday mid-day Ron and I did updates on our computers, and it turns out the updates were bad and it shut down our computers completely. By Thursday quitting time Ron had his going, but Craig was still working on mine. I felt like my hands were missing. Thankfully I could still receive and send emails on my phone and Ipad, but was not able to get to any of my files. NOT GOOD!

Thursday was the big election here, called for by Prime Minister Teresa May unexpectedly. From results on Friday, things didn’t go as planned for Prime Minister May. She did not get the support for Brexit she wanted. However, the Members of Parliament who are our VIP’s and supportive of our Church were voted back in, and an upset in Scotland won the seat of MP for a member of our Church. We now have three members of our church who are Members of Parliament. So, first on my agenda Monday morning will be letters of congratulations and VIP invitations to the Pageant.

And again at 4:40 am it is getting
light again.

Friday we had an assignment down in Surrey, which is where the London Temple is, but we were on the other side of the county and about 50 miles away. We met with a young couple in their late thirties who are serving as Public Affairs Service Missionaries from home. Elder Matthews has some disabilities that prevent him from being employed, so he fills his time helping Public Affairs with a lot of the tracking and compiling of data for interfaith interaction. We took them lunch and had a nice meeting. I made that yummy Chicken and Pasta salad that I credit Francis Atkinson for the recipe. (Thank you Francis!) It’s still a favourite. But there isn’t such a thing as Kraft bottled dressing here, so I made my own Coleslaw dressing. My mom would be so proud of me! And they loved it. By the time we got back there wasn’t much time to go home before a Fireside at the church at 7 pm, so we went back to the office and worked on getting our computers back up and running, which we pretty much did. We will be ready to go Monday morning with a whole lot to do after being down.

The Fireside Friday evening was the Book of Mormon one I mentioned a couple of letters ago. Three missionary couples presented different topics. Ron’s was directed to the youth, of which there were two there (the Bishop’s children J) on how to make reading fun. He talked about comparing people in the Book of Mormon to some of our real life heros, and passed out schedules on how to read it in six months. (Thank you Pinterest!) He did a great job. My part was to bear my testimony on the Book of Mormon. I have such a testimony of how it blesses us when we read EVERY DAY, so that was easy. I talked about how it is in my regiment of things to do to get ready for the day and PUT ON MY ARMOR so I will be ready to face the challenges of the day.

1 – Read 10-30 minutes in the Book of Mormon
2 – Say my personal prayers
3 – Kneeling prayer with my companion at the breakfast table
4 – Last thing I do before I walk out the door – put on my missionary badge.

CHECK!

Friday morning I opened the wardrobe choose something to wear, and found myself just starring. I told Ron, “Every morning I open these doors and think that maybe something new or different will appear, but it doesn’t seem to happen.” I am getting pretty tired of the same old things. I call them my uniforms. So on Saturday I was determined to make some time do a little shopping and find myself a couple of summer outfits. So I did go over to the shops across from the office and found a couple of things, along with picking up a new wallet for Ron for an early Father’s Day gift.

Saturday we also did our morning chores, a little grocery shopping, took a walk, watched a little television, read, laundry, prepared my Primary singing time for the little darlings . . . pretty quiet, windy, rainy day. Neither of us ever mind a quiet, not so busy day.

Today when we arrived at church someone told us that there were visitors in the chapel who were looking for us. As it turns out, it was Brother and Sister Atkins who have lived near the Preston Temple for many years, born and raised here in the UK. Their son, Ben, and Alisha were friends in college at BYU Idaho. Ben flew Alisha over here twice, and she learned to love England and loved the Atkins family. We reached out to Ben when we arrived here after learning that he didn’t live too far from us. When Alisha knew the family, Brother Atkins was the Temple Recorder for the Preston Temple. He has since retired and they are now serving a mission at the London Temple as . . . .you guessed it, Temple Recorder (actually the assistant.) They had taken two days off from their mission responsibilities to help Ben get his house ready to sell, and for some strange reason chose our ward to attend today, (another coincidence) which wasn’t the closest ward to them at all. It was fun to finally meet them after all these years, and it was easy to see why Alisha loved them. We love them too.

We completed our day today by talking to ALL the kids minus the two son-in-laws and ALL the grandchildren. Hooray for Sundays! We also talk to Ron’s parents each Sunday, which has been wonderful. We are also looking forward to a visit from Kevin and Lori Park later this month.

Be happy, be grateful, and make the BEST choices each day. The three together will result in a great life. We love and appreciate you all and all the goodness you reflect. Thanks so much for your love and support.

WHAT IS WORSE THAN FOOD POISONING?

4 June 2017

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet little grandson Lincoln, who his Grandpa Ron affectionately has called ‘Abe’ from day one. He is three years old today and we couldn’t love him more. When Hannah was born last year and we were with Alisha’s family in Texas for a month, Lincoln became our little buddy, especially Grandpa’s.

Happy Birthday also to my cousin Michelle, my friend Joyce, and our Aunt Verla. If I miss wishing you a Happy Birthday in my email, please forgive me! I always think of someone that I should have acknowledged AFTER I hit the SEND button. You know how it goes. And congratulations to all my friends/family that were part of the Primary Children’s Hospital Telethon over the weekend. Good to have behind you, and I’m sure a success! I still feel like there is no better way to spend discretionary time than helping children in need. Bless all of you!

We have loved seeing all the graduation pictures on Facebook. What a fun time. Dr. Seuss’ book “Oh the Places You’ll Go” always come to mind. It’s hard to believe that the little children that were just toddlers when we moved into Kaysville are graduating. And nieces and nephews and cousins . . . a wonderful time of life.

So Monday, still in Ireland, we visited the Blarney Castle in Cork, and we did it . . .we kissed the Blarney stone, and we have pictures to prove it, although not very flattering. You feel like you are standing on your head in an awkward acrobatic position while someone shoves your face into a stone that millions have kissed. I prayed I didn’t end up with impetigo or something worse. Nevertheless, I have been blessed to “go forth with the Gift of Eloquence” by Sir Charles St. John Colthurst of Ardrum, Inniscarra, says the certificate and legend. I hope it comes in handy with my many writing assignments! We also visited The Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle, and even drove to Tipparary. . . . Whew! That was a long way . . . J

Blarney Castle

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Beautiful Gardens!

The Rock of Cashel Castle

Monday evening, as we waited at the Dublin Airport to fly home, we grabbed a quick bite to eat. We were so glad to be back to our nice, clean, comfortable flat, as the accommodations in Ireland were not our favourite. We were also anxious to get back to the office and get back to work. Not long after we arrived at work Tuesday morning I began not feeling well. I made it until about 3pm, then we went home. I thought I had a flu bug of some sort. We were only home a couple of hours when Ron said, “I don’t feel well either.” Long story short, without the unwanted details, we spent the next two days in our flat suffering from food poisoning which we are sure was from the airport food. So, what’s worse than food poisoning? When you and your spouse both have it at the same time. ARG! A TRIAL OF PATIENCE for sure! We passed. We are still speaking. 

When we mentioned Ireland in last week’s letter, Dan and Tana Luke mentioned a favourite movie of theirs filmed in Ireland, “Leap Year” with Amy Adams. So whilst not feeling well and bored out of our minds and looking for things to pass the time that didn’t take any energy, we Netflixed the movie and watched it. It was fun to see the sites in Ireland that we had just visited. And, it’s a cute movie! For Dan and Tauna, remember the first room she rented in the hotel that was upstairs in the Pub? Well, yup. That’s Ireland. That’s why we were so glad to get home. And we won’t be eating jacket potatoes with bacon and cheese again anytime soon, or EVER! It was probably the bacon that got us.

We were so glad to go back to work on Friday. We didn’t feel 100%, but we had a bad case of cabin fever! Malcolm happened to be on holiday with his family this week, so it was a good week to be sick if there is such a thing. We were able to monitor emails from home and postpone what we needed to. Just another little tender mercy.

Also Friday, we woke up to a Facebook post that announced another missionary coming to our mission from our Kaysville ward in October! We will be excited to see Bradley Wheeler in Birmingham!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Michael and Michelle Allen and their family. They drove from Oregon over the weekend to Salt Lake City to say good-bye to a sister-in-law who’s time here on earth is very short. Sister-in-law will leave behind a husband and two young children to be cared for by family. Not a fun way to spend your birthday Michelle! But it is typical of their family to reach out to those in need. It’s what they do, and they are great examples to us. Once again, the ugliness of cancer rears it’s head. I HATE CANCER! Can I get an AMEN on that?

Saturday we had the flat cleaned and the sheets in the washer by 10 am. We planned our errands around a 1pm Baptism of a cute little Primary girl. Ron made it, and finished the errands, but I guess I wasn’t fully recovered. I only made it to the first two stores, then he brought me home and finished the rest of the errands and baptism without his companion.

Today I am finally feeling better and have a little appetite back. The Primary children were cooperative, because I bribed them, so that was helpful. The two counselors in our Bishopric were released today and two new ones sustained. The new first counselor and his wife returned just two weeks ago from a mission in the Philippines. They reported to the High Council the next Sunday. As they were walking out of that meeting, the Stake President asked to meet with them and called him to be in the Bishopric. Not even a week to rest! The second counselor has been serving as Executive Secretary. He is a newlywed, I doubt he is more than 25 or 26 years old. The mission field!

In Fast and Testimony Meeting today, we had two baby blessings. One was a darling tiny girl that had the darkest skin ever! I think her dad is from Africa and her mom from China. After the blessing, Dad sat down, and then stood up and went over and handed the baby to Grandma. I never know when “the flood” is going to begin, but that started the wave of homesickness and the tears. I remember when Hunter was blessed, and after the blessing Zack sat down and then they turned around and handed Hunter to me . . .deja vu. We sure do miss the kids, oh yes, and their parents too. J Sundays are the best, because we get to Facetime with them all.

We love and miss the rest of the family and our friends too! We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve, and for our safety and protection. We appreciate your prayers for us, and pray for you too.