God is in the details and Steve chases squirrels...

On April 14, 2018, I had the privilege of spending a few hours with Aunt Inge Lisa, while Mette, her amazing daughter was out of town for her daughter's performance in a parade in Washington D.C. It was a sweet opportunity for me to calm her, assist her with eating and just give her comfort.  She doesn't know who I am but as I talked to her, held her hand and soothed her, she sometimes put her head on my shoulder and then asked me if she could go home with me.  It was very touching and a sweet blessing for me to serve.  Faithful Mette spends several hours with her every day.

That evening, we were privileged to attend the baptism for Shelli Frelow.  Her husband was baptized several years ago but fell away without being ordained to the priesthood.  It was a delight to see him baptize Shelli.  It took him a couple of times to get it correct, but he was persistent and the Spirit was attendant.  After the baptism, there was a stake priesthood meeting so Shelli, Amber and I got to visit and I practiced the piano a bit.

Sunday evening, we received some more snow.  This photo taken at the Independence Visitor's Center shows the poor tulips poking up through the snow.  Our friend Elder Johnson, arrived before we finished our work there.  We love running into the Johnsons.

Our work for the day took us north to Albany and Maryville to repair an inoperative auto flushing urinal.  We drive by this metal works business and I get a kick out of the animals and contraptions some creative worker has made.  Such talent!

The urinal situation turned into a 2 day project.  On day 1 the city had come over and turned off the water to the building and we had to wait until "after lunch" before we could get it turned back on to diagnose the problem.  This was a totally new experience for Steve.  His ever increasing skills are wondrous.

On Monday night, we attended a presentation at the VC on the John Whitmer family given by Ron Romig, a noted historian and member of the Community of Christ church.  A descendant of the Whitmer family also attended the presentation and volunteered the information that she had never heard any Whitmer family members disparage the LDS Church in any way.  They stood by their testimony of the Book of Mormon even though they didn't remain members of the LDS church.

Part of our work this week included moving a lot of chairs from one chapel to another and moving unused items being stored in the shop to the Salvation Army donation center.  We love giving "stuff" to the Salvation Army to being a new life of service.

Dropping off stuff at the Salvation Army.

One day our work took us to Gallatin which is fairly close to the Amish/Mennonite community of Jamesport.  After we finished our work, we drove the Chamberlains up there to take a brief look around.

Our excursion to find the quilt shop also led us to a local cheese factory/store run by a German Baptist family.  Their faith tenants seemed very similar to the Mennonites.  This buggy was in front of the store, so we took photos.  I wasn't able to get photos of the country school we passed on our way back to the paved road.  Children were outside playing and buggies and saddled horses were tied up nearby.  We also passed a construction site where a few men were beginning to frame what appeared to be a house or barn using very old-fashioned methods.  It was so interesting to see.

Above is the cheese factory which was being cleaned by two women.  Below is the quilt/craft store.

We love seeing the green started to emerge in the country side.  I took this photo trying to capture the white barked sycamore trees which provide a sharp contrast to the regular trees.

Below is a photo of the Independence park in the distance that we see on our walks.  It has been stripped bare of the trees and is so sad to us.

Here you can see the metal poles which have been installed to support the solar panels they are putting throughout the "old" park.  This is one of the few clear days here in Missouri.

Photos below include Steve fixing an accordion door in the Platte City Stake Center and changing bulbs in the lift at Liberty Jail.  I love the photo that includes the replica of the jail made from the original exterior stones.

One day Steve and Elder Briggs hung this warped white board in a Bishop's office in Leavenworth.  We love recycling things to give them another useful life.

 Having Elders Rowley and Thompson to dinner is always lots of fun.  They are great elders, tall physically and well as spiritually.

A change of plans created the situation where Steve had to remove this extremely well-built wall recently installed in the Clayview chapel by a superior construction craftsman, Elder Chamberlain.

The work continues on this building as we help to prepare it for an additional 4th ward.

The wall is gone now and the infamous heavy duty, old garbage can I used to clean up the mess stands in front of the door.  I believe this was the can that exacerbated my "episode" referred to later.

The men installed green board sheetrock and a couple of the restrooms.  

Our group loads heavy rolling whiteboards onto the trailer for distribution to chapels.

One day on rounds, I snapped a spring photo of this little Catawba store and gas station near Hauns Mill.  It makes me wonder when this area was a thriving enough community to have a store and gas pump.

Another dinner with our favorite elders.  They make Steve look so small.

Assembling whiteboards at the St. Joseph's chapel.

We finally got a few days of spring weather and the flowers at the Liberty Jail started blooming.  It was a cheery sight to see.

Here our senior missionaries and Mark remove an older, needing repair organ from the Gallatin chapel.

We are gradually removing valuable items from this small chapel in Chillicothe, MO.  The stake president has decided to close down this branch and move the members to other wards in the area.  It is so sad for us to see this cute little chapel closed.  It almost breaks my heart.  We really like this little town and chapel.

On Wed. April 18, I experienced an episode of severe pain in my abdomen as we were doing historical site rounds.  After we finished at Far West, I asked Steve to give me a priesthood blessing and agreed to go to an emergency room to see what was causing this pain.  We discussed several options and decided to proceed to the town of Richmond about 25 miles south, which would have been our next stop anyway.  There we located a small hospital called Ray County Memorial Hospital.  I feel that this Spirit guided us to choose this quiet, small town hospital where I was seen immediately by an experienced physician.  He diagnosed a hernia and said that the surgeon was nearby so he would ask him to take a look.  Within less than 10 minutes, the surgeon came and confirmed the hernia diagnosis.  He said it wasn't urgent at the moment, but that if I postponed surgery, I would have other episodes and one could turn into a serious situation.
After some discussion, we decided to proceed with scheduling the surgery there at the Richmond hospital.  That proved to be a very wise decision.  They scheduled me for 6:45 on Friday and had all my pre-op tests and information complete in about 20 minutes.  The examination has pushed the bowel back in place and I was free of pain and able to go home.  I felt that I was directly blessed in choosing a place where such a quick, calm response to my needs could take place.

Friday morning as we drove the hour north to Richmond, we enjoyed this amazing beautiful sunrise.

The surgeon and staff at the hospital were all so kind, helpful and experienced.  Everything went really well except that the doctor found two hernias to repair instead of just one.

Here I am just before they wheeled me into surgery.  I was relieved to find out the cause of the pain and have it repaired so soon.

I was home in time for both of us to take a nap in our own bed that afternoon.  I took a couple of iburofen over the weekend so I could rest comfortably, but my recovery has been absolutely miraculous.  I haven't taken any pain medication since Sunday night directly after a short walk as seen in our backyard below.  (Notice the white bark of the sycamore tree in the background.)

While I have continued to recuperate this week, I have been able to answer the phones in the FM office while staff members attend meetings in Denver.

Steve has worked with the other men on doing a variety of tasks.  

He took the photo below from the cherry-picker lift at Leavenworth where he and Mark have been chasing down squirrels who chewed through the vents and have infested the chapel.

They have repaired the holes where they chewed their way into the building.

The next day, they started cleaning out the shop to make room for nearly 5000 plants that will arrive next week when spring planting will begin.

 Here I am at the FM office waiting for the phone to ring.  I predicted that we wouldn't have any serious emergencies while the staff was gone and so far I have been correct.  I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies that have attended me throughout my medical situation.  God truly blesses and cares for His missionaries.  I believe that He cares just as much for each person and knows our needs.
Miracles have not ceased as I can witness I have received several in just this past week.