Len & Kit's Missionary Adventures in California

Monday, October 31, 2016

And Now for Something Completely Different

It was definitely an unusual week. 

President and Sister Clark were away at a Mission President’s meeting.  Of course he was still texting and calling back and forth as needed to take care of business here.  Sister Bradshaw was at home all week.  She expects to be well enough to return to the office at least part time on Monday.  In her absence, we have learned how to transfer calls and how to take care of the mail but would be lost trying to make the numerous lists she creates to keep each of us informed in a customized format that suits our particular needs. 

Len was AWL (Away With Leave) from Thursday until Saturday to attend the funeral of a nephew, Joshua O’Neil, who died unexpectedly in Montana.  Len and Whitney met up in Seattle and flew together to Bozeman where Joshua’s ‘celebration of life’ was held.  In spite of the sad loss, it was good to bond with family (O’Neil, Gunderson, Mattson).  Whitney saw a number of family members she hadn’t seen for decades, and they visited some of our family’s history sights (MSU campus, Bozeman cemetery, other).

It finally rained here parts of Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.  People were ecstatic.  It must have rained more steadily at night than during the day, because there were plenty of large puddles, even though we never thought the rain amounted to much.   At times there was a splatter of enormous drops mixed in with light rain that didn’t even leave one’s shoulder wet.  It was as if one could “run between the raindrops”.  I didn’t see people with umbrellas even though the weather was expected.  When I stopped at a store in the large shopping area near us Friday evening, they had very few customers.  There was a sign on the door that said the store was closed “due to inclement weather”.  I was shocked!  It was such an ordinary evening.

I have a new challenge of providing suitable small appliances to help a new senior couple be able to cook meals without a stove.  They will be in a very nice apartment near Yosemite for six months.  I think it will work out quite well but has taken some effort to figure it out.  The test I set for myself was: how could they make a Thanksgiving dinner?  I figured they’d never have a bigger challenge than that.