Week 50B Dec. 21-27
We’ll be home for Christmas, but only in our dreams!
Preaching: We've been thinking about Karen’s graduation. She has one every other month for the program she is in. The ladies all get to pick new clothes, and get their hair and nails done. Karen always looks so beautiful. She always wears a long skirt and a modest blouse. The other women seem to think that beauty is having low, skin tight, dresses on that are two or three sizes too small. There is such a contrast. We know that modesty is what Christ and our Heavenly Father approve of. It reminds us of John Bytheway’s tape when he quoted a Young Woman, “I want to be good, but not that good.” We have had lessons on “keeping a summer home in worldly Babylon,” but the scriptures tell that Lot’s wife was turned to salt, because she looked back at her previous life longingly. Christ wants us back, but He wants us back clean and pure. Our sacrament meeting was on setting spiritual goals, and it takes effort to stand for truth and righteousness!
Monday P-day? We have been looking forward to today. It is HUMP DAY plus the winter stolsice. We had several errands we had to run for some assignments we had. Joyce had a dentist appointment first thing in the morning so that got us going early,which was good. Staples had finished our copies for the English classes. Turned out they were more expensive than we thought. Hope it's okay with Sister Eaton. We then had to find calling cards for the two foreign missionaries in our zone. The place we were told to go was out of them so we went on a few wild goose catches that we were told had some. Finally, on our fourth stop we found some. We weren’t sure how much to buy, but we think we have it covered now. We did all this in pouring rain and all the Christmas shopper. We’ll just say Elder Knowles was really in the Christmas Spirt by the time we finished. We did make a stop at the mall for a little shopping for each other. Someone told us they may have calling cards there but not so, there were lots of people. In the evening we went to FHE and had a Christmas party there. It was lots of fun and helped calm us down a little after our fun day in the traffic and rain.
Tuesday Doctors Appointment: We should have gone to District meeting, but instead we spent most of the day with the Acosta’s at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. There was Estrella, Richelle, Reymark, Eldrex, and the two of us, so we had a car load. We had the route all worked out, then ran into construction with a detour. We drove around a bit but we made it and were only a little late. Going to the wrong building didn’t help. We are trying to get Eldrex some help so he can walk. We spent time in Physical Therapy, Radiology, Lab, Pharmacy and with a Neuro Nurse Practitioner for a neuro evaluation. We are going back in a month for a MRI and follow-up with the NP. They do have some ideas to help him like braces, a walker, a wheel chair and getting him into school. On the way home we stopped for some lunch. Reymark thinks he is dying when he hasn’t eaten. At 4:30 we had an appointment to teach with Skyway B but she was not feeling well and had to reschedule for next week. The ARP class only had person ( plus the Elder Sister who always support us) and the one person hadn’t seen all the videos, on the 12 step program that the church has, so we watched those instead of reading a step. The rain is back tonight.
Wednesday Mission Devotional: We should have gone to Northwest Harvest, but we needed to take Joyce Johnson to Auburn so she could shop for Eric. Things are not going well in their marriage so we are trying to help her a little. The morning was the only time we could help her today, so we missed the service project. After shopping for a few hours she couldn’t find anything for Eric, but found some work clothes (scrubs because she works at the nursing home we went caroling to) for herself, so the trip was kind of a bust. At 1:00 the Renton Zone met at the Renton Nursing Home and we sang Christmas Carols. Sister Chamberlain had her chimes. She taught the missionaries how to use them for the song, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” It turned out to be beautiful, plus we sang lots of other carols to get us all in the Christmas Spirit We have one member there that we wanted to sing to, but her roommate wouldn’t let us. After the nursing home we all met at the Kent Stake Center for treats and a mission devotional with three other zones. We got to see Elder Bohne, Synder and Sister Lucky. They are some of our favorites, but were not supposed to have favorites. The Renton Zone did get to play the chimes and sing again; and Pres. Eaton sang a solo. We are pretty positive there isn’t anything he can’t do. Several of the missionaries preformed. There is lots of good musical talent in the mission, including violins, flutes, yukelale, piano and singing. President Eaton talked about the hard work that is being done and praised all the Elders on bikes. This December has been the wettest on record and it's raining still. And it’s still cold. Sister Eaton showed a clip from a BYU devotional. It was about the debt paid for those in debtors prison by Handel, after a presentation of the Messiah. She likened it to our debt the Savior has paid for each of us. It was food for thought, an excellent presentation for this Christmas Season! We had the Elder Sisters with us so after taking them home we ran to Wal-Mart for a few things for dinner tomorrow and on Christmas. Several of the missionaries are coming over to eat and use the computer to call home. We also had a good mail day, four packages, and lots of cards, thank you everyone very much.
Thursday Christmas Eve: We finally had a good enough day with the weather to take Sister Fabon the bed we have had in our dining room for a month. She wanted it last week but is has been raining when we had time to move it. It’s done now! We forgot to give Elder Palo a phone card, yesterday, so he could call home tonight, so we made a trip to his area and took him and Elder Samuels to lunch. We had Karen, Skyway B and the Elder Sisters over for dinner at 5:00 for taco salads, so the rest of the afternoon was spent getting ready. Elder Jaio called his dad on our phone (we couldn’t get the calling card to work), then, he skyped his mother. Elder Jaio and Palo called home Christmas Eve because of the time difference. Sister Eaton had asked us to make sure the foreign missionaries had a way to call home. Elder Hiseta made his own arrangements, so they were all taken care of. While Elder Jaio talked, the rest of us played uno and tenzie. It was a fun night and a few of the kids even called. The rain is back also.
Friday Christmas: We got up fairly early even though there were no kids around. We needed to get the turkey in the oven, with the dressing, and it is Christmas, so why stay in bed? All the kids faced timed and we were able to see them open a few presents and play with their new toys. You’ve got to love face time. We opened up what was left of our presents. Joyce had already opened most of them, she has a hard time waiting. The Elder Sisters came over early and helped get things ready for dinner. Art wanted to stay in his PJs all day but Joyce wouldn’t let him. Karen came early also and we played a few games, (Uno, Bananagram, Rummy Cube and Five Crowns), while waiting for the elders. Skyway A (the Zone Leaders, that’s why Art needed to get dressed) came around 4:00 and made their calls home on the computer and the i pad, and we ate and played more games until everyone went home. We played the present game, which we forgot to play before the elders left. We’ll catch them at church on Sunday. We had a very fun day for being away from home. It’s nice to have friends wherever you are. The Elder Sisters gave us a couple of books we have wanted to buy. One ( President Eyrings biography) is by President Eaton and they had him sign it, so that was very special for us. We did get a little bad news. One of our favorite missionaries is going home early on Monday.
Saturday: It was kind of a catch up day. Joyce wrote thank-you notes, hemmed a skirt for Estrella Acosta (thanks to AnJ) plus worked on her Primary lesson and Art worked on his two lessons for tomorrow; and he is still trying to learn the new computer. He has lost some things on it and doesn’t know how to find them. We did take Karen to Seward Park and walked around it. There wasn’t any rain, just very cloudy, so a nice walk to work off all the calories from yesterday. The weather is judged by how well you can see Mount Rainier. Walking gives Karen a chance to visit with Joyce. Art walks behind them so they can visit.
Sunday: We started the day as usual, with Joyce making all the phone calls to see if anyone wants a ride to church. Mary Hurley wanted a ride. She hasn’t been to church for a long time so that was nice. The rain is back today so with Mary it means standing out in the rain a lot loading and unloading her wheel chair. Everyone else said no about needing a ride, a lot of sickness going around. Church went well. In Skyway there had been a drive by shooting so the road was blocked and they detoured the traffic. It was about three blocks from the church. Kind of a normal occurrence around here but it has been a quiet winter so far. Art taught Sunday School and the High Priest and Joyce taught her Primary class, with two of the older Acosta’s joining. After church we took Ruth and Rubi home along with Mary. Casey Smith came over and went over the ward list with us. He has just been called as a counselor in the Elders Quorum. It has been nice to have a slow day since next week is very busy. And we have enjoyed all the cards and phone calls. Thanks to you all for remembering us.
Love Art and Joyce
Merry Christmas. Sounds like you had a busy week. Good luck with the computer.
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