11-17 July 2021 Find the One

Sunday, July 11^th.  Twice a month we participate in an early morning Zoom call for ward council.  Today we jumped on, gave our report, and jumped off.  With last night’s late notice, we had to get ready to lead primary, and get set up for Sis Hatfield to be the organist for sacrament meeting.  Fortunately for the primary, the mission office is nearby, and so we can download coloring pages, word strips, matching baby and mother animal pictures, and other teaching aids to put on a primary.  It turned out that the only children in primary were the two grandchildren of the Nehrings, who were visiting their grandparents while their parents were out of town.  So they got one on one attention.  Afterwards at Annie’s house, we pretty much gave the primary lesson over again:  Annie’s great-grandchildren Harmony, Gerard Jr, and Journey were visiting with their dad Gerard.  Annie made it clear that the visitors were not altogether welcome.  And she is a bit too hard on the rambunctious young Gerard Jr, in my opinion.  But their dad seems to have no where to go and wiggled his way into his grandmother’s house, with his kids.  Harmony is a delightful girl of about 12 going on 18.  She is sharp as a tack, and when asked what she would like, she says she would like to read a chapter book.  Little Journey is an adorable four year old, except for her odor.  The poor girl has not been bathed and dressed in clean clothes in who knows how long.  But Sis Hatfield opened her heart to these kids and had them on her lap teaching them lessons about Jesus.  Later that night, Sis Hatfield and I headed over to the Pagedale elders’ apartment.  Their smoke alarm has been sporadically beeping since the power went out and they need help with a ladder and to disarm it so that they can sleep.  We drove by an armada of electric utility service vehicles outside the apartment, working hard on an enormous tree that felled a block of power lines.  We could still see parts of it snaking around the front yards of neighbors.  It looks like this could have been a very dangerous situation.  Hopefully the power will be restored soon or I will need to make some arrangements to move the elders. 

Monday, July 12^th.  We usually start the week with a Zoom yoga class led by one of our young sister missionaries.  But last night, Pres Bell invited me to join him and four other elders in some games of pickleball.  I’m not sure why, but Pres Bell has really taken a shine to pickleball and is playing it in different parts of the mission when he is out and about.  It was a fun diversion.  Elder Cobia is in Columbia, Missouri and needs his COVID test kit in preparation for travel to Brazil.  I had sort of hoped that the housing assistants, or the Evertons, or someone else might be heading that way, but no good carrier alternatives presented themselves.  So I drove the kit out there myself, listening to Come Follow Me discussions, swapping out some broken vacuums in Columbia Zone, and picking up post office keys in Warrenton, along the way.  It is debatable whether I saved resources driving out there, because the money I spent in time and expenses couldn’t have been much less than the $100 or so that the church would have spent in extra fees to get a rapid COVID test done for Elder Cobia the day before departure, rather than sending the test kit to Salt Lake for analysis.  Oh, well.  It seemed like the right thing to do.  Back at the office, Sis Hatfield was busy helping Elder Rust answer a criminal background questionnaire as a part of his visa application to Spain.  Technical questions are difficult in your own language, much less a foreign language in a much different legal culture.  We ended the night with family home evening at our apartment with the Evertons and Jacobs viewing and discussing Elder Holland’s talk, “Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders Among You,” part of the theme for mission-wide zone conference on Thursday.  Pres Bell is much like the Prophet Joshua of old, urging his missionaries, or the children of Israel, to sanctify themselves, so that miracles can be part of the work. 

Tuesday, July 13^th was a capstone of sorts in our work in the Pagedale Branch.  More than a year ago, Sis Hatfield and I had the blessing of helping Sherrie Cullen prepare to enter the temple to make covenants with the Lord.  Today, we joined Sherrie and her husband Dan Thomas to witness their family sealings.  Not baptismal covenants that missionaries everywhere seek, but still covenants in white, and a joy to be a part of.  That evening we had dinner with the Nehrings, the Temple Recorder and his wife that we have become friends with.  Sis Nehring has assembled a quilting machine in her basement, and Sis Hatfield took her a pieced top to quilt.  Bro Nehring has his own artisan skills:  he demonstrated how to spin wool into yarn, comb flax on a heckle, and some other formerly common but now widely forgotten arts.

Wednesday, July 14^th was a travel day to the Champaign Zone.  We stopped in Tuscola to deliver a table, fix a faucet that sprayed a stream across the kitchen, and take pictures of a common entry storm door barely hanging on its hinges so I could show them to the absentee landlord.  We went to Rantoul to help dispose of an unwanted couch, and listen to Elder Buckley’s long list of items for fixing.  Elder Buckley is a fine missionary with some OCD that I have come to appreciate, because so many missionaries are sloven, but which needs managing back towards the middle way all the same.  We will do what we can to channel his zeal for order and cleanliness.  On the return trip, I remembered that the Effingham apartment has maybe the most uncomfortable couch in the mission, covered with some sort of cloth that cannot be permitted to touch skin.  Realizing that Elder Buckley’s castoff couch was quite comfortable by mission standards, I steered our trip to Effingham to swap the couches.  Everything seemed to be going according to Hoyle, until the housing assistants picked up the reject and realized it was a very heavy hide-a-bed couch.  And it did not fit down the stairwell and through the door without turning it sideways.  After making the heroic effort to turn it midair,  the couch springs were now in position to fling the bed open, launching the couch feet into the opposite wall, making four holes in the sheetrock.  Elder Nielsen had to crawl like a miner in a narrow shaft to heave the bed back into the mouth of the couch sufficiently to wrestle it out the door.  I will be bringing the wall repair bucket back next trip to Effingham. 

Thursday, July 15^th was a day of fasting.  Most of the mission opened our fast with a video meeting where Pres Bell gave an inspiring message about “finding the one.”  Then companionships planned how they would spend their afternoon finding, with the goal of finding one new person to teach.  Sis Hatfield drove out to the Parkway area and worked with Sisters Johnson and Drake and Sisters Bevins and Nguyen.  I went to the Pagedale area and worked with Elders Oviatt, Anderson, and Cobia.  Sis Hatfield and I both spent some time with our young missionaries at parks, talking to anyone and everyone.  After an hour of that, the elders and I went into a nearby neighborhood and looked up former contacts and anyone we could find.  Our success was in the effort more than in the fruits of our finding.  Sis Hatfield had basically the same experience.  One benefit the Parkway sisters received was Sis Hatfield seeing first hand what it was like for one of the companionships to be without a car and carrying bikes up three flights of stairs in a busy commercial area with few shoulders on the roads.  She will be a strong advocate for change for them!  At 5 pm the mission reconvened on video and shared some of the miracles experienced this afternoon finding new persons to teach.  The number was about 77 new friends taught with followup appointments, about double what is usually found in a week.  Sacrifice and consecration brings blessings, even if the blessing is the peace of knowing you did what you were asked to do.  Pres Bell closed the meeting with some instruction, including relating the story of Joshua Chamberlain, one of the heroes of the battle of Gettysburg.  Commanding a crucial flank, which the Confederates were charging, and running low on ammunition, he ordered bayonets affixed and a foot charge, repelling the Confederates and perhaps changing the course of the war.  And it doesn’t take much thought to imagine how the US and even the world would have been different if the Confederates had been able to march on Washington, DC after Gettysburg.  Our solitary efforts can have a “butterfly effect,” creating results so much bigger than could possibly be expected.  What a great lesson for the missionaries.  Later that evening, Sis Hatfield helped Elder Cobia, freshly arrived in St Louis from his teaching area in Columbia, finish his travel documents for his reassignment to Sao Paulo, Brazil.  His test kit was successfully received in Salt Lake, and all his forms are now complete.  He is ready to go.

On Friday, July 16^th while Sis Hatfield worked at the office I met Elder Luke Cobia at the APs apartment and took him to the airport.   He is a bright young man, but clearly nervous. And why wouldn’t he be.  He is traveling alone, his Portuguese is weak, his dietary sensitivities are real, and his emotions are slightly unstable.  But he is dedicated.  He is obedient.  And he has testimony.  As I took a final picture and pointed the way to the TSA security line, he put out his hand, which I brushed off, insisting on a hug.  He embraced me fiercely, nearly in tears.  Off he went.  What a consecrated, brave young man.  It is an honor to serve these young missionaries.  I went back to the apartment and took off my suit and put on my “work” clothes—short sleeve white shirt, tie, sturdier pants, and worn leather shoes.  The housing assistants and I went to Farmington South to clean out.  We took out a pickup truck full of debris accumulated in closets, under beds, behind couches, and who knows where.  At least we can see the floor in most rooms so cleaning will be possible another time.  Getting back to the office, the systems were finally working (after a frustrating failure this morning) so that I could print a check to replace a lost mailed rent check.  Stepping into Elder Jacob's shoes while he is traveling in Utah, I take the time to print it and drive it to the landlord.  Fortunately, they are in the greater STL area.  We do what we can to preserve goodwill, and avoid eviction notices! 

Saturday, July 17th.  Sis Hatfield and I have been hoping for an opportunity to work at the Greenwood Cemetery for almost two years.  The mission has been supplying manpower for about 4 years there, helping clear trees, shrubs, grass, and trash that has covered an abandoned nineteenth century african-american  cemetery.  It has become the life's work of Rafael and Shelly Morris in their retirement age, a wonderful couple who are sacrificing their time and treasure for the cause.  They gave us a personal tour of the area, which is about 40 percent cleared, but even that needs constant reattention to keep from quickly being overgrown again.  Shelly is doing what she can to index the grave markers, some of which are in rough shape.  These people are saints of a rare breed.  What they need is an endowment to keep this work going.  Sis Hatfield and I strolled through historic Kirkwood, Missouri during the evening.  It has a farmers market, train station, shops, and cafes.  My personal favorite is the wood reclamation shop that specializes in repurposing old boards, doors, hardware, and other antique materials into beautifully  but gently crafted furniture, siding, and decorations.  One item is a metal skyline of St Louis mounted on a weathered board.  We thought it would be lovely to get one for Pres and Sis Bell.

4-10 July 2021 Fireworks Under the Arch

Sunday, July 4^th, Independence Day.  I suppose that it was fitting that on this day of celebrating freedom, a stranger joined our testimony meeting and denounced the LDS faith.  Perhaps Pres Fingal had an inkling of what was coming, because he rose and whispered something in the stranger’s ear before he began.  He was very articulate, and clearly smart, quoting multiple passages from the Bible.  His thesis wasn’t altogether clear, but it seemed to be that the Book of Mormon and the LDS faith in general were false because of the notion that mankind somehow contributes to its salvation by our works.  He had a few other daggers, like Mormon wives being chained to pregnancy for eternity.  I was not sure what should be done in response, because of his shotgun attack.  Sis Hatfield was.  When the stranger finally sat down, Sis Hatfield rose and bore her powerful testimony and summarized Elder Lawrence Corbridge classic talk, Standing Forever, addressing attacks on our faith, which can be analyzed as primary questions or secondary questions, the latter being endless, and insufficient to overcome testimony of the primary questions:  we are children of a Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is His Son and our Savior, Joseph Smith was His prophet, and the Church is the Kingdom of God on earth.  Knowing this, all other questions are interesting, and often important, but not necessary to our faith.  Was it coincidence that Sis Hatfield and I had verbally reviewed that very talk while we drove to church just minutes before?  Then Bro Nehring, the temple recorder, and Bro Fuller, the ward mission leader bore their own powerful witnesses, and all was well.  No one directly said that the stranger was wrong, but the firm testimonies overcame the strange spirit left by our guest. 

 We had Sunday dinner to welcome our new neighbor and sister training leader, Sister Hannah Dellenbach.  She is delightful, and full of positive, cheery energy.  She together with Sister Annika Peterson will be a powerful force for good in the St Louis zone.  We left home about 8:30 pm to pick up President Bell, Sister Bell, and Zander.  We were taking them downtown to the Arch in hopes of watching the fireworks there.  Our preparations helped, because we found parking without too much trouble, and worked our way with the rivers of people towards the grassy hill of the national park.  We squeezed into an opening and spread our (moving) blanket and had a wonderful view of the aerial spectacle.  There are some great places to watch Fourth of July fireworks in the United States, but beneath the Gateway Arch in St Louis must be among the best.  The brilliant display was framed by the giant structure as the booms and flashes reverberated off of the highrise buildings behind us.  It was spectacular. 

 Monday, July 5^th was our first attendance at a zone p-day.  Once a transfer, each zone will get together for a larger group activity.  This day, the Hazelwood zone gathered at a park in St Charles for field games.  Sis Hatfield and I played our first games of spike ball, a sort of volleyball played off of a round bouncy net near the ground.  We watched games of volleyball and visited with missionaries in an environment we don’t usually see them in—recreation.  Then we snuck off to the store to buy water, oranges, and some other snacks while the zone played a large game of Frisbee soccer.  The weather was warm and sunny, and we finally headed back to our apartment to clean up before staffing the office for the afternoon. 

 Tuesday, July 6^th began with an early morning game of pickleball at the tennis court with Elders Lambson and Aspinall, the assistants to the President.  Elder Aspinall showed himself to be a fast student of the game, athletic, and with great hand eye coordination.  Later, I headed to Edwardsville, Illinois to meet Brother and Sister Brothers, newly called stake housing inspectors to work in the O’Fallon zone.  I provided them training and some lists and forms.  They will be a great help keeping track of the 10 apartments in this southern most of our Illinois zones, which stretches the breadth of southern Illinois.  Then we stopped into the recently vacated senior missionary apartment in Fairview Heights, and made a few preparations for new senior missionaries anticipated to move in next month.  It is odd to have a empty missionary apartment that does not scream out for cleaning and decluttering.  I had to pinch myself. 

After returning from St Louis Hills to the office, Sis Hatfield showed me what was on her desk.  She had received from the missionary department a box of phones and Verizon SIM cards to be distributed to the areas with the greatest connectivity issues.  Well, the areas with the greatest issues still outstanding.  We have already breached later-made rules by getting wifi installed months ago in a few apartments that were completely disconnected during the Pandemic.  The rules required that if the standard AT&T cell coverage did not work in an area, that T-Mobile be tried.  Having tried T-Mobile without any improvement anywhere, the next offered fix was the present solution of a Verizon phone to be used as a hotspot for the companionship’s phones.  It is true that Verizon is reputedly best coverage in the nation, but it is pretty rural and hilly here.  And carrying around a third phone seems clunky.  And the church will not activate the phones until they are all distributed to the problem areas and set up with the complicated instructions provided.  We will see how this goes.  Sis Hatfield seems to have a perpetual, nearly fulltime work in trying to keep the missionaries connected so they can do their work!

Wednesday, July 7^th.  Still trying to finish a few things for the sisters newly moved in Warrenton, Missouri, I headed out to the post office to show them the lease, ID, and pay a $40 fee to get keys to the apartment mail box.  This is the first time I have had to do that to get mail keys.  I also delivered a Verizon phone and SIM card on behalf of Sis Hatfield because the connectivity in Warrenton is very poor.  Then I headed south with the housing assistants to Parkway 2d out in Chesterfield to fix a couch that had a missing leg (how does that happen?), get a beeping smoke alarm settled down, and while unplanned, have a vacuum intervention.  Vacuums can only be stuffed so full until they don’t work anymore.  Then we headed further south to Rockwood 2d to take down a tri because Sis Dellenbach had moved up to Lindell to be an STL, taking Sis Miller’s place after she departed for Brazil last week.  As is becoming a pattern, we also took a Verizon phone that Sis Hatfield needed delivered to the Rockwood sisters.  Then we headed still further south to Sandy Creek, a rural community for sure, and delivered a blender, night stand, hung a towel rack, delivered mail for one of the new elders from his home.  He opened it while we were there and showed us a magic trick or two from the newly arrived bag of tricks.  We all have different talents, don’t we?  One of the elders mildly complained that water on the sink counter was pooling in a corner because it wasn’t level.  I told him not to worry about the somewhat unlevel counter.  His concern should be keeping the water in the sink, or wiping up what gets out.  I don’t think that has occurred to him. 

Thursday, July 8^th was a travel day, and we wanted to be back in time for a dinner appointment that the elders had with a member.  So we headed out fairly early for the Cape Girardeau zone.    The first destination was Farmington, where three sisters are pretty much squished into a one bedroom apartment.  To help, we were bringing a reading chair and shelves for the bathroom, as well as repairing a laundry door.  There was sticky syrup left on the counter after breakfast since the sisters had to hurry off to exchanges.  Trying to wipe things up a bit, I got squirted by the broken sink sprayer when I turned on the kitchen faucet.  Joke’s on me!  I’m going to call this one in to the landlord.  We left Farmington and drove south to Fredericktown, where a branch had formerly been meeting, but has been realigned and absorbed by Farmington and Sikeston.  I hadn’t seen it before, but the church building in Fredericktown is still maintained and with its signage prominent along the main road.  It is actually a beautiful, smallish building, clearly with an architectural style not originating in Salt Lake.  I wonder what the Church intends to do with the property? 

It is such a beautiful drive between Fredericktown and the City of Cape Girardeau.  The forested, rolling hills are lush, with some meadows carved out for some of the few cattle ranches I’ve seen in eastern Missouri.  The stretch across the edge of the Ozarks seems almost like time has passed it by.  There is one dwelling that I have noticed a few times that catches my eye.  There, I can imagine old Uncle Jeb rocking on the porch, shotgun across his lap.  I haven’t dared stop to knock and find out for sure.  In Cape Girardeau we have three apartments in one complex, and the goal here is to find HVAC filters.  None of the missionaries nor the stake housing inspector has been able to find them.  It is a bit of a challenge, which the housing elders have solved almost before I can run in out of the driving rain to have a look for myself.  We discover and work on miscellaneous other problems.  One was a washer that would not wash with warm water.  Turns out the supply hoses were installed backwards and the missionaries had not thought to see if the cold might actually be warm.  While driving home, Sis Hatfield has not been answered one too many times by Dee Marche.  So Sis Hatfield drives to Dee’s home to investigate.  She finds Dee feeling marginally well, but not in the mood to answer our phone calls lately.  Sis Hatfield makes an appointment to come back on Saturday so that she and I can look at Dee’s car AC and hopefully go out to dinner together.  The idea has been on the calendar for weeks.  We’ll see if we can actually make it a date.

Friday, July 9^th ended with Sis Hatfield and I eating a little ice cream along with a mostly much younger crowd on outside benches down in Chesterfield.  As we sat there, Mother Nature was putting on a terrific lightning show to the north, the direction of our apartment.  It was awesome, at least at that vantage point, with delicious ice cream.  When our treat was gone and it was time to head for home, we recognized that the storm had not passed, but there really didn’t seem like anything else to do but make a run for it.  As we drove farther and farther north, the light rain turned into a down pour, and finally into a Midwest hail storm.  The noise on our car roof was deafening.  Cars were pulled over with hazard lights on.  But pulling over made no sense to me, because of the continued exposure to hail that the national weather service was warning would injure animals and people.  Indeed, we got a picture of a two in piece of hail from Elder Reeder, one of our neighbors.  We swerved into our carport, hoping our car had not been damaged, and dashed for our door, hoping we would not be damaged.  We settled down inside to a gale wind, lightning, and torrential rain. 

Saturday, July 10^th was a bit of a wreck in the wake of the storm.  The power had gone out—for the 2^nd time this month.  It is fortunate for us that the plumbing requires no electricity.  But it does upset the routines, so we felt a bit discombobulated.  With the power still out, we went to the temple to attend the Pagedale Branch’s proxy baptism appointment.  We had hesitated, not wanting to crowd out members who might want to go from our little branch.  As it turns out, it was a good thing we went.  There were only two other couples with us, the Cullen-Thomases, who organized the event as married relief society president and elders quorum president of our age and stage, and a brand new young couple who had just arrived to the area.  We were rather needed to keep the witnessing and recording going, as well as acting as proxy.  It is always a sweet, peaceful feeling to be at the temple.  Afterwards, we stopped into a local Asian noodle bar near our apartment for some excellent ramen and lo mein.  The warmth was welcome because the storm was still raging.  If only there was some way to redirect some of this moisture to the parched west.  We got some takeout to share our bounty with Dee and Charles Marche.  In addition to dropping off food, Sis Hatfield and I recharged Dee’s car’s AC, something she had indicated she was advised she needed to make her AC function, but which she could not afford.  So we invested in a $35 can of refrigerant and some YouTube training.  We successfully got the AC to drop from 85 to 54 degrees, which seemed like a victory.  I hope it holds.  Later that night, Sis Hatfield got two calls.  One, to conduct primary in the absence of all the other primary leaders and teachers being ill or traveling, and two, to play the organ for sacrament meeting.  Her talents throttle is on full here.

27 June -3 July 2021 Spiritual Legacy of the Pioneers

Sunday, June 27^th was a two loaf day.  We have invited our entire district of 11 to our home for dinner.  So I made two loaves of bread, and Sis Hatfield made three pans of her homemade macaroni and cheese.  But first I had to earn those calories.  I did so at church, because Silas came today and was not sitting still.  His mother gathered him up off of the rostrum a few times in sacrament meeting, and in primary, I chased him around rooms, down hallways, and up the stairs a few times.  Finally, we figured out how to barricade the primary room door so he couldn’t get out.  We were in the presence of the rest of the primary, but not participating.   Drawing on the chalkboard seemed to be the only activity that held his attention for more than a moment.  Meanwhile, Sis Hatfield was working in nursery.  We hope that we are not indelibly impressing a negative association for us with the young primary members we are wrangling.  Visiting Annie Stewart, we showed her most of the proceedings at the joint CJCLDS-NAACP-UNCF event where it was announced that the church would provide scholarships and other funding to support education with these organizations that the church has partnered with in recent years.  The talks of the NAACP leadership was invigorating.  Our black brothers and sisters certainly know how to preach and sing. 

We measured, chopped, stirred, baked, and set the table a good part of the afternoon.  But the outcome was delicious.  Sis Hatfield’s macaroni and cheese is second to none.  The young missionaries’ dessert didn’t really materialize, so we pulled out the backup ice cream we had, adding one more layer of creamy deliciousness to the meal.  But the effort was well worth it.  The young missionaries felt our love and support for them, and them for us.  Elder Winn most of all knew he mattered to us because we had gluten and diary free analogs to everything we served.  We finished our district meal and then settled in to watch Elder and Sis Christofferson’s fireside from Salt Lake to the Missouri St Louis Mission.  Sis Christofferson is Elder Jacob’s first cousin, so I guess it was hard for them to say no.  And it was uplifting.  Their teachings and advice was full of love and spirit.  They answered questions posed by the missionaries, and even answered a few more in writing after the fireside after time ran out on our video conference.  Elder Christofferson made us all feel like extensions to the work of the Apostles to fulfill the Great Commission.  Everyone basked in the glow of the testimony of a living apostle. 

Monday, June 28^th required that we dump out empty flower pots sitting on our deck for the second time in two days.  We’ve had to take the flowers out of their decorative pots to try to help them drain, recognizing that they were struggling with all the rain.  And it is a good thing we did, because the empty pots have been filling to the brim each day.  The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for the Missouri River.  We ended the day with family home evening at the Jacob home.  We shared our thoughts coming out of the Christofferson fireside.  Then we had an eclectic selection of appetizers and desserts brought together to finish off the evening.  We were fortunate to meet Annie, an Everton daughter that was in town who shared the evening with us.  She is delightful and brought a welcome freshness to our discussion. 

On Tuesday, June 29^th the housing assistants and I took apart some of the ceiling in President Bell’s office, secured chains on the interstitial framing, hung a hidden beam, fastened hooks, and installed a dropdown screen under the reinstalled ceiling.  His office is now ready for projection at either end of the room.  This is one of our contributions to bringing the mission technology forward.  Then we hand delivered the rent check to the sisters’ apartment in Weldon Spring, because the rent check there has been lost in the mail for two months running.  We are trying to earn back a little goodwill and let the USPS work itself out.  While we were in the area, we added a finish coat to the large hole in the living room in the Dardenne Creek apartment and replaced the badly leaking showerhead.  This apartment is looking quite a bit better after our recent attention.  Then we headed back to the sisters’ new apartment in Warrenton to bring some shelving, kitchen chairs, and a couch.  We were too late on the couch.  One of the sisters had spent $50 on a couch she found on Facebook Marketplace in self-help.  We also failed at the post office.  For some reason, the mail keys at this apartment require a $40 deposit at the post office, which I was prepared for, but they also require a copy of the lease, which I didn’t think to bring.  I’ll need to come back again sometime.  Ugh. 

Wednesday, June 30^th was lithotripsy day for Elder Dailami.  It was time to fix his kidney stone problem that he has been suffering with for about six weeks now.  Hopefully, this treatment will work for him.  It didn’t work for me.  Meanwhile, Sis Hatfield and I attended our first district council meeting, held around the high council table at the St Louis stake center.  It was a bit of a reprise of our district council Sunday dinner.  Elder Oviatt does a great job leading the district in a humble but purposeful way.  As a bonus, Sister Nguyen brought authentic spring rolls to finish our meeting.  We are starting to feel a connection with our adopted young missionary district.  Back at the office, Sis Hatfield dived into her work, and I headed out to O’Fallon to retrieve keys for the Vela apartment and went over to inspect it.  Now that is the way an apartment should look when someone leaves it.  Elder Vela gave me a copy of his songs written and performed for his family.  It is a collection of old timey country music, with great instrumentation.  His voice is rich and strong.  A hidden talent I never saw performed in the mission.  The drive home was in a downpour, with many vehicles pulled off the side of the road, and everyone with their hazard flashers on.  When it rains here, it doesn’t hold back.  That night back at the office we prepared for MLC, new missionary training, and Sis Miller’s departure for Brazil until 10 pm.  Another full day in the MSLM.

Thursday, July 1^st.  Today we broke some new ground by holding the mission leadership council meeting and the new missionary training meeting simultaneously.  Pres Bell has always preferred to have MLC on the first day of the month, where possible, to generate enthusiasm and momentum early each month.  It just so happens that the first of the month is also about the same time as we would typically have new missionary training, coming about two weeks after the new missionaries have arrived.  To save on mileage, which is becoming an increasingly big deal for the missionaries post-pandemic, since they find themselves wanting to go more places and do more things than they could a few short months ago, it was decided that MLC and NMT would be held at the same time and at the same place.  So while the Bells and the assistants carried on with the leadership council, Sis Hatfield and the staff conducted the first half of new missionary training.  The idea was to end MLC and NMT at the same time and feed them all lunch, which Sis Bell had planned and the staff would help carry out.  But as it happened, NMT stayed on schedule, and MLC went overtime by about 40 minutes, and so the lunch timing was awkward.  Oh, well.  The training was excellent in both meetings.  The staff members each had informative, personable presentations, delivered right on the time schedule.  Sis Hatfield had a particularly good message around the theme that these young missionaries are the spiritual legacy of the pioneers.  It is true:  whatever the genetic posterity of the pioneers, these young people are unmistakably the spiritual legacy of this dispensation’s early members.  And MLC, while not on schedule, had lots of involvement and presentations by the young missionaries themselves, which is a great way to emphasize learning.  By the time we had everything cleaned up and put away after lunch, the day was mostly spent.  I always overestimate the time that will be available after a lunch gathering.  What seems like should be wrapped up by 1 or 2 pm latest, almost always stretches to more like 3 pm or later, so there isn’t much left of the work day outside a evening at the office.  We also said goodbye today to Sister Linsay Miller, our young neighbor who finally has been able to go to her original assignment in Brazil.  We will miss her very much, but happy to share her spirit with the people of Brazil.  It was distressing however, that Elder Dailami, two days past his kidney stone procedure, admitted to being at an 8 on a pain scale of 10.  Hopefully, we will find a way to keep him comfortable for the next few days. 

Friday, July 2^nd was a little wistful for me.  Spencer and his family moved into their new house today.  This is the first move he has had that I have not been there to play a role.  He has had the support of others, but it still is hard to not be there.  We must have faith that our family “[is] well; they are in [the Lord’s] hands, and [He] will do with them as seemeth [Him] good” (DC 100:1), as he promised to the early missionaries who left their immediate families for missions to spread the gospel.  I hung a beautiful, but slightly odd picture of Joseph, a very pregnant Mary, and a young shepherd and flock in Pres Bell’s office.  The art is not odd, but the selection for hanging in the office of the mission president is seemingly odd.  Pres Bell explained the deep meaning he takes from the everlasting companionship of a husband and wife toiling to give birth to a new generation, while the young shepherd does his work, oblivious to Mary and Joseph.  There is much for a missionary to think about in all of these threads of this beautiful art.  I took Elder Nielson and Elder Dailami with me to the apartment of San Carlos 2.  We went to reconnect a dryer vent hose, or so we thought.  It turned out we walked into a buzz saw.  Not only was the dryer vent hose unconnected, the hose did not vent to the outside, but into a plastic bucket.  That is to say, lint was sticking all over the ceiling and walls around the dryer.  More, we discovered a backed up kitchen sink, a missing blind, and door knobs missing on two doors, including the front door.  More, the elders had hung a heavy punching bag on the kitchen door way casing, warping and cracking the casing, and pulling the wood away from its calking.  These projects will take a few visits and some help from the landlord to solve. 

After working on all this, Elder Dailami was looking pale.  I had Elder Nielson stop at the convenience store for drinks, since we were out of water.  We had one more task to replace mattresses across town in the St Peters sister’s apartment, but I tried to keep Elder Dailami quiet while we finished our work.  We quit early and I sent the elders home with instructions to Elder Nielson to feed Elder Dailami and make him rest.  Meanwhile, Sis Hatfield discovered a beautiful park, Longview Farm.  It was acquired by the Town and Country township about 20 years ago when it was an operating horse farm with pastures, fences, barn, lake, and homestead.  The city has turned it into a peaceful, pastoral recreation site with walking paths, gardens, conference rooms, swings, therapeutic horse riding, and other amenities.  It is a popular setting for wedding pictures, and understandably so.  We finished the night with our latest new ice cream find:  Oberweis Dairy.  Elder Nielson has mentioned it to me before.  We liked it enough that we added yogurt and chocolate milk to our purchase after our ice cream cones. 

Saturday, July 3^rd took us to the south St Louis neighborhood known as “the Hill.”  It is the Italian district, with red, white, and green strips popping up all over.  It is a wonderful combination of residences interspersed with small eateries, shops, and businesses.  We feasted on pasta at Mama’s, and walked to the local bocce club, the Imos piazza, a beautiful neighborhood park complete with gardens, fountains, and chess tables, all decorated with marble, from Italy, I assume.  It’s the epicenter of the Hill on Marconi Street with St. Ambrose Catholic Church on one corner, an Italian gelato shop which we tried with delight on another, and the slightly formal, but family friendly neighborhood piazza.   Naturally, the Hill is home to the St Louis-famous Imos pizza chain, and later I learned that baseball stars Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up there.  We finished our outing walking by other restaurants we dreamed of visiting sometime, and exploring some townhomes under construction, signaling the slow but sure gentrification of this gem of a neighborhood in St Louis.  On our way home we drove around the streets west of the St Louis Arch, reconnoitering how we might come and where we might park to trek to the Arch for fireworks tomorrow night, in what promises to be a crowded venue. 

20-26 June 2021 First Baptism Attendance

Sunday, June 20^th was a tender day.  This is the first year I couldn’t send my Dad a card, giving him a call, or telling him how much I love him.  Sis Hatfield had a little hug and cry together, having one more thing in common.  I knew it was a risk that Dad wouldn’t make it if I went on a mission at his age.  I miss having spent the last year and a half of his life with him.  I miss not being able to help support Mom more now that he is gone.  But for all my wistfulness, I know he supported me serving a mission.  We are a missionary family.  At a family call this evening, Mom related a couple of miracles in connection with the timing of Dad’s passing.  It was a miracle that Audrey Workman, his granddaughter had a soccer tournament two weeks before his death in Salt Lake City.  Although it was a bit of an effort for him, he insisted on making the trip up to see her play and spend time with her and with Lori.  Lori and Audrey needed the miracle.  It was also a miracle that Emily Jensen, Max’s wife, delivered little baby Elle just in time for Dad to see his newest grandchild.  These are tender mercies for those of us surviving Dad.  In the end, I have a few wishes that things would have been different, but no real regrets.  Life does not work out the way we want it to in many details, but it does work out.  Most of my feelings have root in the simple fact that I miss my Dad.  As it is said, heartache is a sign of love.

 Monday, June 21^st took me to Lake St Louis to sign a lease that neither I nor the manager could make work electronically, and then to deliver an missionary support fund visa card to an elder in the LSL area.  He had been doing without for several weeks now, so we were anxious to get it to him.  When I called ahead, the missionary needing the card said they were at the local church building.  When I arrived, their bikes were parked by the doors.  But the doors were locked, and no matter my knocking, I couldn't get anyone’s attention.  So I called on the cell phones of both the missionary I was looking for and another companionship in the same apartment.  No answer.  Frustrated, I was driving away when the missionaries called.  They had gone to a park.  Too bad they didn’t tell me!  They said it would be a while before they came back, and to just to put the MSF card in one of the bike helmets.  The bikes were not even locked up, so I had some reservations, but I wasn’t in the mood to work on another solution at this point, so I left the envelope in a dangling bike helmet.  I hope the missionary gets it. 

Tuesday, June 22^nd started very early.  Sis Hatfield and I picked up Elder Wadsworth, departing for Mexico, at 3:45 am at the apartment of the assistants.  The terminal was surprisingly busy with travelers lined up in their tourist garb.  There is little doubt that the world wants to get back to normal.  We came home and cat napped for a bit before heading out to O’Fallon, Illinois to support the zone conference of the Illinois zones.  It turned out to be quite a production getting there.  When Sis Hatfield and I were nearly there, the housing elders called and said that the mission truck, which had been taken in for an oil change yesterday afternoon, was still not ready.  It turned out that the truck also needed brake work, and the power had gone out at the shop so nothing had been done.  The problem was that we had been depending on the mission truck to pull the trailer full of food, water, grill, mail, supplies, and surplus housewares I was distributing to the missionaries.  Not having the trailer was not an option.  So we turned around and headed back to get my truck.  But it wasn’t just that easy, because the hitch and trailer-sized ball was on the mission truck.  We went to the auto supply store and got a receiver and ball, and then hitched my truck to the trailer, which I turned over to the elders to drive so I could ride with Sis Hatfield.  The elders are always delighted to drive the Raptor when the opportunity arises.  But of course that wasn’t the end of it.  The propane valve on the mission grill was broken.  It took three stores to finally find one that wasn’t out of propane tanks.  Apparently there is a propane shortage in Illinois.  And because Pres Bell had inadvertently torched the long handled grill spatula warming up the grill on last use, I had to grill about 90 burgers with a shorty, leaving me with red skin and no arm hair.  But not to fret, after the conference was completed, we went to the Dairy Haven for orange twist ice cream cones.  Ice cream solves most problems. 

Wednesday, June 23^rd was zone conference in Chesterfield for the St Louis, St Louis South, and Cape Girardeau zones.  With all the glitches yesterday, we tried extra hard to be organized sufficiently so that we could listen to the presentations.  The highlights came from unexpected sources.  The Everton’s daughter Sarah and their granddaughter Maddy were in town for a few days visiting.  Maddy told her story in zone conference.  She suffered a heart attack as a 12 year old, and after some intensive care, her heart seemed to be improving.  But after a few months it became clear her heart would not last.  She received a heart transplant donated from a family of a deceased young lady.  Maddy has steadily gained strength and now, at 18, she is preparing to serve a mission.  Right after Maddy, Pres Melby, the mission presidency 2^nd counselor who is a heart surgeon, told of his odyssey leaving a prestigious position at Barnes Jewish Hospital, selling their home, only to have the purchase of a home in Montana terminated by a breach of contract and his new job spoiled by extortion.   And this after fasting and prayer that they should make the move.  While his immediate boss at the St Louis hospital wants him back, his boss’s boss has been reluctant, but seems to be coming around.  He explained with great humility how he and his wife are searching to learn the lessons the Lord would have them know.  Inspiring.  For zone conference lunch, we grilled and served 90 more hamburgers.  I bought a longer handled spatula to make it slightly less painful. 

After zone conference, I went to Lake St Louis to pay a visit at the real estate firm managing the leasing for our new Warrenton apartment.  Needing to move the sisters in on Friday, we were none too early to sign the lease, pay first month’s rent and deposit, and get the keys.  Then we raced to Warrenton and arrived at the city offices at 4:50 pm in the nick of time to sign up for sewer and water service and obtain an occupancy permit, something a few cities in the mission require.  The permit purportedly gives some minimal habitability assurance to renters after an occupancy inspection.  But naturally, there are fees involved, and a cynic might wonder if the program is a profit center for the city.  Back at the office, Sis Hatfield ordered sandwiches for the elders departing for Mexico and Guatemala in the morning staying with the assistants for the night, and we all enjoyed dinner together while they finished their travel documents.  While at the office, Sis Hatfield shared a sweet exchange she had with Elder Conner Nielson’s mother in Monroe, Utah.  He has been an outstanding housing elder, but is going home at the next transfer in late July.  His mother expressed her gratitude for the love and concern Sis Hatfield and I have offered to Elder Nielson over the last 5 months.  We will miss him, but his mother deserves the chance to hold him again.  We tried to leave the office by 9:30 pm, knowing that we had an early morning tomorrow.

On Thursday, June 24^th we were up by 3:15 am to pick up Sis Emily Fredrick and take her to the airport at 3:45.  She is on her way to the Dominican Republic today.  The airport was surprisingly busy, but she was ready and check-in went smoothly.  Earlier this spring she and her parents had opted not to have her get the COVID vaccine and she had very nearly lost her opportunity for reassignment.  Having learned their lesson, they have been diligent in getting Sis Fredrick’s affairs in order since then.  She is another fine young missionary who we will miss a great deal.  Then we jumped into the truck with the housing assistants and headed for Columbia and the final zone conference for the week.  We forgot Sis Hatfield’s phone, which we didn’t realize until we were almost to St Charles.  But thinking of all the missionaries that would certainly need to talk to her today, we turned around, judging that it would be better to be late for conference than for Sis Hatfield not to have her phone all day, to the detriment of the mission.  Because this conference involved Columbia, Lake St Louis, and Hazelwood, Elders Nielson and Dailami were participants.  That meant that Sis Hatfield and I hurried them off to the meetings and we set up for lunch, mail and supply distribution, and surplus housewares giveaway.  And then the weather turned nasty, and we moved everything inside, except the barbeque grill.  I cooked under an umbrella in the rain.  I don’t know why I wear a suit as a missionary.  It is rarely appropriate for what I do.  I’ve smelled less like smoke after some campouts.  Afterwards, we made the drive back to St Louis, dropped Sis Hatfield at the mission office, and the elders and I took the leftover food, grill, and other gear back to the mission home, dropped off unclaimed housewares at St Vincent dePaul’s thrift store, and the rest off at storage.  Then it was back to the office to help Sis Hatfield finish preparing for staff meeting tomorrow morning.

Friday, June 25^th was moving day.  After staff meeting at the office, I went back to the apartment to change into “service” clothes, our euphemism for something other than white shirt and tie.  Then we were off to collect boxes and help the Warrenton sisters move to the new apartment we had leased.  The sisters were pretty much ready for us, and the move went smoothly.  We’ll need to come back with a more comfortable couch, shelves, a furnace filter that fits, and a few other items another day, but they will be okay for the time being.  Today was one of those days when I was particularly grateful for housing assistants, and Elder Nielson and Elder Dailami are among the best. 

On Saturday, June 26^th Sis Hatfield and I celebrated Elder Nielson’s and Elder Dailami’s missionary success by attending the baptisms of Ethan and McKenna Brown, a brother and sister that the elders have taught.  Sis Hatfield and I were honored to attend.  With COVID restrictions last year, baptism attendance was discouraged, if possible at all, so these baptisms were the first we have attended live in the Missouri St Louis Mission.  The elders had a third baptism this same day.  Amazing.  We headed out to Doug and Lilly Nehring’s house late this afternoon.  Sis Nehring agreed to quilt a pieced blanket that Sis Hatfield has ready and Lilly and RaDene talked shop.  I loaded a coach and large chairs that the Nehrings donated to the mission and took them back to St Louis.  I met the Nehrings and Sis Hatfield at India Palace for a yummy dinner out and interesting conversation.  The Nehrings are well read, enthusiastic, and fun to talk to.