Dear Family and Friends,
Rain, rain, rain, cold, cold, cold, what do we
expect it is Jan. We've seen more rain in the past 24 hours than we see
in Utah all year. When it rains hard during the night then the roads are
so slick in the mornings. That is what happened Sun. during the night,
ice all over every road. Karl went to an early church meeting and passed
nothing but wrecks on the roads, he came back to get me for church thinking
that we were on our way to the church to cancel it. A lot of our people that
help from other wards and stakes didn't come, the Branch Pres. was home sick, but the high counselor that was talking was there so we went ahead with
it. We started with 6 people in Sacrament Meeting, by the time the
sacrament had been passed we had a total of 25 people. So we had a 3 hour
block like normal. The speaker took the entire meeting, thank goodness.
He surely gave a wonderful talk.
We are so happy each week. We are always flying
by the seat of our pants, but Heavenly Father pulled it off again and we had a
wonderful Sunday block. We had two in Primary, that is quite often that
way. You would think we wouldn't be so surprised when everything works
out so well. Dad and I need more faith and just go there and realize it will
work out alright! And it did again!
We had a wonderful Zone conference last
Fri. Pres. & Sister Anderson talked twice. They had a professional
social worker there helping the missionaries realize how not to get
depressed. Guess that happens more often during the winter when it is hard
to track and get out as much. She gave really good advice. Mainly on
getting enough rest and eating the right foods. We have had a lot of
missionaries with the flu, that makes them down the most. We haven't had
any snow this winter. One day a skiff that melted as soon as the rain hit
it. So far it hasn't been near as bad as last Jan. when we first got
here.
At the Zone conference, two of our really good
friends talked. They will be going home in Feb. We hate to see them go.
We haven't been able to get as friendly with the new ones, they get together
about every 4-6 weeks, but the ones that live close by each other get together often. Our mission is a little more isolated from the mission office
and mission home so it makes us and the other two sets of missionaries (young
Elders) that are in our branch really bond together. They are wonderful
elders. We sure learn to love and respect them when we get to be with them
every day!
We've tried for 3 weeks to get a hold of Tammy
(the hair dresser). She hasn't been out to church since last fall. Come to find
out she has moved to North Carolina, and her daughter Brenda and Bay John are
also moving without telling anyone since they haven't been to church in six
months. We feel bad about her. We took her to DC Temple in Aug. to take out her
endowments. We don't have any address or anything to alert other Elders to work
with her. My biggest desire for back here would be that we could keep
people active and know that joining the church is just the beginning. To
be baptized is just the beginning!
All in all, the mission is going very good. That
social worker warned all of us that the winter months are the depressing ones.
Dad and I have a lot of good laughs over many things that happen, if not we
would be crying, feeling that we haven't done enough. We keep trying and
praying that some little one thing will have touched some of them and will keep
them active in the gospel. One wonderful thing: our testimonies have
grown so much through it all, if anything, it has made us want to hold fast to
the gospel more than ever.
The branch pres. and his wife took us and the
second counselor, who has had a stroke, and the relief society pres. out to
dinner at a Chinese smorgasbord on Sat. They all just sat there and didn't say
a word, except Joyce and I, and the Relief Soc. Pres. We found out that
President Burno was in a lot of pain in the leg that kept him in the Hospital
for a month when we first got here. We felt really bad, they really couldn't
afford it, but insisted. He missed church on Sunday. I hope he gets better, or
I will be the acting authority again.
We are all very blessed, we have had this
wonderful experience, have an awesome family and friends that support us so
much. How we enjoy your emails, your encouragement and your prayers.
Thank you for all you do. Please know that we love everyone of you and are so
grateful for all we've been blessed with. All of you keep well and happy!
All our love,
Mom
& Dad
Grandma
& Grandpa
Elder
& Sister Armstrong
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