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This is my cherry tomato plant on  Thanksgiving morning!
The zinnias, geranium and chrysanthemums I planted a month or more ago are all blooming, as the leaves are falling from the trees.  Kind of crazy.

I survived the 110+ days and am loving the cooler weather now, especially when I see the cold, snowy weather in Bountiful.  I do miss the beauty of the snow, though.

This past couple of weeks, my training for scanning of books has begun.  The Sister who is teaching me is only at the ROC a couple of days each week.  Her 90 year old mother suffered a stroke recently so she is needing to spend more time caring for her.  I'm finding that there is much more to the process than just scanning.  Copyright issues have to be understood.  There are several steps for each book.  I think it will be interesting once I learn but iti will take time.

It was wonderful to spend Thanksgiving with Scott and Julie and two granddaughters and their families, including 3 great grandchildren.  I'm looking forward to the week between Christmas and New Years when Kevin and his family, including two little great grands, will be here to visit.  Not sure how many more visits I will have through the remainder of my time here because Scott & Julie have been called to serve in the Palmyra Temple for one year, beginning 17 May.  I'm glad they will return the month before I leave.

It's hard to explain how blessed I feel to be serving this  mission.  Much of the work could be done at home on my computer.  It's the opportunity to get to know and associate with really good people who dedicate hours each week to serving at the ROC.  There is such a loving and accepting spirit there.   The twice-daily devotionals in which each one, over 3 months-time has the opportunity to share their thoughts about the monthly theme, give insights into their personalities, struggles, and joys.  This  month's theme has been "Count Your Blessings.  It's amazing that with about 20 people sharing each month, the variety of ways at looking at the theme are inspiring.  With this month's theme, of course, there were many who shared ways in which they see the Lord's blessings in their lives.

As I thought about the above paragraph, I thought I might be giving an incorrect impression.  At home in Bountiful, I am blessed with wonderful family and friends who are examples to me.  It's different somehow when 90 people are engaged in the same work, helping each other decipher difficult handwriting, and sharing life.

I give a sister a ride to Church each Sunday.  She is nearly blind.  She uses a walker which I put into the back of my car.  She needs help maneuvering around people and benches, and her legs give her some problems.  She used to come in a wheelchair and, it seemed to me, that she was kind of "invisible " to others.  She now sits on the bench with Sister T and me.  I take her walker to the back.  People interact with her more.  She is teaching me much about  living with very little vision.  She lives by herself in an assisted living facility.   She gets a ride to the grocery store and has the help of a personal shopper provided by the stores.  She cooks her own meals because she doesn't like the food prepared by the facility.  I am certainly understanding more deeply how blessed I am to have my vision.

This is becoming a long post--makes up for going so long without.  I have an abscessed tooth that has presented a challenge to two dentists (one an endodontist).  They have drilled two of the three root canals but can't find the 3rd one.  I am now waiting for the endodontist's cone x-ray to be repaired.  He is confident that will allow him to identify where this elusive canal is.  The Lord has blessed me that I feel no pain.  

I have enjoyed studying the New Testatment this year with the "Come, Follow Me" curriculum.  And, studying the Book of Mormon each day continues to be a blessing to me.  The more I study, the more I recognize how much we need our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  We are preparing for His Second Coming and it's helpful to understand what happened in the world before His birth--seeing similarities in our day.

I've talked about the wonderful young Service Missionaries at the ROC and this is one who was sharing thoughts about his blessings.  He has a cute sense of humor and jokes with us older ones.  He has MD and expects that he has 5-10 years remaining on this earth.  Without any self-pity, and sharing his reality with us, he told of his blessings, including the opportunity to serve with others at the ROC.  It was a very touching few minutes.  He has a nice singing voice, which is diminishing because he is losing lung capacity.  He sings with the Millenial Choir and Sister Tolman and I look forward to attending their concert on Friday.  We have been able to listen to him practicing a solo number he will be singing at a missionary conference.  The song is entitled "Does The Journey Seem Long." It is a beautiful hymn and the words are especially poignant being sung by this young man.