Believe It or Not

Believe it or not, we are more than half way through our mission.  It doesn't seem like we have been here that long.  We have mixed emotions about leaving Palmyra.  We have never lived any place, other than Hailey, and didn't know we could love living in another town.  Palmyra is so different.  You can feel a special spirit here.  This is where the restoration of the gospel took place and you know it because you feel it!  We have mixed emotions about leaving some sweet and some bitter.  We have grown to love the local temple workers, our shift coordinators, and especially the other temple missionary couples,  We have formed a close bond with all of them.  Knowing that we may never see them again is hard.  There are 23 couples, including us.  They are from all over; 1 from Texas, 1 from Oklahoma, 1 from North Carolina, 1 from New Mexico,  and 1 from Oregon; 2 from Arizona, 3 from California, 6 from Idaho, 7 from Utah.  Each have served in temples where they are from.  We have formed a close bond with each other.  On Monday mornings, it is only us temple missionaries who serve and it is my favorite day of all.  We have family home evening every Monday night together and every other Thursday which we all have off, we go on excursions as a group.  We have had such a wonderful time, serving together, traveling together and playing together.  These will be such wonderful memories.  We hate to think about leaving. 

Then on the sweet side, we will get to see our children and grandchildren again.  Oh, how we have missed them.  We have talked to them on the phone and we saw them on face time and they have sent videos and pictures via internet, but it just makes us more homesick for them.   They, however, have bonded more and really are taking care of each other.  They have always been close, but now when they go home, Mom and Dad aren't there, and they have to do all that Mom and Dad did.  And they are doing it wonderfully well.  We are so proud of our children.  They all went to Lagoon together in June, I think.  They are all getting together this weekend for my brother's wedding in Boise.  It is so nice for them to represent us at the wedding.  They do love their Uncle Joe though.  The only one who is missing in action is Jake and I am sure he really feels left out.  Hopefully, in January, we can go and visit him.

Speaking of children, Ryan and Sahily and little Ryan and Riley and little Sahily and Yanella will be here in 5 days.  We are so looking forward to being with them.  Ryan served his mission in Toronto, Canada which is a hop, skip and a jump from Palmyra.  When we received our call to come here, the wheels were rolling in Ryan's head and he decided that this may be the only time he and his family could see where he served.  Plus coming to where the gospel was restored and showing his children all the places they have heard and read about, would be very good for them.  I suppose the thoughts of not having to rent a car, or find a place to stay, or worry about food, may have also factored in.  We have so much we want to show them, so many places to go, so many people to see and so many things to do.   Hope we can get it all in the two weeks they are here.

We have tickets to a baseball game for the boys, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox.  They will travel by subway throughout Toronto while the girls will go shopping at the Toronto Eaton Centre Mall, which at one time was the largest mall in the world.  Because Ryan knows the location so well, we have reserved 3 nights in a hotel near everything.  They arrive here on Wednesday.  They rest and repack on Thursday.  Friday is temple day.  Ryan and Sahily will be going to a 9:30 am session and at noon, Ryan will baptize little Ryan for some family names in the Palmyra Temple.  On Saturday we drive to Toronto.  We plan to attend a ward there on Sunday where Pearl lives.  Ryan taught and baptized her while on his mission.  They have stayed in contact with each other for the last 21 years.  She has come to SLC for General Conference and they have been able to see each other then.  We have not met her, so we are excited about that.  We return to Palmyra on Tuesday, regroup on Wednesday and on Thursday we drive to Cooperstown for two days at the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Little Ryan and Riley played baseball on a team for the first time this summer, and they are really looking forward to that.  Not to mention, Durg and Ryan's excitement about the Hall of Fame.

Of course, we must go to Sauder's (the flour store) and to Watkin's Glen, and to Thousand Islands and so many places we want them to see.  That will all take place the second week they are here.  Two days before they leave to return to Utah, we will pick Joel up at the airport and he will stay a few days here and then we will drive to Boston to see his all-time favorite baseball team, Boston Red Sox, who are playing, get this, the Toronto Blue Jays.  Oh baseball, you gotta love it and we all do! 

In case you are wondering, the temple is closed for cleaning.  They call it "shut down," here and that sounds kind of odd, but we are getting used to it.  At the Twin Falls Temple, we call it, "closed for cleaning."

Last week, we went to the art museum at Phelps, New York.  It is not far from here, but someone told us we should go and see the amazing structures built from toothpicks and Elmer's Glue.  We didn't know what to expect. Really?  Toothpick structures?  We were not disappointed.  The exhibit is called Toothpick World.  Please go to toothpickworld.com.  You will not believe what you see.  We all wanted to go buy a box of toothpicks and Elmer's Glue and start building.  Not really!

This last couple of weeks have been pretty strange.  Elder Perron broke out with two sores on his leg.  They became really red and I was concerned.  Elder Perron, thought he had shingles.  I wasn't so sure.  So as the weeks progressed, the sores got bigger and the redness spread and by then I was insisting he see the doctor.  He thought it would run it's course.  Me, not so sure.  I knew something wasn't right when he said he didn't feel he should go to the temple on Tuesday.  I decided I would go and worked about 5 hours when President Cahoon, counselor in the Temple Presidency and his wife who is a nurse and President Broadbent, the other counselor who is a doctor, said I needed to go home and take Elder Perron to the doctor  President Broadbent and  his wife brought me home.  It was after doctor's offices had closed, so we had to wait until the morning.  So two dear temple missionary elders, came and administered to him after they were done at the temple, about 10 p.m.  They felt inspired to tell him he needed to go to the doctor.  President Broadbent called Wednesday morning and insisted we go to the ER in the Clifton Springs Hospital which was near Phelps. (toothpickworld)  The very first thing the doctor said, this is not shingles.  He did some blood tests to make sure it wasn't MRSA and said Elder Perron has cellulitis.  He immediately started him on antibiotics intravenously.  He had two types of antibiotics before we could leave the hospital.  He has prescriptions for two huge horse pill antibiotics and leg cream.  He was told to go home, elevate the leg and come back in three days for a recheck.  Believe it or not, yesterday, the first day of rest, he actually followed doctor's orders.  Today, second day, we will see.  But we know he is on the mend.  Thank goodness for the priesthood, it's power to convince Elder Perron to seek medical treatment and prayer!  We are so blessed.

So, we leave you, looking forward to our children coming for a visit, while in the meantime, I act as nursemaid and try to keep Elder Perron following doctor's orders.  Until next time.................