The Missionary Era Comes to an End

The outside of the door had at least one picture of each companionship.

Elder Brass Knuckles called to thank us for housing the missionaries and let us know that they would not be needing our home to house them any longer. The number of missionaries coming in is far less than before and they have combined some areas. Our area has been combined with another area.


Elder Midgley came to the house to take away all of the missionary books, tracts, magazines, videos, and etc. He took the bunk beds and the mattresses, too. I threw away tons of wire hangers brought here by the sisters. The room is now lonesome....missing the happy chatter of Sister missionaries.


I am a little sad, but I am looking forward to having my house all to myself again (and getting my bathroom back!). Housing the missionaries is like having company for several years. It is wonderful, but privacy is lacking. I will now look forward to the day that Mike and I go on a "Seniors" mission. I love the Savior, the restored gospel, and I want to do all I can to further the Kingdom of God.  It has blessed my life beyond my grandest dreams.


Many thanks to all of the Hermana's who have lived here. I have learned things from each of you. Please come back "home" to visit us. You are welcome any time. I know Heavenly Father will bless each of you for the time and effort you put into His service. God Bless You....until we meet again!

Moving Day

 The night before moving day --  

even missionaries like a little girl talk.

 I am loosing my "dish fairy."
Hermana Catfish was the one missionary that assigned herself
a regular job in our home.  From the first day she arrived
almost every morning (before I got up)
she unloaded the clean dishwasher and put the dishes away
for me. Thank You Hermana Catfish! 

 The Sisters were trying to arrange everything in the trunk.....

 Our newest missionary seemed a little nervous
about this crazy transfer....
I thought she would be staying here for at least
another 6 weeks.

 Hermana Catfish played some hymns to calm their nerves....

My ears will miss these fingers.

 Hermana Waltee gave me her home email address before she left.

 I think transfers are harder when

they don't know who their new companions will be or where

they are going.
 

 Good bye Hermanas....

Don't let the bed bugs bite!   ;)

I will miss you!

 The car was packed to the gills....as usual.

The Sister's went to the transfer point. Then Hermana Catfish called to tell me

there were no new missionaries coming to take their places.

 In the past 27 months there have been 17 sister missionaries

assigned to live with us. We have had at least 7 temporary

or exchange missionaries, too. Housing the missionaries has given me an

increased awareness of the diverseness of the human race. The sisters were each

so different.... but I learned the principles that the gospel teaches enable us to live

together in peace and harmony...even with complete strangers.

Tomorrow I am going to do some mighty big deep cleaning in that room!

We may have Elders moving in at some point in the future. 

"Doubled Out"

 Something unusual has happened.

This time at transfers instead of getting the calls on

Saturday night, finding out who the new companions would be,

and then transferring the next Tuesday....

 

The calls did not go out to any of the missionaries until today 

(Monday/P-day) at 10 p.m.

A number of the missionaries are being "doubled out."

It is like there is a disturbance in the force. 

This will be Sister Catfish's and Sister Waltee's last night here.

I am not sure what will be happening tomorrow.
They will not find out where they are going or who their companions will be
until they get to transfers. They both have to pack their bags tonight.

I don't know if we will get new missionaries or not.
They said they would call me tomorrow once they got to transfers.

I don't know if the revolving door is moving...
 or if it's stuck.
No one has told us anything.

It feels funny.

Halloween Hermanas!

(Happy Halloween 9 days late)

On Halloween, the mission asked the missionaries to stay in

for the night. Their district had a little devotional at the church. Afterwards they

had refreshments and played some games.

The Hermana's baked and decorated some cupcakes for the activity.

They did this while I was gone to work, but they

were nice enough to take pictures with my camera

so I could post about Halloween.

They did a fantastic job of decorating the cupcakes!

They had fun!

I was here when they were leaving for the activity.

Goodbye Sister Catfish and Sister Waltee!

This is Sister Waltee's first Halloween on the mission

and Sister Catfish's last Halloween on the mission.

They are full of energy!

Down Time

 The Hermanas were very excited yesterday.

One of the Elders hit a car with his bike and he was injured.

The Hermanas gave the Elders their car to use while

he recovered. They were excited to do service for them.

 

 They got a bike from some of the other Sister missionaries.

They were all excited to fix the bike and have a few days

of riding around to do their missionary work.

 

 Unfortunately, some of the other Elders decided to give

them their car for the rest of the week, so they

never got to ride the bikes.

 

 The Hermana's were studying in the living room yesterday

morning, so I took their picture.

 

 They are always worried about pictures when they haven't

fixed up for the day. I tell them they look beautiful all the time.

 

 This afternoon.....Sister Waltee is eating her lunch

of Ramen noodles and broccoli.

 

Sister Cat Fish is practicing the piano.

The weather is nice here for a change.

They are loving it!

Conference

 The Hermana's rode to church with us today.

They were trying to save the miles allotted

on their car.

 

 We snapped a few pictures before taking off for the day.

 

 Most people these days watch conference at home

on their TV or on the computer, but we like to

watch conference at church so we can watch
the things they show between the sessions.
You can see the Hermana's were paying good attention.
 

 I usually take lunch. Sometimes I take a "fancy sandwich"

and bake it there. It only takes 15 minutes.

They are delicious. We shared....

 

 The Elders and the Hermanas talked in the kitchen

while they ate their lunches. The zone leaders

took enough lunch for the Sisters, too.

 

 Smile!

 

 They cleaned up the kitchen after they ate.

 

 Second session of Conference.

All of the talks were so good!

 The Hermana's -- full of the Spirit!

 

And one more thing....I forgot to post this picture

that was taken LAST Sunday when Sister

Waltee and I discovered (at the end of the day)

that we had accidentally dressed alike.

Incentives

 The Elders/Zone Leaders recently decided to give incentives

to missionaries that accomplished set goals.

 

 The Hermana's met their goals...

 

 so they got this showy, glittery, gaudy,

trophy!

 

 Apparently it was even showier, glitterier, and gaudier

before the loving-cup on top was broken off by the Elders
that had the trophy last week.

 

After many poses with the trophy, they decided

they should put up only one finger...

meaning "We're number 1!" 

They were giving the peace sign in the first

picture, and didn't want anyone misinterpreting it

to mean that they thought they were number 2!

 

(They said they thought the trophy was actually something

that was probably being tossed into the garbage by someone.

It is just something fun to keep the missionaries' spirits up.)

 

The real incentives for teaching the gospel truths

are not measured by anything as silly as this trophy.

The real incentive is the satisfaction of knowing they

did something good for somebody else....

which makes them happy, joyful, and gladly!  

Hermana Padlock RETURNS!!

 Hermana Padlock is now a Sister Training Leader.

She was able to "come home" to her first mission house today.

She is spending 24 hours here (or close to it) while Sister
Waltee is spending the day in her area. They are on "exchanges."

Of course, very, very little of that time has been spent here.

The Hermana's were out working all day.

They took this "selfie" of themselves for my blog

because I wasn't at home when they arrived.

 

 At 9:30 p.m. when they came back home,

we had a few minutes to talk about Hermana Padlock's

mission. She has done so well these past
almost 18 months. I am so proud of her!

It was over 100 degrees today and the missionaries

"felt the heat" because they were out knocking on doors

most of the day.

 

Our former "daughter" promised us she would come back to visit

after her mission.  I hope it really happens.

We are very fond of our sweet Sister Padlock.