Jan. 26-31, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

   Our internet has been off this week. Whenever we get a lot of wind and bad weather we have trouble.  So in other words the email is later!

   This has been an interesting week. Karl has been a taxi service all week long, and I have been home tending a darling little 4 year old who has the flu and his Mom can't miss work.  He has been easy because he hasn't felt good enough to do anything.  My biggest worry is that both of us will get this flu while we are in Calif.   

   We got Rosina out of the hospital. She still isn't doing very well. I don't know how we can help her until she gets well enough to take her out to find a house.  Poor lady, she has wanted to get out of her house now since we got here but just can't get well enough to do much about it.  The rent is killing her, plus she has from 4-10 people always in the house watching TV.  She mainly lives upstairs and her brother takes her up her meals.  This is a situation that I don't see ever getting solved.

   We are getting really excited to go to Calif.  We leave next Wed.  We are flying into Vegas, then getting a car and driving up to Nedra.  She is very bad with her cancer.  It has progressed to no more time left.  We pray she can hold on until we see her next week.  This has been really hard on Karl. He and Nedra have been the closest in the family.

   We are going to Calif. for our Granddaughter's wedding.  She is getting married in the San Diego Temple Feb. 6th, with her reception that same night.  She is finishing up BYU then will be leaving with her husband for work.

We fly back the following Wed. We are so thankful our Mission Pres. said we could go.  

   One funny story to tell!  This little boy I've been tending (Enoch) was telling Elder Armstrong (as Enoch calls him) "My teacher at preschool is an old lady just like Sister Armstrong."  I guess to someone 4 years old I am a pretty old lady.  Kids always tell it like it is!

   Many of the Senior Couples we've known back here have already left or will be in March. That means our time is getting shorter. I can't even begin to think about it.  We feel like all these problems we've been working with back here have just had band aids put on them. We have learned to love these people so very much!

   Have a good remainder of the week, what's left of it!  Hope all of you are happy and well!          Our Love,  Elder & Sister Armstrong 

                                                           Mom & Dad

                                                           Karl & Joyce

Jan 14-20, 2015

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

Jan. 8-14, 2015

Hi all of you on this cold, cold day. How cold do you have it?  

We have appointments in 1 hour so I better make this fast.  Life just keeps getting better and faster back here, and also colder.  We are now to pants under the skirts, sweaters, coats, gloves, long john tops and Karl wears his pj's under his pants.  The poor missionaries have to walk, we just have to stand outside doors.

   We had a surprising Sacrament Meeting Sun.  We had 50 to church!  A lot  of investigators.  Karl had to pull another talk out of his hat, only one speaker showed up, but he did a real good job again.  We all go by the seat of our pants on Sun.  If we just keep having faith then Heavenly Father takes care of the rest!

He always helps us, but we get very nervous as the time gets closer to starting.  

   The choir is singing Sun. Last week we had Sister Burno and myself there. We'll have more support on Sun. but not sure how it might sound!

   We are getting all flights arranged for so we can go to Calif. for our Granddaughter's wedding. We will be stopping in Vegas, driving to St. George to see Karl's sister who is dying of cancer, then John and Jill are picking us up in Vegas and we drive to San Diego for the sealing.  We can hardly wait to see everyone. It is for a wonderful occasion.  The mission Pres. told us we could have a week (we won't know what to do with ourselves). We are so excited.

   Everything back here is just about the same every week- appointments, taking people to Dr. and dentists, and this afternoon to get Rosina's electricity back on. She is still trying to get out of her house but she can't stay well enough to get together with the housing people. Her life is one constant problem, we feel so sorry for her.

   We have a Zone meeting this Fri.  It will be so good to see some of the older couples.  They always have meetings, entertainment and a nice lunch.  Thanks for all the love and support. We have talked to several of you this week. You certainly help us out.  By the way ROB, another puzzle came in the mail today, and Dad thought the last one was hard. This one he will put together for your office!

             Love to all of you, you are all very dear to us
                                    Elder  Sister Armstrong

January 7, 2015

 Dear Family and Friends, 

I wanted to tell you about our New Year's Day.  We went to Longwood Gardens with the Storms. I truly thought we were in the Garden of Eden. Flowers, trees, bushes and every type of vegetation you can dream of. All the Christmas lights and decorations were still there, it was simply beautiful. It took in acres and acres, a lot of it was inside conservatories, but the grounds were so wonderful besides. I've never seen so many beautiful Christmas Trees. Grandma would have gone nuts to be around all this beauty. Of course, she is around things much more beautiful now, but it sure made me think of her!  It was super cold but well worth it.

  We have Rosina in the hospital again, she has had a stroke on her right side. She can talk and eat, but she mainly sleeps and they get her up to do therapy twice a day. Not sure what is going to happen to her.  We are teaching her two grandsons the discussions, one of them is Raymir  (the Christmas tree,) and the other one is a lot older.  We'll see what happens.

   We finally got snow. Only a couple of inches but it sure is cold.  I get to wear my boots again. Thank goodness I have them.

   The Second Counselor is sick, his health is very bad, he too has had a stroke. Anyway Dad is conducting Sacrament Meeting again this month so he is working on talks and will be teaching for Sister Storm for Sunday School. They are in Florida.

   We are helping teach about 4 new investigators. We'll have to see what happens with them.  So far 4 of our first baptisms are not coming out to church. We still visit them, a lot of it is health problems, the cold, and just plain not knowing that you have to do more than get baptized.  We still love all of them! Alma is still so wonderful, always happy, kind and considerate to all missionaries.

   We have set new goals as a mission and individually. Why is it so hard to keep our personal goals? We just have to keep trying and rely more on our Savior.  He is always willing to step in and help, we just have to keep working through Him. I've always thought I could handle most things on my own. I'm trying to rely more on Him.  When will I learn He wants to help me? I still carry that PRIDE thing around my neck. I wonder if I will be working on this the rest of my life?

   All of you have a wonderful week. Keep trying on all your own new goals. All of you keep happy and well. The gospel is true and so are all of us just hanging on trying our best, especially all of you!

                    Love all  of you, Elder & Sister "A" as some of them here call us!