Long days. . .

Long days bring that feeling of working hard even having meetings can make one get that "good tired feeling," as Tana calls it.

This morning I woke up around 5:30 and have a hard tine going back to sleep even for an hour. It catches up to me and I am nodding the rest of the day! I am ready to go to sleep at seven o'clock!

But, I hang in there and endure what we need to do. It is okay, I catch up on other days with a nap. Then when I wake up in the morning I have to stop and think what day it must be and hope for the best.

We had a great Zone conference today. Our first one in the mission. We sure enjoyed seeing all the missionaries in our region get together. There was a luncheon too and the food was great. Thanks to the Relief Society from our former Richland Stake. [I meant to mention before that our stake was divided and we are now the West Richland Stake since November 3.]It was especially uplifting to hear so many strong male voices sing, "Hark All Ye Nations" all at once. We could feel the Spirit so sweetly. It was heavenly. The missionaries just have that special glow!!!

It is so refreshing to see what all the missionaries do and the leadership qualities they learn no other way in such a condensed part of their young lives. Two years compared to their lifetimes is so short. But, they go out young men and come back as mature men! The sisters too are so poised and confident as their missions wind down.

The members love the missionaries and do anything and everything they can to accommodate us when we need it. The locals are so friendly and supportive wherever we go, whether it is to the store at Wal-Mart or Costco. People stop and ask us where we are from and Ron will talk to people around us to get to know them. A lot of Church members see us and know people we know from working at the Columbia River Temple.

We can feel the many prayers rendered in behalf of the missionaries. We thank you all for that too. Our former temple president, stopped to talk to us and shake our hands as we came into the temple. The workers are so cheerful when we see our friends we used to work with there on the Wednesday morning shift at the temple.

More notes and thoughts regarding the Zone Conference. We loved it, even if it is a little exhausting at times.

We are making tamales tomorrow for our visitors next week. Ron's brother, LeRoy, Val and Ben will be visiting from Oklahoma before Thanksgiving. We are excited to have them come, even if it is for one day and one night. They are spending the holiday with Val's family in Portland and will be driving over to see us since they are so close.