Grandma & Grandpa Idaho: Really Warming Up Here in Tennessee

Dear Family and Friends

Well we have been told that it will get hot here and it has and they say it is just beginning. We are sooo . . grateful for air conditioning. I have often thought of my dad who was in Asheville North Carolina which is part of our mission and how they probably did not have air conditioned apartments or homes to stay in. I think if they had any air conditioning it was in public building back then. So they just had fans that were the only thing that kept them cool. The sun really beats down on this part of the world and with the humidity it is really lovely if you like living in a sauna type condition.
It is good for gardens if you water them. Most people don't have sprinklers and when it gets so hot and it does not rain you can tell which areas
don't have sprinklers. Even the trees start to wilt. But then sometime during the week it will rain and rain hard. A few nights ago we had a rain storm that woke us up with lightening and pelting rain. It reminded me of our Detroit days when lightening would wake up the kids and they would have to sleep with us. Most of the time that happened when their dad was gone because of being on call. So I had to deal with the thunder and lightning and I wondered if it was going to break the windows. I was a little nervous myself. I have never experienced a rain storm like that in the west. Sheets of rain that comes with lightening. We love getting letters and emails from you at home. Letters really are important because you just have to know that people and places you loved and are familiar with still exist because after awhile you start to forget and wonder if it really is real. They other day I was trying to remember someone in our wards name. I could not come up with it and then I started to try and think of the kids in our primary that I knew all the names of and I can tell I am forgetting names. I am going to have to learn them all over again. I am hoping once back they will come back to us in our memories. I remember faces but to put names with them it gets hard. So if you want me to remember you you better write. This week has been extremely busy. We have had Zone Conference and had to travel everyday to places in the mission that were two hours or less away getting up early to get at the church by 8:30 to setup. Both dad and I had to train at the zone conference. We just took about 10 minutes each. Dad talks about medical things this time it was about poison ivy and poison sumac. Missionaries give service and they are getting into brush and trees and yards that have these things in them in abundance. He then sends around a clipboard for the missionaries to sign up and come to a room and talk to him about anything medical that might be affecting them. Sometimes he only has a few and others times he is busy the whole time during the conference which by the way is a 4 hour meeting. So we then get back into the car find a place to eat and then have a two hour ride back to Knoxville. It makes for long days. Then because it is a busy travel week and I do travel I have to come back and spend time after office hours to get things done because I am not at the office during the day. My training was on how to fill out baptism records properly. I send into Salt Lake the records from the baptisms in the mission. Sometimes the missionaries do a poor job of filling them out and I have to track them down and ask questions so I have the right information. So I training them on this and told them of Jack and the Beanstalk and how Jack went up the stalk with his book of Mormon and found that the giant was golden contact and I had a huge baptism and confirmation record blown up so they could see the giant's record. They thought it was funny.
The other wonderful thing that happen this week is that we had Ellen the bank lady come to our house and with the help of the Sister Missionaries this time (they live in our apartment complex)
we taught her the plan of salvation lesson. She is reading the book of Mormon and starting to ask a few questions. Her spirit was much more receptive this time. We loved it and felt good about the lesson and she seemed much more comfortable with the sister missionaries. So in the pictures we have the sister missionaries that helped to teach her. They are fun and full of love and light. Their names are Sister Blickenstaff Wagner and Jarmin. Sister Jarmin has only been out for two weeks.
We are going to take them to Cades Cove which is in the Smokie Mountains on their Pday tomorrow. They are so excited. They can't do these things without the help of members because they only have so many miles on their cars. So we plan to picnic it and see how Cades Cove compares to Yellowstone's far as bear sightings. We also helped celebrate Sister Jarmin's birthday and dad made her a german chocolate cake. I made her a scarf to wear. So with everything we have had a week that has gone fast. Which is good because we aren't thinking of when we will be back home so much. It has been a little difficult being away this week with Linley's wedding and family reunion things and knowing Rob and family are in Provo. But we will try to remember that what we are doing is also good. We love you all and pray for you. Love Mom and Grandma and Sister Christensen

Sister Jarmin's birthday
she is from Layton and her parents and family are inactive
she decided to go to church just on her own and then decided to
go on a mission the first in her family to do so.

Sister Blickenstaff on left and Sister Wagner on the right. Great sister missionaries. They love the gospel and teach so well together.
we bought them some groceries because they had run out of money. We did a surprise sneak into their apartment because we told them we had to inspect their place and left food for them. so this is what they did to us.