November and December

December 22nd 2016

   I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I last wrote on this blog. Life has been very busy and we find ourselves now on the road 3 weeks of the six weeks between transfers.  We are doing 4 Zone conferences, 9 interview days, MLC and 3 days of transfers every 6 weeks.  It keeps things busy and eventful!  It is great to be busy in such an important work and we love being here in Kansas and we especially love being with all of our missionaries! I can’t say enough how much we love them and love being with them.  

  Since I last wrote we have done 8 zone conferences, 18 rounds of interviews and MLC.  Also throw in there a mission tour with Elder Wilford Andersen and his wife Kathleen(who by the way are from Mesa) which consisted of 3 more zone conferences and an MLC with them teaching.  We loved having them here and learned so much from them!  They are wonderful people and such great teachers.  The missionaries were very Spiritually fed those 3 days.  We had one day in Topeka, the next in Dodge City and the last in Wichita.  They had just come from another mission tour in Des Moines, Iowa.  Talk about busy…….!

  We had Thanksgiving with our 18 zone leaders and 2 assistants plus 3 of our office staff.  

I have more pictures to post but now I can't get it to work so... I'm a little computer challenged that's for sure!

  Thanksgiving was a great experience in the mission field but different from being at home. There was no relaxing and watching football or just doing nothing.  Nevertheless it was a good day and we got to talk and FaceTime with family as well as enjoy being with these elders.

  We were supposed to go to a live nativity and devotional in Liberal on Saturday December 17th but they were expecting bad weather and it was cold! Everything was cancelled and we got to stay home which I was happy about because I had things to do for Christmas but I was also bummed because I was really looking forward to the live nativity that we had heard so much about. They even cancelled church in some areas. That Sunday morning as we drove to church here in Wichita the thermometer in our car registered -1 degree. I think it was a good thing that we didn't  go to Liberal that weekend as they said it was -22. Kansas is known for it's wind. The wind can really blow and in the winter it's a very cold wind!  In a lot of ways the weather reminds us of a Utah winter. It's cold and you just put up with it for 3 months and then it starts to get warm again.  We have finished 1 month of winter!

 Our 4 December Zone conferences were so fun.  We had an ugly sweater contest, watched some cute Christmas videos, tied some fleece blankets as a service project for “Light the World” and we had all of the missionaries write on a little card a gift that they are going to give to the Savior this year.  We were also fed yummy meals by the stakes and appreciate so much what they do for us.  As fun and lighthearted as part of zone conference was, it was also a time to reflect on the Savior, His birth and all he has done for us. He is the reason for the season!

 Kasey and Kenzie came the friday before Christmas and we had such a good time.  The first night we went to the Prairie Pines Theater for dinner and a play.  It was pretty funny and we had some good laughs.  Saturday morning we took them to the Doo Dah Diner for breakfast.  If you ever come to Wichita you have to have breakfast there.  It is so good, they have this banana bread french toast that is to die for plus Tanyas eggs benedict.  There is usually a long wait but they do have call ahead seating.  You still have to wait even with that but it helps.  

When I called that morning, the hostess kind of discouraged me saying it was busy but I was determined to take these girls there.  When we got there we got right in!  They loved it and I’m so glad they got to experience it. On Christmas day we had Sacrament meeting and then in the afternoon we had an open house for the missionaries close by.  We also got to facetime with all the family which was fantastic!  I sure love my family.  The week after Christmas was transfer week so the girls got to see how that goes.  We only had 5 missionaries come and we sent home 5 elders and 5 sisters.  It is hard to say goodbye to these wonderful missionaries because we love them so much.  The new missionaries coming in are stellar and we are excited to have them be a part of the Kansas Wichita Mission! On Wednesday we sent Kenzie off at 6:30am and Kasey at 1:55pm.  Unfortunately they had different flights because Kenzie had a plane ticket she had to use.  It was so good to have some family with us!  New Year’s Eve was uneventful in fact we went to dinner and didn’t even think of it being new year’s eve until our waiter said something about it!

 And now it is 2017!  I still remember how everyone was worried about what was going to happen in 2000 with computers and everything.  Where has the time gone!