Can't believe that it has been a week again since I sat here and put something in.
It seems that the time is going 'quickly slow'. Don't ask me what that means, except that when Monday gets here it feels like oh, no, another new week. But then the days pass quickly and it is the weekend again and we try and get a lot done on the weekend.

This is a pic of the sun going down at 5pm in the west as we left the office one day last week. We don't have real spectacular sunrises or sunsets. Appreciate and enjoy what you have.



Then surprise! As we looked to the east there was the moon already up. We have had a lot of overcast days lately. Just low clouds that never leave.

Dad got a call from one of the sisters last week saying that she had passed all the requirements and was now at 5 and that means she was ready to drive. OK. We need drivers. So the next step is to give her papers to the President to sign and Dad signs them and she can now drive. Well, he looked in the file for her papers and could not find them. He looked in a couple other places and no luck. So I went over and we looked through the whole drawer for her name. We cleaned out a lot of kids that had gone home, but never did find hers. Still lost.

But the interesting one that we came upon is shown below.

I read HADLEY Garrett and looked at Dad. It was just so surprising. So we have Hadley Garrett or is that Garrett Hadley in our mission! It will be hard to call him the right name. Guess it is good that all missionaries have the same first name, ELDER! We won't be confused.

On Saturday night about 9:45pm, Dad had a call from Elder Ale (pronounced ALL-E). He quite apologetically asked if we could take him to a baptism on Sunday. It was about an hour away and he really wanted to go, but had no way to get there. Dad said sure, when do we leave. We all attend the same ward, so we just went to church and left at 2:45 to go to Paola for the baptism. Elder Ale is one that I would like to put in my suitcase and bring home. We just love him. He is Samoan and lives in Hawaii. Born there and when he was in jr. high, the family moved to West Valley, then went back to Hawaii for a funeral, but then moved back to West Valley, went back for another funeral and stayed in Hawaii. At that point, Dad left the family and doesn't have a lot to do with them. Five kids and the oldest boy kind of took over as the dad and worked to help his mom take care of the kids. Kids were all a year apart and finally when the fifth was nearly out of high school, decided he could now go on a mission. So he and Ale left at the same time. He to New Zealand and Ale to Independence. They were due to arrive home the same week, but New Zealand's visa expired so he went home last week. Our Ale leaves on the 23rd.

Anyway, we heard a lot about him and then he told us that where we were going, he had served for 7 months. The person being baptized was in her 30ties and had been married in the temple and had three boys and her husband left her. Then she was excommunicated. She married again a little over a year ago and now had a little girl and her new husband is investigating the church. He had worked with this person a lot and really identified with her because I guess a lot of the same kind of things happened to him as a child.

As we got closer, he said, Sister Linde, I am so happy and excited that I am shaking. He thanked us over and over for taking him. We got there and the family was there. The three little boys sort of hung on him. Next thing I notice is that the middle child has Ale's overcoat on. And Ale never takes it off. He is always cold and has not really become accustomed to the cold around here.

He kept the coat on all evening. At one point he started to take it off and Ale said to him, No, that is your coat now. You can have it for your mission. I was sitting next to him and he told me he was seven, but on August 24th he would be 8 and would be baptized. Oh, it was sweet.

On the way home, Ale said many times to us, that this was the happiest day of his mission. And he really meant it. He said, she is the reason I came to this mission. He just could not get over the joy he felt and the wonderful feelings he had seeing this lady come back into the church. Gosh, and to think that we were able to share in that day with him. It was such a special experience for us.

And now look at us. 42 years later. We left work and went to Olive Garden to have dinner. I told Dad that I had never seen him dressed for dinner like he was tonight. And his hair! Can you see that he is wearing it a little longer? I told him he looks quite distinguished. And when he puts that long, black, overcoat on, well, it is amazing! He looks quite important, or famous, or something more than I have ever known.

We have now lived 2/3rds of our lives together. Sounds crazy, I know, but it is true. He asked me today if I wanted to try for another 42!