Another Small World Story

The other day, we attended the funeral of Lois Baker, one of our ward members. Lois is the mother of my visiting teacher Jill Jones and a son - Greg Anderson - who lives in Pennsylvania, both who were in attendance at the funeral of their mother along with their spouses. At the viewing, Jill and Royce introduced Ed and Linda Sappington to her brother and his wife.  Greg's wife was obviously startled then responded, "Are you kidding me? My full name is Joyce Sappington Anderson." What followed was a fun exchange of information as we became acquainted with a cousin from another part of the world . . . although this experience shows - once again - that it really is a very small world!!!

To Anaconda and Beyond

The destination of our most recent road trip (October 4 – 11) was Anaconda, Montana to visit Kaytee,  Josh and two of our precious grandchildren, but along the way we also visited SLC’s new City Creek Shopping Mall and Temple Square – looking for Sister Alicia Phagwah (from Guyana) – and a side trip to Brigham City to see the Church’s newest – and 137^th temple.  We enjoyed an overnight stay in Logan with Stan and Diane Blackett where we watched conference and got caught up with their life and family.  We also had a great two nights with Kelly, Gary and Whitney in their beautiful new home in Clinton. We enjoyed lively conversation and had fun getting caught up and when it was time to go, our #1 daughter questioned why we had to leave “so soon.  Thirty-six hours is just not enough!!!”  How happy it makes us to know we are welcome in the homes of our children.

Our three days in Anaconda included a pork chop sandwich, reading to the kids, a quick tour of the historic Washoe Theater (one of the most beautiful theaters in the nation – built in the 1930’s by the same architect who built NYC’s Radio City Music Hall), a trip to Phillipsburg (about 25 miles from Anaconda) where we found lots of things to photograph, including a wonderful old-fashioned (but pretty expensive) candy store.  We also had a tour of the lovely little home Kaytee and Josh hope to own before the end of the year (so we’ll be making the 11-hour trip again in the coldest part of Montana’s winter . . . with our paint brushes and other DIY tools).  My baby and her babies got teary-eyed when we said goodbye (Josh just smiled, probably glad to see us heading home after 3 days, although he was in good spirits during our visit) but we promised to come back when they are ready to move. 

We ended our week back in Salt Lake, where we stayed overnight with the Harris’ . . . our friends with whom we had served in Guyana.  We shared memories, dinner and laughed all the way through “Maiden Heist” in their HUGE downstairs theater room (if you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it for lots of laughs).  On our way through Provo, we caught up with Michael for a quick dinner together before getting on the highway for the last 5 hours of travel.  Fun trip and nice to discuss numerous topics, including the upcoming elections, without anyone getting hysterical!!!

WIM Reunion

We attended our very first WIM reunion since coming home from Guyana in June.  It was a combination of President and Sister Robison’s missionaries and those of us who served under President and Sister Gamiette, held in Provo in the afternoon of Friday, October 5.  It was delightful to see many of the couples with whom we served in both Trinidad (Jim and Joey Luster, Jim and Jan Wheeler, Ralph and Paulette Childs) and Guyana (Larry and Karen Harris) and others who served in other parts of the WIM (Clive and Arlene Henderson,  Bob and Raylene Bush and Doug and Valerie Salmon).  We also met some of the couples who served before us (Robison, Faux, Bulloch, Hymas and others).  After an hour of catching up with the seniors, the young missionaries began arriving.  It was so much fun to see Wally So’Oto, Hayden Van Meeteren, Abe Austin, Tyler White, Kyle Dyson, Rusden Scott, Brock Beeson, Nikita Vi, Kolton Arnold and Tobin Prince.  It was pretty funny how often we were asked “can I call you Linda?  Can I call you Ed?” but we asked the same question of others.  A mission is a wonderful experience – one for which I will always be grateful and seeing the faces of those we loved and with whom we served -if just for a couple of hours - was a delight!!!