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snsmissionaries · 7 years ago

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7/11/17 -- Elder Del & Sister Sue Ballard, Illinois, Nauvoo Mission

WARNING....Deer in the Headlights

Dear Family and Friends: SORRY NO PICTURES THIS WEEK, WE TOOK PLENTY BUT MY NEW PHONE IS NOT COOPERATING WITH THE TRANSFER

WARNING

Another BE WARE OF for Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, as 3 missionary couples have hit deer and done extensive damage ($5,000 or more) to their vehicles in the last 2 weeks in areas we travel almost every day so WE are on the alert for these.

The weather has been great with no higher than 90 in the daytime and down in the low 50’s at night and even the humidity is tolerable, so FAR. Lucky for us! However NOT much rain but lots of lightning and thunder!

Monday went by quickly as we were fairly busy in the Temple. We had planned to go see “The Promise” a play with our FHE group at 4:30 and then dinner but they cancelled the play because there were not enough tickets given out and so we just did dinner. Everyone enjoyed homemade lasagna, salad, garlic bread and for dessert angel food cake with a peppermint whip cream drizzled with chocolate. Yum! Yum! We all visited, shared our Nauvoo experiences and had an enjoyable evening.

Maintenance showed up early Tuesday morning (no sleeping in today!) to reinstall our broken smoke alarm and about an hour later the plumber arrived to install our new garbage disposal . Glad to have things back in order and now just one more work order for our shower that is leaking and the molding is coming off of the door area. Thank goodness we are just renters! Came home on Friday and that was fixed (well sort of, as we can barely open our shower door NOW but it doesn’t LEAK anymore so guess you can’t have the best of BOTH worlds)!

Oh, my I didn’t think the Temple could get any slower but it did on Tuesday night. We even got to come home by 8:00pm since we had to go in early today. Wednesday was a little busier and, once again, survived my Sealing Coordinator job without incident (I probably would NOT know if there was an incident or NOT???). Thursday was our P-Day and nothing very exciting as went to Burlington for Del to have his Warfarin checkup (he was GOOD, in range), I got my haircut and then a little shopping then off to lunch at a place a young girl recommended, Uncle Ronnie’s. It took us several trips up and down the street to even find it as it was tucked back off of the main drag, but we FINALLY did. It was not much to look at and had a variety of things on the menu and I thought it was good but Del was not that thrilled (he ordered the WRONG, thing perhaps???). Don’t know if we will try it again since HE was not happy but I would like to try their Reuben next time…..we shall see. Friday is usually are BIG day in the baptistery with LARGE groups but like the pattern of earlier in the week NO BIG groups but did end up with 16 family groups (1-5 people) and so it was a nice relaxing and fun day working with adults and youth. Afterwards we went into Keokuk as had to get some watermelon for a 4th of July breakfast and then some lemons to make lemon bars for our Break the Fast on Sunday. Saturday the Temple was steady and that is a shorter day so went pretty fast, so we came home ate lunch and rested before our BIG night. Went to Sunset on the Mississippi, then a band concert and fireworks show on the lawn in front of the Temple. The fireworks were on the Mississippi River so it was a beautiful night and we even had to have sweaters and light jackets (sorry ARIZONA!). Sunday we headed to Canton to our branch and a couple invited us next Sunday for dinner so that will be fun. We headed home and took a nap before going to our Break the Fast dinner (Sister Udall from Snowflakes Arizona was the Hostess and we had wonderful Shrimp Louie salads, homemade rolls and lemon bars) and later on to a play at the outdoor theater at 8:30 pm. “The Story Goes On….it portrayed parents bringing their family into the world, raising them with all the trials and tribulations and then growing old together and leaving this life and looking forward to the next step of “eternal life”. Great story telling and musical numbers, mostly done by the Young Performing Missionary’s, with a few senior missionary’s mixed in. Brought laughter and tears to all who attended. A wonderful spiritual, enjoyable but tiring day.

Got called to come early to prayer meeting on Monday so up again at 5:30am but then starting next Monday for the month of July every AM shift is a 4:30am rise and shine for a 6:10 prayer meeting. UGH…not looking forward to that. However, we got changed on Monday to a PM shift and now only have two early AM shifts (Friday and Saturday) for the month of July…so that is good NEWS! On Tuesday, the 4th of July we started our day with a missionary breakfast in an open area by one of the apartment complexes. We all brought something and there were about 60 of us. We shared in patriotic songs, wonderful food and great conversations with many sharing stories of the “good old days”. After that we headed to the General Mercantile to look around and then home to prepare for working in the Arrival Center at 3:15pm. Well, just a little glitch as we went to the arrival center to serve another couple were already there for the PM shift…so now what to do. We called the Temple and apparently there was a revised schedule which we didn’t get and neither did the coordinator so the other couple had duties showing on the Temple schedule so off they went and we stayed. We only had three people come in for that day so we watched church videos for 4 ½ hours….NOT a bad gig. Wednesday we went to our PM shift and I guess the part I didn’t realize in my new coordinator position was, apparently, each time it is part of my DUTY to upset at least one Temple worker as that is what I have been successful in achieving all three weeks so far that I have been on duty. This is a tough JOB as you have to constantly call coordinators and tell them you NEED their assigned people ASAP for another position that is mandatory NOW. They are NOT happy and don’t like it at ALL so guess who they get MAD at ???? ME guess they just don’t realize that I am only the MESSENGER (doing what I am asked by the Shift Coordinator)! People tell me not to let it bother me but I really don’t want to be on anyone’s BAD list which I think I am doing consistently (they tell me it is all in a DAYS work for this position, OUCH!). Good thing I am only here for 4 more months as they might be running me out of TOWN anyway!

Well, Thursday was P-Day and our group of 10 couples headed to Hannibal (a small quaint town with lots of little shops, many closed-out of business-about 1 ½ hours away) about 11AM as we were doing a picnic lunch at 12:30 and then the River Boat ride at noon. We rode with the Coles who are from the Phoenix Temple and we worked with them there. It was a good time and we enjoyed our lunch with everyone in the park on the river. Not everyone was doing the same thing so those people left to do their own thing. We all headed to the River boat (picture) for an hour excursion on a nostalgic riverboat where the Captain told stories relating to history, legends and sights such as Jackson’s Island, Lover’s Leap and mighty Mississippi rolling along. It was a fun ride with lots of black beetle type bugs jumping on us, UGH! After that we were off to the Mark Twain Cave where we went on a 1 mile hike into the cave with Jeremy, our guide pointing out Tom and Hucks hiding places, where Tom and Becky were stranded and scared by many animals especially bats, as well as many signatures of famous characters who entered the cave. Then at 5pm it was off to the Planters Barn Theater to see “Mark Twain Himself” an authentic Mark Twain stage show with actor Richard Garey . Comedy, satire and Mark Twain wit on topics such as Learning to Ride a Bicycle, Riverboat Captain, Living in Hartford, Accident Insurance, Huckleberry Finn and others. At the conclusion we went to a little restaurant across from the theater and had a nice dinner and across the street there was a great band playing that we could listen to as we ate. We headed home and got back about 9:15pm. A long day but a good day with lots of fun, laughter and mingling with great temple missionary couples.

Friday we were up at 5:30am for a BIG day in the baptistery. Had a large group of 120 youth (30 per hour) from South St. Louis and then an additional 10 families with 2-5 in each group. Stood for about 6 hours without a break and Del walked about 4 ½ miles (his watch recorded) so it was a long tiring day but we still managed to go to town to grab some lunch and groceries and back about 6pm. Sometimes not sure where the ENERGY comes from but luckily it is there when we need it. Saturday was another busy day and we officiated the first session with 14 people and then served in various positions throughout the day all with a good number of patrons. Numbers are increasing as the Nauvoo Pageant starts on Tuesday, July 11th. At 6pm we went over to some friends to play games and had a fun time. Off to bed about 10:30 for another 6:30am rise and shine and then Sunday we headed to Canton and after church to the Melton’s for dinner. There are 5 families of Melton’s in the branch and we went to dinner at the father of the “clan”. Gary and his wife, Robyn have been married 10 years as were both widowed at 46 years of age. He was left with 4 boys and a girl and she was left with 3 boys and a girl. They are wonderful people who shared many stories of meeting and merging their families. It was an enjoyable day with a great dinner included. We got home about 6pm so another long day. Luckily, however, for the next 4 weeks we are on the PM (during the pageant ONLY) shift on Monday so don’t have to go until 11:30. We did get a text from a friend we worked with at the Phoenix Temple who is coming to town with her 2 granddaughters and so we are going to pick up some tickets for her at the Visitors Center at 9am.

We are so excited for next week as on Tuesday, Del’s son, Derek, his wife Kathryn and their 4 kids are coming to visit for 3 days. Brock, their son, just returned two weeks ago from his mission in Macon, Georgia, and we haven’t seen him in two years. We have to work two of the days but have made arrangements to do things in the Temple with them so will have some wonderful experiences together. So anyone wanting to VISIT….just COME on down or up, depending where you come from!!

Well, that is about all we have to report for the past few weeks. Hope all of you are doing well and LIFE is good as you endure the HEAT of summer (especially in Arizona). So far the weather here has been not bad at all but they certainly need rain as the rainfall is down over 19 inches for the year and their crops are suffering. Can tell after today though the HUMIDITY is rising each day as it gets harder to breath.

We love and miss each of you and appreciate your prayers, love and support. LIFE is good (and BUGGY

in Nauvoo! Take care.

Elder and Sister Ballard

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