Summer's Over. . . . . Almost!

    After the Pageants things have really slowed down.  We are still busy but without the hugh volume of people.  There were days at the brick yard for example that we wouldn't see the other elders working because as we would finish one group, there would be another group of 30 waiting.  I had one group of 58 people in the room, we were so crowed that there wasn't enough room to walk.   Some days this would go on for 6 hours straight.    We were so happy to have our family with us this year.   Duaine and Jenny and their family, Keith and Susan and family, along with Larry and Mary Baker and Claudet, and then last week Mark and Cheri's  family.   We love our family so very much and recognize how much we have been blessed with such a good family.   The Young Preforming Missionaries will be leaving in two days and we will miss them so much.   I have enjoyed the Nauvoo Brass Band.  We were able to get to know several of the band members because they would be assigned to the sites one day a week.  The band as well as the stage preforming missionaries have so much energy.  I believe that by seeing how hard they work we as senior missionaries try harder to keep up the pace.   As we go through these times we get closer to the other senior missionaries as well.

     Saturday night was the close of all shows except Rendezvous.  Friday night was our casts last Sunset by the Mississippi for the Summer.   We had just started and had finished the prayer when it started to rain hard.   We have a weather gage that shows on radar the storm and how it is moving.  It showed it was moving fast and would be through in about 10 to 12 minutes, and sure enough it ended about as fast as it started.   The preforming missionaries sang while we all just sat there and got wet.   Many in the audience had umbrella's so they stayed pretty  dry while we got soaked.  It actually was quite fun.  The men started to squeegee the stage floor so by the time it stopped raining it dried almost instantly.   Tonight we had our Zone Conference and a reception for the young missionaries that are leaving.   It was hard to say good bye.   There are several others that are leaving also, who are very sick.   The Doyings, who came with us, our MTC group, will be leaving very soon.  They also will be missed, they are in their 80's.

    When Elder Clark of the Seventy was here a few weeks ago he shared a story with us that I really loved.  He told of a young boy, I will call him John, who was from a great family, members of the LDS Church, but later in his teens stopped going to church.  He rode with a biker gang and got heavy into drugs.  He finally was so bad that he ended up in a biker safe house to dry out.   One day a couple of missionaries were walking down the street of the safe house, they saw John sitting on the porch but kept walking by.   A few minutes later one of the missionaries stopped and said, I think we should go back and talk to that man sitting on the porch.  So they turned around and went back.  They walked up to John and introduced themselves and ask if they could sit and visit with him.   John couldn't see any harm so he said OK.  He knew about the missionaries from the church but knew he wouldn't talk about religion so it was no big deal.  The missionaries ask where he was from and so he told them where he had grown up.  One missionary was from the same town and ask, "Do you know Mr. and Mrs. ---------------?   John said, "Yes, They are my parents".   The young missionary with tears in his eyes said, "They are my parents too."  John didn't know he had this brother because he was born after John had left home.  Tears filled Johns eyes and the two embraced.  The story ended well with John returning home and getting off drugs, with the help of his family.  He got married and held church positions.   We never know who we will touch or how we may make a difference in someones life.   If we can have the courage to put ourselves out there and share.