Called to serve in the Missouri St Louis Mission

Fall Leaves In a school presentation this last week, our ten year old grandson talked about the "spectacular experience" of seeing colorful falling leaves this time of year.  It is kind of an oxymoron in that Nathen lives in southern Arizona, where leaves, for the most part, do not change color and drop.  But George and I have enjoyed experiencing our first real Fall in many years.  The trees are shedding their leaves, changing to vibrant hues of gold and red, and it is fun to walk through the crunchy leaves.  Okay, it is getting cold too.  I think we have seen the last of our warm days and this morning we woke up to our first hard freeze and walked in 28 degree weather. Wentzville, MO downtown Friday, we got out of the mission office and did some apartment inspections.  We shared insights from President Nelson's talk on the Book of Mormon.  I also discovered that Sister Nielsen and I share the same ancestor a few generations back.  ...

St Louis skyline with the arch Two weeks have slipped by since we last wrote.  We enjoyed conference, but on Sunday, our 2 year old grandson became very ill and in a few short hours ended up in critical care.  We prayed through the long night of October 1st, that little Alex would survive.  Although Alex is still in critical care, he has passed some giant hurdles.  The social worker presented the family with a bag and as Alex makes steps in improvement, a bead is added to the bag.  There are many beads in the bag and more are added daily.  There have been many miracles and he is well on his way to recovery.  We were thrilled when the ECMO was able to be removed earlier this week and his mom and dad got to hold him. Elder Haymore in his last day in Pagedale before going home Tuesday, we got to go to the Temple with our missionaries preparing to complete their mission and those who have reached milestones of 6, 12, and 18 months...