Dear Family and Friends,
We made a trip to Utah to see family and be there for the blessing of Lily, who is our beautiful new grand daughter. She is a good natured, sweet little munchkin. It was hard to leave.
I stayed with Shelaine and family, while Elder Olson went over to Lake Point to help John and Jamie with a couple of projects they needed done. It worked out well and we both were able to help out where we were needed the most, which is very rewarding.
The first picture is Lily, the second the whole Maxfield family, and picture three is John, Shandon, Kellie, Jamie and Kaycie who was sound asleep. I guess March is celebrated by growing a mustache or beard. John said he would be shaving it off for April. It was quite a surprise to see him. ;o}
I have several more pictures, but did not want to take the time to put them on this page. I plan to print them and put them on our wall at the apt.
Conference was amazing. What a spiritual feast. Each speaker had a great message. L. Tom Perry and Holland spoke with such power and conviction. It is always such a highlight to be able to hear them speak and give such amazing counsel which is always relevant. I was touched by each speaker and the message they presented. We had nonmembers come this morning.
I loved President Monson's story about the matches and what happened. I had never heard that story before.
The folks here were glad to have us back and Elder Olson had to go right out to "his people" in Red Lake.
We will be having our second missionary meeting next Monday. We will explain how the irrigation works and we will also package seeds to send with each couple back to their units.
We will have a couple in each unit after Monday. Right now Elder Olson and I are in Tuba alone, but hopefully we will get another couple or maybe two before too long. Right now we have 225 gardens between the two wards.
Obviously we don't have to help all 225, but we do have 50 new gardeners and we want to make sure that they get the attention they need. It has been fun to watch "natural leaders" step up and mentor some of the new folks. The goal is to eventually work ourselves out of a job. ;o} by finding members to take over what we are doing. It is all pretty exciting really.
One of our jobs is to make sure every participant is on the GPS system, so new couples can find them. It is time consuming, but also fun to find them and make sure the next couple can find them as well.
We added two more people to the area that I call the rock garden spot. So far the couple who started in 2011 continues to lead the way and continues to have a wonderful garden. The others have seen it and want what they have. They are all hard working people and want to become more self reliant.
The ones that are the most fun are the ones who garden in the "furthest most part of the vineyard" and have great success in what appears to be in a place that looks impossible to grow anything. They have such great faith.
The people are so kind and so full of faith. The young Elders are having good success and many of the contacts are new gardeners. We love the young Elders and their great love for the people and the work.
We love our mission and those we serve, how could it be any better?
Elder & Sister Olson
