Mission Home Thanksgiving Dinner

Sister Collins has had a bad cough since having Covid a month ago and finally had it checked on Monday and found out that she had walking pneumonia--not contagious, just miserable for her.  She was determined to still host Thanksgiving dinner.  She said that being alone on the holiday would be worse for her than the work required for us to share a meal together.

So Thursday morning, Jena and I headed up to Bentonville with our sweet potato casserole.  Gary woke up with a  head cold so he stayed behind.  Sister Collins was worried about leaving him alone, but he used a switch on her comment--he would rather be alone on the holiday so that Jena and I could join with other missionaries.  That is what would make him happy. He munched on leftovers and enjoyed the plate of food we brought back for him.

Sister Collins had us write a gratitude list.  We then shared our lists, marking off the ones that matched.  Jena did a great job!  I will treasure her gratitude list.

Mine is probably more of the expected things if you know me....

We had plenty of food and it was all delicious.

Sister Collins had us write things to put on leaves as well and decorated the tree limb in the centerpiece.  Apparently, President Collins had been teasing her about the "branch" in the middle of the table, but the sisters got it and we thought it was darling, especially with our little leaves on it.

Homemade Italian ices to drink

Jena with President and Sister Collins.  How lucky we are to serve with these wonderful leaders!  

Our selfie

Sister Lowery (the mission nurse), Sister and Elder Gremlich, Jena, Elder and Sister Rodeback (the car tsars), and President Collins  (Sister Collins took the photo.)

Sister Lowery made all of these beautiful desserts for us, except the pumpkin pie which she bought.

The gingerbread men and the chocolate covered peanut butter balls were amazing.

I had some of the blueberry pie.

We also played Blank Slate which was a big hit and probably will be purchased by a few of the couples for their families.

And that was our Arkansas Thanksgiving!

Since then we have enjoyed a quiet weekend, getting our Christmas stuff together for the grandkids, watching a bit of BYU sports including the last 20 minutes of the BYU women's soccer game with their come from behind 4-3 win over North Carolina.  The great finish led to a discussion on my sibling thread about the Miracle Bowl so Saturday morning, Gary and I watched the last 3 minutes of that game in the Holiday Bowl in 1980.  The miracle of the internet which allows us to watch things like that whenever we want to.  Unfortunately, BYU football lost in double overtime to Oklahoma State later yesterday afternoon, but it had some exciting moments and was closer than anyone thought it would be, so it was exciting even if the end was disappointing.  On the plus side, in addition to the soccer win, the men's and women's basketball teams both won as well to remain undefeated in the early season play.

In the grand scheme of things, sports doesn't matter much, but it brings fun to our lives--and fun is just what you need sometimes.  Go, Cougars!!

 

Pre- Thanksgiving P-day Lunch

We had the missionaries in the closest areas come to lunch on Wednesday so we could share a Thanksgiving meal together--well, no turkey as I figured they would get plenty of that on Thursday, but we had ham along with the traditional green bean casserole and funeral potatoes (which were the hit of the meal) and other stuff.  We sent them to the Church with the cake and ice cream to eat after they played some basketball.

They humored me and put what they were grateful on leaves which now hang on the inside of our front door.  These missionaries are thankful for the right things--God, Christ, family and more.

In total, there were 16 of us--only missing the Clarksville and Mena Elders.  We will head their directions and take them for lunch on a P-day in December--won't be the same as gathering together but a meal nonetheless.

Elder Esera from Samoa--he asked me if we had a good couch because he was planning on taking a nap when he came.  When he arrived, he spied the recliner and hopped on for a morning nap!

It made me happy that he got a nap even in the busyness of people everywhere.

Too much light--but Elder Hess (a brand new missionary from Woods Cross and from the same ward as Sister Cowley who we love who just went home.), Elder Smythe, Elder Bigelow, Elder Thacker, Elder Jensen, and Elder Coombs.

Elder Esera, Jena, Sister Madden, Sister Halle, Sister Anderson, Sister Ohki, Elder Gerber (another new missionary, and Elder Simmons

The whole computer with Sister Collins on the phone with Elder Esera

Elder Hess and Elder Smythe

Sister Halle's parents had sent her a Walmart order for Thanksgiving  (oh, the technology of today) and in it were the mixings for their traditional holiday drink!  So she mixed it up in a big metal bowl (no punch bowls in missionary apartments) and shared it with us.  How sweet is that!  And it was yummy.

The Sisters ready for P-day.

We did play some Blank Slate before they headed to the Stake center for basketball.

Probably the only time in our lives that we will share Thanksgiving with so many young missionaries!  We love them--each and every one!!

Pancake Hearts

I made hearts for Gary and Jena on Sunday morning.  Gary's first remark was--you must be missing the grandkids!!! and the second one was "Can you make me an Eiffel Tower?"  No, that is way beyond my skill set.  Tosha is the one that can do that.

And maybe I do miss those cute grandchildren...these are for you as well!
 

A Mother-Daughter Moment

This is Sister Olsen and Sister Olsen-----mother and daughter.  Sister Olsen the senior is the Relief Society President in the Ft. Smith Ward and Sally is the Relief Society in the Young adult branch.  They both were at Karinna's baptism on Saturday to welcome her into both Relief Societies. It was sweet to hear both of their testimonies of Relief Society. (Not a great picture but wanted to capture the moment for Sally without being too disruptive.)  Sister Olsen the senior also joined the Church as a young adult so she was able to share a bit about that experience for her which I am sure that Karinna found meaningful and helpful.

The Temple With Some Senior Missionaries

We had arranged with the Ellises to go to the temple with them on the 17th.  Bevans and Griffins came and joined us and then we all went to lunch.  Let me tell you--these people are amazing!!!  I can't believe how lucky we are to get to know them and to serve in the same area with them.  They are "seasoned" disciples of Christ with so many life experiences to share.

E/S Ellis, S/E Bevans, S/E Griffin

Would you follow the Bentonville bomb squad who seems to be making each of the same turns as you are as you head to lunch??

Their turn signal was actually an arrow which formed in three stages...

Fortunately, they didn't turn into the restaurant area we were headed to.  We had a great meal at the Meld Kitchen.  Want to go back next time we are in Bentonville.

Don't you want to be a senior missionary and meet amazing people, too???

It's Transfer Week

Well, actually last week was.  That means that on Wednesdays morning, we had an early zone call where the transfers were announced.  It was crazy for our zone in that every single companionship was changed.  We found out on Friday that this was the biggest transfer in President and Sister Collin's time as mission leaders.  74 out of 90+ something companionships were changed.  We had 30 new missionaries and 19 leave so that alone requires some shuffling to get people with trainers, etc.

That made P-day a bit tender to see the missionaries in the area interact with each other, many for the last time.  Three missionaries from our zone were heading home-Elder Boyle, Elder Stewart, and Elder McAvoy.  They will be missed.

Part of P-day was painting and Jena loved being a part of that.

Elder Miller and Sister Moesinger posing with their darling paintings and their trash bag "aprons."

Sister Moesinger is one of the ones who is leaving.  Elder Miller was moved but still withing our zone which is fun.  He is now in Clarksville and in the other district.

Everyone was a bit more stressed about this transfer than I had seen in the past...and perhaps it was because there were so many changes.  Sister Halle said that she had dreamed about transfers for four nights in a row.  She stayed for her last transfer before going home, but Sister Burnside who also has just 6 weeks was transferred to the Joplin zone.  We will miss her.

We drove the Van Buren elders back and forth to the drop off spot in Springdale (to save their miles as well) on Friday.  That meant all of our zone was there so we could get last minute photos--

First, the Springdale Stake Center has those beautiful red and green trees all around that area.....

See the contrast--it is striking in person

Jena with Elder Kutchinsky (staying) with Elder Boyle and Elder Hubbard who are finished with their missions now.  Both of them served at different times in Ft. Smith--with Elder Boyle and Elder Hubbard being companions at one time.

Red trees---what you do when the transfer bus is 30 minutes later in the morning....

The sisters with Elder Miller as the photo bomber....

Cute Ft. Smith Zone/Springdale sisters

Sister Burnside and Sister Halle--the Ft. Smith Ward and YSA missionaries...

Elder McAvoy, Elder Smythe, Sister Burnside and Sister Halle--our zone leadership

I will have to track down the zone photo and add it here.

We actually went to the temple, had lunch and came back to retrieve the Van Buren elders only to discover that the transfer bus with the last load of the day was behind...an hour or as it turned out about 2 1/2 hours late.  We left Springdale around 5:15, took the elders to dinner at Freddy's in Van Buren, then headed to the Church for a baptism at 7:30 of a young adult, James, who has been attending our branch.  Good day!!! But long and we were tired when we got home at 9 pm.

And we actually attended a baptism on Thursday night in Clarksville right before Institute and one on Saturday morning as well for another young adult who has been attending the family ward in Ft. Smith.  We are hoping to convince her to join with us in YSA.  Karinna came to our YSA dinner and devotional last night so maybe she will.  She has developed some support in the family ward, so maybe she will go to both for awhile.

So with apartment inspections the prior week and the busyness of transfer week, we have spent a lot of time with missionaries the past few weeks.  We love that and hope that we are helpful to them in more ways than just providing rides and treats.

Another Ride Home From Mena

We helped drive the Mena elders to a district meeting last Monday to help them conserve their miles for the month.  Gary had found a possible location for the mislabeled cemetery in eastern Oklahoma, so after dropping them off, we headed east including on this dirt road to find the Stapp-Zoe Cemetery.

Blue skies also look awesome with the fall colors of the trees....

And we found it!!!

I love the confidence expressed on this stone...and really- God hopes that we all want to be "Heaven bound".  He wants us all to be with Him again!

Out the window near Pecola, Oklahoma...not sure where they started from because there were no nearby hills or mountains.  Beautiful day to be flying though.

A couple of days later, Find A Grave notified Gary that they had changed the coordinates of the cemetery to the correct ones AND they changed the home screen for that cemetery to MY photo of the entrance.  It is a tiny thing in the vastness of the world, but it makes me happy that our efforts may help someone else find that cemetery or find information from our photos taken there. (And I have another random piece of trivia for some game in the future--"I have a photo on a cemetery page of Find A Grave.")