Spring is Coming

It's nice to see signs of spring here. We see people doing yard work. The Bentonville Half Marathon is coming up on Saturday. There seem to be more birds about. The trees are just beginning to bloom. We saw daffodils on our walk yesterday. I can't wait.

With daylight savings time and warmer weather there is time after work for a walk or bike ride. When we first got here I, got a used missionary bike from our storage shed and fixed it up a bit. So I have something to ride. There are many, many places to ride here and the area is very biking/walking friendly. Mountain/off-road biking is very big here. I don't do much off-roading.

This is the ride I went on last Sunday. It was just over 10 miles. The green spot is where we live. While riding I saw this (I think) great blue heron standing on a rock in the stream.

Yesterday we went on a walk and saw five hawks sitting on one tree. By the time I could get out my phone to take a photo two had flown away.

Sister Johnson has a hard time to walk because she is so busy looking at the birds and flowers and everything else. I think there is a bit of her mother in her. 

Mission Fitness Challenge

Sister Strong has started a fitness challenge for the mission. Missionaries from the various stakes are competing for different incentives.  There are weekly and daily challenges. The weekly challenge this week has been "NO Treats". Oh My! It has been a tough week. But we have done it. We have also completed each of the daily challenges.

The funny thing is that we are taking this dead serious because we want to set a good example and not let anyone else down. But several of the missionaries we talked to this week were like, "whatever." Based on their attitudes I think we may win this thing.

Visitors

We are preparing for visitors. Amy is coming Thursday with Rex and Oliver. Then on Monday (next week) we're taking four sisters to the airport in St. Louis to meet their mission president to return to Nauvoo. Keith and his family are flying to St. Louis and we will pick them up there and then tour Nauvoo and Missouri.  We are excited to see them all. (We will move week three of the Fitness Challenge to week four.)

We Are Happy

We are very happy here. The work is interesting and we feel useful. We are happy to be here together. We like northwest Arkansas. We feel very blessed.