Serve Where You Are

Our weeks have settled into a routine.  Craig has several people he does service for.  This week, for example, he helped John Luzer clean his harvester.  It's a really big tractor.  They cleaned out all the bits of corn that were left, and washed all the dirt from it.  It will sit idle until next fall.

He spent one day with Robert Wagner (and MANY other days in weeks past) helping him to build a storage "shed" on his property.  It's actually a building.  They have been setting the posts, trying to get it done on days when it is NOT freezing and the cement will set.

He has been helping Sheila remodel a bathroom that will meet the needs of her handicapped daughter.

About every other week he will call Pat Sutton to see if she needs anything.  Last week, he visited her and got down all her Christmas decorations.

While he is out "serving", I have several lessons to prepare each week.  On Mondays, I tutor Daniel Wagner.  We try to teach him a missionary lesson after that.  We are hoping he will be baptized before we go home.

On Tuesdays, I teach seminary.
On Wednesdays, I help with Activity Days.  Every other month it is my turn to plan and do.
On Thursdays, I tutor a pre-calculus student here in Rensselaer, and three students in California.
On Sunday, I teach a 45 minute Primary class, then do Singtime.
Add to this, monthly zone meetings with our Mission President,  Relief Society meetings, Missionary Correlation meetings with the other sister missionaries and the Branch President, and District Meetings (which I'm sorry to say we don't get to very often) and you can see that we stay busy.

We also try to visit as many inactive families as we can fit in.  This week, we visited several families inviting them to the Branch Christmas Party.  We spent 6-8 hours at the church on three different days decorating.

We almost never take a P-day (preparation day).  So, last week we planned a trip to Chicago.

We took our neighbor, Stacey.

Even though she has lived here a lot longer than we have, she had never been to see the Chicago sites.  

I couldn't get the camera to focus on the lights.  This is the restaurant where we ate.

It is called Ed Debevic's.  It is super fun there.

Everyone gets a hat.

I thought the balloon hat was cheesy.  The "balloon" lady was not the best.

This is the coolest MacDonalds I've ever seen.  Really fancy.

The lights along the Magnificent Mile were so beautiful.  We walked about 6 1/2 miles.

And, of course, we visited the Bean again.  If you lay on the ground, it looks like you are standing up.  Always a lot of tourists there, so we fit right in.

This was in the Nordstrom Mall.  All glamorous!!!

We actually had to stop for the geese to cross the road.  And they were NOT in a hurry.

The worst part of Chicago is the parking.  It costs a fortune.  Seriously.  We pay about $40 every time we go there, just to park.  This time we parked under Millennial Park.  There is literally a city beneath the city in Chicago.  The streets are three-levels deep.  

There are stop lights under the streets.  It's crazy.

One of our branch members gave us a Christmas Tree to put up, complete with decorations.

Thanks Fernandezes. (How DO you spell that?) We love it.

I snapped a picture of Craig relaxing after working on the Christmas Party  craft.  He is drilling holes and stringing twine through sticks.  He's handy to have around.

We've gotten some very nice gifts from the members.  We got this Goody Bag with all kinds of good things in it.

We each got a neck scarf from our Stake President's wife.  She made scarves for ALL the missionaries in our district.  Don't look for us in this picture.  We're behind the camera.  All the missionaries are wearing their scarves, but Craig and I got ours the day before and didn't have them at the meeting.  Our Mission President and his wife on are the far right.  We love these kids.

We feel our time coming to a close so quickly.  We wonder if we have done enough, helped enough, served enough, and loved enough.  I get sad thinking of these wonderful people we will be leaving.  We still have a few months.  

Oh, and one more thing.  We are NOT looking forward to winter.

Winter already???

Oh my gosh!  The temperature plummeted about two weeks ago, and is just now getting back to fall weather.  We had two weeks of 9-20 degree temperatures.  It even snowed on Halloween!!

And do you see that it feels like 0!!!  This is why:  It's usually windy.  And it's cold!!

Today it was in the 50's and felt like summer.  I'd been pretty good about walking every day, but 15 degrees is just too cold.  So, when it warmed up to 22, off we went.

I've got on two pair of thermals under my jeans.  A thermal top, a shirt, a sweater, and my coat.  I have on a neck sleeve AND a neck scarf, mittens, thermal gloves and two pair of socks - AND earmuffs.

It was a beautiful day.  I was quite comfortable.

This is my neighbor's dog, Peanuts.  You can see she is also dressed for the cold.

About two weeks ago, we went to see one of our Branch members (Jay Weaver) sing at St. Joseph's college.  The concert was in the school's chapel.  The acoustics were amazing.  They are going to sing again for Christmas and we can't wait to go hear them sing again.

We finally winterized Stacey's garden.  Here are the before pictures.

Here is the after.  All that's left to do is insulate the strawberries with straw.

Craig went to take the trash to the dumpster, then came home and wanted me to see what he had found.

Yes, indeed, we found a lot of Christmas decorations.  

So we brought them home and decorated the apartment.

I didn't want to buy anything because then we'd have to give it away or mail it home.  This way, when we are done, we can just throw it away - AGAIN.

We helped a family in our ward move.  They moved from Wheatfield to Medaryville.  Here is what their house looks like:

It looks and feels like they are up in the mountains.  But, remember, this is Indiana.  No mountains.  They are actually surrounded by cornfields.  But you can see they have a lake in their back yard.  There is some work to be done inside, but when Denise is done, it will be beautiful, I'm sure.

Here are some pictures of Sam, who is still hanging in there with us.  You should know that Sam is VERY MUCH Craig's cat.

Wherever Craig is, that's where Sam is.

And when Craig is gone, Sam is on his side of the bed.

And if Sam is cold, well, where better to sleep than in Craig's coat.

And Sam still brings us presents from outside.  I found this one AFTER Craig had left for the day.

Sorry if it's gross.  But I was grossed out, too!!!  Thanks, Sam

Since we were stuck in the house, we decided to inventory our food storage.  

When we went to take the water jugs out of the closet, we found one of them had leaked, the carpet was wet, and mold was on the walls.  Great.

Our neighbor said that happens all the time (wet carpet and mold) and there is a paint that you paint over it and it will kill the mold.  So, we'll do that this week.

Finally, I wanted to share some random pictures.

Rensselaer has its very own Bed and Breakfast.  Who knew???

A long lost relative maybe???

I wanted to document that some days the wind DOES NOT blow.  We love those days.

Here's what I've been working on when it's too cold to go anywhere.  Only one sleeve to go.

Most wards have a "missionary" calendar where people can sign up to feed the missionaries serving in their area.  This is the calendar for our poor sisters.  In a small branch, they don't many dinner offers.  We're having Thanksgiving dinner with them this week.

In other news, I have three students I'm helping with math, Craig is helping Brother McEwan's daughter to finish a bathroom for her handicapped daughter, and we're fellowshipping several families.  Oh, and we signed up to ring the Salvation Army bell on December 3.  All the different churches take turns to "ring the bell."  I'll take pictures.  

Oh, and our radiator died.  We're getting a new one tomorrow.  Yay.

It's supposed to snow toward the end of the week.  All the "natives" agree that we got gypped on Fall.  BRING ON WINTER!!  We're ready.  (maybe)

Autumn

It is so beautiful here in Indiana.  Wow, it's been a long time since I lived in a place where the leaves changed to such vivid colors.

It really just takes your breath away.  As you can see, I'm always stopping the car, jumping out and taking a picture.

This is called a "burning bush."  (With reference to the burning bush in the Bible.)  

They are all over town.

In other news around town, it is finally time to harvest the crops.  We have been anxious to see how this was done.  This field is partially harvested.  The machinery cuts the corn, tumbles it around somehow, funnels off the corn, and spits everything else back out.  You can see how cluttered the ground is.

This is what is left.

And even more close up it looks like this:

Bits of corn cobs, stalks, etc.

Craig spent a couple of days last week building a ramp for a man in our ward who has had some surgery on his foot, and is in a wheelchair.  He enlisted the help of Brother Morrison, who is a master woodworker.  Brother Morrison had all the tools and know-how.  They built it in one day, and poured the cement for the ramp the next day.

The cement at the bottom allows for a smooth transition from dirt to wood.

Along with the help of Brother Wagner, those three men did an excellent job.  In addition, many others in the branch donated funds for the materials.

I thought I would show you a picture of our primary.  We just finished making masks for an Activity Day.

Because we have no scouting program, the boys are invited to Activity Days.  We try to incorporate some of the scout activities.  Next month we are doing "knots" and learning to tie ties.  Yay!

Oh, BTW, the tall one is actually our Primary President.  LOL

We FINALLY finished painting the back of Sister Sutton's trailer.   What a comedy of errors.

But, the blue streaks from the shutters are gone.

Craig even painted the door jam of the garage door.  It was pretty weather beaten.

I managed to get a picture of Sister Sutton supervising.

I snapped this picture of Craig the other day.  He is eating breakfast and enjoying the sun.

I don't know how he squats like that, but he is comfortable and can stay like that for a long time.  If I remember correctly, I think he's talking to Sam in between cereal bites.

Finally, I wanted to share our trip to the Covered Bridge Festival.
We were invited to go to this at the beginning of summer and have been waiting all this time.
We actually saw several beautiful bridges.

I learned some things about covered bridges.  They were covered to protect them from the elements.

They had windows, which I think is really cool.  Here is Craig and Robert Wagner enjoying the view.  You can also see graffiti.  Sheesh.  Is nothing sacred?

The view at the other end was really beautiful -- all the fall colors.

Here is the bridge in Bridgeton.  Parking is on this side of the bridge, and everyone walks across it to get into the town.

Here is a view from the other side.

Even though the Festival is to commemorate the bridges, believe me, 

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD AND SHOPPING.

Imagine every town having a giant craft fair.  We spent the day in three different cities.

This was one of the food courts.  We had homemade potato chips with cheese and bacon.  YUM

You can see that the sky is overcast.  It was threatening rain, but luckily stayed dry.  I guess that, no matter the weather, it is always crowded everyday of the 10-day festival.  At least it was not freezing cold.  This picture was taken on a Monday.

Rows and rows of shopping tents selling everything imaginable.

AND, I found a spinning wheel for sale.  A bargain price of $75.

Craig tried on several hats looking for the one that best suited his style.

There were performers.  This guy were advertising a melodrama taking place that afternoon.

And you KNOW we had to have the solid mahogany 57 chevy

There were craftsmen, of course.

The countryside was gorgeous.  Fall leaves, hills, trees, valleys.  Different from the corn fields that surround Rensselaer.  It was a great day with good friends.

Finally, we had our Branch Chile Cook Off last Saturday.  It was a great turn out.  I think the investigators almost outnumbered the members.  NOW, if we can just get them at church.  Maybe we should offer more candy?  Ya think?