Called to serve in the Missouri St Louis Mission

  Pond and park behind the mission home Yesterday was our oldest Grandson Nathen's birthday; he turned 10.  Our son Spencer, said Alex (2) heard his older brother say, "It's my birthday" and saw that he got special privileges.  So Alex started saying, "It's my birthday" hoping for the same results.  We sure love our family :). Friday night was the Pagedale Branch Temple night; although this is a small branch, twenty six people were there for this special occasion.  Three of our dear Sisters came to the Temple for the first time.  I wish I could say, it was because of the Temple Preparation Class, but these ladies had a desire to come to the Temple and we were privileged to be there. With our good friends the Whitlocks   This week we had a "Senior Dinner" (doesn't that sound old) at the mission home.  It's a potluck (with Sister Bateman doing much of the work), but it is fun to see people from all over the mission.  The Re...

Elders McIntyre & Burgoyne rest from their labors of creating the Christus We just finished listening to the General Women's Conference and I choose to be "glad". Our first full day of Fall was delightful warm sunny day.  We went to an area near downtown St Louis where one of our missionaries, also an artist, was invited to participate in "Paint Louis".  This is a yearly event where a mile and a half of a flood wall near the Mississippi, invites artists to participate by expressing their artistic talents and literally paint the wall.  The participants come from many places; the artists next to the missionaries were from the Netherlands.  My favorite piece was, of course, Elder Burgoyne's depiction of the Savior.  Elder McIntyre is his companion and his dedicated helper.  It was great to be with these young men; they even let George do a little spray painting.  View along part of the flood wall, with lots of artists working One young ...

At the Butterfly House On Labor Day we went to The Butterfly House in Chesterfield with the Whitlock's; our CES missionary friends.  It's a butterfly 'zoo' of around 2,000 butterflies with over 80 species from all over the world.  It is located in a greenhouse with unusual plants and exotic flowers.  Colorful butterflies are all around.  George went just because I was interested, but he really enjoyed it as well.  I could use the caterpillar/butterfly metamorphosis as an analogy for missionaries:  there are always changes and opportunities for growth and it isn't easy!  But the end result is amazing. Flower growing in the pond at the Butterfly House We then ate at Charlie Gitto's From The Hill; probably one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at and the service was perfect.  Just saying, if you ever come to St Louis, this is the place to go. Car Inspections before Zone Conference The next three days we traveled almost a t...

Tuesday morning we gathered at the Frontenac Building for Transfer day.  What a great time to visit with missionaries we haven't seen in a while!  One couple (a recent convert and reactivation) love the missionaries!  They brought bottles of water, cookies, candy and chips for snacks for the missionaries.  It was a hit!  Lot's of new trainers were gathering as well in anticipation of getting a brand new missionary to teach the ropes. Later in the day, twenty-two missionaries arrived at the mission office from the airport.  They received a little tour of important destinations in St Louis, including the St Louis Temple.  We arrived later at the mission home for dinner and interviews and enjoyed getting to know these tired travelers. You wouldn't think flying here from Salt Lake City, Utah would be a big deal.  But to make their connections, they needed to be up around 1 am to catch a bus around 3 am.  Some decided why should we even go to ...