September 11 - 22, 2016

Mitch now has two counselors and his presidency is organized!  He called Mark Elliott from Topeka to be his second counselor and last Monday we drove to Garden City where we met with Matt and Michelle Steel and he called Matt to be his first counselor.  Both of these couples are wonderful people who will be a great support and help to the Kansas Wichita mission. We are very excited to have them be a part of this.

Thursday, September 14th I was at Walmart doing some shopping when I got a call from Mitch telling me one of our sister missionaries had been in a biking accident. He didn't know what her status was but knew that they were taking her to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. Her companion was freaking out as she had seen the whole thing happen and was extremely upset and worried. Thank goodness for my phone's GPS that got me quickly to the hospital! I went to the emergency room and was taken back to the waiting area where Mitch was visiting with the hospital chaplain. He didn't know what the status was of  sister A other than the gurney went by with her on it and he said she didn't look very good.  That's all we knew. The office Elders showed up with her companion and we brought her back to the waiting room with us. She was pretty upset and shaken and she began to tell us what happened. Their car was in the shop getting fixed because it had  been in a hit-and-run so they were riding bikes.(In this mission a lot of the missionaries drive a car but also ride bikes because everything is so spread out they put a lot of mileage on the cars. They park the car in the neighborhood and ride their bikes as they go out and work.) The brakes weren't working very good on Sister A’s bike. They were going down a little hill and she could see that Sister A wasn't going to be able to stop and there was a truck pulling a trailer on the street.  She proceeded to watch Sister A hit the trailer and it caught her and then flipped her, ran over her foot and then she was laying in the street. (So thankful for these two sisters obedience in wearing their helmets because we probably would have had a different outcome if not.) Sister F ran over to her and said there was a lot of blood on the street. There were people who saw what happened and called 911. The driver of the truck was pretty upset but it wasn't his fault. They eventually came in and told us we could go see sister A.  Her companion, sister F, grabbed my arm and was quite nervous about what she was going to see. She was laying on a bed with a neck brace on but she was awake and alert and talkative. There was some caked on blood under her nose, it looked like she had a nosebleed plus her arm had road rash, her face on the left side was banged up, bruised foot, various scrapes and bruisring. Once we talked to her I knew she would be fine.  I think we all breathed a sigh of relief. A couple of hours later they finally got her cleaned up and to her room. We were able to go in and visit with her and talk with her. We felt very blessed and that angels had watched over her because it could have been so much worse. She works in the Spanish branch and  many of the branch members came to visit her.  Friday I went to the hospital to check on her and find out when they were going to release her.  She told me that she had found a new investigator. She was sharing a room with another woman and once the woman was discharged a hispanic lady came in to clean up the room and Sister A started speaking spanish to her and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and getting contact information so they could go and visit her. Bless her heart, in all things she was a missionary first! The final verdict was a concussion and a broken nose plus some bumps and bruises. They kept her overnight for observation and she was able to go back to her apartment the next afternoon. We are so thankful that she was being watched over!

Saturday Mitch and I had to speak at the Wichita Stake Conference. Not my favorite thing to do but it went ok. This is the second stake conference we have spoken at and both times the President of the Oklahoma City Temple and his wife, the Campbells ,have been there speaking too.  We have gotten to know them and they are great people. That night we had dinner at our home with an elder that was going home the next day and the Assistants.  Elder Chlarson is from Payson Arizona and is such a good guy and a great missionary.  The next morning we had him and the assistants over for breakfast at 6:15 am.  That was an early one!  His flight was at 8:00 am.  Monday mornings we always have an office staff meeting but this Monday I took sister A and sister F to sister A’s plastic surgeon appointment. They thought we should make sure that her nose was set and ok so that she won’t have issues down the road. The doctor looked at everything and said even though her nose is broken it hasn't moved so everything is going to be perfectly fine. After I dropped them off at their apartment I went back to the office where they were having a luncheon for sister Caulder, the mission secretary, for her birthday.

  We never thought we'd have to worry about anything but tornadoes here in Kansas but last Saturday morning we had an earthquake!  It was just after 7 a.m. and the house started shaking and we both immediately knew what it was. It went on for a little bit and then it just went away. After researching I found that it was a 5.6 earthquake in Pawnee Oklahoma. That's not a really big earthquake but we sure felt it here in Wichita. That same Saturday morning we headed off to Emporia Kansas for a baptism. We got about halfway there when we were told the time of the baptism had been changed so we turned around and stopped in El Dorado to get some lunch. I have so enjoyed visiting all these little towns here in Kansas that are so cute, so quaint and so filled with history.  This state has a lot of wild west history, I mean Dodge City is in Kansas!

    Every Saturday we get in the car and drive to baptisms throughout the state. In this mission you do a lot of driving! This past Saturday we finally went to Emporia for a baptism, it was the first time we've been there and once again I fell in love with this town.  We had a lot of rain Thursday and Friday and it was pretty obvious in Emporia that they had a pretty intense storm. There were broken trees and branches strewn around but no reported tornadoes!  We attended the baptism of a 9 year old.  We see a lot of young kids being baptized and I am amazed at their faith and desire to be a part of the church at such a young age. After the baptism we drove to Topeka hoping to make it to another baptism but we had the time wrong and as we got there everyone was leaving the baptism. We did get to visit with some of the elders and I even started on a church tour with Elder Call and Elder Brunsvick with a sister that they were introducing the church to.  One of the things the missionaries do is take investigators on Church tours and show them the chapel, the baptismal font and other areas of the church and explain what goes on in these rooms.  I didn't get to be part of the tour for very long because Mitch and I had an appointment with two other elders. After lunch we headed off to Junction City to visit with some of the sisters serving there. I love the sisters! We got home after 7 p.m. and it was nice and cool in Wichita. We've had some pretty intense heat and humidity in this city. it's been nice lately and it's starting to cool off a little bit. We were able to go for a walk again and I loved that!  

     We spoke in sacrament meeting in Hutchinson. Hutch is about an hour and five minutes away.  I'm getting much more comfortable with speaking. That's a good thing because we are going to be doing a bit of it. Next week we have to speak in the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the Wichita Stake Conference. I never really saw myself doing this but here I am and I'm learning so much from the experiences I'm having here on the mission. After speaking in Hutchinson we came home and Mitch headed out again for a correlation meeting with our area authority and the five stake presidents in our mission. His meeting started at 1 and he didn't get home till after 6!

    We've had our first senior couple that served in the office come to the end of their mission. We love the Cocannours and are going to miss them so much. They've taken off on a trip to visit their kids and and go to the Philadelphia Temple open house.  I'm happy for them to get to go and have some fun.  I feel it was a privilege to get to know them. The O'Briens have taken over and they are wonderful people too. All of the senior missionaries that serve in this Mission are such a huge part of this important work. They make a big difference in the mission  and they make a big difference to the missionaries they work with. All of the elders and sisters love them! Don't know how you'd run a mission without them!

    We had MLC  this past week and I did all of the food for it. We picked the theme The Kickoff.  That's perfect for this time of year so all the food I made was game day food. We had chicken wings, meatballs, chicken ramen salad, queso dip, bean dip, caramel popcorn, brownie bites and fruit.  I really enjoy preparing the food for the missionaries and they are so appreciative.  MLC went really well and the mission has set some good goals for baptisms. Mitch and his assistants did a lot of teaching  and it was really good and motivating.  I am always impressed with these 3 guys, they do such a good job. We were pretty exhausted afterwards and as usual after these kinds of meetings, we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut, picked it up at the drive-thru and sat in bed and ate it. It's a fun tradition we started.

  We never thought we'd have to worry about anything but tornadoes here in Kansas but last Saturday morning we had an earthquake!  It was just after 7 a.m. and the house started shaking and we both immediately knew what it was. It went on for a little bit and then it just went away. After researching I found that it was a 5.6 earthquake in Pawnee Oklahoma. That's not a really big earthquake but we sure felt it here in Wichita. That same Saturday morning we headed off to Emporia Kansas for a baptism. We got about halfway there when we were told the time of the baptism had been changed so we turned around and stopped in El Dorado to get some lunch. I have so enjoyed visiting all these little towns here in Kansas that are so cute, so quaint and so filled with history.  This state has a lot of wild west history, I mean Dodge City is in Kansas!

    Every Saturday we get in the car and drive to baptisms throughout the state. In this mission you do a lot of driving! This past Saturday we finally went to Emporia for a baptism, it was the first time we've been there and once again I fell in love with this town.  We had a lot of rain Thursday and Friday and it was pretty obvious in Emporia that they had a pretty intense storm. There were broken trees and branches strewn around but no reported tornadoes!  We attended the baptism of a 9 year old.  We see a lot of young kids being baptized and I am amazed at their faith and desire to be a part of the church at such a young age. After the baptism we drove to Topeka hoping to make it to another baptism but we had the time wrong and as we got there everyone was leaving the baptism. We did get to visit with some of the elders and I even started on a church tour with Elder Call and Elder Brunsvick with a sister that they were introducing the church to.  One of the things the missionaries do is take investigators on Church tours and show them the chapel, the baptismal font and other areas of the church and explain what goes on in these rooms.  I didn't get to be part of the tour for very long because Mitch and I had an appointment with two other elders. After lunch we headed off to Junction City to visit with some of the sisters serving there. I love the sisters! We got home after 7 p.m. and it was nice and cool in Wichita. We've had some pretty intense heat and humidity in this city. it's been nice lately and it's starting to cool off a little bit. We were able to go for a walk again and I loved that!  

     We spoke in sacrament meeting in Hutchinson. Hutch is about an hour and five minutes away.  I'm getting much more comfortable with speaking. That's a good thing because we are going to be doing a bit of it. Next week we have to speak in the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the Wichita Stake Conference. I never really saw myself doing this but here I am and I'm learning so much from the experiences I'm having here on the mission. After speaking in Hutchinson we came home and Mitch headed out again for a correlation meeting with our area authority and the five stake presidents in our mission. His meeting started at 1 and he didn't get home till after 6!

    We've had our first senior couple that served in the office come to the end of their mission. We love the Cocannours and are going to miss them so much. They've taken off on a trip to visit their kids and and go to the Philadelphia Temple open house.  I'm happy for them to get to go and have some fun.  I feel it was a privilege to get to know them. The O'Briens have taken over and they are wonderful people too. All of the senior missionaries that serve in this Mission are such a huge part of this important work. They make a big difference in the mission  and they make a big difference to the missionaries they work with. All of the elders and sisters love them! Don't know how you'd run a mission without them!

    We had MLC  this past week and I did all of the food for it. We picked the theme The Kickoff.  That's perfect for this time of year so all the food I made was game day food. We had chicken wings, meatballs, chicken ramen salad, queso dip, bean dip, caramel popcorn, brownie bites and fruit.  I really enjoy preparing the food for the missionaries and they are so appreciative.  MLC went really well and the mission has set some good goals for baptisms. Mitch and his assistants did a lot of teaching  and it was really good and motivating.  I am always impressed with these 3 guys, they do such a good job. We were pretty exhausted afterwards and as usual after these kinds of meetings, we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut, picked it up at the drive-thru and sat in bed and ate it. It's a fun tradition we started.

   The Gospel is True!