Hi All,
Today is Sandy’s birthday.
She is a wonderfully caring and loving person and I am so happy we are
married. We plan to eat out at a Thai
restaurant this evening.
This has been quite the week. On New Years we got a call that Joren is
coming back and she has to come back this week because her Visa will expire the
end of the week. Things have not worked
out as hoped for in Utah because Joren could not get the services she needed so
she is coming back here where she can get General Assistance and she can get
some free legal help to apply for status.
This situation is fraught with problems and issues but it’s Joren’s
decision and she will have to find what she needs here in Maine. We are picking her up at the Boston Logan
airport and driving her to her friend’s apartment where she will stay. She will then have to apply for Asylum and General Assistance immediately.
After discussing this with Sister Edwards and the Ward Council, we all
determined that we would drop her off at her friend’s house, who has agreed to
let her stay there, and then we will back away from this and have Joren make
arrangements. We’ve spent a sleepless
night worrying about this one.
On more positive notes, we participated in a discussion on
Saturday with our old friend John M. He
disappeared after Christmas, we’d invited him over but he didn’t respond to any
calls or texts. He called up on Saturday
to say that, once again he quite his job and found a new one much closer to
where he lives (Dominos Pizza) so he can walk there. On Saturday he had time to come over to the
house and the Sisters taught him a discussion.
He says he wants to be baptized before Sandy and I go home, but he’ll
have to progress a lot before then to make that work.
We had another discussion with the Sisters with Lisa. She is an older woman who has made a lot of
progress since being taught the Gospel.
We enjoyed being with her.
We also enjoyed very much teaching the Temple Preparation
classes. In English we are teaching the
class to a wonderful recent convert named Andrew Bassford. He just got called to be the Executive Secy
and is so dedicated and faithful.
Anyway, we are going to his home to teach him. His wife and children are not members so we
are hoping these discussions will have a positive impact on his family. In English we are also teaching a neat young
man named Brian Curry who is preparing to go on a mission to France.
We are also teaching some of our African friends the class—Jean
Marie, Evariste and Jean W. We
enjoy teaching them and they just about split a gut laughing when I told them I
am looking forward to teaching the Gospel in the next life and want one of them
to teach with me.
We were very pleased to hear that Evariste’s daughter wants
to be baptized. Her father is a faithful
member but has not pushed any church on the children. They have been over to our house several
times for dinner and games and on Christmas they really enjoyed playing games,
watching the Church’s Christmas video and singing a Christmas song. They said they would come to church after
that. They did come to church. I saw them in Primary because I play for the
Primary and they both came up to me afterwards and asked for books of
Mormon and Emma expressed a desire to be baptized to her Primary teacher.
We had a different experience this week with one of the
people we are working with. We are
helping Pierette learn sufficient English to take the TOEFL. Her husband who is a Doctor in Africa came
here this week and wanted our help in filling out an application form to work
for the CDC. It was interesting to hear
a bit about the Congo’s medical system.
We enjoyed doing some apartment inspections this week.
Joseph’s car was declared a total wreck. We are now waiting to hear what they will
give him. We hope it’s enough to help
him get into a decent vehicle.
There is a different kind of beauty in the winter here in
Maine when it snows which it did this week
My name is Bond, James Bond
1 comment:
Those pictures are cool. Mom, you are so cute! Dad you are dashing.
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