Winter wonders

So it's January, and we are having the best winter of our lives!  Yes, folks, we are free from cold, ice, snow and smog.  Sorry to brag, but can't help myself!  We got down to the beach again this week, after taking a break (hehe) of a couple of months.

It was a little chilly, but as you can see, the skies were blue and the ocean beautiful.  And there were hardly any other people there.  It was a very relaxing afternoon.

I take a walk every morning, and thought I would share some of the beautiful flowers I see every day.  I have to pinch myself when I see flowers that are annuals in SLC blooming away all winter.  And the trees and bulbs have started to bloom here as well. 

You can see why so many people live here.  They come for a visit and can't make themselves go back to the cold (or hot, for that matter) of their previous lives.  But not to worry, we are not thinking of becoming transplants.  The traffic and the high cost of living, as well as being away from all of you are just some of the reasons why we will happily return home in a few short months.

We got to attend a fireside with Alex Boye last Sunday.  He is a very dynamic speaker, and very fun to listen to.  He tells how he was a poor, sometimes homeless black kid in London, without much family around, who had terrible nightmares about death that were very disturbing.  When he took time to listen to some "fine" American sister missionaries and heard them talk about life after death, it struck a cord, and he was converted.  He has dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel through his music.  His talk was more like hearing a Southern Baptist minister, with lots of fire and brimstone thrown in, but it was fun.  He packed the church building, with about 3,000 people in attendance.  The mid-singles held a dinner for around 500 of those people before the fireside, and that was really quite a feat.  What a night!

You can just barely see him in the middle of that group.  Those kids are members of "Zion's Choir", a local group comprised of High School kids in the Saratoga area.  They are a very polished choir and provided prelude music for the fireside.  I couldn't get any closer for that snapshot, there were too many people trying to take pictures.

That's about it for news.  We still go out the door every day, trying to meet with single adults.  We have been encouraging YSA to make the leap to MSA, and have helped two people decide to do so.  The rest are avoiding us!  But that's missionary work.

We were sorry to hear about Kaiser.  He was a very sweet dog, and I'm sure he is missed.  Hope the Shipleys are doing okay.

Let us know what is new with all of you.  We'd love to hear.

Pocket Party Fun

Where are the pictures??

January slump

It's been almost a month since my last blog.  I guess I'll attribute it to "January slump".  There hasn't been a lot going on for us, mainly because our car has been in the shop (more about that later), but I look over my last post and realize I haven't said much about what we did for Christmas.   It seems like ancient history, but it was very fun, so here goes.

Christmas Eve we went to the Bowman's home, where we had a delicious dinner.  Their grandchildren were there and put on a lovely Christmas pageant. The oldest daughter, Anna, was the angel, and she sang the Christmas story.  She was very poised, and has a sweet voice.  She is 12.

Actually, she's not the oldest.  The gal playing the flute is.  And the younger children each had a role.  The little Mary took her role very seriously, and rocked and gazed at her baby the whole time.  It was so much fun, and brought a great spirit into our Christmas.

I should have started out with the breakfast we helped prepare for the 300 missionaries.  It was amazing.  We started at 6:30 am and helped fix pancakes, sausages, sweet rolls, fruit salad, eggs and drinks for them.  Then they put on a talent show, which was wonderful.  We then had a gift exchange with our zone.  We were supposed to buy something for under $5 to exchange, and you could take someone else's gift. Most of what was brought was dollar store toys, and I was surprised at how much they liked them.  Goes to show they are still kids!  But one set of sisters brought a reindeer towel that someone in the ward had given them, and that's what I wanted.  I think it is so cute, and I want to copy the idea next year.

 Elder and Sister Layton and sister missionaries

 Some of the Elders we have worked with

 The mission president and his sons

 The Tongan Elders singing

 This is the Elder I stole the towel reindeer from

Our mission president and his wife gave us the fruit bowl, and Dad got the can of fake Spam.  It was very fun.

Christmas Day we had a great brunch with a ward family.  People are so generous.  They gave us 2 gift cards, one for a pound of See's Chocolates, and another for a local restaurant.  Haven't gotten the chocolates yet; still trying to take off the 5 pounds we gained over the holidays! We had a nice Christmas dinner that evening with another senior couple, got to talk to most of you, and made it through what could have been a tough day, but wasn't.

So about our car.  We couldn't get it in to be serviced until after Christmas, so continued to drive it around a little, but didn't do much actual missionary work. When we finally found a shop that was open that next week, we left it with them and got a rental.  When they called us with the damage report, we nearly fainted.  The root ball we had run over had tore up the whole underneath of the car.  They ended up replacing the muffler and tailpipe, the catalytic converter, the fuel tank, a tie bar, the hood, the antenna and side view mirror and a head light.  $8,000!  We shouldn't have been driving it at all, and are more amazed than ever that we weren't hurt in the accident.  But now we have it back, so are back on the job and happy to be alive!

Last week we were in charge of feeding another 100 missionaries for their monthly leadership meeting.  So we made them Sloppy Joes, a fruit salad and veggie tray, chips and cookies for dessert.  Another couple helped out, but it kept us busy all week.  We enjoyed it, and have volunteered to do it for the next few leadership days.  Might as well stay busy, right?

We then had a meeting with 3 general authorities from SLC; Elder Cook of the Twelve, Elder Nielsen of the 70 and Bishop Causse of the Presiding Bishopric.  It was wonderful.  They spoke and took questions from the missionaries for 3 hours.  Then Elder Nielsen came to a special meeting in our Stake the next day and talked.  We got to shake hands with them at the Saturday meeting.  This is the second time we have seen an apostle since we have been out here, and the third time for 70s. We interact more with general authorities here than at home.  It's amazing.

I have to tell you a story that we heard in the special Sunday meeting, told by our Stake Relief Society President.  She went to LA to visit a daughter, and the bishop was talking about overcoming challenges.  He lost the lower part of one of his legs when he was a little boy, and wore a prosthetic leg from then on.  His parents told him he could do anything he wanted, and got him involved in sports, etc.  When he was about 12, he was playing baseball.  He never had any trouble hitting the ball, but running the bases was always a challenge.  On this day, he hit the ball, and knew it could be a homerun if he could make it around the bases fast enough, so he took off and ran as hard as he could.  Between second and third, his prosthetic leg broke, he fell, and was called out.  When he got up, he looked around for his leg.  It had gone flying and had landed on third base!  He thought, "shouldn't I be counted safe?  My foot is on the bag!".  Not!  Funny story, huh?

We got a great letter from Abby.  We loved the envelope where she wrote the addresses all by herself.  Her mom lovingly let her, but wisely put the letter and envelope in one the post office could read, but we have saved both.

We went to dinner in the little town of Gilroy, at a Mexican restaurant the missionaries recommended.  It was very good; the menu was in Spanish, and there were lots of Mexicans eating there.  They even had a mariachi band.

Not a very good picture, but if I had asked them to pose, I would have had to pay them!  They were right in front of our table, and it was loud, but a fun experience.

We get to attend a concert by Alex Boye on Saturday, so are looking forward to that.  We have been visiting members of the Young Single Adult ward who are over 31 to try and get them to join our ward, as they have aged out.  That's been interesting.  They are pretty touchy about it.  The bishops and Stake President have been slow to deal with the issue, so have asked us to.  Hmmm. Wish us luck with that! 

We haven't gone site seeing for awhile, but hope to next week.  We are excited for Tracy to come see us in March.  We will take a few days off to spend with her and show her around.

January is half over!  Yay!  I can't say it's been too bad, with temperatures in the 60s during the day, but it still feels like winter.
We're getting spoiled, for sure.  Next winter will be a shock.

Hope to hear from everyone, as always.  You know we love you and miss you, but time is flying.  We're half way done.  Can't believe it.  Be safe and stay warm!