We've passed our 6 month mark here in St. George. Actually, we are almost 7 months along our mission path. About 11 months left. We've had a lot of things to do and had to keep busy over the last couple of months. One of our full time couples is preparing to head home so they are training me to take over when they leave. The Elder stuff anyway. Consequently, I'm getting more to do. Keeps me busier than I have been in the past. One of the other couples has extended till February then they are leaving. They were supposed to leave in January. Odd thing is, they have no replacements for either of these couples. It appears that we might be heading towards having only two full time couples here at this ROC. The Lead couple said they will be extending for a while as they may be transitioning to Church Service Missionaries. So, the next few months ought to be pretty interesting. But, we're here for 11 more months, I think...well, I'm pretty sure anyway.
We got to attend the "Newsies" musical over at the Tuacahn theater back in August, thanks to Sister Joines. She's always taking care of us. It was a lot of fun. It wasn't quite the story of the DVD version as it had some variants and the music was different. It actually had even more music but that was a good thing. But, it had all of the good music we were used to and we got to kind of sing along with it.
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| The set up for Newsies. They did the musical all over the stage and up to about the 40 foot level. It was pretty impressive. |
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| The intermission of the musical. I believe Tuacahn will hold about 2,200 people. It was packed that night, for the most part. They are usually pretty well sold out. This summer they had the Piano Guys perform there for a couple of nights but by they time I heard about it, there were no seats available except a couple of $90 nose bleeds. Al Yankovic is coming next year but I think his seats will be sold out almost immediately as he is only doing one night. |
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| He was really quite interesting to listen to and very funny. Had a great time listening/watching him. |
After the speakers, we attended classes that covered various subjects. I attended 2 that covered RootsMagic, the PC/Mac related software application that is for genealogy. It was interesting and I learned a lot about the software. The VP of RootsMagic taught the class so it was pretty good and he knows his stuff. There were even a few glitches during the class that he had to address and he was able to work around them. Shows he knows his stuff. Very interesting.
A couple of weeks ago we went into the DMV and traded our Kalifornia license plates in for Utah plates. We went over to the driver's license division, the next building over, and started the process for a drivers license for both of us. Certainly is a lot more difficult to get one today than when I got one originally in 1965! I had to drag out so much stuff to prove who I am now. Thanks 9/11. It took us a week to get all the paperwork together, study for the test, and return to take the test, eye exam, and pass it (I missed one in 25). And I am thinking that is none too soon. The RAV4's registration was going to be due in a couple of months so we saved well over $100 and the license is only $25.
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| So, where else but in Utah could you possibly make money on a store that sells ties? Tie One On in the Red Cliffs Mall in St. George. Bought 4 ties. They have ties for everything, including Jerry Garcia ties that are not at Kohls! This isn't all of the store, either. |
We have a nice older gal that works in the ROC with us. She has an interesting calling due to her physical condition. She's pretty crippled up with arthritis and has eye sight issues so working on a computer is difficult, at best. But she's a trooper and works at it every day. Her ward calling is a coordinator for blessings at the local hospital. When they have a need for a Priesthood Blessing, she gets a call from the chaplain at the hospital, she then calls her husband who sets up the appointment as soon as he can get a couple of Elders there. Because she's prit near deaf, we get to listen to these conversations.
The other day, she couldn't get her husband to answer his cell phone. The hospital described the patient, in the cancer ward, as "actively dying", whatever that means, never heard that one before, and he needed an immediate blessing. So, I got elected to drop everything and head over to the hospital. We have a 92 year old Elder serving with us and he said he could go. We walk to the ROC so he would need to drive us. He has a lot of experience with this kind of stuff, my experience is limited to, well, not much along this line. He has been a stake president twice, a Bishop twice, and a whole bunch of other stuff. So, when we got over there, I administered the oil and he administered the blessing. The poor brother was in his last few hours of life. He was not communicative in any form. There are times in your life, when you give a blessing, that you really want to be able to talk to the person you're administering to. This was one of them. It wasn't meant to be. This blessing was, however, short, perfunctory, and efficient. When you've given a lot of them, I guess you do that. I looked at him and watched him struggling for breath and couldn't help but wonder what his life had been like. His family had asked for the blessing. His last blessing in this life. No one was there to hear it but the two of us administering it and, well, maybe those from beyond the veil. I assume he passed shortly after that. Alone. No one there with him. Shouldn't be that way. Really a shame. My guess is this won't be the last time I do this. She gets these calls sometimes twice a day. Everyday. Guess I need to get used to it. 25% of the population here in St George is over 75. Maybe even more. Makes one wonder when your time is going to happen....makes one thing about life a bit.
So, Halloween is right around the corner then Thanksgiving then, you know what! Costco already has all the stuff up....argh! More to come!
