Work Can Be Fun

This week we have been busy serving and working.  Okay, CRAIG has been busy serving and working - mostly.  He finished painting the Rodriguez's kitchen.  While he was doing this, I brought Lupita and her girlfriend home and they helped me make cookies.

Then we stopped at the Shelton's and Craig got busy helping Mike as he was moving the rear end from one car to another.  Here is a picture of him actually making sparks.

Kelly Shelton was raised a Mormon, but she and her husband have not been to church in a long time.  Mike is a great guy and Craig really enjoys going over there.  He didn't really want to get his nice shirt dirty, but he wanted Mike to know he really did want to help, not just give lip service.

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They have a small home, but a huge back yard.  

Their yard goes all the way back to the trees in the distance.  They often have deer and other critters wander onto their property.  They are coming to dinner next Saturday and then going with us to the movie in the park.  We really like them.

Last Friday, we drove with an inactive member to Indianapolis to a Cub Scout Activity.  He is the den leader in his pack.  The outing included a baseball game at Victory Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Indians, and then camping out on the outfield for the night.

We walked though the gate and we were immediately accosted by a very large black woman.  She had a knit hat on, the kind with ties that hang down.  She got right in front of us and said, Hey.  I was wondering if she wanted to sell us something.  She said, "I'm a Mormon!!"  She had seen our name tags.  She wanted a hug.  I WISH we had taken a picture with her.  It was too funny.

You can see from the scoreboard that evidently there was an LDS group there.  Who knew?

And all those people sitting under the sign are sitting on grass.  They bring blankets to sit on and get in really cheap.  Lots of families sitting there.

 It was a AAA ball club.  The stadium was nice.  They announced there were about 15,000 people in attendance.  The parking was terrible, however.  Oh, and see the factory in the background?  Yeah, we heard it all night long.

We had a 15 minute firework show after the game (which we lost, by the way).
Then we waited while they cleaned the field.  At 1:00 AM they let the boys down onto the grass.

I was warm and comfortable, but we didn't get much sleep.  

And this is my favorite sign.

Indianapolis is not as big as Chicago, but they do have this really cool building:  The Marriott tower.  It was right next to the ball field.

Please notice the traffic.  It was terrible.  In Rensselaer, if there are two people waiting at the light, it's considered a traffic jam.  

The corn is growing fast.  This was taken a week ago and I'm sure it is taller by now.  I guess there is an Amish saying that goes, "Knee high by the fourth of July."  You can see it is nearly that high already.  We are told that by the end of summer, it is so high you have to be careful driving for you cannot see around the corners.

Craig spent Monday morning fishing.  He got a fishing license and everything.  Now he carries his poles in the car in case there is a drive-by fishing opportunity.

This is Elder Foster.  He is one of our zone leaders.  After our last meeting, he went right to work cutting up fruit and vegetables for Youth Conference.  He and his companion have four baptisms lines up for the next month.  They are AWESOME!!

Look what we saw on our way to someplace.  A pheasant.  Cool, huh?

All over Rensselaer and nearby are towers.  They can't all be cell phone towers.  Some just look like towers with nothing on them - no reason for being.  I asked someone about them.  He said that we are on a flight path from Chicago to Indianapolis.  Some of them are beacon towers.  You can see two of there here.  The one in front looks like a cell tower.  

I saw this in a restaurant restroom.  I liked it.

Finally, here is Craig putting together his Father's Day present.  EVERYONE has a BBQ.  So I got him a small one, then went to the really nice meat store and got two Ribeye steaks.  As I type this, he's got the coals heating.  We're having dinner with our neighbor, Stacey.  She's bringing a green salad and green beans from her garden.  She's been taking care of us since the first day we were here.  

HERE IS THE BEST PART:  We had four investigators and two inactives come to church this morning.  There were hardly any empty seats there.  Robert and his son came.  They are the ones we went camping with.  Ester and Lupita came.  She is the one whose kitchen Craig painted.  Joe came.  He is the one we have been teaching lessons to for several weeks.  John came.  He is the one we went to Shipshewana with.  We LOVE serving them.  We hope they felt the Spirit and will want to come back.    BEING A MISSIONARY IS THE BEST!!