Chance is 4, 17 Feb, Sierra is Baptized, 19 Feb

Chance turned 4 this week and we missed talking to him and when we did get hold of his Dad, Chance declined the opportunity to talk on the phone.  We love Chance and hope that his birthday was a great one.  Happy Birthday Chance!!

Sierra turned 8 in October last year but sadly her Daddy was away in Afghanistan and so she waited to be baptized.  She was richly rewarded for her wait when on  Saturday 18 Feb, 2012 she was baptized.  She had a lot of people come and she was so happy to be with her friends and family.  We wish we could have been there but send our love.  We talked to her and she was very happy that day.

Hyrum got new glasses.  We love your new glasses and hope you can see lots better at school. hyrum has a new remote control helicopter that he enjoys flying. 

We are having a great week.  We had a great district meeting.  Our English club came later in that evening and we showed the video Johnny Lingo.  The club were all men that evening and I think only one is married but all probably have been married.  I didn't know how this would work out or if the conversation would pan out.  We did find that they were interested in the thought of an 8 cow wife and it was pretty singular for them.  We had a good conversation and ended by saying we should make all of our loved ones feel like 8 cow people.
We did our apartment inspections and the outcome was very spectacular!  Nice clean apartments and clean sheets.  Even clean refrigerators!!
We have tried to get the water filter for one of the sisters apartment working but the connecting adapter is too large.  We were going to just buy a new faucet but the landlord didn't want that.  So now Andre, our driver, is going to get a friend of his that has a pipe threader and other tools to make a new adapter that will fit the faucet.  We hope that this won't take too long.  All missionary apartments are fitted with water filters for their health . 
I put a quilt on the frame for a small baby blanket for the sisters to help tie.  No one came and so Grandpa and I tied it.  We did a very good job.  I think it was his first time to tie a quilt and he did an outstanding job.  We can give it to a sister in the branch who is a new grandmother.  We will do another one for the branch crib when the sisters can come help.  It is hard for them to come, they have work, school, and other activities that interfere. 
Dad had an opportunity to help Andre, our driver, with a service project.  He and the missionaries went to the kindergarten run by Andre's mother-in-law (a member of the branch) to shovel snow and chip ice off the sidewalks and the roof tops of some play gazebo's.  The snow stays pretty long here and just adds up and then it becomes very heavy.  We haven't had a tremendous lot of snow but it all adds up.  He was pretty tired, but it was worth the effort.
I finished the quilt while he was shoveling and then found some information and pictures for our Sat English Club visit.  On  US holidays we are usually invited over to this club to talk about the holiday, this one being Valentines day.  We shared what we know about how it is celebrated and what is done.  With the internet they pretty well know all about it, but the first hand experience we have is pretty special to them.  They seemed interested in what we had to tell them about Valentines Day and our comments about love and family unity.  We gave them each a copy of the Liahona and explained to them that there were articles in it for children, teenagers and adults, all good information about how to live lives that are centered around showing love to those around us.  My Valentine braved slick walks to go out and buy me some valeintine candy.  I made him a large heart shaped cookie.  Out of that batch of cookie dough I made a bunch of heart shaped cookies.  I think Dad likes those cookies, even though he doesn't care for frosting he still eats them.
We hosted a meeting here for the making of a card that will show the different facets of the church
and programs we offer.  It will be on cardstock and will be professionally done.  Should be a good tool for the members who want to reach out to the community.  After the meeting they enjoyed  quite a few of the valentine cookies.
We attended the funeral of a man whose wife is a member of our branch.  It was quite different from funerals we have in the US.  We didn't know her as she has been home tending to her husband for quite a while.  We were glad to be of support to her.  There were 7 of us from the branch.

We just got this picture so here it is for all to see that Celeb was baptized!  We love you Caleb.
He had lots of friends and family come.  Wish we could have been there!  We did get
to talk to Caleb and he was a very happy young man.