Bath County Christian Social Service Center was in need of a new van to do their pick-up an delivery of food items for their food bank. They had been using the director's 20 year old truck. One time the gears slipped and hit her and she fell and broke her back. Yep, they really needed a newer vehicle. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was approached about this being a humanitarian project possibility. Approval was given and arrangements were made at the car dealership in Mt. Sterling for a newer van for this purpose. Claude when to represent the Church as the keys and paper were presented to Marcelle Doggett, the director of Bath County Christian Social Service Center. Love these moments with all faiths and people unite for a common goal that benefits so many.
We opted for Jimmy John's for dinner and ate them under a shade tree. They were so delicious this time. We spent a quiet evening watching Mike Rowe in Dirty Jobs.
Tuesday, September 24th, more preparation for our trip this day. This was a rainy, stormy day. I would spend all day inside. I folded the last load of laundry. Then I cleaned the bathrooms. Claude took the Buick in for an oil change so the car would be ready for its big journey.
I was very happy to get through all my music files. I have them on my laptop, two thumb drives and Claude's old laptop. I was trying to be sure that all music files were on the two thumb drives. They are my backup. It sure felt good to get that in order. We had so many CD's we purchased over the years. I had ripped them and they were on Claude's laptop. I have ripped many on my previous laptop which had a CD drive. My current laptop does not have a CD drive. That is very old school technology wise. I have Claude's old laptop and it has a CD drive. I was able to rip all of the remaining music from the CD's and donate those actual CD's to Goodwill. The problem was I wasn't sure I had all music files on my thumb drives. Now I am sure both thumb drives have complete backups.
I started doing this with my picture files and will have to get back to that at some point.
Claude made grilled cheese and soup (macaroni and tomatos) for dinner and we had a quiet evening at home.
Wednesday, September 25th, I awoke with a very sore arm. This was my last morning of office PT before our trip. I made it through and came home and iced my shoulder for a very long time. My intent was to do my packing for the trip. Alas, I crashed. Happy to have things in good enough order to be able to do that and not worry about the timing.
I received a sweet text from Elizabeth Christensen at church. She thanked me for my Relief Society lesson on Sunday and wished us well on our big trip. These tender mercies mean so much to me.
I talked with Michael about Friday and meeting him and Andie. He forwarded me the concert tickets and I was able to get us a parking spot near Busch Stadium. Felt good to have that piece of the pie in place.
The step forward in healing for me this day was being able to put my rings back on my fingers. With the swelling from the trigger finger on my right hand, I had not been able to wear rings for several weeks. The cortisone shot has all that under control and I can now wear a fun right on my right ring finger. The yellow jacket sting on my left hand left my left hand so swollen till I couldn't wear my wedding ring. This day I was able to put that ring back on my hand. Yeah!!
Thursday, September 26th, has been a very focused day. I was up at 8am and did my home PT first thing. Then spent time icing my still aching shoulder. We are having rain off and on with the hurricane changing weather patterns. It could probably simply be the rain and barometric pressure.
Claude got up and we cut his hair. Then we got our showers so I could start the final load of laundry before our trip. I have watered plants for the final time, stopped the mail until we return, sent out the Relief Society newsletter, laid out clothes for the suitcase (giving myself a little time to be sure I got everything) and catching up on the final Blog post before the trip. Very focused day.
This evening we will go to Lexington. Kentucky League of Cities is having their conference. This is the day the past presidents meet for a bit prior to their banquet in the evening. Claude will attend that meeting. Then we will both attend the banquet.
That puts me ready to shut down my laptop.
One more thought from this week. Parker Risher is serving his mission. I am on his eMail list and receive his updates for friends and family. His eMail this week spoke of having confidence in oneself. I shared this thought with Parker.
Hi Elder Risher,
This is something I have been pondering a lot lately. I taught the Relief Society lesson on Elder Stevenson's talk, "Bridging the Two Great Commandments". Matthew 22:37-39. The verse says "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' We always focus on loving our neighbor. The Savior's answer says 'as thyself'. Clearly, we are to love ourselves. I love your use of the word confidence. I'm 74 years old with some degree of experience in life. I realize that it is okay to love ourselves. Not boastfully. Not overly full of ego. But knowing ourselves. Being honest about our strengths and our weaknesses. Knowing we are a Spirit child of our Heavenly Father. Knowing the Savior is our Elder Brother. That kind of confidence allows us to truly assess our personal progress on the covenant path without being overly critical or boastful. Then we move forward. That confidence allows us to love others in that same honest way. It lets us know we can love our neighbor with all our personal strengths and weaknesses. They will feel that confidence and love and we'll share in the beauty of progressing together. Maybe, that is one of the elements of a good missionary.
You are a great missionary. I love your insights and have shared your comments in two of the Relief Society lessons I have taught. You have helped me teach the sisters in our ward. Thank you for sharing your honest feelings.
Sandi Christensen
We are ready for this trip. Friday's drive should be awful. Hurricane Helene promises to give us lots of rain in which to drive. Ugh! But we anticipate pretty good weather for the remainder of our trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment