I’m back!!!

We were told, that as missionaries, we should give service. We went to the public library and offered our services. We read the shelves, meaning we checked the stacks and put books back in alphabetical order. I also typed W-2 forms for library employees. We quite enjoyed doing this but our Mission President’s wife said that we shouldn’t do service for an institution. That put an end to that.

About the only time we saw other missionaries was when we went to Colorado Springs for Zone Conference. We were really on our own. When we had a candidate for baptism then the District Leader would come and interview him or her. The Stake President, in Colorado Springs, would occasionally have our zone meetings at his home. His wife would provide a great breakfast. Usually those meetings were held at a local chapel. It was the missionaries’ custom to sing “As I Have Loved You” to the sisters that prepared the luncheon as a thank you.

We met many interesting people. We visited part-member families, inactive members, and families with children who had not been baptised. We were instrumental in baptising eight children and two adults. One interesting baptism was of a child, a daughter of a woman who had been a member, then married a Muslim. She had three children, a boy and two girls, and decided to leave her abusive husband and escaped from Saudi Arabia. She became active in the church again and her nine-year-old daughter was baptised. Leon had her bus driver, who was a member and good friend, do the actual baptising.

We only got stuck once in the snow, even though our home in Woodland Park was 8,500 feet in altitude and some of our members lived at 10,000 feet! We were driving to give a lesson to a nine-year-old and got stuck by the side of the road. After a few minutes, his father, noticing that we were late, came looking for us. Luckily, he had a strong tow rope and pulled us out of the snowy ditch.

In April, 2001, on a Thursday, I started to have pains in my back, really hard ones and I began throwing up. Leon and a member gave me a blessing. Friday I felt o.k. but went to a doctor and he didn’t find anything. Saturday, I started hurting badly again and went to a clinic. I was told it was probably my gall bladder and that I would have to make an appointment in Colorado Springs the next week. I couldn’t get in to see a doctor until Friday but when I did, he put me right into the hospital. The zone leaders came by and gave me a blessing and on April 7th, (our wedding anniversary; I had had a heart attack April 7, 1997, dangerous date!!) I had surgery. The doctor had to make a very large and long incision because he told me my gall bladder was gangrenous! That really surprised me as the only pain I had felt was just the week before.

David and Alan drove to Colorado to visit me in the hospital and it was so good to see them. But they kept making jokes and it hurt to laugh. Rob and Erika and family came to see us later in the year. We took them to see the old gold mining town of Cripple Creek. They have lots of casinos there now. I t was always great to see family. Alan and Peggy and family also stopped by on their way to Tricia’s in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. Mark and Sharon and family also stopped a couple of times as they were driving to Utah from St. Louis and back. David also stopped by another time. We loved seeing all of them.