A close call............

We are being watched over. Tonight we had to go buy 45 huge potatoes to bake for zone conference tomorrow. The closest parking spot to our apartment is a handicapped area so we parked there and carried our potatoes in. Tim forgot to go move the car and as he was saying his prayers the thought came to him that he forgot to move it. He came out and said “You don’t have to do it right now but will you go out and move the car before you come to bed.” I told him I would go right then because I was waiting for the computer to boot up. When I got about a car length away from the car, I noticed a policewoman getting out of her vehicle and heading towards our car looking at the license plate with her flashlight so I hit my remote and unlocked it. She looked up and said “Is this your car? You can’t park here. I have been going around here more often because I noticed people are parking in handicapped spots and along curbs where there is no “real parking place”. I told her that we had just carried a lot of potatoes in and would be moving it. She said, “I was just ready to give you a citation.” Then she looked at the license plate and asked how long we were in town for and I got to tell her who we were and thanked her for not giving me a ticket. Someone was watching out for us!

Our "adopted friend" Tina......

Tina, our 88 yr old friend, called this afternoon and said she wanted to ask me something yesterday but was embarrassed to. She said “Did you say that I could go to church with you? I would like to do that.” I told her we would be glad to take her next Sunday. I didn't mention to her that it is 20 minutes away and 3 hours long so we may not be staying for the whole time next week. She also told me that she was having some health concerns and if she died she only wanted 3 people to be near her coffin….myself, Tim and her one grandson. I think we have an "adopted friend".

Same-O, same-o.....

We really don't have anything news shattering to report this week. I think we have settled into the routine of things so life seems pretty normal.
We continue to work with the missionaries on a couple about our age that is taking the lessons. They are on vacation in Georgia this week so we will probably have them over for dinner with the missionaries after the 20th when they get home.
We continue to see our little 88-yr old friend, Tina, about twice a week. She had us take her shopping yesterday and we were gone for 3 hours. She is a joy to be around. We had her set up to meet here with the missionaries on Friday evening but she said she had to go shopping with her daughter on Friday. I thought she meant that she wouldn't be able to come so I cancelled with the missionaries. Friday night at 5:30 she called to see if she was supposed to come at 7pm or 8pm. I told her I had cancelled and she was not happy with me. She is going to be moving to a senior citizen place as soon as her counselor finds a place so I thought it best to wait until she gets settled in and have the same missionaries teach her from the beginning. We could start with the sisters here and then she could end up in another set of missionaries' boundaries. We will continue to work with her.
For those of you who don't know, Amber had her baby on Thursday, July 9.....8 lb. 15 oz. and 20 inches long. She is a very chubby darling baby. Watch for pictures on Amber's blog.

A beautiful baptism and another friend to teach......

We had a very nice baptism today after church for Fernando Chaud, a Brazilian. She is a beautiful young lady with a beautiful testimony. She even bore her testimony at the end of the service. I was again privileged to play the piano for the service. The font was actually full enough this time for her boyfriend to baptize her successfully the first time and it was warm.
Tina, our 88 year old friend, called us on our way home from church to see if she could come and see us. We didn’t catch the phone in time. She left a message that said, “I miss you folks. I love you.” It almost made me cry.
Tina spent about 2 hours here again tonight. She is such a delightful lady and remembers everything we tell her and she tells us. She keeps saying “Don’t you remember I told you about ……?” We showed her pictures on our laptop of each of our children’s families and their homes as well as ours. She was very impressed and said, “They all look so happy.” I told her it was because of our faith. She asked me what our church believed so I shared with her that we have a prophet on the earth today and that we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for us to live with him again. She agreed to let the missionaries come and teach her here in our home. I will schedule a time with the missionaries hopefully this week.

4th of July celebration.....

We went to the President's home for the 4th of July celebration last night. He BBQ’d hamburgers for us. It was the first one I have had since leaving home and it tasted so good. We had the works with potato salad, relish tray, baked beans, chips, and, of course, apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was a fun evening with the 6 couples. We spent about 2 hours discussing temple trips, budgets, zone conferences, etc. The 2 Hale boys put on a firework show for us.