Christmas Day Hospital Visit

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We had a great time visiting two pediatric wards in a hospital in San Fernando. In the picture are (not in this order) Elder and Sister Leishman, Elder and Sister Barnes, Chaguanas missionaries: Elders Endemann, Hickenlopper, Payne, and White. Couva missionaries: Elders Thomas and Willis. Princes Town missionaries: Elders Guy and Fox. Point Fortin missionaries: Elders Noah and Jackson. San Fernando missionaries: Elders Palmer and Huntsman. Marabella missionaries: Elders Cronin and Vance.

December 2008 in Trinidad

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We hope you'll enjoy watching a few of our memories of our 1st December in Trinidad. This slideshow is long but we think you will like it. Because of its length, there will be a shorter slideshow of the service we did as a South Trinidad Zone on Christmas Day.

The Work Goes On

Thanks to my daughter-in-law, Angee, I now have a new background that doesn't distort the pictures.

Not last Sunday but the Sunday before, President Gopaul asked us if we would go with him and the East Chaguanas Elders out to a village east of here called Caparo. Of course, we said yes. We went home from church, finished preparations for dinner, fed ourselves and 6 hungry Elders, then got in our car and drove 40 minutes to Caparo. It was like going from a city that looks and acts like some of the worst neighborhoods in LA to a city like peaceful and quiet Wellsville, Utah. It was so refreshing to see countryside like that.

Our goal in going was to talk to the few members there are in that area who do come to church to see if we could get one of them to allow us to use their house to hold a one hour church service in. We are hoping to reactivate these people and to get some new converts from that area which hasn't been touched by missionaries for quite a while. There were two households with members in them. Each said they would come to the meeting and both said we could hold the meeting in their home.

Since then, Elder Leishman and I and Elders Endemann and Hickenlooper have made many trips out to Caparo. There are so many people out there who haven't heard the gospel message. The Elders are pretty excited to go into an area that hasn't been tracted out and blitzed in years.
We will have our first church service on Sunday, Dec. 21st. I'll have some picture of that next week. Not the service itself, of course, but of the people who came. The happy ending to this story will be when people start accepting baptism. The next transfer day is Jan. 7th and I know the Elders want to get some more baptisms before they get shifted again.

We took a few hours out this week to go for a drive with 5 other senior couples. We found a beach that is small but beautiful. The good thing was that we were the only ones on the beach at the time. Here is Elder Leishman holding up the palm tree. HaHa! The other picture shows a couple of beach bums.




Check out my Sunday dinner dishwashers: Elder Thomas, Elder White, Elder Willis, Elder Payne, Elder Hickenlooper

The South Zone

Zone Conference, Dec. 4th, 2008: It was our first Zone Meeting after Transfer Day. So, some of these elders are new to Trinidad or to the South Zone. I love these guys. Zone Meetings are conducted completely by the Zone Leaders, who are Elder Guy and Elder Fox. The meetings are always inspirational and I learn a lot from them. I also get to keep my baking skills sharp because I take a treat for each meeting.

The Kingdom is Growing

Dec. 6, 2008: Sheryl and Shezara Ali, mother and daughter, were baptized by Elder Willis on the left and Elder Mundy on the right. Elder Mundy has defected from the South Zone to the North Zone but was given permission to come down to the Promised Land to baptize these people with whom he had been working before his transfer.

Cruising Down the River

One evening last week we went on an excursion to the Bird Sanctuary with four other senior couple. One of the couples, the Farrers, was leaving us soon and one of the others was taking their place, the Barnes. The Farrers wanted to see this one more time before they left. For the rest of us, it was our first time. We got in a 20 man boat with a motor on it and cruised through a man-made river out to a large cove near the ocean. The trip through the river introduced us to many unusual plants and animals. We saw a cayman (small alligator) hiding under the roots of the large mangrove trees. We saw very small, brightly-colored crabs crawling all over the branches of the same roots. We saw huge termite nests that looked like beehives. We saw a snake coiled in the branches above our head. And, we saw lots of beautifully colored birds. Passengers are motored out to the cove because just about 45 minutes before the sun sets hundreds of birds fly into the trees surrounding the cove to roost for the night. It happens every night without fail. The trees fill up with brightly colored birds making them look like they are blossoming. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't good enough to get a good shot of the birds roosting in the trees.

WE ARE THANKFUL

We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year. This is a picture of the one we had on Thanksgiving Day. The day before was Transfer Day and we got three new elders to replace three who were transferred to other sections of Trinidad. There are ten elders in the picture because we invited a new senior couple, the Barnes from Washington state, to join us and bring four of their elders. They actually have eight to look after but four of them had been invited to a member's house. The members are American working in Trinidad. We had fourteen for dinner that day.



On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we had a little bit bigger crowd. We invited the branch president and his wife and two sons. We also invited three newly baptized members that we had the privilege of teaching with the elders. Dianne Springer is in the picture with Elder Willis and Elder Guy. Elder Willis is new to us and Elder Guy just got transferred. Elder Leishman is in the background with President Gopaul.



Pictured in this picture is Jameil Springer, on the left, his friend, Antonio, and Melroy Fordyce. Melroy went with us to Dianne and Jameil's baptism the week before as a guest because he was scheduled to be baptized the following Saturday. Elder Leishman jokingly invited him to get baptized that night since the font would already be full. Melroy thought about it for a while, then said he would like to be baptized right then. He was interviewed, found worthy, and then baptized. Just like that! Antonio heard Jameil talk about his baptim at school and asked about it. One day he saw the elders walking in the street. He ran after them and asked them if he knew Jameil. They said 'yes' and then Antonio asked if he could be baptized. The elders said 'yes' again but that he would have to come to church first. On the following Sunday, we went to pick up Dianne and Jameil to take them to church early because Jameil was being interviewed to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. Antonio had called and asked if he could have a ride. So we met him at the bus stop and took him to church, then to our Thanksgiving dinner, and finally to a fireside at the Mission Home. (with his mother's permission, of course) His mother, sister, and aunt are all having the lessons with him and are all preparing for baptism. WE HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!

Elder Leishman is posing for a picture with some children in a village called Chase Village. It's one of the areas we go to with the elders to teach. We are't teaching these children because their parents aren't interested but every time we go to this area, the children swarm us.



This area is in one of the more depressed parts of Chase Village. If its been raining, and it usually is, the path through the houses is very muddy. That requires careful stepping and the use of boards for bridges.



The elders that are assigned to West Chaguanas and surrounding villages were Elder White, the tallest one with dark hair, and Elder Risenmay. I say 'were' because Elder Risenmay just got transferred to another section of Trinidad. Elder White's new companion is Elder Payne from Salt Lake City.

On Nov.22nd we had another baptism where 3 new members were added to our Chaguanas Branch and 1 new member was added to our Couva Branch. The really wonderful thing about the baptisms is that 2 of the young men will receive the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and there's another one coming up in a few years. The one thing that is desperately needed in the West Indies in priesthood holders. The four who were baptized are Ryan and Avinesh Parag, brothers, Devon Grant, and Alicia Richards. The others in the picture are Elder and Sister Leishman, Elder Risenmay, the other white guy in the back, and Elder Endemann, the Samoan in the front. In case you are wondering why you see so many pictures of baptisms and missionary groups with both hands held above the heads, I will explain. I'm not sure when it started in the West Indies but "Hurrah for Israel" is a cheer for our mission. You remember the story of Brigham Young when, even though he was so sick he could barely stand, he stood and gave a "Hurrah for Israel" shout as he departed for a mission so his family wouldn't worry about him. The shout and the arms gesture has become a tradition at baptisms in the West Indies. Now you know!

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We celebrated Elder Hickenlooper's 20th birthday with a lunch and a cake with trick candles. Elders White, Endemann, and Risenmay tried to help him blow out the candles but they wouldn't stay out.



Elder Leishman and I were out with Elders Risenmay and White one afternoon in Chase Village. It was a Saturday afternoon and we ran into lots of children out playing in their yards. They followed us all over the area. They were so fun that we had to take their picture. We would love to have taught their parents but they weren't home that day. Maybe another day.





We spent a wonderful morning hiking to Maracus Falls in the mountain range north of Port of Spain. The hike was strenuous for the old and infirm like me, but with my companion's help, and only with his help, I made it to the upper falls and then to the lower falls. The trip was so-o-o-o worth it. It is definitely somewhere
I hope to show any of my family, and friends, who are ever able to take a trip to Trinidad. Look for the water fall behind the missionary couples on the ledge. The excursion was only marred by the fact that our van was broken into and our belongings would have been stolen if two couples hadn't headed back to the van ahead of the rest of us because one sister wasn't feeling well. As it was, they still had time to steal $100 TT (about $16 US) out of my wallet. But luckily, all the credit and debit cards were left in there place.

I made this slide show for my granddaughter's 13th birthday. I send it to her but decided to post it on my blog. The 13th birthday is a big deal. She's a teenager now. Or, as we call them sometime teen-ragers. Luckily, Jayden isn't like that. She's a sweetheart. We love her and miss her. Happy Birthday, Jayden.

We also have another granddaughter who just turned 10. We want to wish Indigo a very happy birthday. Indigo your card is on your mom's email at work. We love you very much.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

THERE IS A GREAT WORK TO DO!

It's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since my last post. There is so much work to do in Chaguanas, Trinidad, West Indies that we are kept busy from early morn until late at night but we love it and are having some great experiences. We are having some frustrating ones, too. The traffic is NUTS, contacts don't keep their appointments, baptisms are postponed as Satan works his devious plan to thwart the growth of God's Kingdom, and other things go wrong (like being lost in the crazy streets of Trinidad) but we're not going to dwell on the negative. We want to emphasize the positive so we'll share some of our special experiences and add some pictures as well.

We've met some wonderful people. The members of the branch have become just like family. They all loved the Leavitts, the couple we replaced, but have accepted us, too. I've already taught a Relief Society lesson and Truman has already given a Sunday School lesson. We both have assignments to speak in church but not on the same day. We attended a Friday night activity Game Night and had a great time. It was on Halloween which isn't really celebrated here. I volunteered to make cookies for it because I wanted an excuse to bake my traditional sugar cookies that I make and decorate every Halloween with my grandchildren. I didn't have any orange food coloring or a pumpkin cookie cutter so I just made circles which I cut out with the lid of the PAM and added sprinkles after they were frosted. Even if I had that stuff it wouldn't have been the same because I didn't have my grandchildren. The Elders were are assigned to have taken us to most of the active members houses and we can actually find our way by ourselves to a few of them. We've been invited to dinner to 4 of the member's houses. You'll have to be sure to check out my slide show called "Divali" to see pictures of two of those dining experiences.

We are also working with some wonderful investigators. We are assigned to two areas of Trinidad - Couva and Chaguanas. There are two sets of elders that work in Chaguanas and one set that work in Couva. The Couva elders had two baptisms last weekend. They were both young girls who have other family members who were baptized previously. The elders have been teaching them for a while. The baptisms were done in a cement font located outside the Couva chapel. They were special experiences. I played the piano for both of them and Elder Leishman gave a talk at one of them. Pictures of these baptisms are on the slide show called "Trindad, the beginning", meaning the beginning of our time in Trindad. We have been working with the Couva elders with a young mother and her son - Diane and Jameil - since our 1st week in Trinidad. She knows the church is true and wants to be baptized but her father and mother are trying to stop her. Her 14 year old son wants to be baptized so bad. Every time he prays at one of our meetings in their home he asks Heavenly Father to please let them be baptized. Tonight we set a date with her for Nov. 11th but Diane is still hesitant. I would ask that all who read this please pray for her to be able to take the leap of faith that she needs to at this time. She wants to be baptized on one of the beaches when she is baptized. Since we are serving by any beaches, I wasn't sure we would ever get a chance to be a part of a beach baptism. Now it looks like it might happen after all. I will put up pictures when her baptism becomes a reality.

The Chaguanas elders have been working hard and have several families that they are teaching. Last Sunday there were 14 investigators at church. That was an amazing day. One family is really ready but there is a problem that comes up a lot in the Caribbean - couples are married to each other even after having lived together for many years and have children together. So before they can be baptized, they have to get married. One family needs to have the grandparents and the parents get married but they really want to be baptized. They have 4 children, 3 are over 8. Another family of 14 who came from Guayana to work in Trinidad really want to be baptized as well. That will be a really big splash if that one comes about. We have lots to look forward to in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted.



There is great work to do in Trinidad and we are glad to be a part of it. Hurrah for Israel!

Meeting New Friends

Our first day in Trinidad included getting lost for hours trying to find our way out of where our house is back to Valsayn where the mission office is. We were driven to our place at night in a state of exhausted stupor. Even with hand-drawn maps of where we were and where we needed to be, we managed to get ourselves very lost. We had an appointment to sign our lease at the mission office at 2:00 pm. We left at 11:00 am and thought we would have plenty of time to do some grocery shopping but we ended up being a few minutes late for our appointment with no time for shopping. Later that day, had dinner at the mission home and met the other five senior couples serving on Trinidad. President Robison shared with us the current information about Trinidad getting its 1st stake. It's close but the time still isn't certain. After the dinner/meeting, we drove down to San Fernando, a 30 minute drive, for a baptism. At the fireside we went to on Sunday night, a young man introduced his wife who had been having lessons with the missionaries. After the fireside, President Robison challenged Sister Mohan with a scripture from Mosiah 18:10. The next morning she called to say that she was ready to be baptized, and so, she was.

Thank goodness for Elder and Sister Farrer who drove us to San Fernando and back to Chaguanas. They also followed us to our apartment because it was dark and helped us get back home safely. We couldn't have done it on our own. We can now, but not then.

On Tuesday Elder Farrer and his wife came over to help show us "the ropes" and teach us what our responsibilities would be. After a couple of hours of work, we went for a quick lunch with them and then headed back into Valsayn, where we spent the rest of the afternoon getting a bank account set up here in Trinidad. We finally managed to stop at PriceSmart (its like a Costco) on our way home and got a few groceries. We had to shop frugally, though, because we didn't have a lot of Trinee cash and didn't have access to our money in the bank until the next day.

On Wednesday two of our elders, Elders Hickenlooper and Endeman came by for a visit to introduce themselves to us. Elder Endeman has be working in Chaguanas and knows the people and the area. Elder Hickenlooper is coming back to the area after being gone for a few transfers. Then, we picked up Elders LeBaron and Richards at the mission home and drove them around Chaguanas so they could say good-bye to some of the members they knew. They were a big help to us because they directed us through very unfamiliar territory, but, by doing so, we were able to get more acquainted with the area.

On Thursday, we traveled down to Couva and Claxton Bay to meet some members and investigators with Elders Guy and Mundy who are our Zone Leaders. We had some wonderful visits and were immediately put upon to use the skills we learned in the MTC about teaching the Preach My Gospel lessons. I am so grateful now for the MTC experience because doing it in the field was so much easier. The key to the whole situation is to listen to the Spirit and it will tell you what you should say. (D&C 84:85) (D&C 124:97)

On Friday, we fixed dinner for the East elders before going out with them on visits. We visited many families on the East side of Chaguanas with Elders Endeman and Hickenlooper. We visited investigators, members, and less actives and again had the opportunity every time to bear our testimonies and to teach gospel priniciples.

Saturday afternoon and evening we helped the East and West Elders home from the grocery store with their groceries. Two of our elders were companions until this last transfer at which time they were split up and given new companions. Their area was split back into East and West area. Only Elder Endeman stayed in the same apartment. Elders Hickenlooper, White, and Risenmay all moved to new apartments. So, they all needed groceries to replenish the fridge and the shelves. In the afternoon and evening we went on visits with Elders Risenmay and White to members and investigators on the west side of Chaguanas. Our last visit of the night was pretty amazing. We met the Deonarinesingh children while waiting for their father to get dressed. When he came out, he looked very startled, like he'd seen a ghost. Apparently, Sister Leishman looks just like a former sr. sister in this area, Sister Allen. Sister Allen worked diligently with this family to keep them actively involved in the branch. When she left, Brother Deonarinesingh quit going to church. When he saw Sister Leishman, he thought Sister Allen had come back to haunt him. He was challenged to come back to church the next morning and, sure enough, he was there with his whole family. Whoever Sister Allen is, she is to be commended for having such an impression on this brother that her look-alike could reactivate him.

Sunday was our first day of meetings with the branch. The chapel and classrooms are in the upper story of a building on the west side of Chaguanas. There is a large room for the chapel, a kitchen, a bathroom, and 3 other classrooms used for Primary, Sunday School, Relief Society, and YW/YM. Apparently we are very fortunate in the fact that it just got air conditioning. The branch is small but a good % attend. Sacrament Meeting was disrupted severely by a rainstorm that lasted most all of the meeting. The rain beating on the tin roof was so loud that we couldn't hear a couple of the youth speakers very well. Sunday School was taught by Brother Garcia, the District President. His family have been members for over 20 years. It is unusual to find someone in Trinidad who has been a member that long. I went to Relief Society and was immediately asked to give the lesson on Temples and Family History. The sister in charge said she just found out that morning that there was no one to teach the lesson and since she has never been to the temple she would appreciate having someone with more experience on the subject to teach the lesson. Of course, I said I would be happy to.

One last thing to close out this post. THE DRIVING HERE IS NUTS! We pray every night that we will be safe on the roads. There are laws, I guess, because there is a test that has to be taken to get a driver's license but nobody follows any rules and nobody enforces them. The streets are narrow but you can stop and park anywhere you want even if it blocks a lane of traffic. And there are only 2 lanes to start with. We've seen drivers ignore stop signs and red lights, turn a corner from any lane in front of other cars, block a lane of traffic for any reason, get out of a car to go talk to someone else while traffic builds up for a block or more, etc. ITS NUTS!

WE ARE FINALLY HERE!

We arrived in Trinidad on Sunday, Oct. 12th, after a lo-o-o-ng two days, tired and hungry. Luckily we were met by Elder and Sister Collins, an office couple, who have been here two months and are from Cedar City, Utah. They took us to the apartment of Elder and Sister Coleman (Pima, AZ) where we all ate a wonderful meal that the two sisters had prepared. We had about an hour to relax before we went to the mission home just a few blocks away to attend a fireside which started at 6:00 PM. We had a chance to meet the mission president and his wife (the Robisons from Provo, UT) and another senior couple, Elder and Sister Green. We also met some of the Trinidad Elders and some of their investigators and newly baptized members. This fireside is held every six weeks on the Sunday before Transfer Day. The Elders need to bring investigators or newly baptized members in order to attend and get the refreshments afterwards. There were about 40 people there all together. Then, we were finally driven to our new home to meet the landlady and her real estate agent and to inspect the place. It wasn't until after 10:00 pm that we started to put some of our things away. We couldn't do much more than find our toothbrushes and night clothes and collapse in our beds.

I need to backtrack in our mission story at this point and just give some brief highlights of the last few weeks since we left our home in St. George.

• left St. George Saturday, Oct 4th at 7:30 am in the 1st good rainstorm in the area for many months
• cried all the way to Cedar but had a 2 hour nap and felt better (Carol, not Truman, he was driving)
• got to Salt Lake about 12:30 pm, parked and went to afternoon session of conference with Marilla (our daughter-in-law) who got tickets from Elder Holland's (her uncle) office which were in the center front section on the floor of the conference center - about 12 rows away from the First Presidency and the Twelve
• It was so awesome being in that session and experiencing the Spirit that permeated the entire room.
• had dinner with David and Marilla's family, then drove to Springville to stay at my sister, Marilyn's place
• attended Sunday afternoon session of conference with David - It was such a special experience to be able to attend and be blessed and inspired by such spiritually strong men and women. I wish I could have just a small portion of their strength and wisdom.
• entered the MTC Monday, Oct. 6th for a glorious week of learning and growth. We spent the nights in Springville.
• Wednesday night we stopped by to visit with our grandsons for a couple hours before going to Springville. David has a neighbor who served his mission in the West Indies 15+ years ago. He showed us a slide show of St. Lucia's culture from pictures from his mission days.
• Thursday night Marilla fixed us dinner. Our son-in-law, Darryl, who had been in the area all week on work-related business, also came for dinner. Then, he was kind enough to watch the little boys while we attended a session in the Provo Temple with David and Marilla
• last day at MTC was Friday. I volunteered Truman to sing a solo at the concluding meeting. He sang "How Great Thou Art". It was a perfect ending to a spiritually growing and faith promoting week. Please scroll to the end of the page to see a large picture of the Sr. couples we trained with. Look for us in the middle to the right.
  
• Friday night we enjoyed our "last supper" with our children at the Brick Oven in Provo. Almost everyone was there. Jacquie and her kids missed because it was Parent Night at the high school football game that night. She needed to be there to escort her son, a Sr. football player, onto the field. As you can well imagine, the night ended in many more tears being shed before and after we said our final good-byes.
• After finally getting our luggage repacked for the flight to Trinidad, we made it to bed by 11:30 pm. We woke at 4:00 am to get dressed and to the airport shortly after 5.
  
• checked luggage (no problem); passed through security (always a problem with Carol's titanium knee); ate breakfast (no problem); boarded plane (no problem); flight departing (BIG problem - navigation system); de-boarding (YUK); re-ticketing (HUGE 2 1/2 hour problem)
• finally got a new itinerary: 2:40 pm SLC to Chicago, 7:25 pm Chicago to Miami, next day - Sunday - 10:00 am Miami to 1:40 pm arrival at Port of Spain, Trinidad
• boarded at 2:40; sat at terminal and on runway for 1 hour; had 10 minutes to de-board and change terminals and re-board in Chicago (would have had an hour and 10 minutes); arrived in Miami at 11:30 pm; went to hotel with vouchers to claim our reserved room. HaHaHa - no room; don't know which end messed up but I suspect Miami Hotel just didn't care.
• We found an Amerian Airlines representative who found us a room at a Crowne Plaza Hotel 10 minutes away. Crown Plazas are wonderful! We didn't get to bed until after 1:00 am.
• woke at 7:00 am, dressed; ate breakfast (AA gave us vouchers for that, too); took shuttle to airport; boarded on time (10:00 am); THEN, sat on the runway for nearly an hour. Good Grief, American Airlines, don't any of your planes leave on time?
• We arrived at the Port of Spain airport at 2:15 ish; gathered luggage (MIRACLE! it was all there); went through Customs and finally met the Collins outside the airport. We were on our way to the Coleman's apartment by 3:45 or so.
  

Now, my story has made it back to where I began this blog post. I'm going to add pictures now and tell you about our first few days in the next post.

Please make short comments once in a while so we can keep in touch or send us an email update of what's going on in your lives at

Love ya',
Elder and Sister Leishman

Can you believe it! Today we had our first two baptisms since getting our mission call. We've been working on these baptisms for eight years actually. They were two of our beautiful granddaughters and it was such a special day. Our daughter Julie's daughter, Abigail, was baptized by her father and confirmed by her grandpa, Truman, this morning at a baptismal service at their stake center. Our daughter Chris's daughter, Navy, was baptized by her father at 5:00 at our stake center and will be confirmed in our ward tomorrow.

We'll be heading for the MTC in a month. We've sure got a lot to do to get ready. We have our area assignment in Trinidad. We will be taking the place of Elder and Sister Leavitt who, it turns out, just happen to be from St. George, Utah, too. We hope to get to see them when they get back before we leave. We will be serving in Chaguanas about a 30 minute drive from the Mission Office. We are very fortunate because we won't have to go apartment hunting. We will be able to take over the home they have been renting AND they will be leaving a lot of things behind that they have accumulated since they started their mission. What a blessing for us.

We go into the MTC on Oct. 6th which in the Monday after General Conference. We were very lucky to get tickets for the Sunday afternoon session of conference. We're really looking forward to that because we haven't ever attended a session in the new conference center.

We still have one more special day to look forward to with our family before we leave. Our granddaughter, Jayden (12), has been given permission by her biological father to be sealed to our son, Josh, and his wife, Angee (Jayden's mother). That sealing will take place in the St. George Temple on Sept.27th, the day before we speak in church for the last time in 23 months.

I'll try to update again in a week, if there is anything to say.

Blessings!

The blessings of serving a mission have already started. The same day that we received our call, our daughter-in-law also received some wonderful news. She was having a conversation with her ex-huxband - the first conversation in over a year - when she got brave enough to ask him again if he would give permission for their daughter, Jayden (12), to be sealed to her and my son. It was about a month ago that she had a very strong feeling that she needed to press this issue. To her surprise there was no argument about it this time. He simply said that if it was that important to Jayden - and it's what she wants more than anything - that he wouldn't stand in her way. We all feel like this is a blessing from our Heavenly Father because of Jayden's worthiness as a valiant daughter of His and because we know that when someone in a family serves a mission, the whole family receives blessings. Angee's hoping to get the paperwork and interviews all over with in time for the sealing to take place on Sept. 27th which is the day before we will speak in church prior to entering the MTC on Oct. 6th.

We will also get the privilege of attending two of our granddaughter's baptisms before we leave in October. Abby Barfuss (Julie) and Navy Nelson (Chris) will both be baptized on Sept. 6th in separate stake baptisms. Abby's will be at 10:00 am that day and Navy's will be at 5:00 pm.

Elder Leishman and I will be spending the day getting all the documents that we need to take with us to the West Indies. So I guess I'd better go get ready for the next adventure of our life.

WE HAVE OUR CALL!

We have been called to the West Indies Mission! Hooray! The call finally came. We report to the MTC on October 6th. We will serve a 23 month mission. We had all our children and most of our grandchildren present when we opened our envelope. It was an exciting time. Now we've got a long list of things to do to get ready so we'll get started tomorrow.

I had surgery on my right knee yesterday to repair a tear in the meniscus. It was an easy, same day surgery and I'm doing great. I anticipate a complete recovery before we leave for the MTC.

I post updates on our preparation progress but probably won't get to this much until after we are in the West Indies. I would welcome any comments about how to prepare for this mission from anyone who reads this who has "been there, done that".

It's been almost a month since my last post. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get on my own blog. I had to reset the password for the 3rd or 4th time because I don't get on enough to remember how to sign in. To tell you the truth, I'm still not sure I can do it again tomorrow. But, I sure hope I get the chance. We expect our mission call any day now. We started our paperwork in December after our 1st Bishop's interview. Now after months of delays because of medical issues, we are within days of getting our call so we'll now when and where we are going.

I got one piece of bad news last week that will mean one more medical delay which may mean an adjustment in our departure to the MTC but, if it had to happen, I'm glad it happened before we were in the mission field. I don't even know how I did it but I tore the medial meniscus in my right knee, my good knee. I had a total knee replacement in my left knee in Sept. 2007 so I would be ready for a mission this summer. I've had a good rehabilitation and thought I was ready to go until 3 weeks ago when I started having excruciating pain in my other knee. It felt just like a knife being jabbed into my knee. When the MRI showed a torn meniscus, I knew that it would require a same day surgery to repair. So, I'll be having that surgery on Thursday and will expect a 3 to 4 week recovery time (at my age). I'm just hoping the call gets here before Thursday so I can enjoy it without being wiped out by anesthesia.

In the meantime, Truman is healthier than ever. He managed to lose about 20 pounds this spring and summer helping our son build a house across the street and our son-in-law and daughter build a house next door to us. He's been fishing and camping with 4 different youth groups this summer and taken his metal detector out into the hills looking for treasure. Seriously. He hasn't found any yet, but he keeps looking.

Stay tuned - good news soon.

No call yet! Bummer. We took our papers to the stake president on June 29th. We thought the papers would be on their way to Salt Lake that week. On July 9th, we got a call from someone in the stake who said my medical papers weren't complete. So, Truman picked them up that day and the next day we dropped them off at the Dr.'s office on our way out of town to attend a family reunion. We picked them back up again on the following Monday, returned them to the stake, and now we have begun the waiting process all over. Cross your fingers and toes that we don't get a call from the mission committee saying they next something else. We'll announce our call on this blog when the time comes.