Back to Work

We have had a wonderful vacation the last two weeks.  We have enjoyed being with family and recharging our batteries.  With the coming of the new year, I have been feeling antsy and anxious to recenter and refocus our missionary efforts.  The students don't come back for another week, so we are busy doing bulletin boards, planning and plotting.

Christmas was a different experience for us this year, but memorable just the same.  We were able to attend our first zone conference two fold.  Our mission has grown from 160 to 320 missionaries this year.  As a result, there were two Christmas zone conferences.  Neil and I offered to help cater the conferences and we had a great time.

One Half of our mission

Making 18 cans worth of pineapple sauce

It looks like it turned out ok -  they ate it!

Member Provided the Cookies

Mission conferences were just a small part of our school break.  We also had lots of wonderful visits with family.  Neil's sister, Genie Lee and her husband, Winston, arrived on the 14th.  We had been so busy with planning for their visit and the mission conferences that we didn't check our emails very well.  We made it to Hobby Airport with lots of time to spare only to find out shortly after their arrival that they were at the nearer to us airport, George Bush!  We finally met up with them and then had a wonderful evening at the Houston Temple doing sealings.  We loved exploring Lake Livingston and introducing them to catfish.  We also stopped at a few antique stores in our travels, but we didn't make Winston suffer through them.  Genie gave me a beautiful handpieced floursack quilt top.  We also ate at the Farmhouse Cafe which turned out to be their favorite eatery. We were sad to see them go, it was such a lovely reminder of home.  Fortunately we had the Mission Conference right after they left, so we didn't have much time to be homesick.

Cold enough outside for Christmas, even in Huntsville

Lees left on the 18th and our daughter, Flori and her family, arrived on the evening of the 23rd.  We became party animals!

Genie and Winston Lee