We had a very fun week.  My brother, Noel, and wife Nancy, and my sister Marie, and husband Corrie, came to visit us.  They came to Branson and we met them there.

Saturday we volunteered at "Family Strong," a community event (run by one of our stakes) to strengthen families.  We helped with a service project where we packed food in bags to take to schools for  kids who needed help, to take home on the weekends. People at the event could come and pack some bags and earn points for doing service.  There were classes on parenting and even a class for teenagers called, "How to survive your parents."  There were all kinds of games outside and bouncy things.  It was a blazing hot day though.  We were glad our assignment was inside. It was held at the Nazarene church. You can see the food in the background.

After we finished at 1:30, we went home to get our stuff and then we drove to Branson (2 hours).   We did some grocery shopping and then checked in.  We had a condo on Table Rock Lake.  Everyone else arrived around 7:30 that night.

Sunday we went to church, then went to visit some missionaries, one of whom was recovering from a seizure.  We took them some cookies.  We also traded cars that day with some missionaries that drove in from Salem.  Their tiwi didn't work, so we brought them a different vehicle.

The rest of the week we just had so much fun visiting with each other, going to shows, eating too much, touring the area, and swimming in the lake.  We could just walk down a path from our condo, onto a boat dock, then into the lake.  The water was so warm we could float for hours and never get cold.  We bought some of those cheap noodles at Walmart and we'd just hang on to them or sit on them and float and visit and solve all the problems of the world.  It was wonderful to be with our family.  It was hard to say goodbye.

We came back here Thursday afternoon and went to work Friday.  I managed to get a cold while I was gone so I'm feeling kinda lousy and haven't done anything today at all (Saturday).

Missionary Life
I'm posting this picture because I make my bed every day just for the missionaries.  They have to make their beds every day so I have been very faithful to make mine.  I haven't missed a day, even when I had surgery.  However, occasionally I come home and realize I forgot to make the other side!

Here's a couple of missionary experiences in our mission.