Hello 2012

 On Sunday, New Years Day we spent the afternoon at the visitors center, it was slow and so when one of the cute sister missionaries asked us if we would like to go with her to the ward next door while she gave a talk in their sacrament meeting, we jumped at the chance.  It was sister Allen from Gilbert, who I just love and want to adopt her into our family.  She is amazing and her talk was so wonderful.  This ward is made up of  the couples that work in the temple..so there are no children, no primary or young men or young women in their ward.. I think I like being in wards that have a variety of families.. but it was fun to see a lot of the people that we work with in the temple each Wednesday.

Sister Allen from Gilbert

            It was really good to be back to our regular schedule this week, after spending the month of December at the Visitor's center most of the time.. We had a great week and are very happy that we are finally getting over our colds.. I guess when you are in the midst of the crowds that were at the visitors center, we caught it from one of those 90,000+ people that visited the center. 

            We had dinner at the home of the Gardeners on Tuesday. Janice is the RS secretary and her husband Dave is serving in the military as a "Watch".. he is responsible for keeping track of what is going on in the world on his watch, by looking at news broadcasts from all over the world.  They have 3 boys still at home and 2 grown sons that are in Colorado.  They also invited the missionaries to dinner and we had a great time. 

            We have been asked to be a part of the committee for the evening Relief Society meeting once a month. Sister Brown and I are in charge of the tasting table.  We are putting together a recipe book and adding recipes each month with the food we are highlighting in the tasting.. for the month of January we are preparing a tasting using the refried beans from the cannery and giving the sisters 5 other recipes using refried beans that they can fix for their families.

            It is so fun to visit with sisters that we don't really know and get to know them better. 

• Elsie is a  single senior sister who we love to visit, she is the one who is a Washington Redskins fan to the max.  She is really a delight to sit and talk with, she has wonderful stories to share about her life.  Her husband was a weatherman when he was living and they have lived in the area for most of her life.
• Ethyl is one of our favorite senior sisters to visit.. she is the one who was the high school Chemistry teacher and she is just a hoot..
• Carol is one we have been trying to visit for a while and she has been under the weather each time we called, so we were happy that she invited us to come over and see her.  She is a crafter and scrapbooker and grandmother.  Her husband is an aeronautical engineer in the military.
• Jane asked us if we needed any dishes and gave us two sets of very nice white on white dinnerware that she no longer needed.  We were excited to go over and get it since our dish situation was poor.. so now we are feeling pretty up-town with all matching dishes.. You all should come over to dinner..  Jane is the mom to 5 kids, two are married and each have one child, she has a 21 year old, an 18 year old and a 14 year old.  We had a wonderful visit with her.. She is in the card group we go to, but we really didn't know her that well and she is now one of our best friends.. Her husband is in the Army and is sent all over the world to diffuse different kinds of bombs.
• Lucille was our next visit and we were just inspired to go visit her and get to know her. She is very quiet at church and we knew we wanted to get to know her better.  We met with her and her husband and had a wonderful visit.  It is so wonderful when you are with people outside of church and can get to know them in their own settings and find out just how special they really are.
• Our last visit this week was with our cute Stephanie, the young wife who just returned from deployment.  She is now enrolled in college again and taking a physics  class.. What a smart young woman and so dedicated to working hard getting her masters.  She is the one who when deployed in Afghanistan repaired all the medical equipment.  Her husband Arik was also there for our visit.  He is in the Navy and protects the president.  We have really adopted them as both of their families are back in Utah..

         Sister Brown has been drafted as the seamstress of the ward and has been mending the missionaries pants and even altered a couple dresses for a sister in the ward.

            Thursday evening was the Relief Society activity for 1st ward.. It was taught by Elizabeth and was a very fun evening.. When we came in we had to write on thing we have on our "bucket list".. and then everyone had to try and guess who had written each thing.. Out lesson was on goals.. those goals that we make daily or weekly or yearly and the different "buckets" in our lives;  our goal bucket, our love bucket, our should bucket.. Elizabeth also read Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8  "For everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven". . . . .  which reminds us that each of us have different goals and different needs in our lives at various times and no ones needs are the same.. what is right for me at this time in my life is just that.. it is right for me, and what is right for someone else is right for them. 

            I am looking forward to next week, every day is booked with fun things and I know I will have a lot to share next weekend with all of you.