Whether the weather we weather

 This may be our briefest blog yet. I have very little in the way of pictures to share. Mostly I'll be sharing a few segments from emails we received this week, if only to build dramatic tension! On Tuesday, March 7th we received this email from Elder Gibson who is currently serving in Chennai, India. He writes,

 "We're thinking you must be getting close to coming to India. The Saints in Coimbatore are eagerly awaiting your arrival. In the meantime, we will be sending you information about each branch, specifically their temple preparation activity as of Jan 31st, which was our last day there. There are 6 branches in Coimbatore District. 4 of the 6 Branch Presidents are new within the last 5 months. So they will really need your support."

{Pause here to insert gasps! These branch presidents are brand spankin' new! We can see immediately we will be doing more MLS work (Member/Leader Support) than strictly YA (Young Adult) work. This is just fine with us. How exciting yet daunting to be so anticipated!} 

"Watch for our emails over the next few days. President Nikhil, the 1st Counselor to President Bushi (our Mission Pres) will work with you when you arrive. District President Charles Pandian is also a great resource. He works closely with our Humanitarian couple, the Gerlachs. You will love these wonderful saints."

Just hearing names and contacts made it feel very real to us that our time is drawing nearer to be there! And unbeknownst to me, receiving this email prompted Elder Rob to send an email to our Travel Department contact Michelle to ask if we are still on her radar because 2 days later on the 9th we received her reply to his query. She writes:

"I finally heard back from our public affairs person in Washington DC yesterday and he let me know that we should hear from them about the applications in the next 10 days or so. I hope to have good news for you soon!" 

That was on March 9th. So, the 10 day countdown begins... We are not cheering yet. BUT SOON! We were going to sign up to volunteer for help needed during April General Conference but after these emails, we decided it would be untimely of us to sign up to help and then not be here, so we refrained. And we just heard moments ago that the couple from our same MTC group, The Schramms, got news that their visas from Norway have arrived! That we can cheer about! Hurrah for Israel! So their wait is over and we are now the sole reigning grandparents of the VW's. Speaking of being grandparents...well, I'll just leave that thought hanging...we are so happy with our new status, we'll mention it every chance we get!. Our renters had their baby girl this week and it thrills us to think of a baby in our home. We are gaga over babies!👶

We've had the opportunity to meet and become friends with the first sister missionary from New Delhi, India assigned to the Church Headquarters Mission. Her name is Sister Paul and she is an angel AND a pioneer! What an honor to know her!

                                Wannakum to India??

We also had a new VW couple move in next door to us who are waiting to go to Australia but served in India 9 years ago. The Loures told us alot of what to expect -- the good and the difficult! She mentioned somedays they would only have water for 2 hours and they would busily fill up all their buckets so they could do dishes later, wash their hands, flush the toilet, etc. Boy, we take alot of things for granted don't we? But that was 2014, surely that's been fixed by now...right??

Thursday night I had a bit of a miracle I wanted to share. I was paired with Hal, another missionary at the Greeters Desk. It allowed us to talk for nearly an hour, as the night was slow. We got on the topic of our health and we each mentioned the maladies we endure (we swore as we got old, we wouldn't talk incessantly about our poor health but oops, that's where the conversation went). Hal mentioned he takes 3 drops of iodine in a glass of water for his thyroid every day. I thought gee whiz, it sure wouldn't hurt to try it so after the temple Friday we found a Nature's Grocers store and bought a bottle. For anyone who's known me for 5 minutes or 30 years, they know there are 2 things I absolutely dread -- cold weather and air conditioning! That night as I went to bed, I felt like someone or something had lit my pilot light and revved up my inner furnace. I didn't have to sit in front of our space heater trying to warm my popsicle toes like I normally do. I found I could even bear to have my arms outside of the covers.  It was a most pleasant sensation to feel blood in my extremities! So here I've been getting my thyroid levels checked yearly and dutifully taking my thyroid meds for 28 years with none of my symptoms removed. One time I spent an inordinate amount of money to have a blood panel done to get at the root of my hypothyroidism. They said my autoimmune disease was caused by "leaky gut" and wanted to sell me books and remedies but that never felt completely true either as I have no digestive issues compounding my diagnosis. Why didn't any doctor ever tell me to try this simple remedy? Because it was too easy and inexpensive and didn't create revenue, I guess. Anyways, I'm hoping that I will see improvements as dramatically as I did that first night. To me it felt like a miracle. Maybe my mind was ready for it as we had been studying the story of the woman who had a health issue for 12 years and only wanted to touch the hem of the Savior's garment for she knew she would be healed. "Jesus Savior, Pilot Me" took on new meaning. I have felt the blessings of health and protection while serving this mission and wanted to bear testimony of the goodness of God to deliver this solution to me, via Hal. I feel I can weather the last of the winter weather better now and perhaps any other circumstance we might be asked to bear in the future. This week we've walked in snow, rain, lightening, thunder, hail, and severe wind and frigid temperatures. We won't complain because we know many of you have been shoveling on top of that! We know it could always be worse.

We have taken advantage of our extended SLC stay and in just about an hour we'll see the BYU International Folk Dancers.  I hope to include a couple of photos from this performance to end this blog. 

We obviously couldn't take pictures during the performance but it was incredible! The women are so lovely and the costumes are gorgeous but watching men dance and their displays of strength and agility is what we love the most. Our favorite was the Indian dance and not just because we love all things Indian. Ask anyone there and they'll agree, it was spellbinding!  We loved each and every dance but the Hopak from Ukraine was the ultimate finale! Praise the Lord we could be here to feel such joy from watching this expression of joy and happiness!