21 August 2018 - Tuesday

21 August 2018 - Tuesday

We had quite the thunder and lightening storm last night.  The rain came down hard and left some deep puddles here at the Missionary Village.  There has been significantly more rain, this August, compared to other August totals, from information we receive from the local residents.  I am surprised that the grasses are not greener with all this rain, and I am surprised that the skies are not cleaner.  The fires from neighboring states have left a steady haze every day this summer.  Some days we can't even see the mountains that surround the Missionary Village.

Mom and I left for our correlation meeting at 7:45am.  We traveled to the Homestead and settled in to our usual seats as the first to arrive.  Our opening song was played by Sister Reese on her flute, "Press Forward Saints".  She played this especially for Mom, and it was another simple form of ministering as we understand ministering!  

Then, our work assignment was to continue working on the building project I got to work on last week.  This time we were putting up the plywood exterior and insulating the finished wall-line.  Mom had a brief assignment elsewhere and then joined us around 11:00am.

Elder Lasher and Elder Reese sizing one of the exterior panels

We worked on the plywood siding until lunch where we joined Mom and Sister Reese.  After lunch Mom and I continued the project by insulating the wall-line.  We both put on painting overalls and wore glasses and gloves and hats to keep as much of the fiberglass insulation off our bodies as possible.  We completed this part of the project by 3:30pm.  Elder and Sister Reese were both involved in the up-coming trek leader training, this Friday, and had to attend a meeting at 2:00pm.  So Mom and I got a taste of remodeling and building together!

Then, at 4:00pm, we all gathered, as a district, to have a brat and hot dog roast at a near-by spot that missionaries seem to love to go to.  Mom and I were game on this adventure....... that is until we got there and saw the swarms of mosquitoes!  There are four couples in our district.  The Taylor's, the Gilliland's, the Reese's and Mom and me.  

Getting out of the trucks we were in was so hard with all those mosquitoes!  At this point we were seriously questioning why we came!  Everyone was showering in mosquito repellent, and then we were off to our pre-determined picnic area.  Here are some pictures;

Blazing a new trail to the "enchanted forest"

Dodging mosquitoes on the path to our picnic area

Some of the rock formations in this picnic area

The District!  Taylor's, Lasher's, Reese's, Gilliland's

Part of the "enchanted forest" rock-ways

Once we arrived at our picnic spot and got our campfire going, the mosquitoes seemed to disappear.  However, Mom stayed bundled up and avoided more bites.  We roasted brats and hot dogs and had a fun time together.  We headed back to the Homestead by 6:00pm and hit the swarms of mosquitoes one last time as we approached the trucks.  Mom and I were more than happy to be on our way!  We are happy to say that we did it and we are never doing it again!  Mom and I would much rather be at home and safely away from those crazy and hungry mosquitoes!  And we were grateful for the cool mid 60's temperatures that kept the snakes away!  It has been a fun day and we are happy to be back home in our cozy trailer!