Our LAST Zone Conference...

The week started normally on Monday.  Lots of mail and work.  On Mondays we stay for Family Home Evening.  The AP's, the Wilsons, The Ballards, and us gather for lesson, games and treats.  The AP's had to leave early so the 3 senior couples ended up playing games.  About half way through the games Elder Jones received a phone call from a Sister missionary and she was crying.  By the time she got the story out he had calmed her down, but what a story!  The Sisters had been going to an appointment about 7 pm.  They had plugged the address into their GPS and turned exactly where the GPS indicated.  The car went "thunk" dropping about 8" and they the horrible truth--they were straddling the railroad tracks!!!!!!!  They reacted calmly at first, both getting out of the car and away from the tracks.  They called 911 and the police came.  When they saw the situation they immediately put in a call to SEPTA (the train) to let them know what was amiss.  The police officer took a flashlight and began walking down the tracks, signalling to the oncoming train to stop.  They got it stopped in the nick of time, a tow truck was called and the car taken to the lot of the towing company with instructions she could come and get it in the morning.  She had also called her district leader and he picked the sisters up and brought them to us for hugs and a blessing by the district leader.  We had an extra set of keys to their apartment, so we then sent them home.  One hour later and they call again--the keys don't work.  So back again and they spent the night at the President's home.  The next day President took them to get the car--$450 later they were back to the office and I took them to a mechanic to see that all was OK on the underbelly of the car.  It was all OK other than a slight scratch on the exhaust.  We were most grateful for their safety and clear thinking.  That was a very original situation!  As a sidenote, the officer said that she was about the 3rd person to straddle the tracks...

Wednesday we began our Zone conferences.  We traveled to Nazareth on Wed, Dover on Thursday and here in Broomall on Friday.  At each conference we both had presentations in the breakout sessions PLUS we had to bear our testimony as a departing missionary.  That was very hard and it was not any easier on Friday than it was on Wednesday.  On Thursday we had been in Dover and the missionaries pictured below, Elder Skeen (l) and Elder Marse (r) attended because Elder Marse was teaching a class on how to more effectively use Facebook to teach missionary lessons.  We offered them a ride home with us and since we were leaving about 45 minutes ahead of the AP's they took us up on it.  We had traveled all of the way back to Wilmington, DE, which is about 3/4 of the way home, when Elder Marse gets a text from the AP's saying that he has their car keys in his pocket.  And he did!  So we then had to travel BACK to Dover.  By this time it is about 7:30 and we are hungry, so we took the elders to the Hollywood Diner and all had a wonderful dinner of fish and chips.  So that was our adventure for the day.  I love Elder Marse because he is always smiling and he absolutely loves those he teaches.  Plus he teaches in Spanish and always tells me of the good Mexican food he ate.  I loved hearing their stories.  Elder Marse had been inactive and then decided to serve.  His bishop told him that he would be finished with his repentance process and ready to go March 15, so he put that on his papers.  When his call came, it was for Feb 22 and that concerned him so he went to his bishop to talk.  His bishop told him that the 12 Apostles pray over these assignments and that the date, in his case, reflected a distinct change of heart and he was ready to serve.  Since coming out his parents have reunited and been sealed, and his sister and her family have become active and been sealed.  Elder Skeen served about 8 months in the Philippines and had to come home for a surgery and then got reassigned to us.  He really misses the Phillipines.  We had a wonderful adventure with these 2 Elders and arrived home at 10 pm and immediately headed to bed.  

When we had passed over this very unique bridge for the FOURTH time on Thursday, I just had to take a photo.  Each time we passed over it the Elders would teach us that it is the highest place in Delaware.  (That means that Delaware is extremely flat...)

Today when we woke up it had been raining and the temps were very low, so the roads had sheets of ice on them.  Corry had been hearing sirens all morning.  There were many, many bad accidents.  They postponed church an hour, then called it off altogether.  So we have just been relaxing all day today hoping to get rid of our colds.  We are down to only 6 weeks left to enjoy this mission.  We will be very sad to leave, but are looking forward to our kids and grandkids.  We love them!