Updates and Musings

Today's Musings
Darrel Hammon

Garage sale--We are done--finally! We finished on Saturday. Overall, we had two good weekends of selling our stuff. We met some wonderful people. Most were curious as why we were selling most of our things. When we told them about our mission, they all reacted surprised, yet favorably. We had opportunities to discuss senior couple missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were able to give way a Book of Mormon to a young man who came a couple of times with his mother. He just purchased a bunch of bees to raise, and he is only 18. We cleaned up the rest of the stuff today.

Selling our stuff--Joanne and I have had discussion about this. Anna Rose has discussed this with us. We have come to this conclusion: We don't need all this stuff, and we wondered why we accumulated it in the first place.When we return from our mission, we believe we can live with fewer things. And, yes, we can do dishes after each meal to have enough clean dishes for the next meal. We took the clothes to the Habitat for Humanity. They were very appreciative and said if we had more, they would take it. The rest goes to the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Hospital Foundation. We had previously taken clothing items to Needs, Inc. There are so many places to take your clothing and home items. My suggestion is that everyone takes a jaundiced look at your "things" and get rid of those you really don't need. There are so many people who have needs and would love your things. Spring cleaning could be truly a cleansing experience.

Mission preparation--We continue our mission preparations to the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic (La Republica Dominica). We finished Preach My Gospel (Predicad Mi Evangelio) as a couple for the first time. It was an exceptional text, and we know we learned just a fraction of what it contains. I would like to complete it in Spanish before we leave. Joanne is also continuing her Spanish studies. We have decided that Mondays will be a "viva su lengua" (live your language) day for us. We attempted to do it today. We did pretty well. On our walk, we practiced the verb "tener" and "estar" and learned new vocabulary. We still have lots to do.

Mother Boltz--Mother Boltz now lives with John and LaWane in Bountiful, Utah. We took her down on Easter Weekend. Many of the family members were there to attend a baby blessing. We felt this was a good time to take her.  It was sad to box up all of her stuff and put it in a 16-foot Budget rent-a-truck  and haul it to Bountiful on one of the windiest days of the year. What an experience that was! She is now safely ensconced in Bountiful, Utah. Our home seems empty without her, but we know John, LaWane, and Nicole will take very good care of her. For those who want to contact her, she has an email and a Facebook page.

We seem to be keeping busy, which we like. May you all experience a spectacular day!