September 6th

Some  Pictures that we took when driving into Utah on the Southern border this day.  We went by way of Blanding to see and old roommate of mine, Dorine Monsen McDanniel Eberhard and her husband Gary.

 

We were so excited when we saw the Utah sign we had to stop and take some pictures.

We took this about 7:00 p.m. we did not get to Dorine's until about 9 or 10.

September 5, 2015

We have been on the road all day.  We got up about 7:00 a.m. and visited a little with John and Judy Trolinger as I drank a smoothie before we headed out.  We also read and took showers.  So we finally left their home at about 9:30 a.m.  Larry did not want to eat any of the food we had brought with us to their house so we went to Kerrville and had Breakfast at McDonald’s and then started out.

We leave with a heavy heart as John did not seem like he could survive his cancer much longer.  We actually think that this might be the last time that we will see him alive and he told Larry that he felt the same way also.

John and Judy in front of their home as we left

 As we have driven along we have looked at some of the things that Google suggests for each town as landmarks, we read some more scriptures in our New Testament Study and looked at the countryside.  Right now we are just outside of Lamesa, Texas .  The area that we are going through for about a half a day seems to be heavy in raising cotton.  There are lots of Cotton fields with the old grasshopper oil well pumps in the middle of them.  There are lots of great big machinery and buildings out in the fields also.

We have had to stop about every 2 hours because I am a woman who had six kids but we have been able to keep our gas tank topped off and get a few snacks along the way.  We stopped in Big Springs, Texas and ate at Whataburger for lunch.  Now as we drive along I am trying to update the blog so that I can eventually get it caught up.

We decided that we should stop in Roswell, New Mexico for the night so we went online on my phone and reserved a room there.  We are hoping to get there early enough to eat dinner and see a little of the sights.

Unfortunately we just barely got to Roswell in time to eat out at the Golden Corral and go to bed.

September 3rd

September 3, 2015

We woke up today with a heavy load on our minds as we had still to clean the stove and my bathroom and the vinyl floors in the kitchen , utility room, and bathroom.  We had some of our items packed that we were taking with us but not everything was packed.  We were also worried that the people that were supposed to refinish the one tub that Nathan’s bench rubbed the finish off of would be there at 8:00 a.m.  We thought that would be an all-day task from what one of the apartment people told us.  So we got ready and went to work.  Hoping to be leaving by about 10:00 a.m. but knowing that was not realistic.

Larry started taking out the boxes that we had packed and the clothes while I started to clean and pack my bathroom that was left.  The stuff we wanted to take with us in the car so we would have access to it.  Then I had to clean the tub and shower and sinks and the plastic cupboard that we had moved in there.

Then I moved to cleaning the stove and microwave.  That took a while but as I put the oven cleaner on the oven last night it went fairly well.  I started to pack the food from the cupboard and tried to clean the cupboards some but not thoroughly enough.  In the meantime Larry was cleaning his bathroom, our bedroom and closet after he took the clothes out to the car.  He also called Judy and John and told them that we would be there about noon.

We worked together to finish up and scrub the floors and pack the food from the refrigerator.  It looked pretty good to me except for the fact that we really should have shampooed the upholstery but we did not have time.

While we were cleaning our neighbors Rudy and Susan came over at separate times and told us goodby.  We gave Rudy the 1905 Vanilla Ice Cream that we love with some hot fudge and carmel and he took it home.  We will miss them and hope that someday they will read the Book of Mormon that we gave them.

The people came to do the tub after noon and we were all but done.  We just had a few touch ups that we needed to finish and get packed.  Larry was stressing because we were running out of room in both the trailer and car.  But we fit it in.  We packed up some things from the refrigerator and freezer and put ithem in ice packs thinking it would be okay to Kerrville and we left.  They had already finished the tub when we left so we were surprised. But we were grateful that they did not come sooner because it really smelled.  But the tub was beautiful.

We went to the mission office and printed out the things that we needed to send back our U-verse Router and talked to everyone and told them good bye. They had just received our check for travel expenses so that was great.  We thought we would not get it until we got home.  It was so bittersweet to see everyone there.  Elder Williams was finally there but he was still very dizzy and could not walk well.  The doctors had told him that morning that he would probably not get much better so that was a disappointment.  But I have faith in the blessing that was given to him that he would be able to serve in other ways still.

We then went to El Pollo Loco and had some lunch before we went to the UPS to return the router to our computer service with AT&T.  After that we were finally off to Kerrville to see John and Judy for one last time before we left for Utah.

Judy Trolinger, Larry, June, John Trolinger

We arrived at John and Judy’s late in the afternoon about 3:00 p.m. When we opened the food that was frozen it was all thawed and gross so most of it we had to throw away.  We got out stuff situated and talked with them for a while and then we went to Billy Genes for dinner.  John was able to eat better  than last time we were there.  Even though he did not feel good he put on a good front for us and everyone else.  We had a good dinner and then went home and went to bed as it had been a long day.

September 2nd

President Slaughter, Sister Slaughter, June, Larry, Sister Williams, Elder Williams

In the morning Larry went to get the U-haul trailer and we went to Nathan's apartment to pick up the things that he wanted us to take to Utah.  We helped him decide what was to go to which brother or sister.  When we left his apartment he had no table and no chairs or furniture in the front room.

We went to the office again.  While we were there they told us that Sister Slaughter wanted to talk to us.  When we called she wanted us to come to dinner that night at their home.  Of course we were excited to go but we were also frustrated because we were running out of time.

That evening we arrived at the mission home at about 6:30 p.m.  Brother and Sister DeNile and Leslie Williams were there also as they were going home shortly after us.  It was fun to have them there also as they grew up in Vernal.  It was a wonderful dinner and we had a good time visiting with them and President and Sister Slaughter.  We were able to take some pictures with them also.

President Slaughter, Sister Slaughter, June, Larry

After we got back we worked for about 2-3 hours on the cleaning that needed to be done by the next day.  I started the oven cleaner and some other things that had to sit for the next day.  It was a miracle to me that I was able to work so long because I generally cannot work that long at something like that.  I really felt like I was being blessed to accomplish it all.  I was so proud of myself because I got more accomplished than I thought I could do.  I had seriously been thinking that if we had some money we would just hire someone to clean because I didn’t think I had the stamina to do all the cleaning that needed to be done.

September 1st

Sammy

Tuesday Sept 1^st  I went into the office in the morning because Sister Spencer needed me to help her.  It was a good thing I did because she had given some checks that were for Action Bike to Elder Ferguson to be deposited in our account.  So I was glad that I was able to catch that before I left.  Larry and I accomplished several things and then we went back to the apartment.  They had already come to clean the carpets so we didn’t have to worry about moving the furniture.  It was already done.  It was okay but I felt bad that we had not been there to get some things moved.

Nikki with her son, Nathan, Bob Vincent, Carol Vincent, Nikki's son

Carol and June

I decided to take some ice cream to Jane because I knew that she liked it.  I noticed that the door was open so I was glad that I knew she was up because I didn’t want to wake her again.  I went to the door and there were several police and a lady inside.  I asked if Jane was okay thinking that maybe she had needed to call an ambulance.  The Lady said that she had passed in the night.  I was shocked.  I asked her if they knew what time.  She said that they did not know.  I told them that I had talked to her about 7:30 p.m. the night before.  She said that she had talked to her just right after that.  I asked where they had taken her.  She pointed to the chair in the corner.  There she was sitting with her half eaten food and she had no outer pants on with a top.  It looked like she had got up and tried to get dressed and then decided to sit down and eat something when she was not feeling well.  She was so peaceful.  I felt bad but I also felt good because her fight was over.  The lady was one of her good friends and she had come to see her in the morning and found her like that when she did not answer her phone.  I asked her what Jane’s last name was as we had never got that far.  She said Malone, so Jane Malone we will miss you!

David

That evening we went to dinner with Nathan and the kids and Carol and Bob Vincent and Nikki and some of her kids at Blanco BBQ for the last time on the mission.  We had to go and pick up the kids and Nathan and then drive back to Blanco BBQ but it was worth it to see Carol and Bob again and it was good for Nathan to have someone else to talk to as he was still kind of not wanting to talk to me.  The kids enjoyed the playground.  Nathan enjoyed sitting at the table with Bob and Carol and talking to them and Nikki.  We took a lot of pictures together and just had a good time.

When we left I took Maggie, Sammy, and Isaac with me and David rode with Nathan and Larry.  We went by the apartment because I had forgotten to take the kids their cotton candy and some other things and the kids came in with me to get it.  Then I took the kids home.  Larry and Nathan were waiting with David up the road from Sara’s house because Nathan wanted to say prayer with all the kids so they had been wondering where we were but it all worked out and they said they had not been waiting long.  Then Larry took Nathan home and I picked him up at the apartment.  We arranged to meet him in the morning with the trailer and load the stuff that we had to take for him.