Babies and gunfighters

Thursday, January 30, 2014

We had a wonderful Group Conference last Sunday. There were several visitors from the stake, including the entire stake presidency. They sustained a new assistance group leader to serve with Brother Kovacs. His name is Brother Gonzales. He is still active in the Army Reserves and serves as a full time civilian working for the army. I think he is going to be great. His wife is really sweet and is from Columbia.

New Assistant Group Leader and his wife

I noticed the soldiers already making a connection with him on Sunday. Outside of Sunday meetings, the soldiers really cannot associate with permanent party military folks other than their instructors or those in their chain of command. We hosted a baked potato bar after the meeting and the stake presidency all stayed along with our young FT missionaries. All in all, it was a great day.

Stake Presidency enjoying Lunch with the Soldiers

This week has been about as routine as a week could be for us. We had no inspections scheduled but we did stop and visit the new mother and baby on Tuesday. RoLayne got to be a grandma for a little while and hold a new born baby. That was probably one of her highlights of the week. 

Sister Heninger with Baby Isla (pronounced eyela)

Yesterday, President and Sister Killpack attended our district meeting. I think they had some interviews to conduct. It was nice to have them there. The new District Leader, Elder Chamberlain did a nice job of conducting the training session.

Today, we had some free time so we took a quick drive over to Tombstone to check it out for a future visit with family or friends. It is only about 18 miles from Sierra Vista. It was the first time we have gone there since we have been down here. It was kind of funny, this burly gentleman with a big bushy beard stopped us on the street to talk. I wasn't sure if he was a homeless person looking for a handout or one of  the locals. As it turns out,  he is the blacksmith in town and is a member of the church. He said that he is a ward missionary and often accompanies the Sister missionaries at night in Tombstone as they are not allowed out alone after dark. I wouldn't mess with him. We also talked to a couple of other folks who stopped us on the street. Just as we were headed back to the car, we spotted the sister missionaries from St David. They were headed to an appointment with a member of their ward, a sister Judd. They cover Tombstone as part of their area. It was interesting to bump into them. If any of you come to visit us, we will take you to Tombstone. It is worth an afternoon to check out the shops, see all the period dressed folks, and take in the shootout at the OK corral.

Stagecoach is more than 150 years old, or so they say. And I thought I drove an old vehicle

Not sure if the mules are 150 years old, though they acted like it.

 RoLayne had an interesting experience last Sunday. There is a family that moved into the ward named Pettijohn (not sure about the spelling). Anyway, the wife is from the Tri-Cities area so RoLayne thought that she might know our daughter-in-law's family. As it turns out, she did not. She asked how long we have lived in Vancouver. When RoLayne told her, she asked if we knew Jeff and Terri Johnson. She also said, Heninger, that name sounds familiar. Before RoLayne could tell her that our daughter used to baby sit for the Johnsons and was very good friends with them, she said, “Lisa Heninger” You're Lisa’s parents! As it turns out, she is Terri Johnson’s younger sister and said she was their kid’s favorite aunt, except that they liked Lisa better. It was amazing that she knew Lisa and again shows how small the world of the church is. Even with 16 million members, we are always bumping into someone we know or who knows someone we know.

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Well, today was another good day spent with the soldiers at the Fort. This weekend we are headed back to the Mesa Temple with the soldiers. We will try to give you a report next time. We hope that you are all well and enjoying your lives.