THE MOON

I forgot to tell you about an experience we had last week. We were driving on the road that leads to WalMart. Straight ahead of us, just above street level, we saw this HUGE, orange colored object just hanging there that looked like some kind of a light beam advertisement, or something. I said to Elder Barlow, "What is that?" It took us a few seconds to figure out that it was the moon. I have never seen anything so spectacular in my life. I wish I could have captured it on my camera. It was soo low (no mountains here) and it was huge! Later on when it was higher in the sky, it looked more normal. That was something I'm grateful I was able to experience.

Nothing much more to report. Today we made a couple of visits to some elderly members in nursing homes, and to another very nice elderly couple who can't get out to church because of health problems. We tried to visit some others, but no one was home.

We now have occupants in the apartment above us. It has been so peaceful and quiet here - just the lady next door. The ones above aren't terribly noisy, but they throw cigarette butts down in front of our front door area, and they parked in our parking spot tonight. Oh well....

We had four junior Elders for dinner on Sunday. I think they enjoyed a "Utah" meal of beef and potatoes and gravy. Apparently, chicken and fish are the more popular dishes here. We love the young Elders. They're the greatest! They were entranced by all the experiences I have had of meeting general authorities and the First Presidency when I worked at the Joseph Smith building. Also the fact that President Monson was in the stake presidency in Temple View Stake when I was a child. We also told them about Duff Olsen being a body guard.

Yesterday we went to visit Sister Fussell, our stake president's widowed mother. She's almost 80, and she's a little fireball. (Like her son.) She belongs to about four community groups, plus she's a great missionary and a family history buff. She and her husband served a mission several years ago. Her family is all active. There's a whole bunch of Fussell's who live out on Rocky Pond Road. They're a legand here. She fed us lunch and went over the ward list with us. It was really helpful. The bishop gave us a list of families that is broken down into areas. There are five different ones. If we don't do it by areas, we'll be buzzing from one end of Coffee County to the other. Today we started on the ones who live in the city.

Next Sunday we're going to attend both wards. The past two Sundays we just attended the ward we're in - the Douglas First Ward. There is also a Douglas Second Ward. We'll be putting in a lot of church hours on Sunday. On Easter I led the music in Sacrament meeting and R.S., because the regulars weren't there. Our stake president directed the ward choir (five people). I didn't know it was the choir until afterwards. I thought it was a small group doing a special number. President Fussell gave a big pep talk about the ward choir in Sunday School. Dad said he played the piano in priesthood, and he's really good. He's a real dynamo!

We're going to do Sharing Time in Primary this Sunday. That should be fun!

Exciting things are going on in our family with all these grown-up grandchildren. We are certainly proud of every one of you. You're the greatest family in the whole wide world!! God bless you. You are in our prayers constantly