November 3,2013

 We had Halloween this past week.  Our Manchester Ward held a trunk or treat where Miriam and I took Dana and her children.  We have helped the Elders teach them and it was fun to take them to this fun activity.  We have learned to love them a lot.  The Children are just adorable.  Dana has a real rough life.  She is not married and with 5 children she really has her hands full.  The Gospel would truly bless her life but she would have to make some major changes to her life.  We pray she will have the courage to either marry the man she lives with or leave him. 
Sisters Cloward, Burton and Aeschbacher (the

Bedford Sisters) came to the office and sang a hymn for us to thank us for all we do for them.  They are so special.  Sister Cloward works in the office now helping all of us as she has some major back problems due to a traffic accident she was in prior to her mission.  She is from Mesa AZ and we love her a bunch.
Being that I am over apartments Miriam and I did 20 apartment checks this week.  We did the Augusta South and North Zones.  It was cold and rainy but we always have a good time together.  We have been blessed with the ability to improve the housing for a lot of our missionaries.  When the surge started last winter, they were just taking any apartment they could find.  And some of those apartments were not good at all.  So I have been working very hard and finding better housing and Lord has truly blessed our efforts as we have been able to provide much better housing where needed.  We even had long term leases to get out of to accommodate the move and so far we have been able to get out of them without cost to the Church. The surge on missionaries seems to have stopped.  We are now returning a missionary for each new one that comes.  Our mission has doubled its number of missionaries since the surge started. 
The work is wonderful.  We are so busy and we love it.  This week we have two meetings and next week we have a visiting General Authority with 3 zone conferences.  Busy, busy, and then we get busy!!!!!