There is the story of the Little Red Hen.  She is here in Hope B.C. Her name is Betty and she is the Relief Society President of our branch.  She can plan an activity, buy the ingredients, cook the food, do the clean-up. Everyone else wants the meal, the craft, the jam or whatever. Even those who don't come to the activities want the end results delivered to their door. What is the little red hen to do?
     We finally were able to teach Marlene a lesson this week after four months. It went well but she was going to come to church today and have a second lesson this afternoon. Zero on both. So disappointing.
      When we visited with Roy, the orgami man, he told me I need to see a shrink. Really ? He said Stan was strong and believed in what he was saying. He also told us there is no agency in this life. No one has choices. Each person does what they do according to the shoes they walk in.
      We had Zone Conference this week and received our mail from the last six weeks. yea !  Zone conference is always a spiritual high. President Burt told a great story about how he and the Bishop , young men & leaders got caught in a deep cave durning a flash flood in Utah. Sister Burt taught how to "enjoy the journey " on our missions . To look at all the little daily things we do as missionaries that make an impact on someone's life. After all day of meetings, Stan & I met with our branch president, our stake president and our mission president. The seating arrangement was the three comrads in a circle with Stan & I as appendages. They explained to us a community food drive we are in charge of.  It was done for the first time last year by the Candian senior couple assigned to Hope who had done food drives in Canada for years.The drive collected 8,000 food items and $2,000 in cash. Stan & I will organize and  work in the community for the same results or better. The mission president says this is a way to get the community to recognize the church. It seems like a daunting task. We asked about the branch youth attending the Baptist church. The branch president made excuses, the stake president said : "the Baptist are good people " and the mission president kept the waters calm deterring the hurricane. We left disappointed.
      So grateful we have the blessing of calling our children each week.
 In our walk through the forest everyday we greet a "Jack Sprat " looking man, who wears women's sweaters with a women's belt around his waist. He smokes a long skinny sweet smelling type of pen and wears a straw hat with a blue band around it. He must be 100 years old.
      On Saturday we took Betty & Jim 200 miles up the road to an interesting little gold mining town called Hadley. It was a flashback in a time machine to the 1950's with many 1970's beatnicks smoking pot. Betty & I walked the streets taking pictures & commenting on how unreal the place was. Stan and Jim were unimpressed but Betty and I had so much fun.We ate lunch at the only restaurant in town which had a hamburger& fries for $20 bucks each. We also drove to a place that had fresh fruits & vegetables at little shops right next to each other. They were  all owned & employed by East Indians in turbans. Cherries were 5.99 a pound and asparagus 8.99 a pound. I miss America.
       Durning sacrament meeting yesterday the mom of seven children ranging from 12 to 1 years gave them all cherrios.  They went to the front of the chapel sat on the floor, colored pictures, ate cherrios and fought .  The dad sat out in the foyea & the mother ignored the children. After the meeting when I saw the huge mess of smashed cherrios & torn silvers of crayon papers;  I said to the mother, pointing to the floor, " you will need to vacuume this before you go home today. This is unacceptable for the Lord's house".  She looked at me and blinked her eyes. One of her sons durning Primary went to the women's bathroom and squirted pee everywhere. The bathroom is across from the primary room and he didn't bother to close the door.  Stan & I  clean the church every week. Yea again.
      Along with the trials are great spiritual experiences. Our testimonies are solid, our faith ever strong. We are happy to be doing the best we can in this little part if the Lord's vineyard. Whatever He has in mind for us to do, we will do it ;be it cleaning the church or loving the lost wanderer.
    Oh, I forgot to tell you about Shake Races. We took a mom & her three daughters to McDonalds and had shake races  until we had brain freeze & laughed ourselves silly. This family has many trials and needed a happy day. The mom drove 45 minutes each way to come.
      The gospel is true, the Book of Mormon is true. We have a loving Heavenly Father and a Precious Savior and Reedemer, Jesus Christ. Hold to the rod in this frightful world and be safe.
    We love you all.
    Elder and sister Fisher