February Blows In...

Hooray!  The last week of January found Steve on a ladder changing light bulbs again.  His thumb still gets sore by the end of a hard day, but he has been able to do most chores lately.  

Monday night, we gathered with many of the other senior missionaries for potluck dinner and FHE.  I am often impressed by their cheerful service in spite of many personal challenges. We feel blessed. 

Tuesday, we all worked at the Platte City chapel, changing light bulbs, etc.  It takes 3 men to load and unload the lift so that is quite a job all by itself.  Our boss, Mark was up in the lift and I was running gopher between him and Steve working on the tile job in the women's bathroom, when suddenly the lift stopped working and Mark was stuck up in the air.  Fortunately, Steve and I found the breaker box and figured out that the breaker was tripped.  Steve also showed Mark the emergency way to lower the lift in such a situation.  Steve really has a gift for figuring things out which has proven valuable so many times here in Missouri.

Tuesday was also Mark's birthday so Vickie brought some muffins and we had a candle and sang.  He was surprised but didn't complain about the food or the attention.  Steve has spent many hours sitting with his head under the counter working on repairing this tile wall.  He is amazing!

Tuesday night, our other senior missionary friends had us to dinner in the evening.  It was the first opportunity they could host and they wanted to recognize my birthday.  That was very kind and generous of them.  We celebrated a couple of times with friends serving here in the mission.

This is what the tile wall looked like after Steve attached the backer board.  He had added about 14 tiles at this point.  

We had to use the old tiles that had been removed from the wall so I worked on and off for hours cleaning the old mortar and grout off from the tiles so they could be reused.  We ended up using all the tiles except for 2.  We were relieved that we barely had enough.

This is what it looked like after the tiles were placed but before the grout.

Steve and I worked on the tile project on Wednesday,  Friday and Monday.  Each step required some drying time so we worked for several hours and then had to clean up, store our tools and come back another day.  We made a lot of trips to Home Depot too for supplies.
On Thursday, all of us FM North missionaries, met the stake president of the Independence Stake at the old employment office to repurpose it as a self-reliance teaching center.  We had to haul a lot of furniture, desks, office supplies, etc. and bring over other furniture for a reception area, class rooms, etc.  It was an all-day project and took a lot of lifting and hauling but I think they were very happy with the results.  The stake president, Pres. Cato, treated us all to his favorite onion rings from the local Hi Boy drive-in restaurant.

This desk will replace an old metal desk in our secretary's office.  Changing her office around is a project for another day.  She is excited to get a new, used desk, however.

It was a major pain in the neck for the guys to take apart office cubicles.  They will probably be donated to a charity as these guys refuse to put them back together.

Steve was so exhausted that sleep sneaked up on him as he was waiting for dinner.

Saturday morning, I was able to get our laundry and cleaning done early so I could make a quick visit to Aunt Inge Lisa.  Mette tells me she is so much better in the mornings and Saturday is the only morning option for me.  I brought her a little box of chocolates and she was delighted.  She loves chocolate and she quickly ate them all.  She kept offering some to the rest of us, but then willingly ate them and enjoyed them with a smile.

She looked very nice in her pretty red sweater.  Even though she ate the chocolates, it didn't dampen her appetite for her lunch.  She especially loves beets and so she ate hers and some of Mette's too.  Mette comes in the morning each day and stays through lunch.  Inge eats much better when Mette is there.

Saturday afternoon we did our walking at the mall and our errands.  That night our stake hosted a Stake Valentine's Dinner and Dance.  I was able to convince Steve to go and support the stake.  We were surprised that there were several couples from our branch and quite a few from the stake.  It turned out to be quite fun and the DJ played good dancing music across the spectrum.

We stayed long enough to do several dances and eat some chocolate dipped strawberries and cookies.   Here we are with a couple from our branch, the Clives.  People were invited to wear costumes of the roaring twenties so Brother Clive willingly complied.  Since Sister Clive is pregnant, her options were minimal.  Steve kept saying he didn't know missionaries were allowed to dance.

Sunday as we walked into church, the counselor in the branch presidency asked me if I would accept a calling to play the piano for primary.  Now it is official and I began that day.  I was a bit rusty without any recent practice but they were all very forgiving of my mistakes.

Elder Marcum emailed us this new official picture of the first presidency.  I know that Pres. Nelson, Oaks and Eyring are men prepared and called for our time.  We support them and pledge to follow their counsel.

 With a lot of freezing going on again, the Missouri River has started freezing over again.  We love to watch the daily changes in the river as we drive over it every time we do our rounds of the visitor sites.  We really can't imagine what it was like for the early saints as they had to deal with the freezing and thawing of this river during their time of persecution here in Missouri.  It is humbling to think about.

Monday morning we did our rounds and inspections and then went back to Platte City so Steve could finish grouting and adding the circulation grates.  

 Mark stopped by just as Steve was beginning to install the grates.  It was perfect timing for him to assist in installing them.

 Steve is rejoicing and so am I.  Hallelujah to have this challenging project finished!

The next day, we all had to go to Gallatin and Trenton since the lift had to be used for several necessary projects and repairs.  Here Mark is in the lift repairing some molding that had popped off.  Once again, Steve came up with the solution to the situation.

At Trenton, we changed a lot of light bulbs, set up a printer, etc.  Vickie and I assembled this cleaning cart and were pretty pleased with the results.  Neither of us had done this before.  

Here I am pushing out the old rusty cart.  Every single item must be accounted for with a paperwork trail.  

Trenton is is about 1 1/2 hours north of Independence.  We put in a long day and arrived home at 5:25 p.m. which was 5 minutes before our elders were to arrive for dinner.  Fortunately, we had already planned to take them to Dixon's Famous Chili Restaurant for all-you-can-eat tacos.  This old restaurant has been open in KC since 1919. Fortunately there is an Independence location near our house.  Steve tried the chili which is mostly meat unless you ask for beans.  I had a burrito and the elders went for the tacos.  Elder Thompson ate 8 tacos and elder Earle ate 10.  Impressive!  They loved it!

Today we were driving on our rounds up to Far West when Steve put on his sunglasses to cut out some of the brightness.  He was squinting but didn't notice that one of his lenses had fallen out of his sunglasses.  We had a really good laugh about this.  

 Since we were driving nearby our favorite bagel, donut bakery, we decided to treat ourselves to a bagel on Valentine's Day.  We arrived to find that they hadn't made any bagels today because of Valentine's Day.  They were busy with donuts, cookies, cakes, etc.  When they opened up at 5 a.m., there was a line standing outside and it continued out through the door for the next two hours.

Needless to say they were out of fritters and most donuts.  They had a few cakes and larger items when we arrived about 9:45.  We settled for the last cinnamon roll and the patrons continued to arrive.  Obviously it was a popular place for "Love Sweets."

 Since we only worked a 7-hour day today instead of the 9-10 we have been working lately, we had time to make a Costco run and walk at the mall.  It is a treat for me to work with my eternal sweetheart every day.  I love serving this mission!