12/23/2013

Dear Family and Friends                                                                    December 23, 2013

            This last week was very warm, by Thursday it was up in the high sixties. That night it started to rain. The weathermen predicted a soaking rain. It was a soaking rain. It poured down buckets. Roads were flooded, water was everywhere. The car got really washed. It had been getting quite dirty from all the sand that they had spread on the ice the week before.

            We had an half mission Christmas Conference this past week over beyond Memphis, Tennessee. We had training, which was pretty good. Then the Relief Society there fed us a good lunch (the only thing Mom could eat was the white rice.) then they had a missionary talent show. It was an all round good day. All missionaries got a mission tee-shirt, and some small gifts. We were told that during the next six months all the missionaries will be given an electronic device, to use in our missionary work. The gap between us and the new generation widens.

            The sister missionaries rode down with us. Now instead of having just mom screaming in my ear when I make a bad driving error, I have three ladies screaming. Actually it is more like three guardian angels, helping me get to where I need to go, safely. We told the sisters about little Douggie playing with miniature car and going “EEERCH   D-A-V-I-D,  EEERCH D-A-V-I-D” so now when I miss a turn or turn the wrong way the sisters say: “EEERCH D-A-V-I-D” When we got back from Memphis, the sisters which live next door moved out to the branch mission leaders home and the next day the elders from Piggott moved in. So now we have elders next door. On January 1^st the sister will move into another apartment complex.

            Yesterday we had wonderful branch meetings. We had over 85 people in attendance, and considering some families were gone for Christmas that was pretty good. We had members talk about Christmas in their families and that carried over into gospel principles class and we went around with each person telling something about what mean a lot to them about Christmas. After Church a girl that had been a foster child in a family had her adoption finalized last week so she was baptized and confirmed. Baptisms are usually a very spiritual meeting, and this one certainly was.

            We had the elders over for supper last night along with a single member, mom made turkey enchilada’s they were good like always. Then with the missionaries we delivered Christmas present to needy families in the branch, that the members had purchased.

            This afternoon we plan on driving over to Blytheville, AR to see the “Lights of the  Delta” display. It is suppose to be the biggest Christmas Light Show in the South, I guess it covers 40 acres of lights display. It cost $10 a car to drive through it. We invited another senior missionary couple to go through with us. They are new to the mission field and could use a little companionship I think.

            This is now Mom.  Dad needed his morning nap.  He hasn’t been feeling very well but could be that we are in several peoples homes and children going to school always bring home everything that is going around.  We have already been in a home where the youngest daughter was running a temp and then at the dinner table started to upchuck not a pretty sight.  I thought that the Sisters were going to join her at first but we decided that we did not want that so we left relatively soon after the dinner.

     This week the Sisters are without a car so we are their transportation.  Next week it will be the Elders.  Because Elder and Sister Hansen have a car that no one gets to use we become the taxi service.  I usually don’t mind when they have a set appointment but when they don’t we are driving around so they can try to think of someone to visit and it is after dark it is a little irritating.  It gets dark very early and then it is almost impossible to find addresses.

     We are teaching and reading the Book of Mormon to a lady who is a live in companion to an older less active man.  Bro. Dunn wants to marry Judy legally and they have plans to do so on Jan. 4^th.  If she doesn’t chicken out, when we were there Sat. she said that she was getting cold feet and wasn’t sure that this was really something that she wants to do.  Right now she is his common law wife but she cannot be baptized until they are married.  She has been taught by the missionaries but when she wouldn’t commit to be baptized they left.  So we arrived at the right time because now she is getting ready to be married and then a little later she will be baptized.  She told us that she now wants to be baptized.  She has a hard time reading the small print of the Book of Mormon so we read it to her about 6 chapters at a time.

     With Elders in Paragould it is getting a little harder to separate out the area that each of us work in.  Because we go all over the city and surrounding towns we cross over even the Sisters at times.  The Sisters want separate areas that we work in but that is not our calling so right now it is more difficult but I’m sure when we leave in three months that will all smooth out.

     We sleep missionary, we eat missionary, we think missionary, we work missionary so at times thinking anything else is hard to do.  I’m thinking that when we come home we will still be in the missionary thought pattern for awhile.

     Well we need to close and I need to do more house cleaning before we leave for Blytheville. So my dears have a wonderful Christmas and remember that Christ is the reason.  Enjoy your New Year as you think of changes or anything else because you can now have a new beginning.

                                                         LOVE

                                                Mom and Dad

                                               Grammy and Papa

                                               Elder and Sister Hansen