Today marked the 23rd anniversary of my mom's untimely death. She had just turned 70 years old on June 9, 1995. Jackie and I had the privilege of taking her out to dinner on her birthday. I had my florist at Longs Drugs bring me the 70 most beautiful red roses, that he could find, that morning of her birthday, and then I drove down to Fresno for the special day. Unfortunately, our brother, Doug, was unable to join us for dinner.
Making this effort to drive from the Bay Area to be with mom on her birthday, will be one of those treasured decisions that I will never regret. We had a great time together, and I drove back to the Bay Area that night. That was the last time I was able to see her and talk directly with her before she died just 60 days later. However, I spoke with her practically every week, on the phone, during those 60 days, and had just talked with her three days before I got the terrible phone call from Jackie,
My mother was a widow at 26 years of age. My dad died, suddenly, while on duty at the Fresno Fire Department. I can only imagine the shock this was to her. She was left to raise my sister, Jackie, age 3.5 years and me age 2.5 years. I will always hold her memory in high esteem, and we will all look forward to being together, again, as a family!
Our work assignment here in the mission field, today, was another unique opportunity to serve. Mom and I joined two other couples to tear a pile of rubbish and wood, down, and cut it up into firewood. The firewood will then be donated to a local resident. I can't make these assignments up! The pile of rubbish and wood was collected in a gravel pit area on the property to be burned later this winter. It has been added to for several months. However there was a change in plans that allowed six senior missionaries a chance to "save" some wood from burning in an open fire, to giving this wood a chance to be burned in a closed fire!
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| We started with this pile! |
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| And we began the process of "saving" the wood |
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| We ended up with about two cords of wood to donate. |
This was a great workout and it took us about two hours. Once the project was completed we had lunch and then were left to head home for the day. That gave mom and me an afternoon together here at the Missionary Village. On the way back to the Homestead, we saw this hawk sitting on the post along the ridge near Martin's Cove. I was able to catch these pictures;
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| He's debating on taking off before I caught his wingspan! |
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| That wingspan was about 36 inches! |
Mom and I, along with all the missionaries at the Correlation Meeting this morning, got the word that all missionaries arriving in March or April of this year will serve their full six months in the mission field. That means our release date will be October 16th. We are grateful for the opportunity and privilege to serve. It appears that we will participate in October General Conference here in the mission field! Thank you for joining with us tonight! We so appreciate your comments on the blog! Both mom and I look forward to reading these comments each day!
Hi!! It's hayley! I love you guys so much! I love reading the blog, and I miss you guys so much!! I can't even believe that your mission is almost over😮😄anyways I love you and miss you so much!! I love you guys so so so so so so so so so much!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
ReplyDeleteGranny was awesome! Such fun memories with her! And thank you for your sacrifice and service serving this mission! Love you! ❤️
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet son you were and are to your Mom❤️
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a lot of fun with that pile!😆
Love you guys!