Finishing Up our Mission

Finishing up the mission -- It's been GREAT! 
 
Hard to believe it is December 14, 2016 and this is the last day of our mission assignment in the Texas San Antonio Mission. We have mixed emotions; mostly sadness. Not sad to be leaving Austin, but to be leaving our good friends from the last year. We have helped some people learn to read better and prepare for their Citizenship test. We helped members of a Haitian family get employment as the Austin Housing Authority is trying to kick them out of the low income apartment their mother has lived in for years because when her 2 daughters and grandson were finally allowed to be reunified the Authority says, "You have too many people living in this apartment. You have to vacate immediately!" But with two people working they can now get their own place and we have given them a list of "affordable" apartments in Austin (unfortunately truly affordable housing doesn't exist in this city). And in the last 2 days we helped  a Liberian friend to pass several tests to qualify him for a new job that will significantly improve this couple's living standard. And the mother of our friends from Nigeria has recently gotten a job and has started riding the bus which terrified her. Her oldest son is trying to get into the BYU Idaho Pathway program. So we feel good about our closing weeks. But it is still very hard. That's the bad news.

Pounded Yam and Chicken

Farewell Dinner with the Adetuyis, from Nigeria

Us with Joseph, Jennifer & Veronica Adetuyi

The good news is, we have been investigating the possibility of serving a 6 month mission at the Manhattan Temple in New York City. We talked to the Temple President and he told us the earliest we could do that would be next October, but Elder Moody, who oversees the Senior Temple Missionary Program said if we hurry and get our papers in, get the medical portion of the application taken care of and get it all in fast we could possibly go as soon as June or August! We will see what happens.

Literally wore out the tires on our Honda...40,000+ miles

Africans call her "White Grandma"

But right now, we will spend our last day just cleaning our apartment and packing up as we get ready to welcome two new grandchildren into the world on December 19th and 24th. So we won't have time to sit around and probably won't be going home to Kansas for a while as we have many family members to visit in Utah, Idaho and Washington. So to our Pittsburg, Kansas friends we'll just say, "We'll see you soon, but we don't know how soon!"   Riiiiiing!!!  Oops, I misspoke. We're taking 4 girls canoeing at Yaktman's tonight. Looks like we're be missionaries to the  end!!! 💑

                                               

We've loved our mission. Thinking about another!