1 – 7 August 2021 Your Families Are In Mine Hands

Sunday, Aug 1^st.  Neither Sis Hatfield’s nor my primary charges came to church today.  So we were in Sunday school together for the first time in 16 months.  It was a joy.  Annie Stewart was in rare form today, with her health and spirits being the best we have seen in a long time.  And that, after she reported taking a fall in the bathroom this morning requiring her grandson to raise her from the floor.  She reported no resulting injury.  Sis Hatfield took a SIM card to Sis Smedley, who has been in the hospital for four days now.  She has had over a liter of fluid drawn from her chest and lungs, for no diagnosed reason.  Her symptoms are labored breathing.  She is doing her best to fulfill her missionary purpose in the hospital, passing out Books of Mormon to her caregivers, who, from all indications, are sincere in their acceptance.  Her companions, who fortunately had been in a tri with her, need to return to their area, just as a matter of physical logistics.  So to keep Sis Smedley connected, Sis Hatfield is taking her a SIM card so her companions can take the area phone number back to Farmington with them.  After an impromptu dinner with the APs, Elder Aspinall and Elder Kimball, we have some calls with family.  We have learned that while Spencer and Elisabeth have taken the kids to Arizona, their chance to play with cousins there has been thwarted by a sister in law contracting COVID.  Meanwhile, we are scrambling to consider what Malory will do as she faces inducement on Tuesday because AJ’s mom also has come down with COVID.  She was Plan A for taking the kids while Malory delivered her baby.  The in-laws of both our married kids have COVID in different parts of the country.  Strange, and inconvenient to say the least.  Sis Hatfield is discussing with Mal if she needs leave the mission a week early to help Mal.  We spoke to our aging mothers too, and wished we were in position to give them more assistance in their old age.  We are relying on the Lord to do for our families what we cannot while we are on His errand.  This is a test of faith, and an opportunity to see the Hand of the Lord in our lives.

Monday, Aug 2^nd was a difficult day.  We prayed for Malory and her family that Sharon Hussey’s COVID would not interfere with Malory’s ability to deliver her new baby in peace, with AJ at her side, and knowing that someone was caring for her children.  Instead of a restful day of preparation today, Mal is getting her kids tested and trying to make alternative arrangements since her mother in law will be unavailable to take them when she goes in for delivery tomorrow.  Sis Hatfield is within a whisker of accelerating her permission to leave and going right now, rather than waiting until Saturday, as planned.  We can hardly focus on the preparations we need to make for our zone conference presentations this week. Meanwhile, we are counseling with Ancsi and Gareth about housing.  Now that Gareth is required to attend school full time in Rexburg, they have been looking unsuccessfully for a place to rent.  And we can’t find a place to buy that makes any sense.  My advice was for Gareth to look for men’s housing, and to commute on weekends while a long term solution is found.  Not a great idea, but we seem to be running out of options.  And we both reflected on our aging mothers and their needs that we are not helping to meet.  My Mom is suffering from dizziness, and the feelings of loss every time she looks around and realized Dad isn’t there.  Kay is struggling with how to help Karl who is becoming unable to care for himself much.  We will be looking for the Lord’s promised blessings:  “your families are well; they are in ^amine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.”  D&C 100:1.  And so the blessings begin.  The kids test negative for COVID.  The daycare will permit the kids to attend school tomorrow, even though they were exposed last week, on the strength of the negative test.  AJ’s Aunt Priscilla, Sharon’s sister, will take Kennedy and Ben to daycare and pick them up again.  Mal will be able to have this baby.

I spent the afternoon buying and setting mouse traps for the Parkway 1^st sisters.  My first instruction was to get the bagged garbage out of the house instead of leaving it sitting on the inside of their front doorway.  Meanwhile, in the office Sis Hatfield is helping four elders get their travel papers in order to leave for Mexico in the morning.  We will have sent about 50 missionaries to their original assignments as of this week.  A family from the Cape Girardeau ward apparently has their eye on one of them for their daughter.  We jumped through several hoops this evening keeping the interaction missionary appropriate.  But it was a distraction for many young missionaries, the assistants, and Pres Bell.  Finally, we arrive home at dusk and Sis Hatfield cuts my hair in the parking lot in the near dark.  I can’t go to zone conference tomorrow looking like this.  Just when we think we are back in control of things, the teaching trainers drop by the apartment at 9 pm for Sis Hatfield’s help, and at 9:30 Pres Thomas calls asking for confirmation about temple attendance by missionaries tomorrow.  He hasn’t caught up with his secretary yet, who has all the information.  Finally, at 10:15 pm the sisters in Mattoon call saying that they smell gas.  I counsel with them, and finally give them the phone number of the fire department.  They come and test, and confirm that there is no gas leak.  It is better to be safe than sorry.  In the end, although challenging, we have been blessed today. 

Tuesday, Aug 3^rd with be Malory’s baby’s birthday.  Sis Hatfield and I are filled with anticipation and no small amount of longing that we could be there.  But, we are missionaries, and with limited ability to leave and help, we feel good about the decision to have RaDene go help next week when AJ needs to be at the start of his school year.  But first, the Lindell sisters a few apartment buildings away need my help first thing.  I get a call at 7 am that they have locked themselves out of their bathroom.  Failing to get them in by talking them through it by phone, I hurry to finish getting dressed and head over with my shish kabob skewer.  To the amazement of the sisters, the locked bathroom door is open in an instant.  They look adorable in their jammies.  Then we start our road trip to Springfield for the first of three days of zone conference.  While enroute, I remark that I wonder if Malory has started labor yet.  Sis Hatfield calls AJ, with no answer.  So she texts.  A few minutes later, a video call rings in from AJ, baby boy in arms.  He is smooth and plump, with some dark hair and ruddy skin.  Mal went through labor in about 2.5 hours.  She tells me she will name her baby Richard Sanford Hussey, after his paternal great grandfathers.  This is a sweet remembrance for me. 

At zone conference, we deliver our presentations exactly within the allotted time.  Overruns are a frequent problem that mildly aggravates Pres Bell, so staying on time is a victory.  It has been reduced to setting a timer (or two) right on the podium.  Oddly, this is only the second in person zone conference presentation Sis Hatfield has given this year because of illness, funeral, and sequencing.  With all she has to offer the missionaries, two live 10 minute presentations for the year hardly seems sufficient.  Afterwards, the Jacobs accompany us to tour Lincoln’s house in Springfield.  The NPS has done a great job of preserving and restoring the neighborhood where Abe and Mary lived for 17 years during his early legal and political career.  There are other parts of Springfield that give a glimpse of what it would have looked like in the 1840s and 50s.  It is fascinating history coming from a small prairie town.  Driving back to St Louis, we stop by the airport Federal Express office to send a baby quilt to our grand-niece Elle Jensen.  Sis Hatfield continues to spread the love.  With some frustration, we learned that church travel has advised a new missionary trainer that he will be leaving the mission for his foreign assignment in five weeks.  Pres Bell had specifically asked that church travel not distract missionaries weeks to months in advance with news like this.  Hopefully, he will be able to finish his training responsibilities in spite of the knowledge that he will be leaving.  The church machine just has too any people, including volunteers, for everything to be done just right.

On Wednesday, August 4^th, Sis Hatfield woke feeling unsettled and out of sorts.  We couldn’t figure out why.  As we prepare to leave for the second day of zone conferences, we called Mal and then we knew.  The nurses had taken Richard from her without clear explanation and he had been gone all night.  She was too exhausted and confused to figure out what was going on, and she needed help.  AJ had to be at home with the other kids.  RaDene felt terrible that she wasn’t in Alabama to advocate for her daughter.  But, after gathering her thoughts, RaDene called her back and talked her through what we knew and what should be done.  With encouragement, Malory worked it through and got some answers and help from the nurses.  At zone conferences, it was obvious that Sis Hatfield was in her element, teaching, training, encouraging, and visiting with the missionaries.  Her love and talents are valuable here in the mission, just like they would be in Alabama.  We can’t be everywhere, and it is a privilege to do for these young people what we can.  Sis Hatfield and I left promptly after the zone picture to head to the airport to pick up an elder returning to the field after some unfortunate events required him to go home for a couple months to get things straightened out.  It was a last minute addition to the mission, so I sent the housing assistants to Columbia to set up a bed for him.  The office seemed like a blur of visitors all day long—mostly missionaries—so little on our lists was getting done, particularly for Sis Hatfield.  We keep telling ourselves that welcoming and assisting the missionaries IS our work. 

I slipped out for an hour to train a senior couple called in the St Louis stake to be housing inspectors.  They are life long St Louisans, and it was a joy to hear their story.  They will be great grandparent-like influences for the missionaries here, I am sure.  While Sis Hatfield helped more missionaries in the office, I went to the temple to deliver a quilt to the temple recorder so he could take it to his wife for the machine quilting.  (I have never considered the temple as someone’s place of work and a place where a personal item might be delivered—but so it is.)  I was greeted in the temple foyer by the Pres and Sis Thomas, the temple president and matron, who were gathering a YSA ward for temple service.  Sis Thomas insisted that I tell Sis Hatfield’s story of her choosing me instead of a mission when asked by her mom if I would wait to marry her while  RaDene served a mission.  That story apparently is remarkable to many.  Meanwhile, Sis Smedley, our hospitalized missionary, is being transferred from Mercy Hospital to Barnes-Jewish-Washington University Hospital, where more specialists are available to help diagnose her condition.  We are grateful she is getting as good of care as she could get anywhere.  Sis Hatfield fielded an odd call from a recent convert who was complaining that the missionaries were violating his privacy by requesting Facebook friends of his coworkers.  She apologized on their behalf and helped counsel the missionaries that in this case, the member is always right in his request for boundaries.  We worked late as Sis Hatfield tries to be ready to leave the mission on Saturday for a week.  Will we survive without her?

Thursday, August 5^th marked the end of zone conferences for the mission.  There were so many beautiful messages, most taught by young missionaries to each other.  Pres Bell has found a great formula, and each zone conference seems to be a little better than the last.  We received the good news that little Richard has been released to Malory’s room.  The observations and treatments will be much less aggressive, and Mal will be able to start getting accustomed to a new baby in her arms.  He looks good too, except for the roughing up he suffered from needles, surgical tape, and other procedures hard on newborn skin.  Leanne Gustin has identified and vetted a potential housekeeper to help Mom.  All in all, the Lord is blessing our family, as he promised.

Friday, August 6^th.  Mission leadership is forgetting that transfers of missionaries creates a cascade of changes inside the missionary department’s data base, everything from phone numbers, to addresses, to boundaries, to area naming conventions, to rents, to smoke alarm testing, to investigator lists, and more.  We need to do some more training of our new assistants to the president so they understand all that is entailed so that they are making changes that they intend to.  Last night and this morning Pres Bell could not get in touch with missionaries because they had been moved from one box to another, when all they wanted to do was change the name of the area from south to west.  Instead, all the details were changed too, making the missionaries all but lost for a time.  The housing assistants and I drove to Illinois to take down extra beds, desks, chairs, etc. in O’Fallon and Effingham.  I had to make a list of the O’Fallon elders of housing cleaning and decluttering for them to attend to.  And, I sanded and put a second coat on the wall patches in Effingham made necessary when the hide-a-bed couch sprang open a few weeks ago.  It’s looking much better now, to my relief.  Sis Hatfield’s baby quilt was delivered to Max and Emily today, they confirm.  And Sis Nehring brought to the office the quilted blanket for Richard so that RaDene can carry it to Alabama for him tomorrow.  Whew, the timing for both has worked out.  Malory was released from the hospital, and Sis Hatfield cleared her desk and packed her bags. 

On Saturday, August 7^th I sent my best gift to Malory—RaDene.  I took her to the airport early this morning.  She got through security with her quilting needles and scissors.  The trip went smoothly until Sis Hatfield took the wrong train and went to the international terminal instead of the baggage claim.  The shuttle back took way too long, so RaDene missed her shuttle to from the Atlanta airport to Columbus.  Oh well.  She got the edging almost done on Richard’s quilt.  Meanwhile, I posted my first JustServe project on the website.  I was pretty proud of myself for deciding it needed to be done now and starting the ball rolling on the 911 National Day of Service we are organizing for missionaries, members, and the community to help reclaim the Greenwood Cemetery.  That night, the Jacobs took pity on me.  They had me over for pork tips over rice before our trip across the river to O’Fallon, Illinois where the Belleville ward was holding a missionary fair.  Sis Hatfield and I had been asked to participate long ago, but had declined knowing that she would be in Alabama.  The Jacobs were asked to go instead, and they invited me to come along, which I was happy to do.  We had at least as missionaries as members at the fair, but no matter, it was fun and good for all.  If only one young person or senior couple was encouraged to serve because of the efforts to put on the fair, it was worth it.

25-31 July 2021 Weightlifter in the Way

On Sunday, July 25^th we awoke with a start in the morning grey to a terrific thunderstorm.  We held our breath that the power would stay on.  It did, but the power of nature was manifest yet again.  We began our effort to type our children’s patriarchal blessings.  Sis Hatfield is getting some scriptures custom bound, and a feature of these scriptures will be the inclusion of patriarchal blessings.  The catch is that the binder needs an editable, electronic copy of blessings so they can be sized correctly for printing and the binding into the volume of scripture.  There are few ways of learning and appreciating a text more than the deliberate, slow process of typing the words, one letter at a time.  It gave Sis Hatfield and I a deep appreciation of the eternal identity of our children individually and our family collectively.  These blessings inspire us to do better and to be better as we see the potential of our children. 

At church, Stake President Bunderson attended in order to release David Fingal and call and sustain Douglas Nehring as Pagedale Branch President.  Pres Fingal is single, but today it looked like his family would always support him, attending church in force, even including his ex-wife.  His beautiful grandchildren were somewhere between tweenagers and young teenagers and politely and attentively listened to all the proceedings.  The tributes and thanks to Pres Fingal were sincere and deserved.  Newly sustained Pres Nehring’s remarks were enthusiastic and inclusive.  As a white man, we will all pray that Pres Nehring will be able to touch the members something like Pres Fingal has done as a black man in this largely inner city branch full of people of color.  Following sacrament meeting, Sis Hatfield and I presided over a primary of two—Silas and a baby, which accompanied by her mother Rachel, really left us as a primary of one.  Silas must have remembered the good time he had cradled and swinging in the soft blanket last week in primary.  He did not hesitate to take my hand and come down the stairs with us to another hour of directed play with me and Sis Hatfield.  I am not sure how we will hold primary when the Fuller family of children make it back to church next week. 

After church it was off to the office to make preparations for the missionaries gathering at the mission home this evening and flying out tomorrow.  Our participation in the Pagedale district paid dividends today, as the two sets of Parkway sisters offered to come to the office and help with the work.  It was a blessing to have their help and company for a couple of hours.  Then Sis Hatfield and I went to the mission home, me to grill chicken for the departing missionaries’ last Missouri supper, and Sis Hatfield to provide departure papers and instructions.  I stalled more than usual today to extend our goodbyes to Elder Conner Nielson, an aw, shucks Monroe sheep rancher that we will really miss until we see him again.  About 10 pm I got a pretty panicked call from the Hazelwood sisters indicating that the ceiling was leaking in their hallway.  I convinced myself that a bucket would hold off the emergency until morning, and the sisters agreed.  More alarming, the Harvester newsletter had a departing missionary’s testimony printed twice, leaving out another missionary’s testimony.  Sis Hatfield jumped into action, getting some technical help from Sis Atkins, and heading into the office to make some reprints for the departing missionaries and dropping them off on front porches for distribution first thing in the morning before folks headed for the airport.  I admire her ability to get a job done, anywhere, anytime. 

Monday, July 26^th was celebration day, missionary style.  Sis Hatfield turned the wonderful age of 59.  She began her day dressed in her exercise outfit delivering necessaries and saying goodbye to the many sisters preparing to head for the airport and their flights home.  It was a bit of a makeup for her having had to dash to the office last evening to retrieve materials when she should have been saying goodbye before the farewell dinner.  An hour and a half later, we got a call from the Gonzales family, who were hopelessly turned around on their way to pick up Sis Gonzales from the sisters’ apartment for her roadtrip home.  We figured out where they were and turned into live Siri, giving them turn by turn directions to get them here.  Sis Hatfield and I agreed that there was probably not a single other couple in the church that they could have called that could have successfully provided the directional services we rendered.  We have become well acquainted with our environment. 

Not long afterwards, Elder Dailami called to let me know that what he suspected was another bout with kidney stones was keeping him from being able to make the second run of luggage to the airport for the departing missionaries.  Elder Dailami is no pain pretender, so I know that this is serious.  I dashed to the bakery to pick up Sis Hatfield’s raspberry lemon cake from the French bakery just in time for the 10 or so missionaries I’ve invited to sing happy birthday to her.  Elder and Sister Hatfield stole the show, following with a Dutch rendition.  So, naturally, I sang (pathetically) in Thai, and the Jacobs and a couple of young missionaries sang in Spanish.  Then, not waiting for cake, I dashed out to the housing elders’ apartment to check on Elder Dailami, who was looking terrible, and pick up Elder Paulson, and the mission trailer loaded with luggage and head to the airport.  There, the cranky security guard was on duty, prohibiting us from dropping from the parking structure, so we wedged our way into the drop off lanes on the ticketing level, dropped our trailer tailgate, and unloaded.  It gave me one last chance to give Elder Nielson a hug goodbye. 

As Elder Paulson and I were trying to leave, there was luggage left alone right in the middle of the traffic lane.  Waiting for a minute, but recognizing no one was on the way to move it, I asked Elder Paulson to move it to the curb so we could get by.  Just then I saw a man who had been leaning in a window in another lane come across, and confront Elder Paulson.  He was asking for help.  His English was heavily accented Chinese, but it was clear that he could not make his flight without a COVID test, and he had a testing place address in his hand.  I looked at Elder Paulson, and shrugged.  Our deadline was now satisfied, and so I said we could help, knowing that his address was in nearby St Charles.  He gratefully hopped in back seat while Elder Paulson loaded his bags, and off we went.  We soon learned that Coach Ma was an Olympic medalist in 1984 in weightlifting.  He still competed all these years later.  He was on his way to Brazil for a speaking engagement, then to the Pan American Games as a 50-something competitor.  But he couldn’t travel without a COVID test, and now he would get one.  I gave Coach Ma my card, and later we exchanged texts, agreeing to connect again after he returned from the Pan American Games. 

The young sister missionaries and traveling technology trainers accompanied Sis Hatfield to a birthday lunch, which took too long, but was excellent company.  Meanwhile, I was off to Webster Grove, Missouri and Belleville, Illinois to set up a places for a sister missionaries on Wednesday.  Arriving back to the office late, we treat the housing elders and ourselves to sandwiches for Sis Hatfield’s birthday dinner.  Not exotic, but satisfying.  We then went to see Elder Dailami at his apartment, being watched by another elder recently abandoned by his companion that went home this morning.  Elder Dailami looks brave, but pale.  Sis Hatfield and I headed to the office to work until 10:30 pm, preparing for transfers.  Sis Hatfield said her birthday was a great mission birthday experience, a blend of celebration with people that depend on her and love her, while still spending the day in service to them and the Lord.

On Tuesday, July 27^th I was companions with Elder Paulson for the morning, while Elder Dailami continued to rest.  It hasn’t been frequent that I have been the designated companion of a young elder, but this was one of those times.  We set up extra beds at the mission home and at the Lindell sisters’ apartment so those places would be ready for unusually large numbers of elders and sisters, respectively, arriving this afternoon.  The we headed out to the Missouri River South area in Lake St Louis to set up a tri in a sisters’ apartment.  By mid afternoon, Elder Dailami was feeling marginally better, and caged, so he and Elder Hein, his temporary companion, joined us in the trip to the airport to pick up the 32 arriving missionaries and their roughly 90 pieces of luggage.  It was quite a caravan of mission cars, vans, trucks, and trailer to pick them all up.  But we were efficient and the missionaries were focused and helpful.  We got out of there before the airport security had a chance to urge us on. 

After dropping our passenger at the mission home, the housing assistants and I went to the Frontenac building to unload and sort luggage for transfers tomorrow.  We needed the truck and trailer empty to get other supplies for the transfer from both the office and storage, including 32 pillows, which we bought from an incredulous clerk at Target.  While we were at Frontenac, Sis Hatfield and the technology trainers were back at the mission home helping the new missionaries set up their phones and install missionary software.  Those phones won’t work smoothly again for 18-24 months, but should provide a measure of safety from the evils of the internet.  With the expected heat tomorrow near 100 degrees F and high humidity, we picked up shade umbrellas from the mission home patio as part of our preparations, at Sis Hatfield’s good suggestion.  Less brilliantly, I got a call from Pres Bell that the sisters tri we set up in the Missouri River area was in error.  The mistake was caught in a missionary’s letter to the President indicating her excitement to welcome a new missionary into their companionship.  In hindsight, I had misread the transfer board for two closely named areas, and in the many rereads since the first misread, my mind had seen what I expected to see, not what was there.  I called the sisters and apologized for my mistake and the wrong expectations I had created.  Oh, well, at least the furniture is within about 15 minutes of where it should have been, and I’ll correct my error tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 28^th was transfer day.  But first, we had our Zoom Wednesday morning workout led by Pres Bell, notwithstanding his injured knee.  His tenacity is remarkable.  I hustled in and out of the shower and made myself scarce at the office in order to make room for a half dozen new sisters that came over for showers, etc.  I did my personal scripture study at the office, and then left directly for the church to do the physical set up preparations for transfers with the help of the housing assistants.  In new missionary orientation, I bore witness to the role of Joseph Smith as Prophet of the Restoration.  Recently I have recognized the fulfillment of Moroni’s prophecy that Joseph Smith’s name would be held for good or for evil by all people.  The internet and social media hastened the outcome.  After we got the missionaries into their cars to leave for their areas, Elder Dailami was as pale as a sheet.  Pres Bell and Sis Everton counseled together, and the decision was made to take Elder Dailami to the emergency room.  The prospects for waiting weeks more for the urology clinic to take action was unacceptable.  To make things easier, Pres Bell assigned Elder Brady to help with the afternoon’s housing labors.  Elder Brady is on his way to Mexico next week.  It is hard to tell whether he is happy to help me, or just being obedient.  Regardless, he was good help for sure to fix yesterday’s set up error plus four other apartments.  Along the way, we redistributed lost sheets of a sister and a backpack of an elder inexplicably found this afternoon at a sisters’ apartment.  We were home by 9:30 pm.  Yay, another transfer day done.

On Thursday, July 29^th Elder Dailami bravely decided to forego more aggressive treatment for his kidney stones and come back to work.  I think he has some comfort that the stones are small enough that they “should” pass on their own.  I don’t know if I believe that!  First on the agenda was training Bro & Sis Kimlinger in Jefferson City.  They have been called to be housing inspectors in the Columbia Stake and zone.  They are wonderful people and will be a great assistance to the missionaries out here.  It was inspiring to hear his conversion story after serving in the military.  They brought us peaches, so I am sure the missionaries they visit will be taken care of too.  While out there, we went to the Riverview Columbia apartment, the southwest outpost of the mission, made some repairs, delivered supplies, assessed needs to meet on a future trip, and generally made the elders feel like they are not forgotten and that their work is appreciated.  I looked at my phone and saw a temperature of 99 degrees with a heat index of 111.  I felt pretty depleted just from the heat.  We will definitely need to wash our shirts tonight. 

Friday, July 30^th was staff meeting and the opportunity for the staff to acknowledge Pres Bell’s birthday tomorrow.  He has dubbed us his “Dream Team,” which is more than a bit hyperbolic.  Still, it conveys the good feelings we have among us.  Staff presented Pres Bell with a handsome souvenir of his service in the Missouri St Louis Mission.  Sis Hatfield had found a metal silhouette of the St Louis skyline, prominently featuring the Arch, and mounted it on antique tongue and groove boards engraved with his service dates.  He seemed touched, and so were we. 

Sis Hatfield has been working tirelessly to find a path to get permission to put wi-fi in 12 missionary apartments that have terrible cell service, negatively impacting their ability to do their work.  This afternoon her most recent inquiry was finally answered by the assistant of the church’s technology department.  If all three major cell service providers are tested in an area and reception is not improved, then wi-fi will be approved.  Given the effort to take alternative SIM cards and other necessaries to do the required tests in each of the areas, this will be no small undertaking.  Sis Hatfield is mapping out a plan to test expeditiously.  Certain of our missionaries need connection.  Late that afternoon, Sis Bell confided to Sis Hatfield that she had no plans for celebrating Pres Bell tomorrow on his birthday.  It is understandable.  The stress and work of transfer week is all consuming.  But never fear, Sis Hatfield said she would help hatch a plan—gatherings are one of her special skill sets.

Saturday, July 31^st looks like rain.  And the Mahaffeys, who had graciously agreed to host a barbeque for Pres Bell, are without power at their house.  That won’t work.  But that is only a setback.  We scheme about moving the party to the mission home, or the Frontenac church, or most interestingly, to the mission office.  After weighing it all, Sis Bell decides the mission home is fine.  So we pivot, and with a trip to Costco and a few hours work, we pull off a memorable gathering at the mission home, including the Hintzes, Thomases Mahaffeys, Hatfields, Evertons, Jacobs, and of course, the Bells, together with Sister West and Sister Pettingale, returned missionaries in town visiting.  The sisters may have been the life of the party, sharing some of their dating escapades.  Also humorous, in the confusion, the Thomases didn’t get the word that the party had moved to the mission home, and at the appointed hour, had let themselves in and walked through the Mahaffeys’ house with their tray of grilled veggies, startling themselves, and the Mahaffeys.  A memory maker for them, for sure.

18-24 July 2021 Prayers, Both Ridiculous and Sublime

Sunday, July 18^th.  Apparently, there is a lot of summer traveling and illness in the Pagedale Branch.  Late last night Sis Hatfield was asked to lead the music and play the organ for sacrament meeting.  This is on top of already having been asked to oversee the primary consisting of one child—Silas, my special charge.  We got to church early so she could find another person to help with music, which in the end, went smoothly.  You would think that a primary of one with two seasoned adults would be a piece of cake.  Not so.  Silas has lots of special needs.  In the end, we were wondering if we would be able to keep him barricaded in the primary room for the entire hour.  He cried loudly for the first 20 minutes, which we later learned was heard by all the adults in the Sunday school class in the chapel right above the primary room.  But, apparently it was not so alarming that Silas’ mom and dad felt the need to rescue us.  We almost stumbled upon what turned out to be the key.  A soft, rainbow colored blanket, large enough that Silas could sit back in it while Sis Hatfield and I held the four corners.  We gently swung him, and scooted him around the room in the blanket for half and hour, singing nursery rhymes to him.  This soothed him so that he stopped crying and seemed to enjoy himself. 

We hosted Dan Thomas and Sherrie Cullen for dinner.  Dan and Sherrie are our age, both in their second marriage, and the elders quorum and relief society presidents, respectively.  Dan has an interesting military background, which seems to blend with his no non-sense personality.  Yet he is tender and spiritual when appropriate.  He converted as a young man, but went inactive and took an interesting eastern religions detour until reactivated by the branch and the missionaries.  Sherrie is a life long Christian, but a convert to the church of only 18 months or so.  They are some of the pillars of the branch.  After dinner, we fired up Zoom and observed the farewell testimonies of the 19 missionaries departing next weekend.  It seems like every one of these is better than the one before.  Of course that isn’t true, but the Spirit is felt so strongly each time that one can’t help but feel like he is experiencing something wonderfully new.  It is especially touching to see the parents and family members observing their missionaries testify while still in the field.  It is true that the pandemic and zoom have provided some improvements to the way we operate.

Monday, July 19^th would be the last preparation day for Elder Conner Nielson, one of my housing assistants, and certainly the assistant that has been on this special assignment the longest, a full six months.  After asking him what he would like to do, Sis Hatfield and I arranged to take him and Elder Dailami to the St Louis Zoo, an iconic experience that he hasn’t had.  Then we took the to Sugar Fire for St Louis ribs to further emblazon the day in his memory.  After lunch, we turned the missionaries loose, and Sis Hatfield and I got back to the office.  My job was to pay rent, utilities, and reimburse missionaries, since Elder Jacob is traveling in Utah and Idaho.  This isn’t the first time, so I am up for the job.  Later that night, we joined our Pagedale district for the night check-in video chat.  Elder Petty, one of Elder Nielson’s group headed home next week, is on one this night.  He is a very bright young man from Florida, full of life, spirit, gospel knowledge, and interesting thoughts.  I think he must have been to the aquarium recently, because he observed that St Louis aquarium sharks plus St Louis tornadoes equals a place of dangerous sharknadoes.  When he gave the district closing prayer for the night, Elder Petty’s deadpan petition included plea for protection from the sharks whenever we go near the aquarium.  I’m sure Heavenly Father must get a kick out of Elder Petty’s prayers, which in my experience are almost always peppered with some zaniness. 

Tuesday, July 20^th.  The mission’s practice in past years has been to invite missionaries to attend the temple at the beginning of their missions, and at their 6, 12, 18, and just before their 24 month marks.  Because of the Pandemic and the closing or highly restricted use of temples since, a number of sister missionaries going home next week have never returned to the temple since receiving their own endowments, and have never been to the St Louis temple.  Today that was rectified.  The mission presidency, wives, and office staff accompanied all the departing missionaries to endowment sessions.  Sis Hatfield and I were privileged to be in the company led by the temple president and matron, President and Sister Thomas.  The Thomases are finishing their temple leadership assignment in two weeks, but wanted to personally lead the missionaries this day.  In the prayer circle, missionaries worldwide are almost the beneficiaries of prayers.  Today, Pres Thomas thanked Heavenly Father specifically for the consecration and dedication of the missionaries in his company.  He called down the blessings of heaven on each of them, and on Sis Hatfield and I.  It was so personal and powerful.  I have rarely felt more grateful for a blessing.  As is so often the case, I went from the sublime to the ridiculous.  I left the temple and went to an apartment in University City and patched holes in the ceiling and patched and calked doorway casings left from a missionary’s heavy punching bag thoughtlessly hung by eye hooks in various places around the apartment until they one by one pulled out, and then were screwed somewhere else.  But I think we have successfully restored the damage, and confiscated the punching bag.

Wednesday, July 21^st.  We attended council with the Pagedale District.  Sis Hatfield fed the young missionaries twice:  first, she related the powerful experience we had yesterday witnessing the St Louis Temple Pres Thomas prayer on behalf the missionaries with power and authority; second, she brought a smorgasbord of lunch items.    That night about 9 pm she received an email that the phones received from the church to be used by selected areas as hotspots had been activated.  This was after waiting for weeks, and now without notice of when it would happen.  We hoped that the SIM card and cell carrier transfer had not dropped connection for missionaries in the middle of a lesson, or left them without phone service for reasons they would not have expected.  Realizing the need to communicate the switch to the missionaries, Sis Hatfield quickly reached out to the companionships involved.  It appeared that change was not actually occurring, so far as the missionaries could tell.  Their AT&T or T-Mobile SIM cards were still active.  But in the process, it was learned that the Hazelwood sisters did not have the special Verizon phone at all.  They had been patiently waiting, assuming it would come.  But they had all gone out.  A lost hotspot phone would seriously disable the area’s connection to anyone.  With a sense of urgency, verging on panic, Sis Hatfield contacted everyone that may have had responsibility to deliver the phone to the sisters, and made some mission wide pleas to all missionaries.  No one had any information.  At 10:30 pm we had to stop searching, and could only pray for that which was lost to be found.

Thursday, July 22^nd.  After a few more hours of anxious searching for the lost Verizon phone, the mystery was solved.  The zone leaders for the Hazelwood sisters had the package on a desk at their apartment.  Apparently, they did not feel the need to hustle the delivery out, but did admit to having it in their possession.  Apparently, the phone number switch from AT&T to Verizon happened at 7:30 am, but for some reason, the sisters will able to make calls for some time afterward.  The lost Verizon phone has been found just in time to keep the sisters connected.  Meanwhile, Elders Nielson and Dailami went to Farmington, Missouri and, having thrown out the clutter last week, this week we donned the rubber gloves and dove into the grime.  I am learning the wisdom of wetting, applying scouring powder, scrubbing and soaking, and scrubbing and soaking in repeated rounds to get the deepest bathtub dirt.  I don’t think I anticipated acquiring this special knowledge on my mission.  Then we were off to Sikeston, the southern outpost of the mission, to take down extra furniture and help with needed maintenance, some tasks done ourselves, and others to be referred to the landlord.  We made it back to the office by 7:30 pm and continued transfer planning in earnest, including meeting Elder Trevor Paulson, pulled in from Missouri River West area in the Lake St Louis zone ahead of transfers for the purpose of helping with transfers after Elder Neilson enters the mission home to depart for home well ahead of the serious work the days before and including transfer Wednesday.  Sis Hatfield has observed the strain on the housing team when one of the young missionaries leaves the mission from a position of housing assistant during the apex of housing work.  So she had encouraged me to ask Pres Bell for a new assistant ahead of the regular transfer schedule.  Pres Bell has seen the wisdom of that for his assistants, and now he seems persuaded of bringing in a housing assistant early too.  Sis Hatfield looks out for me. 

Friday, July 23^rd.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the chances of having all the beds set up for the 32 incoming missionaries and their trainers, as well as the rest of the missionaries moving areas on Wednesday next week are not good if I don’t get started today.  I asked the housing elders to take a trip to Columbia to set up an apartment bedroom and study.  That assured they would be occupied much of the day, and I worked to catch up with office responsibilities.  Sis Hatfield was discouraged that initial reports were that the Verizon phone hotspots were not improving the missionaries connection to reliable cell service.  Some suggest that the archaic model of phone that is the church’s standard hardware probably is a bottleneck, regardless of the speed and strength of the cellular signal.  All of that was very discouraging, because Sis Hatfield has been working hard to use the tools given her to keep the missionaries in a position to find and teach, in this case, Verizon SIM cards and ancient android phones.  It must be Friday before transfers—we worked at the office until 11:30 pm.  We won’t rest soundly for most of the next week. 

Saturday, July 24^th was a continuation of our preparations for transfers.  I organized the housing assistants for a day of work in O’Fallon, Effingham, and Champaign, Illinois.  I felt bad leaving Sis Hatfield home alone on what should have been a bit of a Pioneer Day celebration.  But she did have lunch with Patti Hintze, the incoming temple matron and by now one of her closest St Louis friends.  Sis Hatfield did receive a Pioneer Day blessing from an orthodontist technician.  She had broken a fixed retainer, and with Patti’s recommendation Sis Hatfield had called the orthodontist’s office in Chesterfield.  The technician on call agreed to open the office on Saturday, meet RaDene, and fix the broken wire that was poking dangerously out of its place into her tongue’s space.  More, the technician refused Sis Hatfield’s offer to pay.  She said that it was her office’s practice to take care of visitors like their own patients, and emergency repairs were part of the service.  That was a blessing indeed.