Does Sugar Fix everything?  
Last week was a rough week for the president.  Four missionaries went home early.  It's always hard on him.  He doesn't eat sugar, he's very healthy, but one day he ate 5 ice cream bars in a row! He loves ice cream. Once in a while he'll turn in a credit card receipt for $1.39. . . just one Magnum Bar.

Cute Notes
We get cute notes sometimes from the missionaries with their gas slips.
To Sister Johnson
"Thank you for the new office chairs.  They spin really fast. This is how we feel when we get new office chairs."  3 Nephi 10:10
To Elder Johnson
"Thank you for helping us keep a budget. This is how we feel when our money is gone."
1 Timothy 6:10
To Sister Dodds (secretary)
"We will miss you so much."  Moroni 8:3  (This is Sister Dodds' last month here)
To Sister Wright (mission nurse)
"We are always amazed at what you do for us."  Alma 37:6
To Sister Braaten  (vehicles)
"This is how we feel when we don't think we'll be able to stay within our mile limits."  2 Nephi 4:17
"When the end of the month comes and we barely make it."  2 Nephi 4:28

Solid Gold Paper Towels
I order a ton of stuff on Amazon for the missionaries. Everything from furnishing to kitchen equipment to cleaning supplies. I got this for one set of missionaries:

When Chris looked at the bill on Amazon he noticed it was about $70.00. Yes, it's only six rolls. I guess I didn't notice that the shipping and handling charge were $65.00. Ouch! You have to careful on Amazon. I called their customer service and was given a $10.00 credit on a future purchase.

Photos

Just a couple of fun pictures.

We first met Elder Heywood in the MTC. Elder Burnham is Nancy Jenkins' sister's grandson.

This is us at Mission Leadership Council (MLC). Clockwise from me are Sister Susan Braaten (Vehicles), Sister Kayla Dodds (Secretary), Pres. Shawn Sederholm (Pres. Counselsor), President Strong, and Elder Johnson (the love of my life)

Baptism
We went to a baptism in our little Anderson ward last night.  It was so sweet.  Most of the people in our ward are converts and they have interesting stories.  It was inspiring to listen to the talk on baptism as the sister in our ward described her own experience when she and her husband were 24, had one baby, and the missionaries knocked on their door. It changed their life forever.   The lady who got baptized is in a similar situation except her husband is an inactive member.  She wore jeans and a t-shirt to her baptism and she was just glowing. What a blessing for us to be there too.  And the two witnesses were women, which was also really wonderful.

It was really interesting to see this young mother welcomed into the church by all of these people who are directly related to first generation converts. I suspect it's most of the ward. Bishop Henson, who conducted, has only been a member for seven years. So when he says, "I remember how I felt when I was baptized and how happy you must be." it really comes from the heart.
As an aside to this baptism story we should add this. The lady who gave the talk was Connie Martin. Chris put together this little chart to show how her (and others) joining the church years ago has affected the Church in the Anderson Ward.

Missionary Moment
This week the missionary moment stars none other then Chris. We went to look at an apartment for a senior sister missionary who is coming soon. While I looked at the apartment Chris struck up a conversation with the current tenant who is moving out. He ended up agreeing to accept and read the Book of Mormon. But Chris had forgotten to bring his "purse" where he keeps a couple of copies so he was stuck. But then he remembered that we were on our way to take a copy to someone else so he ran out to the car and gave it to this person. But it was a Triple and not just a Book of Mormon. So then he had this whole conversation about revelation and prophets and the canon of scripture not being closed, etc. The guy seemed really interested in this. Who knows. A seed planted. An invitation extended. That is our purpose. . . To invite others to come unto Christ.