Mission: Another Week Flew By!

Last Sunday was Fast Sunday.  This is the Sunday each month where we all fast from food and drink for two meals then donate the money we would have spent on eating to the bishop to use to assist the less fortunate members.  We have a testimony-sharing time in our Sacrament Meeting also.  This is almost always a very sweet meeting.  People share their personal testimony of Jesus Christ and His blessings in their lives.  It is uplifting to me.

One woman bore testimony about her son who lives in Houston with his family.  He had been called as bishop one month ago.  Now his home is filled with water and mud because of Hurricane Harvey.  The Relief Society president's home in his ward is also flooded.  The rest of the congregation did not get flooded out.  She wondered why this happened to the two people in the ward who are specifically called to assist the members of the congregation who need temporal as well as spiritual help.  My thought was that it would make them more likely to empathize with those in need.  At least my problems help me see other people with similar problems, and want to help them in some way.  One sweet thing:  the people there in Houston in her son's area were evacuated through chest-high water that was filled with snakes and alligators and no one was hurt!  Providence.

On Monday night we heard there were wild fires in the Columbia River Gorge which is some miles away east from us in the Portland area.  It looked bad on the television.  Tuesday morning I woke up at 4:20 and happened to look out the window.  The moon was full and was the same orange-y red that the sun has been every morning and every sunset since the eclipse.  I thought it was beautiful but it was perplexing.  I have never seen a colorful moon in the middle of the night before.

When we actually got up and I went to iron Dear One's pants,  they looked like they had dandruff all over them!  So did my navy skirt that was waiting on the ironing board just inside the open screened window!  It was overcast outside and smelled like campfires.  The railing was covered with ashes.  When I got to the bottom of the stairs, having used the handrail all the way down, the palm of my hand was black with soot!  So surprising.  Most of the week there was snow-like ashes in the air though by the end of the week it stopped.

Dear One's sister in Florida and my sister in North Carolina are likely to be in trouble with Hurricane Irma.  Lots of natural disasters around the world, and these are only the ones that are affecting people I know about.  I wonder what the message is that the "Weather Man" is sending...!

On Wednesday Sister B. called first thing in the morning to ask if I could attend a meeting at 4.  President and Sister B. and Elder W. were there to talk about Facebook and Instagram and asked for my help with this work.  Yikes!  Now I have to get serious about those two social media arms.  Fortunately Elder W.  was able to help me get started.  I think I will be learning lots more about the use of FB for good purposes.

One of best parts of my job in the office is to participate in our daily devotional. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but every morning about 9 AM the office staff gathers together for business, a spiritual thought/discussion, and a prayer to start the day.  This three-week period we are focusing on gratitude.  So many good thoughts were shared.  Sadly, I did not write them down so I cannot share them on, but one day we did each share something we were grateful for.  It was a beautiful thing to do, and something every person and group can do.  At the end of it, we feel even more grateful, which is a happy feeling.

On Saturday we had our first rain.