He was a stranger and we took him in.......

  We received a call at 9:30PM on Sunday Aug 31 from a desperate mother.  Her son was a returned missionary (SL South mission) driving from Columbia Tennessee to SLC to go to LDS Business College and his car broke down near Council Bluffs and could Bishop Anderson help? Sure. This was the right bishop to call. We got in the truck and got the tow rope and a few tools and set out.  Near Council Bluffs was really Nebraska City... an hour south.  When you are traveling 20 hours.... 1 hour is close right? Kay looked the situation over and we towed the car to our house arriving home at midnight  and didn't look at it till Monday.

 He slept on our hide-a-bed and  Sunday we took Lani Odom to church, the Mormon Trail Center for a tour explaining how lucky he was not to be a pioneer.. sludging through the mud puddle some call Iowa and having to stay here over a winter in your wagon, and then to dinner at Rachael's house.

Monday, after a thorough look and trying a few things, the Jeep was deemed  flat lined... dead. We went to a picnic on Labor day and took Lani to the Zoo.  Not to worry, Kay had his auto auctions and bought him a 2004 Pacifica with some hail damage (good deals on hail damaged vehicles here) for $2000. (book is just under $6000) on Tues.  Wed, Thursday were spent getting the car in tip top shape for a cross country trip and stripping the parts worth selling from his dead 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee so he could take them with him to UT to sell, and Friday he left.  Lani was a joy to have, our workers joked that Kay had another son here. They all said they liked him (he worked in the apartments for a bit) He was a great guy and we were glad to help someone in need. I am sure he will pass it along sometime.

When the Cat's away, the mice will play.....

Kay went fishing in Alaska with Pete, Caleb and Ben Hardy.  I have been looking for frames for 2 posters I bought while in UT.  The Heinrich Hofmann painting is one that I had in our living room above the piano. It was on close-out in UT for 2.50 and I bought all 3. One for Janell, me in NE (Lauren all ready told me since I was not in UT she stole mine) and Rachael.  When Kay was called as Bishop, I knew that is why I bought the poster.  Now for a frame under $200.


I went to my thrift stores and guess what I saw.... some Ethan Allen chairs and a table.  They were marked 17.99 for all 6 chairs and 18.99 for the table.  I am a regular so she gave it all to me for 18.99! I didn't even try to talk her down.   The missionaries have someone who needs my old table and chairs. The new one has 2 leaves making it a table to seat 10!

 I was really looking for frames and found a  nice one...  I will give to Janell. Then I went to "hand me ups" a resale furniture store and found a beautiful frame with a ugly flower poster in it for $24. The price on the back is old and says $150.00!  Now it would probably be $250!  The mat was perfect too.

The lady at the store asked me what I was framing so I explained my husband was a Mormon Bishop, a pastor over a congregation and he, as other pastors, represented the Savior when he counseled people who were seeking spiritual guidance.  She is a Christian writer who writes cards to cheer people up.

Lopez family

 Gracie Lopez lives with her father Jose (in his 80's) and brother Antonio. Kay found out over a year ago they had a clogged drain and had the missionaries living in one of their houses on property for free. Kay offered to unclog it. Instead of being a 1 hour job, it was a 4 day job. The drain was so clogged and had turned to cement. He had to replace pipe, rip open the floor and replace the whole sub floor, floor and flooring in the bathroom. We went on several visits and I sat with Jose, talking to him and helped Kay with the building project when needed. Jose has not been to church in at least 20 years. We invited him to church. He said he believes. Stake President Bartlett is his home teacher. Fast forward. Kay was asked to look at their washer and Kay sentenced it to death. Fast forward. After visiting Betty Hall in the hospital, 

We visited them. Jose said he did not remember Bishop but he was dressed different now (suit). When we reminded them of the work he did.... they remembered. We told them Kay was the new bishop and they were honored we came to tell them. We invited them to church, they declined but we felt good about the visit. Jose took our phone number down and asked the Bishop to leave with a word of prayer.

7/27/14 The next Sunday, I noticed Kay pleased, looking back into the audience . I turned around to see what was happening and didn't see anything. Sacrament meeting ended 15 min early so Brother Fankhauser said the Bishop wanted to say something. Kay stood at the pulpit and said “just a minute” he got off the stand, walked to the very back row of the overflow and hugged Jose Lopez. HE CAME!!!! then Kay got back to the pulpit and said “I love you Brother Lopez” then he talked about scout camp and the outstanding leaders of these boys he got to know this week.  

giving a ride to another church

I was driving Kay's truck home from church, alone and passed by a foreign woman with a 4 year old boy in a suit and a baby in her arms.  I turned around and asked if they would like a ride somewhere.  She looked into the truck and said she would.

She climbed in and I found out she was from Napal, going to church.  I drove her to the church about 3 miles away... a long walk in the heat of June 1 with 2 kids in tow.

She asked me where I lived, I told her and said I live with Karen people.  She pointed to my skirt and said "I know"  shd said her son was telling her he was tired and she was praying that someone would help her.  I stopped and she looked into the truck, recognized my skirt (hand woven) from the Karen people and knew it would be safe.  I told her I was a Mormon and if she wanted a ride to my church, 5 would take her.  She thanked me and was off to her church.

Tender Mercy Baptism

As a Primary President I am given the responsibility of planning the program for one monthly baptism of 8 year olds every year.  This year my assignment was 2 months. May 31, and December 6th.  I only have 1 boy getting baptized this year and that is in December.  I was wondering why I would be asked to organize the program on a month I didn't have a child but did it.

The email from the beginning of the month said I only had one child being baptized so I should ask their family to participate in the program.  A week later I received an email saying a Bermese Karen boy may be baptized too but he had just moved into a ward in our Stake from another ward in our stake and they still weren't sure.

I phoned the new primary president and she thought he was getting baptized.  She told me the ward he moved from and I called the Sr. couple missionary I knew that knew most of the Karen Mormons.  Sister Williams was in Utah, released but gave me the information I needed and mentioned Michael Matthews was his former home teacher.  The Karen family is really shy with the language barriers and did not want to participate in the program with prayers or talks.  I wanted them to be represented and having Brother Matthews there was a big bonus.

I called Brother Matthews to see if he would be willing and able to give the one baptism talk and he was delighted.  I asked him to make contact with the family to confirm he would get baptized which he did.

The night before the baptism our missionaries texted me to tell me the Karen investigators in our ward wanted to attend the baptism and could I pick them up.  Sure.  Kay was on call just in case there were too many people (mostly kids) going to the baptism.

I arrived at the apartment complex in our ward and the Karen people in the neighborhood collected everyone, including two moms that have been to our ward and attended primary with their children in our ward.  I had 9 people in my van, there was another Karen family with a van and the baptism family drove themselves.  We had 23 Karen friends at the baptism of 2 children.

The other boy baptized had a large family there and did the rest of the program... prayers, piano, music.

It was a great opportunity for the Karen people to see one of their own baptized! It was the first baptism most of them had ever seen. Brother Matthews's father-in-law was the former bishop and he was able to go to the baptism too. More people that care.

I realized there, that I was the only one that knew all the information about these Karen people to make a successful day for all.  It was a tender mercy for sure.  The Lord cares about this 8 year old Karen boy and all the Karen people here. Yes, I was supposed to organize the baptism.  I was in instrument in the Lord's hand.

Save the Date: Janell & Richard

Janell with Piano Guys Kung Fu Piano: Dance Film Tour of China