I believe my last time here was on Monday as I told you about our new missionary/airport experience.

Tuesday was transfer day. What a day that is! Whew! Missionaries begin arriving between 7 and 7:30am. These are the close ones. There is a big bus down at the stake center which is just down the hill from the office. So we go down. The bus is already loaded with all the new kids bedding, several bikes, luggage, etc. It goes on the bus the night before. As new arrivals come, their luggage is put on the bus if they are going somewhere new. A lot of members bring the missionaries in and load their luggage in their trucks, cars, etc.

This is Sister Hafen and Sister Maxfield. Maxfield is leaving so they are showing their sad faces. She is a sweetie. I don't know anyone who always has a smile or such a pleasant look on their face as she does. Gosh, it is awful saying goodbye to these kids.

This is Elder Gallegoes. He has been out in the field so we haven't had a chance to know him until today. He actually graduated from Alta High School in SLC. His parents moved to Boise his senior year, but allowed him to live with his uncle I believe, to finish school. He did not know that his dad was a member of the church until he joined at the age of 17. Had wonderful friends that brought him in and he is really converted. And I guess he left from Boise, because his friends were quite surprised to hear about him going on a mission. Now he is going home to Boise. He was asking us if his friends could come to the airport in SLC and just say hi during his 1 hour layover. We told it would be pretty hard to leave security and then get back in to catch his next plane. He felt bad.

Whoops! Two pics the same! Delete, how do you do it?

This is Elder Williams and Elder Ale. Williams is not going home, and even though he is not living real close, we have become a little better acquainted with him since he was in on chasing that Elder who lost it, and I tell you, he is one you would want on your team. He is big and strong. But we just seem to bump up against him now and then with things that have happened in the mission. He is a big guy, but so sweet. Sort of one that you would call a teddy bear. The kind I would like to hug!

Elder Ale is gone now. We are going to miss him. Back in Hawaii he is. I was glad he got out of here when he did. The kids all left on the 23rd and the snow came on the 24th. Ale has been a wonderful missionary and everyone loves him. All of these young elders are amazing boys/men. There is one elder here who we think is about 16 years old. It is amazing how young some of them look. But do they ever grow up on the mission. Boys to Men it is.

So the bus takes off about 8:30 with kids that are going out to different places and then those in the far out areas meet the bus on its rounds and either get on to come back here or meet their new companion. It makes a huge circle down south and west and gets back here at about 6pm. It is quite a process. I had to smile a while ago when Janae told me that her mission was 25 miles in area. I don't know what ours is, but it takes 3 1/2 hours for us to drive to Derby and there are towns even further out than that. Just out in the countryside of Kansas. It is a big mission area wise. I think I have heard it is one of the very largest. Almost 200 missionaries, 66 cars, and lots of wide open corn fields.

This is Sister Miller in the office. She lives across the hall from us and is in charge of finances for the mission. She posts all the missionaries $150 on their JPMorgan cards each month, so they don't forget her name. She also forwards all the mail to them each day. But she gets flustered very easily. We have just changed over to the new IMOS program with our computers and she has had a hard time learning it. And then when the mailman arrives, she sighs and says, oh no. What to do with all the mail. I love it when the mailman arrives. It is fun to get their mail sent out. And she gets it done every day, just likes to complain about it I guess. Notice some boxes sitting at the left side of her desk.

This is another area, where Sister Williams sits and it is full of boxes too.

And even more boxes!

And more boxes! They have been everywhere and this was after transfers and a lot were taken away. So this pm the Stutz's came over from the Employment Office to see if they could help. They actually loaded the dolly several times and put the boxes in their truck to take to the PO. When they got there the PO said they could not forward them for us. The post master said he didn't know how we had been doing it for this long, but they could no longer forward them after we had received them. Made sense to me, but other office workers were all upset. What to do. Why can't people send the packages directly to the missionaries? They will probably have to now. And then if they move, it will catch up to them somday. We even have four packages for Elder Garrett Hadley sitting in our living room. Too much to tell you how they got here. But Garrett Hadley really threw us the first time we saw that name in the file because it read:

HADLEY,

Garrett

Well, the whole package scene was overwhelming to some, but quite exciting for others. We as the seniors were going to deliver some packages to missionaries that lived close, but the storm really hit about 3pm and we decided against it, so some kids will get their packages in a week hopefully. Some of that should be blamed on families who sent them. How do you expect a missionary to receive his Christmas package if it arrives on the 24th!

So Christmas Eve was snowy and Dad and I were alone thinking of all of you! Kids and grandkids and parent and siblings, etc. Wondering what you all were doing. We watched a movie called, The Homecoming. It was an older movie about 4 kids whose mother left them and they were trying to find their grandmother who they did not know. It was sad and happy and good.

When we got up in the morning we discovered that it had snowed most of the night.

These are some of the cars as you looked out the front door. The plow had been through our parking lot. Our landlord really keeps it as clean as he can around here. Doesn't want us old folks slipping on the ice and snow.

At 7am we learned that our 8am Christmas breakfast at the VC was cancelled due to the snow. So guess what--one of the advantages of living in a complex where all are missionaries--we all went upstairs and ate the food that we had prepared to take to the VC. It turned out great. We had fruit bowls, an egg quiche, Russian Tea that I made and everyone loved, bacon, and Rhodes cinnamon rolls that I got up at 3am to bake since I had taken them out of the freezer and they were ready to bake. They are pretty good! I will buy them again.

That evening the Stutz came over and brought turkey and yummy roasted potatoes, and I did a vege, bread and a dessert. The couple just above us, the Waldrons, came down too. Their mission is to take care of the grounds at Far West, Adam-on-Di---, we call it AOA. We have a hard time saying it, let alone spelling it. They also prune trees, plant flowers, and move snow! So Christmas day they were moving a lot of snow from the parking lot at the office and at the stake center, etc. Anyway, they came down and the six of us ate and then played games. It was a fun evening.

So Christmas was very different for us this year, but it was good. We didn't to any shopping and that was very good. It is good to have a slightly different experience. We did receive some fun packages from you all and that made it very nice. I will take some pics and show you how our little place has become a lot more cozy. I love it. Thank you all.

On Saturday we were going to meet the Stutz's and tour a mansion that is here.

This is Dad out cleaning the car off. They were trying to get all the cars out so the plow could get all the snow off to the end of the lot. And do you know, I did not hear one word of complaint. He couldn't get in his door or the trunk. They were frozen solid. So he got in the passenger door and started the car, pulled the back seats down so a little warm air would hopefully go back to the trunk and thaw it out. Finally the doors opened.

We went on the tour and it was amazing. An old mansion that some wealthy people built. I loved it. How I would love to raise a family in that old home.

This is Independence Hall downtown and just a pic of the snow piled up. They really don't know how to handle all this snow. They usually don't get this much snow all at once. Only major streets get plowed and there were cars stuck in snowbanks all over. Cars sliding all around. On the TV it kept showing that most of the churches were cancelled on Sunday. Not the Mormons though!

So back to the office tomorrow and sorting through packages again to see who will be coming to the zone leaders meeting on Tuesday and what packages can they take back. We again will be prepared for whatever may happen. Like I have said before, something new every week. It is great to be working with these missionaries. They are so appreciative of everything that you do. They call for rides to church or I sew up a seam in their suits and they can't thank you enough. They are great.

ALL IS WELL and we love, love, love you all.