January 31-Febuary 6

 I should be all caught up now so that you'll get one week at a time going forward.

Monday was Senior District Meeting and we still had no internet access so we took a laptop down to the lounge area of our building and used the public internet to join the call.  We have to sign in before entering the room and only 6 people at a time are allowed to be in there.  And wear a mask, of course.

It is a pretty nice area, with the pool table and big screen TV.  We were told there is a pool outside the windows but I think it will be a long time before we see it.

The modem finally arrived!  We had to do all the connecting and activating ourselves but we did it!  We now have internet access and don't feel so cut off from the world.

On Wednesday they came and pulled the lights off the trees in front and chopped the trees down so Christmas must be finished.  There were the two big trees in front of our building and two in front of the building across from us.  I was aghast that they would chop them down, then realized they were much too large to have grown that big in the amount of time the buildings have been here.  They must have been anchored in the ground somehow (and then frozen in place).

We had two days of warm weather this week.  The temperature was 35 F and we had a good rain one night.  The snow is by no means gone but the sidewalks and streets were free from snow.  Then it snowed again and added 4-5 inches to what was there.

Friday evening Sister Pollock and Sister Quinton took us to meet the "matriarch" of the ward.  She is 92 and very spunky.  She doesn't see very well and is hard of hearing.  We met her son, who lives with her and is a great help.  He works at UPS and has been on sick benefits from a back injury incurred at work.  No one had cleared the steps and sidewalk leading to the front door.  We told her we would come back and do it for her.  We returned Saturday morning and when she heard us outside, she opened the door and said, "You shouldn't be doing that.  You will hurt your back again."  John replied that we had told her last night that we would do it.  Then she asked who he was.  She didn't have her glasses on and thought it was her son out there.  She was surprised that we had come back so quickly.  It was only 6 F with a nasty wind blowing.  I was only out of the car about 10 minutes and thought my ears would break off, they were so cold.  Next time, I'll remember a hat!

Saturday morning we helped with the Bishop Storehouse orders.  Any of you who live or have lived outside the intermountain west are probably familiar with how it works but this is the first time we have participated.  It is for our Stake and takes place every two weeks at our ward building.  Families in need place two-week orders that are submitted by Sunday evening prior to the Saturday delivery day.  The church contracts with the local IGA to bring the supplies.  Missionaries and assigned members arrive early to set up tables and prepare the wagons.  When the truck arrives the goods are unloaded and we go to work sorting.  The tables are all marked with what goes where and are set up in the same sequence each week.

This is at the end of the trail with the bread, TP, soaps, cleaning supplies, diapers and personal hygiene items.

The meats, fresh fruits and vegetables and the milk, eggs and other dairy products.  The milk comes in plastic bags that fit into a plastic pitcher.  You toss the liter bags rather than having plastic or cardboard milk containers to deal with.

The wagons are filled with paper bags and/or boxes with the member's name written on them.  We picked up a clipboard with the order, found the wagon with the same name and started around the tables.  There are workers behind the tables to take the clipboards, tell you how many of which items go into the wagon, mark the order form and pass it on to the next station.  We pack the items into the bags and boxes as we go.  After the last station a worker checks the order form to be sure everything has been checked off.  They send us to either the front or the side door with the wagon where the young Elders unload and wait for the members to come pick it up.

No one other than the assigned workers are allowed in the building for any reason (potty stop, talk to the Bishop) during the process.  The missionaries load the order into the member's car so there's no confusion about orders and nothing gets removed by "mistake."  It was quite a process and we were impressed.  When all the orders are filled, we take the tables and wagons down, put them away and clear away the empty boxes and crates.

If there are any leftovers, the missionaries get to select first.  We are unclear why there would be extra items but it seems there are a few each week.  The rule is that nothing go back to the storehouse, per se.  So they let the missionaries take the items, then the other workers.  We came home with a 7-pound pork roast, a jar of honey, cinnamon, a bag of raisins and 4 tomatoes.  We felt bad taking the food but after the young missionaries selected what they wanted, everyone insisted we take some as well.

At District Council on Thursday the sisters informed us that they had taken a large beef roast from the previous Bishop Storehouse.  They did not have a pan large enough to roast it nor did they know how.  Would I cook it for them?  And what did we think about having a Sunday District dinner with the roast?  Those young ones are so clever!  I do not have a pan or an oven large enough either, as they know.

But here we all are.  We put the two table leaves in so the table filled most of the apartment.  We have two folding chairs and brought the patio chairs in from the deck.  We have 8 dinner plates; just enough!  I cut the roast in half; cooked one half in the crockpot and one half in the oven.  The missionaries brought mashed potatoes, corn and salad.  We did the gravy and I made apple crisp for dessert.  We agreed that we would have a district dinner once a month on fast Sunday.

Elder Guerrette shared one of his favorite scriptures about the Savior.  1 Nephi 19:9 "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it.  Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men."

We testify that Jesus Christ suffered all those things because of his great, unconditional love for all of us.  We love him and try to follow his example of service and kindness.