Weirdest weather ever!

We have temps like this:

 scary clouds overhead like this:

 and storms that appear out of nowhere like this:

One minute it's windy and stormy, then suddenly it's eerily still.

I thought it would be cool to see a tornado (from a distance),

but we are on the second floor apt. with no real inside room 

to go to. If the sirens go off they figure 3 minutes or less to

get to shelter. Now that's a scary thought. After seeing the

devastation so close to where we are and where we were just

a couple of months ago - in Oklahoma- I'm no longer eager

to witness one first hand.

 

Our hearts go out to the people of Oklahoma.

Shout-Outs for Snail Mail L.o.V.e.!

Mail shout-outs this week go to Sister VanDriver - who EVERYONE misses here in Dodge City! Jon & Angela for writing us for FHE, and to Logan and Landon for their awesome letters with Holy Cow super amazing handwriting!! Holly Wiersma for sending another cute and funny card that always lifts our spirits! And my sweet friend Becki Blackner for all her wonderfulness…’nuff said! Thank you to everyone for taking the time to send a message our way. We love you!

Is this a science fair project??

Every week we try to have a "clean out the fridge of left-overs" dinner. We've been lucky enough to have D.A.'s for the past two weeks (thanks in part to having only one other set of missionaries here). So last night we were having our c.o.t.f.o.l.o. dinner, and this is what we pulled out. Apparently some of this stuff has been in the fridge longer (much longer)  than 2 weeks.

Some were still good enough to eat, while some were completely unidentifiable...

..this one fell into the "what did this use to be?" category. We think it was curry?

 

The light in his eyes and the light in the skies

Yesterday we had a sweet baptism of ten year old Victor. His brothers were baptized a couple months ago and he cried because his father wouldn't give his consent for Victor to be baptized...until yesterday. Victor is a sweet boy with a strong testimony.

Also, last night while we were out looking at the storm clouds move in, a house behind our appt. was having a little fire issue. And it was sooo windy, the fire got a little out of hand and the fire department was called.

 

We caught some of the lightning last night as it was just getting started. We were treated to a

beautiful thunder and lightning show which set off several of the car delerships car alarms.

 

It's tornado season here..we've had several touch down in our area in the past couple days.

I totally want to see a tornado while we're here!

Happenings of the week...

 

Note to self: When the Elders want to take a picture like this after District meeting,

remember it's not the most flattering pose for a 50 something woman.

...But I sure love these guys, especially the one wearing the yellow tie!

 

Reading my letter from Becki~

she always includes the funnest things in her letters.

 

Attended the graduation of one of our members~

a convert of one year~this girl is going places!

Had our last Zone Conference for

the Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission : (

 

Watched an AMAZING sunrise

 

Tithing and Mango's

We had a great evening appt. with the Linan's...such a good family. 

 We taught them a lesson on tithing, using Starbursts as money.

They taught us how to cut, season and eat a mango...yum!

Sprinkle chili powder with lime on it...and then you eat it with all ya got!

Mother’s Day and Mail Shout Outs!

 

MY AWESOME COMPANION BROUGHT ME BREAKFAST IN BED

BEFORE I WAS AWAKE...AND HE DID THE DISHES TOO!!

GOSH I LOVE THAT MAN!

 

These beautiful flowers were delivered to me….twice! The first time I wasn’t home from our Zone Conference and missed the delivery. But they came back. Lucky me! Thank you Shannon! I also received a beautiful pair of earrings from Janae and family, I have been so lacking in jewelry here, thank you…also, sweet Mother’s Day cards from both Williams families, Jon & Angela and Christopher & Ellen, phone calls with Sean and with Erin, and a super fun “Trader Joe” box filled with all kinds of yummy treats and some pretty awesome cards from the Bang gang! An armful of  MoMo shout-outs to everyone of ya and a big EYE HEART U ALL! I am one lucky mama and grandma!

What a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day! We got to watch this sweet little bebe while her momma had a chat with our Bishop. It was delightful to get our baby fix on Mother’s Day!

The only thing that's constant is change...

No sooner did we get a newbie in our district, than we had  things shaken up a bit. Sister Vanderholm, whom we love and adore, had been sick for several weeks. Although she toughed it out and trained two young Sister missionaries, she needed to go home for 'real' medical treatment. : (   ...so she left us last week. If I had my way I would have kept her here with us until we go home next April, (even though her mission would be up in less than three months). She has been with us pretty much the entire time we've been here in Dodge. Our district has morfed from this....

 Ron, Kathy, Sis. Kartchner (love that girl) Sista V. (love her too) Elders MacArthur & Wilde

Then to this...

 Elders Romero (aka Romano), Wilde, Williams, me, Sisters Macovichuk (aka Macocopuff) & V.





Then to this...

Sisters V., Macovichuk, Williams, and Elders Williams, Hawkins & Romero



Then to this...

Elders Hawkins & Romero, Sisters Hutchins, V., me & Ron

 

And now we are just down to Elders Hawkins, Romero, Williams and me, until June 5th.

Havin' girl elders sure does make a difference in a district. We miss 'em! Get better Sister V. We love you!

Lawyers around the watercooler...

...well, almost...this is a picture of Vultures who hang out at the water tower in the north part of Dodge.

We counted nearly 50 of these gross looking birds...

 

...and these are his buddies. Creepy, huh?

"Male" shout-outs

(All of our letters this week came from the boys in our family!)

 

 

Anytime we get a letter from home it's a good day. Anytime we get pictures with the letter it's a great day! Anytime there is a letter and pictures and BYU fudge packed with it it's an off-the-charts-woot-woot-move-to-the-top-of-the-favorite-kid-list day!!

Our mail shout-outs for last week go to Chris ~ and his beautiful wife, Ellen, for thinking of the fudge (I like the way you think, girl!)~ for above said parcel. To Ben for sending a 2 page handwritten letter~props to you Big Ben. And to Nathan and Bryce for their awesome letters complete with artwork! Hugs and kisses to you all!
*****