Humor in the life of the "old" missionary couple

September 30, 2013

Episode #1: Innocence of youth

We are dressed in our Sunday best and we are leaving the apartment to go do what missionaries do. As we are going out to the car, four young boys are playing as we walk by. The conversation goes something like this.

Mister, how old are you?
 I respond without breaking stride "a 100 years old".
"Wow!"
To Sherrie he says "Are you really both 100?"
"No, we are both just 68 years old."
"Wow! That's still old!
"Were you both born on the same day, too!"
Then he says "Where are you going?"
"We are helping Jesus".
Then he says "Is Jesus here on Greenhaven Dr. right now!!"
"Yes, He's everywhere."
"Oh, Okay", as one of them starts to sing a song about Jesus.
As we say good by to get into our car, the oldest is heard to say "Their married you know!"

Episode #2: Hearing problems

Today we went to Travis AFB for me to get fitted for my new fangled hearing enabler (hearing aid). Coming back to Sacramento I'm looking for the switch it has for me to use for "selective hearing" when I don't want to hear "certain conversations". At the same time Sherrie is asking me where the switch is to turn it up so she can make sure I can hear those "certain conversations". Hmmmm. I wonder how this is going to work out. Now Sherrie is saying "John, why are you talking so softly?", and I'm saying "Sherrie, you are talking too loud" and "Stop making so much noise with the candy wrappers!" Maybe we can take turns wearing the device.

Episode #3: Unfinished sentences

Sherrie and I take turns going to a Physical Therapist up the street for "old people" ailments. Today she went for treatment on an old reoccurring "war injury" called a Frozen Shoulder. Sherrie comes back to the apartment and is telling me about the treatment, how the therapist is doing in her life, etc. My hearing aid must still be in the "selective hearing" mode because I hear her talking about
"....had knee surgery, has to take medicine regularly, needs exercise, etc." I'm thinking the young therapist is in bad shape, and then I realize she is talking about Missy who is the therapist's English bull dog who is quite overweight, low to the ground, slobbers, ugly at best with it's protruding teeth and rules the office. The therapist says Missy's slobber is known to heal certain patients ailments!

      Such is the life of Sherrie and I here in Sacramento. Happy times, struggles and challenges, spiritual highs. Wouldn't want it any other way!
      We've just completed the last of the two 6 week marriage courses that we have been teaching. Now we are waiting to see if the two Bishops want us to start teaching another set of courses. We are in various stages of teaching "new member" lessons to about ten recent converts.
      Last Saturday night we went to one of our favorite outdoor theaters to watch a musical production called "Best of Broadway". Good performance. (This is the outdoor theatre that has chickens roosting in the trees around the neighborhood. It was getting dark when we got there so they were already asleep.)
     Looking forward to General Conference broadcasts from Salt Lake this coming weekend. Always a spiritual high.

Take care,
Elder John

                     "When you feel that there is only a thin thread of hope, it is really not a thread
                                    but a massive connecting link."    -- Richard G. Scott

Another busy Sabbath day which we love!  We have had a very low key week this past week as I have been diagnosed with a right "frozen shoulder" and have had to slow down a bit so I was ready to get up and go today.  I had this about 10 years ago in my other shoulder so had self diagnosed earlier and hoped it would go away with some self prescribed exercises but to no avail.  Had to go to the doctor last week and he confirmed my self diagnosis and is sending me for x-rays tomorrow.  I have to lie on my back to sleep because it is so uncomfortable to sleep on either side.  I asked the doctor if I got a discount on my visit since I had already diagnosed myself and he just confirmed it.  :)  All he said was, "My, aren't you a funny little lady."  At least he didn't say "funny old lady" and I was thrilled he thought I was "little".   Speaking of old, John and I had our 47th wedding anniversary on September 17th and we BOTH forgot it.  Part of the problem was that we didn't know what day it was.  I mean, we knew what day our anniversary was we just didn't know that the 17th was this past Tuesday.  Thank goodness Heather keeps track of special days and texted us a Happy Anniversary.  We had gone out to supper that night before so we both just pretended that we did that to celebrate our anniversary.  I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with this good man for this many years.  We love growing older together and count each day as a celebration and privilege to still be able to kneel together each day and thank God for his many blessings.  I must admit that it is getting harder and harder to get up from that kneeling prayer position. We spend a lot of time just laughing at ourselves these days.  We can often be seen "high fiving" each other when we are on an extremely busy highway and make the right exit and our GPS doesn't have to recalculate.  We have become very attached to our new GPS and really consider "her" one of the family.  We are so grateful that we were born in this era and not in the pioneer times.  I really think we should start to say please and thank you to our GPS more often.  We cannot imagine where we would end up in California without "her" guidance.  I only had 9 teenagers in Sunday School so I felt like I had been given some sort of reprieve this morning.  I actually think 2 of them may have been listening because they asked a question that had something to do with the lesson.  Be still my heart!!  I really do love those crazy kids and hope they are learning "something" in class.  I had sharing time in Primary this morning and we had a great game on service.  We have 2 other American couples who are serving as service missionaries in the Marshallese Branch.  Sister Turner has made remarkable progress in teaching the Marshallese children appropriate church behavior.  It was a delight to be with them this morning.  We are whittling away at the new member lessons that we teach each week.  We go into members homes who have joined the church in the last 12-15 months  and teach them lessons about our doctrines as well as to help them understand how we do things at church.  For example, in our church we call the bread and water the "Sacrament" and other faiths call it communion.  They usually have some really great questions that we help answer.  It's been quite interesting some of the things that their friends have told them about "the Mormons" and then they ask us about them.  We are grateful that they are comfortable enough with us to ask us these questions.  Tonight was our last "Strengthening Marriage and Family" class in one of the wards.  We love to facilitate that wonderful class!  We have seen remarkable changes take place in the marriages of those who come to this class.  Sadly, there are some who still don't realize that it really, really pays to invest lots of spiritual, emotional and physical energy into your marriage.  What a difference it makes when spouses apply gospel principles to their marriage.  John and I have a very good marriage but we have never taken each other for granted and constantly look for ways to improve our relationship.  This class is a real blessing to us because we have an opportunity to refocus on important things in our own marriage while we help others do the same in their marriage.  We do a lot of role playing in class and it really is a hoot.  Everyone laughs together because we see ourselves in these different role playing situations.   We did 6 sealings and 2 endowments last Thursday at the temple and have rededicated ourselves to doing better at family history work.  The temple is only 30 minutes away (depending on the time of day) and a large Family History Center is also very close to help us with obstacles in our searching for our ancestors.  I feel badly that I have not been more diligent in doing this very important work.  The new temple film has deeply touched us.  It has helped me look at the Fall of Adam in several different ways that I had not considered before.  How blessed we are! We feel extra blessed because it appears that our neighbors
no longer have their 2 dogs who serenaded us with their barking for long periods of time each day and evening. (LATE evening!)    Hope all is well with anyone who reads our blog. 

September 11, 2013

       Hello family and friends. Greetings from the California delta. It's amazing how it can get so hot here in the daytime and then suddenly in the evening the gentle (sometimes not so gentle) breezes come in off the delta and make it quite pleasant. As Sherrie mentioned last week we are teaching these three marriage classes. As with most teaching and speaking situations the one giving the presentation tends to learn as much as if not more than the recipient. It's amazing to watch how the Bishops of these congregations have felt inspired to determine which couples could gain the most from attending the classes. We have such a blend of young and old ages, newly weds and oldie weds and extreme differences of personalities all brought together for 1 1/2 hours once a week in this six week course. In one case this means an older couple recently married to each other after each has had several previously unsuccessful marriages themselves. Another example is a young newly wed couple who have "taken in" her Vietnamese family of 20+ while they themselves are finding time to take college courses. The matriarch and patriarch of this family who speak no English are in the process of opening up a Vietnamese restaurant here in Sacramento. Wow!
      Some of the couples haven't stuck with it and have dropped out for various reasons, while with the others we've seen some amazing changes occur within their marriage just because they are applying these wonderful principles in their relationships. And as Sherrie said there is always room for improvement in our own marriage of 47 years due to our class involvement. Another one of the many blessings that have occurred while serving on this mission.
     Well recently my old megaphone funnel that I put up to my ear to hear better gave out (son-in-law doctor says welcome to the old age realm of life). I was wondering how to go about getting tested and looking at the cost of hearing aid, when low and behold my 20 years of military service and retirement have paid off again. I "heard" about a "Hearing aids at Cost" program that is being offered to AF retirees and that Travis AFB, which is an hour away from us, is one of the few military bases that offers such a program. So I've been fitted and will pick it up in a few weeks at a mere fraction of the cost they normally are. So soon Sherrie can quit using sign language or holding up large posters to communicate with me.
     During our sojourn here we have done some family research and have been able to find, connect and study the names of more than fifty ancestors. It is such a satisfying pleasure to be able to do this research.
     In conclusion, Sherrie and I have just started reading the book entitled "Infinite Atonement" written by Tad R. Callister. This book talks about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and states "it is the central act of human history, the pivotal point in all time, the doctrine of doctrines". Bruce R. McConkie pays fitting tribute to this noblest of all deeds by saying: "Nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, that being the atoning sacrifice of the Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things". What a powerful statement. We both look forward to further reading of the book.  I want you to know of my love for our Savior and all that he has done for us. That testimony burns within my soul and always will.

Take care,

Elder John

Happy  Labor Day (one day late)!   Today was Fast and Testimony Sunday which I love.  In the Marshallese Branch, another sweet miracle happened......one of the members who participate in my "Daily Dose" English class stood and courageously bore her testimony all in English.  Many of the Marshallese speak much better English than they think they do because of their shyness.  What a  joy to see her standing there, head held high, expressing her love of the Savior in almost perfect English.  I love teaching those classes and try to make it as fun as possible.  They all have a delightful sense of humor once they lose some of their timidness.  "Refrigerator" has been a real challenge to learn to speak correctly.  So this week I lined everyone up and appointed them "cheerleaders".  We made the word refrigerator into a cheer/chant and put in little dance moves to go with it and laughed ourselves to hysteria.  As they were leaving the church building, I saw them swaggering down the hallway doing the "Refrigerator Cheer".  It's one of those things that you had to have been there to appreciate the experience, but it has brought me many a smile in the past few days.  John and I are really getting into "a groove" in teaching this "Strengthening Marriage and Family" course.  We teach each session 3 times a week to 3 different groups.  It's always a little challenging to team teach with anyone but initially it seemed a big challenge to teach with our spouse considering that we both have very different teaching styles. I'm happy to report that we are surviving this experience very well and are developing a true appreciation of each other's way of thinking and presenting material. We  had a wonderful weekend last week in Walnut Creek for our grandson Sam's priesthood ordination into the Aaronic Priesthood. He is developing into a very fine young man who has a wonderful, unique sense of humor and is so veeeeery smart!  What made it even more special was our surprise from Denver.  I was playing with Bea and Simon and Amy (my daughter) came in and said, "Mom, I have 2 friends I want you to meet."  I looked up and there stood Josh holding Booker (almost 3).  I, of course, starting yelling (not really yelling yelling) and crying with joy.  Booker kept gripping his Dad and trying to get as far from me as possible. :)  I haven't seen him for over a year so he was probably wondering who is this crazy old woman?  Then Jessica, Josh's wife, came around  the corner with sweet little Eloise, 5 weeks old!  What a joyous time it was!!!  Life is good and we are blessed!  How grateful I am for my membership in His church and the many opportunities to serve that we have had.  The next 6 months will probably go faster than the last 12 did.  Much more to write but out of space.  Sure love ya!!!