V-Day Again, and Other Wonders

 I was up at the crack of dawn to bake the chicken for the BBQ Chicken Wraps - the main course for our YA Picnic.  I had to have nearly everything ready by 9:30 so that we could leave to get our second COVID vaccination shot at 10:30.  I bustled around until time to leave.

We left at 9:40, hoping that the line would move quickly and that we could get in, get the shot, and get out in good time.  Unbelievably, we walked right in, reported in with birth dates etc, rolled up our sleeves and got jabbed (as the Brits put it) and were back home before 11 to complete the picnic preparations.

We walked.  It doesn't make a lick of sense to drive anywhere in this city.  Driving can be very slow, and parking is generally very expensive, and walking is a joy.  Today's tally was three miles, not a great deal, but better than nothing!

All we needed to do was assemble the wraps, put them in a bag and get ourselves to the picnic on the north side of the town.  It would have been a mile and a half one way, and while we are certainly up to walking that distance, we weren't up to carrying all the lunch, blankets and other items.

We made it there at just a couple minutes past noon, and the elders were already there with four young people (another one came a little while later), and sitting in full sun out in the middle of a grassy field.  These young men had also brought lawn chairs.  They had purchased them.  Can you believe it?  They said they got them because sometimes they meet investigators outside to teach them.  I kind of think they got them for us.  They are incredibly thoughtful.  I cannot sit on the ground because it would nearly blow my knees up to try to stand up from the ground.  

We opened up the sack of lunch goodies....very simple this time.  I learned from the last one when I made four kinds of sandwiches that it is not necessary to take so much stuff.  We still had too much, but the menu was much simpler.  Then I gratefully sat down in the lawn chair and watched as SK conducted court.  

These young elders get such a kick out of him.  There were three young women there who hadn't heard his golf jokes so he was really happy to entertain.  

It was so beautiful out today that I hated to leave (and actually SK should have because his head and neck are bright red with sunburn), but I had an appointment (made in early March) to get my hair cut!  I said my goodbyes, and then walked to my appointment, which was maybe a half mile away.  The woman who cut it has been the one I see for all haircuts since first we came, but the last time I saw her before the lockdown was late September.  She takes an hour with me.  She always asks me what is working, what is not working, what I want my hair to do.  Then she washes it, cuts, blows it dry, cuts some more, then using her hands fluffs it.

I am pleased with it.  Honestly, I don't hardly even know what I want anymore.  I think I mostly want hair that looks presentable, is easy in the wind and humidity and which will bounce back after a night of sleep.  Every time she has cut my hair that is precisely what I get.  I can tell this cut will be like that.  There is nothing new about this haircut.  It looks like it has always looked. 

Someday, I am going to get it cut kind of layered and with a windblown look, like my sister-in-law's hair (Lisa).  I just haven't been brave here.  I know it will take me time to figure out how to keep it looking like that, and I am happy right now with the ease of taking care of this style.

The evening mission call was a farewell, as we heard from nine missionaries who will be leaving Tuesday.  One of them is our zone leader Elder Hinkson.  They were each asked to share something they had learned on their missions and then bear their testimonies.  It is truly impressive how they speak from their hearts, how well they know scriptures, and how much they love the Lord.

Dave closed the meeting by quoting the scripture that he will use as a rallying call for the last two months of their mission.  It is from Romans 8:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I can hardly read the Gospels anymore without wanting to sing it with "The Lamb of God."

Oh, and look what we found on our living room carpet today?  SK was the hero and killed it.  I am convinced that it hitchhiked in with the picnic blanket.  I saw other spiders that looked like it crawling on the blanket.  At least it wasn't a scorpion.