Christmas Week

The week started with one hour church.  Our little choir which consists of ourselves, Elder and Sister Carlson, and the Bairs', teenage son and daughter of our pianist, Shauri Bair, sang an arrangement of Once in Royal David's City.   In the evening we attended the Lusvardi's open house.

Lusvardi's living room

Sister Lusvardi leads us in carol singing.

President and Sister Lusvardi wishing us a Merry Christmas

With Mensels

 Friends around the Christmas tree

With Flanders

 It was a warmish evening, so on the way home we took some photos of the neighborhood.

Muholland Street Christmas trees

 Back in our driveway I looked up to see an unusual site.  A chain of lights, maybe planes, maybe stars, were crossing the sky.  Dee pointed out that if they were jets we would hear them, although they were pretty high.  And they just kept coming.  There were at least 50 of them.  At home I googled lights crossing the sky and found this.

Star link Satellites

                                                                   
Monday I started a new chapter in my FM mission.  Since it is sometimes too cold to work outside this winter, and greenhouse work comes and goes, we are helping the paint crew.  We could work on sites, but rather than sit waiting for visitors to come, we'd rather be doing something.  Besides, if we work on sites our schedules are very different from our husbands. I was by myself in grounds this week as Sister Bailey went to her son's in Tennessee.
The paint crew is as fun as the grounds crew.  And while most of us listen to music on our phones, Sister Odum uses her boom box for Christmas music while we paint the office bathrooms.

Christmas Eve day, we quit work early and  headed up to Burlington to visit some of the members.  We visited Sister Aker, Sister Mellinger, the Sinks, and the Bucks.  While we were at the Bucks the Howards invited us to meet them at Perkins.  We went home feeling like we'd lit up the world a little.
Christmas morning Mckay sent us a video of the children coming downstairs with squeals and laughter. We spent the morning Facetiming the family.  What a wonderful invention, helping us be a part of everyone's Christmas.

Christmas breakfast

 a few presents

from Jenny

In the afternoon we joined the mission to play games (Cover Your Assets) and eat a soup potluck.  Afterwards we went home and watched the last episode of The Crown.  A nice Christmas Day.

The Oldie Weds Game
Whitings, Plesheks, Odums, and Simmons.  Elder Draney MC

Watching the Oldies Wed Game

And the ever present pot luck.

The rest of the week was normal work. But Thursday I added another first to my mission experience.  I'd been hearing about pickle ball since last Christmas.  I finally got to play it.  So fun.

In some ways this mission is like girls' camp.  We have an on-going service project - our FM work.  We have firesides, food, crafts, and now sports.  The crafts I've done include weaving, quilting, and wood carving!  On Thursday nights Elder Schmidt holds a wood carving class.  I tried to get Dee interested, and he wanted to do it, but in the end I'm doing it.  And there are lots of friends around our age.  So if not girls' camp, maybe a senior housing community.  I wonder if I'll be lonely when we go home.

Some of the treats put in our mailbox this month.  

Tree in front of Nauvoo Hotel

Red Front tree - sweet rolls and red balls

Leaves are all falling, but beautiful hybiscus blooms. 

The week ended on the saddest of notes.  On Friday the mission president called all the FM missionaries to the conference room.  Some of us thought they were going to dissolve FM missionaries - because the church has been downsizing FM departments throughout the church.  But it had nothing to do with us.  One of the teamsters, Elder Meycocks and his wife had been in a car accident and Elder Meycocks had died.  Sister Meycocks had several broken bones.  They were coming back from visiting with his mother in Iowa City.  That stretch of highway is very empty, usually, and someone crossed over the highway and they couldn't stop. They hit him straight on.  They were all taken to the hospital, and though no injuries were apparent, Elder Meycocks went into cardiac arrest.  This morning the mission president told us at our prayer meeting that Sister Meycocks, after recovering from her injuries, wants to finish her mission.  They are working to make that possible. 
We know almost everyone in the mission, but our paths have never crossed the Meycocks.  We aren't in their zone.  We weren't in the same Sunset Cast.  But we are good friends with many who did know them.  So we mourn with those who mourn.