Week 66: In which I am transferred to Toppenish, Noe and Maria want to be baptized, and I try not to think about hugging my mom

Top Dogs

¡Aloha! ¿Wie geht's? We found out Saturday evening who is getting transferred (moved) where. Believe it or not, I'm still in The Dalles! Well, until Wednesday, that is. I will be transferred to Toppenish 1st and 2nd Spanish East. That's in Toppenish, WA. I'll be in the 1st and 2nd Ward areas, apparently, but we'll be attending and working with the Toppenish Spanish Branch. The Elders who work there are known as the "Top Dogs". I think I'm going to like it. I don't know if we work with the English-speaking wards at all, or if we just do Spanish work. I guess I'll find out. 

My new companion will be Elder Rigby! Fun story: When I was with Elder West, Elder Rigby was in Hood River here with Elder Najarian, the other District Leader. I got to work a little with Elder Rigby when our companions were in meetings. Now, I'm going to be with Elder Rigby, and Elder Najarian is going to be companions with Elder West! Funny how that works, huh?

Transfer time is always super bittersweet for me. I hate leaving the people I have grown to love, but I'm excited to change things up and meet more amazing people! I'll get to serve around different missionaries, different members, and work with different investigators. Also, Elder Tapia is going to be one of my Zone Leaders. That'll be fun.

Here's an excerpt from my letter to President Lewis:

So much has changed here. It's honestly amazing when I look back to where The Dalles was when I first arrived. I have said time and time again that it felt like we were tasked with moving a mountain. Over the days, it was sometimes hard to see much progress being made. It sometimes felt like we were banging our heads against a brick wall. It was challenging, rewarding, frustrating, exhilarating, and amazing. It was like a roller coaster, but it was very hard to see where the progress was. It has been easy to think at times, "No one seems to be progressing. What's wrong? Even Abinadi saw Alma progress a little when he stood up for the truth! He may not have seen Alma's complete conversion, but he at least saw something!"

I realize now that the issue was never whether people were progressing here. Rather, looking back, I realize that the entire area has been progressing! It is very slow, yes. It is hard work, yes. It can be discouraging in the moment, yes. However, looking back, I can finally see that the mountain has moved a foot or two. It's still there, and there's still a way to go, but it moved! Noe and Maria, two investigators we found nearly 4 months ago, want to be baptized! They are inviting all their friends to come and see how amazing it is and how much the Gospel has changed their life already! People are noticing the boxes and materials we have put out in various locations, and someone even contacted us to help her change her life for the better! Old friends have been found again. New friends have been made.

The mountain has moved, even if only a little bit. Even though it is hard to see in the moment, and it's even hard to see over a transfer sometimes, I'm so very grateful to be able to look back and see that yes, progress was made. I feel that I, like Abinadi, was able to see a little good come from our efforts, even if I will never see the full end results. I am humbled by it, and pray to be able to continue to do my best together with my future companions until the work is fully done.

I love this work! We have had a few lessons with more people. We've had another lesson with Erica, and she's awesome! She wants to know if it's true, and has great questions! We also had a lesson with Claudia on Wednesday, and it was amazing! The spirit was super strong, and she seemed to really like it. We helped her to pray with us. Noe and Maria have both expressed that they want to be baptized, and we're now working with them towards that. We'll be meeting with them again tomorrow, where I will have to say goodbye. That's going to be hard.

I love the people here so much, and it's such a beautiful place! I pray that Noe and Maria will be able to make it, and as long as I'm close enough (Toppenish is!) I will come back for their baptism. They are really very good people.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve here! I love you all, and hope that you have a fantastic coming week.

Love,

Elder Adams

Questions from Editor Mom:

I love you, and I hope you're OK with what this transfer is bringing you! Are you OK with it? - Yes, I'm OK with it. I'll tell you now, I'm going to Toppenish 1st and 2nd Spanish East. I'll be with Elder Rigby, who was actually in Hood River for exactly as long as Elder West was here in The Dalles. Oddly enough, Elder Rigby was with Elder Najarian in Hood River while Elder West was with me. Now, Elder Najarian is going to be companions with Elder West while I'm companions with Elder Rigby. Hehe. Comp switch, anyone?

How has your week been? - Great! A little bittersweet, since I'm leaving, but I'm also pretty excited to mix things up.

What did you think of Oregon's stonehenge? (The pictures look fun). - I loved it! It's a really cool idea, and was definitely time well-spent.

I don't want you to think too much about this, but what are you most looking forward to being able to do after your mission? - Hug you. I honestly try not to think about that, though. I'll look forward to playing cello more regularly, having the option to occasionally take naps or sleep in, hugging you, and pretty much anything else.

How are your investigators in The Dalles? - They're doing really great. There are some new investigators who are showing a lot of promise, and Noe and Maria have expressed that they want to be baptized! We're working towards that with them now, though they still have a few things to learn/work through. I'm so glad I had the privilege of meeting them here!

Off the wall question: What landscape do you prefer (high desert, like WY, mountains, ocean, forest, city, suburbs, or something else)? - Landscape? I probably prefer the forest, maybe mixed with a little ocean/suburbs. I'm not the biggest fan of living in a city landscape, but I don't mind visiting. Honestly, to mix it all, I would probably most prefer something like the Alpine regions: Forest, lakes (I like water), smaller-medium (well-kept) suburbs/towns, and the occasional field to break things up a bit. Mountains are also a plus, especially if they are near enough to a coast that I could visit the ocean on occasion. The bigger the better.

That could match Switzerland/the Alps, Norway, the Pacific Northwest (interesting, right?), and New Hampshire/where we are (even though the mountains aren't the best).

Love you!

---

From Sis. Lewis's blog:

Here are Ben's answers to Sis. Lewis's two questions.

What have you learned lately?
I’ve learned simple teaching.  I’ve learned to study better, by topic, by using lesson plans, and by finding answers to questions.  I’ve also learned how to keep ties well-secured and not flopping around with the wind.

What scripture are you memorizing lately?
I’m memorizing Alma 7:11-12 “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.  And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

More Photos

Me with the Coles (they are local members as well as the apartment inspectors)


Me with Bro. Grow. He likes to fish and gave me the Portland Temple tie. I got him back and gave him a Salmon lure.


Me with Sis. Julie Vanderdosser. She's with the Young Women. She's really nice.


Me with Bro. Hodges (the older one, who's 2nd councilor in the Bishopric). He is a hardcore musician and writes a lot of band music that's pretty widely performed.


Me with the Carters. Martin, their son, left on a mission about 4 weeks ago. Elder Tapia and I worked a lot with them, and they're really, really awesome.


Me with Pres. Kent (Bryan, the younger one). He's the Young Men's President, and is a really great guy. He's fun to be around, and really dedicated to the young men.


Me with Bro. Stewart. He is one of the first members I met here. He's a great guy.  He is super dedicated. He owns a small orchard operation and is really helpful.


Me with Bro. Nick Ryder-Bayes. He's working on getting to the temple. He's a great guy, and loves to talk with the missionaries.


Me with the Chavers Family (they run a day care).

Me with Jorge at his taco shop


Elder Jensen and me with Becky, who runs the local food bank (we did a lot of service there)


These are from the quote wall (really a door) in our apartment. If you zoom in, you can read them. There is some overlap, so you could reconstruct the entire door.

Me with my beloved Quesadilla de Alpastor at Jorge's taco shop, La Michoacana Station


Me again at La Michoacana Station, with my lovely Quesadilla in hand, soon to be devoured.



Elder Jensen making a ring out of a dollar coin


The entire quote wall/door

Week 65: In which we observe the eclipse, visit Stonehenge, and we meet people miraculously

Week number MIRACLE!

Hey, family and friends! It's been another fantastic week here in The Dalles, OR. Although we wanted to, we were unfortunately not able to make it into the zone of totality for the eclipse today. It's just outside of mission boundaries, sadly. However, we still saw about %98 of it, which was incredible! We saw it with the 4 other elders here at a nice member's house, who also gave us all donuts. It was great

After that, we went shopping, then joined again with the others to drive up to a really cool full-size replica of how Stonehenge used to look anciently, built in memory of the soldiers from Klickitat County (where the memorial is) who died in WW1.

I here include an excerpt of my letter to President Lewis. I think that's honestly all I'll have time for, since so much happened that I told him about. This is honestly the main interesting stuff that happened this week.

Most of the week, we just worked as normal, with very little visible success. A good highlight, however, was when we found and taught Alex on Monday, who is now a new investigator. However, he was out of town for our return appointment Friday, so he had to reschedule with us for next Friday. Well, he's still a great guy with some promise! The rest of the week passed with very little extraordinary.

Yesterday, however, we said a prayer as a companionship. In that prayer, we felt inspired to ask for help finding 2 new investigators, allowing us to reach the Standard of Excellence (we thought it was our goal, but our goal was actually a little higher). Because of church and other meetings, we only had about 3 1/2 hours to really devote to finding people. However, as soon as dinner ended, we decided to go try and find a man who lived in an apartment complex in town. These apartments have been thoroughly scoured by missionaries over and over, and almost everyone there knows us. Many of them avoid us, as well. As it turns out, that man didn't live there at all, so we just kept knocking on doors, hoping and praying to find someone. After all, we had felt we needed to knock doors there while planning, as well! 

Not many doors later, a lady opened the door. Her name was Erica. After we introduced ourselves and our message, she mentioned she had a boyfriend there. We asked if we could come in (she had never actually talked with missionaries, though she had seen us around before), and she said yes! We got inside, and soon realized that a LOT of things had been happening in her life. Within the past week, her cousin's husband had had some sort of accident or illness and was now on the brink of death. To add to Erica's distress, her daughter's best friend (who is pregnant with another baby) had lost her first baby just a day earlier (Saturday) when her child was killed by a falling TV set. We quickly discovered that, in addition to all of this, the lady whose baby died was a former investigator of ours. We were shocked and sad for them.

Erica then asked if we could help her learn how to pray. She feels as if God doesn't hear her because she has made so many mistakes in her own life, and really desperately wants to be free of that guilt. She has been really feeling as if she needs to come closer to Christ in the past few days, and was just barely wondering about how to find that peace in an increasingly crazier world and freedom from the guilt of past mistakes and sins when we knocked on her door, sharing a message about finding peace and how to grow closer to Christ. She told us that she felt that God clearly sent us to help her find that, and we set up to talk to her again and give her a tour of the church in a few days.

To add to that, there's Claudia. Near the beginning of this week, Claudia called us asking about Daily Dose classes [English language classes]. We responded that, unfortunately, they are not happening right now, but that we're looking for new teachers. However, we asked her if she wanted to hear about the Restored Gospel, and she said she would be happy to! We set up an appointment, but it fell through because she had to go to a meeting at work. We rescheduled for a church tour (incidentally the same one) in a few days.

However, last night, we felt like we needed to go by and double-check we had the right address. When we knocked on a couple of doors unsuccessfully, until the last door where a lady opened, shaded by the door frame. We said "Hello" and heard an "Hola" in response. We had her. We introduced ourselves, and, after she told us her name, we mentioned we had talked on the phone earlier. After a matter of seconds, she began crying. We weren't quite sure what to do. She then told us that 15 days earlier, she had had a very jarring experience. A single mom, she had apparently gotten into a very, very, bad relationship, and after discovering her boyfriend's true nature, she sat down,drinking some alcohol, decided to end her life. She was saved in the nick of time by her ex-partner (not her then-current boyfriend), and was in the hospital for several days. While there, she felt like she needed to come closer to Christ. She really began wanting to change her life for the better and leave her old life behind. A week or so later, she saw our number on a box in one of the local Mexican stores and decided to call it for some kind of help.

As it turns out, a few minutes before we knocked on her door, she had been feeling really lonely and abandoned. Her kids had just decided to stay the night with their dad (the ex-partner who saved her life, but was also a terrible relationship), leaving her alone for the first time in a long while. She was about to call them and ask them to come back, and in that very moment of decision, she heard a knock on the door.

We were absolutely speechless. All we could do is testify about how she was a daughter of God and how He loved her and cared for her. She began crying again as she told us that it always seemed like God sent someone right when she needed it the most. She said she knew we were sent from God, and that He had sent us there even though it wasn't our appointment. We testified again, mourned with her, and helped her to say a prayer thanking God and asking Him for help. It was very, very, beautiful and sincere. We then left her with a card directing her to mormon.org/questions and another directing her to the Prince of Peace video. We invited her to look at them both that night after we left. The spirit was very strong.

That was yesterday. I feel both honored and humbled by those two experiences we had, nearly back-to-back. My testimony has yet again been bolstered that God indeed listens to His children, and that we are truly participating in a work far, far, greater than ourselves. It is my testimony that that is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I am so glad I got to be here in The Dalles long enough to experience that!

Love,

Elder Adams

 

---

Questions from Editor Mom:

 

Hi! I see that you got your glasses. Tell us your impressions of the solar eclipse! - It was amazing! We sadly couldn't get to the zone of totality. The members here tell us that Maupin is actually not quite there, and so the zone was outside of our mission. Plus, there are so many tourists here the traffic was really, really bad. However, we still got to see %98 of it! It was great, and we all got pictures through our glasses!

Did you get the package Dad sent? - You mean the one with the shoes? If so, then yes! Thank you so much, they look and fit great! I'm also super grateful for the insoles; tell Grandma for me. They're really comfortable.

What made this week special? - Well, Sunday. Sunday was basically a big miracle. I will probably mainly tell you about that in my weekly letter, instead of the day-by-day (although I may also get around to that as well).

Are you starting to feel like it's about time for a change? How do you feel about that? - Honestly, yeah. I've been here a while. I feel like it's probably time for me to go. On one hand, I'm super sad, because the members here are really awesome, and Elder Jensen is pretty great, too. I'm definitely going to miss a lot of people, including a bunch of our investigators. That said, I feel like I've been here long enough. I wouldn't mind some change, and am excited to see what the future holds! I pray that when I'm gone, our investigators will continue to do well.

Any interesting experiences out of the norm this week? - Sunday again. It was crazy. Crazy awesome, that is. Also, it was super sad for some other reasons, but more on that in the big email.

Are you surviving the heat? - Actually, we're doing much better! It's also gotten cooler; summer is definitely winding down. It's in the 70's/80's today, and is supposed to stay that way the rest of the week. Yay!

How are your eyes?  Have you gotten a blessing for them? - Good and yes, I did. They are much, much better. God has been working miracles through Benadryl.

Love you!

Elder Adams

 

Photos

Plaque on the altar of the Stonehenge replica near Goldendale we visited today:

Me, dramatically gesturing towards the expanse that is the Columbia Gorge area:

 

Elder Jensen, triumphantly posing on the same rock pictured above:

 

Myself, as I sit normally in front of the really awesome "Washington Stonehenge":

 

A cool picture of the "Washington Stonehenge" from the inside, including the recently post-eclipse sun:

Me, wishing you lots of love:

Elder Adams

    

Week 64: In which I get a rash inside my eyes, combat impostor missionaries, and Noe & Maria come to church

Eyeballs...

Wow. I'm going to include a short excerpt from my letter to President Lewis:

Really, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the last 7 days thinking about my eyeballs.

This has never been truer. To explain, I unfortunately discovered over the course of the past week that I must have developed really bad allergies to... something. I don't know what. It might be the smoke in the air. Honestly, all I know is that I have had super itchy eyes and hives on the insides of my eyelids. It's really not pleasant at ALL. It took me a long time to figure out what was wrong, since I figured it was just styes or something. Not fun, but when I got some eye drops (like the mission nurse told me to), it got a lot worse. Apparently, I also developed an allergy to the eye drops. Thankfully, Saturday I got some antihistamine eye drops to help, and you know what? They work wonders! Sadly, it wasn't quite enough, so Sunday I also tried taking some Benadryl. Man, that stuff is about as miraculous as Sudafed when you're congested. I didn't even get drowsy, and it was amazing! My eyes are not yet completely better, but they're a lot better than they were on Friday or Saturday. Yikes. It was baaaaaad.

That took up a lot of my time and attention this week, but here's a quick summary. For time's sake, I'm going to list going by potentials and tracting both as "finding". That should make it go waaaay faster.

Monday: 6-9 - Finding

Tuesday: 10:30-12:00 - District Meeting in Goldendale

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:20 Wait for other Elders to finish a Baptismal Interview

1:20-2:00 Drive back from Goldendale

2:00-3:00 Visit a really cool lady named Luz Maria. She is from Mexico, just visiting her grandkids here in The Dalles. She is a member of another Christian church in Mexico, and some imposter missionaries knocked on her door pretending to be from our church. They told her we believed that Joseph Smith was greater than Jesus Christ, but when we talked to her, we helped her understand what we actually believe. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she's been reading it! It's awesome! She's really softened up a lot, and she's now really interested in what we have to share. She's going back to Mexico really soon, and said she would love for missionaries to visit her there. She said she'll look up the church when she gets back, because she loves the Book of Mormon so much. She gave us her information to send down to the missionaries in Irapuato, Guanajuato (where she lives).

Wednesday: Finding all day, except we did a little service in the afternoon helping the Food Bank unload a truck. We also had dinner with some newly moved-in members, the Diaz family.

Thursday: Thursday, we did service helping Annalie Cantrell, a member, weed her garden for a few hours in the morning. The Zone Leaders were on exchanges with the Assistants to the President, so Elder Allsop was there with us! He was my Zone Leader for a long time in Othello. After helping her weed (she's recovering from surgery), she fed us lunch. We then went over and gave a blessing to Sister Cantrell's dad, who lived nearby. We then studied and did service for the Food Bank. We followed that up with finding at Heritage Heights, a relatively new apartment complex near the Catholic Church (that church looks like either a volcano or a missile silo). That night, we had dinner with the Randall family. There were 9 missionaries at that dinner! Us, the 1st Ward Elders + their mini-missionary, the Zone Leaders, and the Assistants to the President. It was awesome. We finished up the night by finding.

Friday: Plan, find, and eat dinner with the Chavers. 

Saturday: Finding, all day. Had dinner with the Telfords.

Sunday: Find and go to church.

Now, to finish off with another excerpt from my letter to President Lewis (including the previous one, actually):
We've found a few more people, but we haven't been able to find them again. Lucero is one. She's 21, and seemed really interested. She said she felt something when she talked with us, and has felt it before. However, whenever her mom comes home, she loses that feeling (her mom is SUPER Catholic... but doesn't actually practice very much). She said that she felt really interested in the message we were sharing, and told us to come back at11:00 the next morning, but she wasn't there. We haven't been able to find her again. We also found Jorge and Claudia, who we're visiting tonight. We hope that works out, because they're a really nice family that goes to a Christian church in Hood River right now.

The biggest miracle, though, was with Noe and Maria. This last Sunday, we hadn't even come close to hitting any of our goals. In fact, we were at straight zeros. It was frustrating for me, especially considering the fact that my eyes were already causing so many problems. Really, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the last 7 days thinking about my eyeballs. In lieu of the fact that we were so far from reaching our goals, I decided to hold my own personal special fast Sunday to have us hit our goals that day. That meant 3 new investigators, 2 on-date, and 2 at church. I figured the easiest to hit might be the new investigators, followed by at church, followed by on-dates (We just don't have very many investigators at all right now, and the ones aren't making a lot of progress).

Sadly, we still did not hit our goals. However, something happened which was miraculous to me: Noe and Maria came to church! We called them beforehand to invite them, and they said they were already planning on coming. That meant we did hit one of our goals. It wasn't all of them, but honestly, it was enough of a miracle for me. I personally feel the Lord's hand was in that one tender mercy. They still have a long way to go, but we have been able to set up a really solid appointment with them for the first time in well over a month. (We had an appointment with them last Tuesday, but it was not super solid and they ended up not being there. This one is a lot more solid.)

Love you all! Bye!

Elder Adams

 

 

Questions from Editor Mom:

Are all your shoes (brown, black boots, and tennis shoes) holding up? - Everything is holding up okay. The next shoes to die will probably be my brown ones. They've already got a couple of holds worn through the bottoms.

Are there people in The Dalles that you would like to visit again after your mission? - I'm not sure. They would mostly be members (the Coreys, Grows, and Mullins especially), but I wouldn't mind visiting Noe and Maria.

Are you still spending time every day studying Spanish? - Of course! Only Sundays and Mondays do we not have time for it.

Have you learned anything you didn't know before about the gospel in your readings or discussions with companions? - Well, I've already mentioned some things in the past, but it's really hard to pick out specific things. I've learned a lot more about the basics, for sure, and I think I understand the Atonement a tiny bit better than when I started, but it's really a bottomless well of understanding to draw on. I understand the conversion process a lot better, and I have recently begun wondering about the significance of having one's calling and election made sure. That seems to be a lot more important than I initially thought. I'm not sure, though; I have just seen it pop up in weird places a lot. I've mainly focused my studies on the basics, and I've learned a lot about those. One of many insights I've had in recent weeks is about the Priesthood and its organization. That was one of the few insights I had that partially came from the Book of Abraham. I know, I know. Honestly, I wasn't even studying it, but as I was thinking about the issue, a few scriptures from the Book of Abraham were brought to my mind. They now make a lot more sense to me. Basically, I noticed that in a lot of places in the scriptures, stars represent spirits. Lucifer drew 1/3 of the stars of heaven away, etc. That's one of the things that led to my insight on how the Priesthood might (and might not, but I'm pretty sure it does, and the Spirit seems to back me up) work. I'll leave it at that for now. Another thing I'm beginning to understand is life gives you about as much as you put into it. Basically, I understand the Law of the Harvest a lot better. You want more blessings? You need to work more for them. You can get decent rewards for trying a little, but your rewards will be a lot greater if you work/try that much more.

Are you feeling like you are getting a better grip on Book of Mormon stories? the history of the church? the bible? - Oh, most definitely! Especially with trying to memorize more scriptures from the Book of Mormon and the New Testament, I'm getting a lot more solid with my scriptural knowledge. When I want, I can bring up scriptures about a lot more topics than I could have before. I even discovered a pretty solid collection of scriptures, self-contained in the Bible, that pretty well show there must be a Spirit World before the resurrection, just based on Christ's death and resurrection. Our Heritage makes great reading material, too, which is a nice (though somewhat sparse) summary of the history of the Church. I've also developed a much greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon and its role since beginning my mission. Interestingly enough, I've also developed a firm conviction of the reality of the Great Apostasy. I think that tends to happen to missionaries. I still respect other churches, but I am beginning to see some of the things that the Apostasy did. It's awful.

Note: Next Monday's eclipse will be total in the southern part of Ben's area.  It's the only bit of the Yakima Mission that will have totality.

Are you planning on watching the eclipse? (It's on a P-Day!) - I know! I have some glasses, too. We'll get a partial view here, but apparently Maupin is within the range of totality. That would be pretty sweet if we could find a way to get there.

Anything funny happen recently? - Mostly just my eyeballs. I have discovered I have developed allergies to... something. I don't know, but I'm getting hives on the insides of my eyelids. It's not pleasant, but antihistamine eyedrops and Benadryl help a ton. Not that funny, but definitely eventful.

Are you still doing karate to exercise? - Not a lot, no, but I still occasionally use it. Elder West adopted it as his morning routine, though. I want to see if we can't make some boffers to swordfight with for exercise. I'm trying to get creative here to keep myself active.

Did I tell you Peter encountered THE BEAR in our backyard? Scary! - Yeah, you mentioned! That's crazy! 

Note: Lauren is Ben's first cello teacher and a family friend.

Lauren says to ask you what you think of her traveling with Molly and me. So, what do you think? (I told you this in a letter I just sent, but she has never been anywhere west, not even Pennsylvania. She's never seen such huge farms, where you can see forever and ever, for example). - I think that's a great idea! It will certainly be super different, and she may or may not get bored with the farms, but it would certainly be a cool experience. She might go stir crazy with the car, but it's a huge adventure. I think that if she wants an adventure, she'll get it. It's kind of like what I was saying earlier: you get out of it what you put in. Take, for example, my mission: it has hard parts, and it's not always completely cozy, but it's a huge adventure and an amazing experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Love you! Also, say hi back to Molly for me :-)

Love,

Elder Adams

 

 

Questions from Editor Dad:

Also, we sent you glasses for viewing the eclipse next Monday. You should get them in the next day or two. I'm eager to hear if you have been able to make plans to drive south into the Zone of Totality. If you don't, I will be sorely disappointed. :-)

 

We'll see what we can do for sure. I'm not sure if it will work out, mainly because of the limited miles we can drive, but I sure want to try.