It's a beautiful, sunny Sunday in Mesa.  The sky is a beautiful blue with no clouds in sight.  It's only 57 degrees at 1:40 and Alexis just informed me that the expected low tonight is 46.   It was in the low 70s the last few days.  I've now picked about 4 of the cherry tomatoes but the rest don't seem to be ripening, at least not expecting to pick any more in the next week or two.

We had the first death of one of our missionaries today.  He was one of the two who underwent Kidney Dialysis 3X each week.  He also had a tumor on his face, in front of his left ear for which he was receiving radiation treatments in the hope of reducing the size so it could be removed.  On top of that, he developed Alzheimers and had to stop serving at the ROC a month or so ago. He was 88 years old, widowed for a number of years, and loved serving at the ROC.  Professionally, he had been a landscape architect and designed many of the parks in the Phoenix area.  He was a kind and gentle man who endured well to the end.  He will now rejoin his eternal companion.

Sister Tolman and i have seen a couple of movies in the last month or so: "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,"  "Little Women," and "Dr. Doolittle."  It's nice to have nice movies to enjoy.  I particularly enjoyed the Mr. Rogers' movie.  What a great man he was, truly caring about children.

Just over two months until General Conference and I appreciate all the ideas for ways to prepare.  I listened to the podcasts last night about the First Vision and found then very interesting and informative.  I continue to learn and understand more about the Book of Mormon as Ii study from the "Come, Follow Me" curriculum.  My admiration and gratitude for the Prophet Joseph continues to increase.  Of course, all of this helps me to draw closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.  What a debt of gratitude I owe Him.

It looks like I will be picking my first cherry tomato this week, with many more to follow in coming days and weeks.  The seasons are all different here.  I am enjoying tangerines, oranges and grapefruit fresh picked and shared by the ROC missionaries who live in this area.  Also, fresh-picked grapefruit from the tree in the front yard of the house, in front of my casita.  I do love citrus fruit.  Scott and Julie also have lemons, tangelos, and oranges.

I am learning to appreciate and enjoy the landscape here.  There are deciduous trees: pecan trees outside my kitchen window, and some others.  Also, seeing leaves that are turning color--not the vibrant, reds, oranges, yellows in the West and East, but pretty.  Also, cloud formations and the skies in general are different, and very pretty.  The other day, the clouds were painted across the sky in bright orange--like an abstract painting.

I continue to have family history success.  A week ago I found the family of a man I've looked for for many years.  His name is Henri Devette.  I had a marriage record with the name of his wife but had never been able to find anything on him.   Through the Geneanet website, which I had checked many times without success, I found his family tree, with names and dates of his parents, grandparents and great grandparents.  Also he and his wife had two additional daughters to the one from whom I am descended.  A wonderful woman in Belgium is related to Henri through one of the two daughters I didn't know about, and has done the research.

This Wednesday will mark 6 months since I entered the MTC--1/4 of the way through my mission.  That doesn't seem possible.  Time goes by so quickly.  I continue to see reasons the Lord called me to serve this mission.  It is a choice blessing and I am learning and growing.  One month from yesterday I will be 83 years old.  Isn't it wonderful that we can continue to learn and grow, no matter how old we are!

1 January 2020

Happy New Year to any who happen to view this blog.  It's kind of silly, but I like typing 2020 instead of 2019.

The old year ended with Kevin, Becky and their family, except their oldest, Nate, and their son-in-law, Jake Pugmire, driving from Utah to Gilbert to visit.  It was so good to see them and have time to visit and enjoy their visit.  I enjoyed showing them where I work and where I live.  And it was so fun to spend time with Ruby and June, my little great grands, and to get acquainted with Grant, my newest grandson-in-law (Annie's husband).   He's a great young man and fun to be with. 
They stayed with Scott & Julie so that's where I spent much of my time the past several days.

Abbey asked me to help her make Peanut Butter Balls, a family tradition, and that was fun.  Then Julie, Abbey and Millie made gyozas for New Year's Eve dinner.  Julie served her mission in Japan.  It seems each culture has their version: pierogis are Polish; potstickers are Oriental, Won tons sound Oriental but the way I've had them is probably an American adaptation..  They were very good.

Christmas this year was different--no little ones to enjoy, although Jason, Ashley and Emma visited the weekend before Christmas.  However, it was so nice to just focus on the birth of the Savior.  Scott & Julie's friends, the Robinson family, joined us for Christmas dinner.

Follow-up on the last blog about the saga of tooth #19.  The Endodentist's cone x-ray was repaired and he was able to find the 3rd canal.  I opted to not have the area deadened and was thankful I had done so.  There was no pain and I left the office with the root canal completed and no numbing of my mouth/face,  all in less than an hour's time.

Still waiting to pick fresh tomatoes outside my door.  They are multiplying but very slow in ripening.  The flowers are blooming.  I received 3 Poinsettia and have planted them to add to my garden.  I have been gathering pecans from the trees outside my kitchen window, and enjoying grapefruit from the tree in the front yard.  I'm also gaining an appreciation for the beauty of the Arizona landscape.  The skies/clouds are very beautiful and interesting and the sunsets are often very spectacular.  All things remind me of our Creator--such love in giving us such a variety of creations to enjoy and appreciate.

Things continue to go very well at the ROC.  I continue to learn about book scanning and all that includes.  We have two new missionaries joining us in January who want to do scanning.  One of them has a lot of experience with it and the other just has a personal interest in it.    We currently have more than 20 indexing projects from which to choose which makes it very interesting and challenging.

I was working on my family history on Christmas Eve and found an entire family of my Danish ancestors with sources for the parents and for their 13 children.  It was exciting when I realized that some of the sources had come from one of our projects that I have worked on--records from the Granite Mountain Vaults.  Amazing technology that is making finding, and linking, families together
so much more quick and easy to do.  It is a vitally important work in which we are engaged.

It was wonderful to receive Christmas greetings from family and friends.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the concentrated study of the New Testament this past year and look forward with great anticipation to do the same with the Book of Mormon this year.  I felt I gained an even greater appreciation for our Savior, Jesus Christ through studying the writings about His life, Atoning Sacrifice, Crucifixion and Resurrection.  What debt of gratitude we owe Him and our Father in Heaven.  I have read the Book of Mormon many, many times and am grateful for this 2nd witness of Jesus Christ.  The more I study the scriptures, the more I learn from them.

That's it, until the next post.  I hope 2020 will be a great year for each of us.