KATHY THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

Our weekly schedule includes rotating through the zones attending their meetings, attending a different ward or branch each Sunday, and visiting a different missionary house twice a week.   We have recently started going out with the missionaries after we check there house.  We go to work with them for an hour or two.   This work has become the highlight of our week.  And, believe it or not the missionaries love it. 

We went out contacting with one pair of our sister missionaries.   Sister Lopez and Sister Beckstrand (the Latinos can't say her name so they call her sister Becky).   It is hard to put into words how impressed we were with their work.   We knocked on two doors and the sisters talked their way in.   The family consisted of a middle aged lady and her mother.   The mother was in a wheel chair and here age is 94.   She can't here very well so her daughter has to yell in here ear.  The missionaries immediately showed their love to the elderly lady hugging her and trying to talk to her.  She likes singing, and as the missionaries always do they start with a hymn. The love and concern of these sisters filled the air, it was a wonderful experience.   And, as allways they got contact information and closed with prayer.  They knocked on another door, and this time it was a daughter taking care of here aged and invalid parents.   The pattern was the same with the same wonderful spirit.  However, We need to tell you about the old man.  He was sitting outside and then wanted to come in to visit with us.  He had a walker and it took him about 15 minutes to go 5 feet to another chair.  And with each step he let out a groan,  needless to say Gary did some reflective thinking about what we would be doing at that age, he is only 10 years older than us!

We will tell you about another visit after a few more comments.   

Thanksgiving was interesting.  One district of about 10 missionioneries talked a member into killing one his turkeys.  Of couse they videoed the kill, or muderer it, and then got the feathers and other things off and out and sent two missionaries to our house with the turkey in a bag.  The next morning we started to cook the turkey.  It had no breast what so ever!  We got a call from the leader missionary pleading for mashed potatoes.  Some how or another we bought potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed two pans of potatoes in about two hours.   We feed about 30 missionaries.  It probably was a miricle.

Schroder, our car, had an incident.  We checked traffic and turned right onto a road and immediately got side swiped.  The guy was traveling so fast that we didn't see him approaching.  We we have no idea what happens when you get in a wreck here.  So, Gary got out and we checked his very nice car.  It was only a scrape.  I checked Schroder, just another scrape of many.  So, Gary said to the driver "está bien" which means "it's good".  He agreed and drove off (we found out later that's what you do here if it is no fault).  We went to drive off and a man signaled to us that a part came off Schroder.   We took the part home.  When we got home, Gary placed the part in the front and it snapped in!  Schroder is amazing.

Ok, now, we went out with a pair of elders.  Elder Lopez and Elder Wilkes.  We drove the car up a road that went up a mountain.  When the road ran out, we got out of the car and we started to walk up a tiny trail through the jungle straight up a mountain!  The total climb was less than a hundred yards and it took us one hour to climb it.   We finally got to this house literally built right on the edge of the mountain.   Concrete walls, dirt floor, corrugated steel ceiling.  We taught two inactive women.  A middle aged women and a 16 year old pregnant girl that planned on getting married in a few days.  As before, we sang, prayed, read scriptures, gave blessings, and the spirit was wonderful!   After lots of hugs and goodbuys, we started down the trail.  After a terrifying hour we reached the car.  What a great experience.

Here is a picture of Kathy on the trail.

Here are the elders

Here is the primary of a small branch just after they finished their sacrament meeting primary presentation