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Elder Nelson - New Senior Missionaries and a Party on the Farm

Dear Family,

Mission News
I spent a fair amount of time preparing for the arrival of two senior couples. They have assignments that are very vague. They don’t really have anyone that supervises their work. The mission president is too busy with the junior missionaries to even know what they are doing. The stake presidents and bishops are likewise preoccupied their high priority responsibilities. Much is left up to the senior missionaries to find and create good things to do. The last two couples that came floundered for a couple of months before they engaged productively in the work. It was very frustrating for them.

I am working with the stake presidents under the direction of President Caplin to make sure there is direction and responsibilities for these couples when they arrive. I want them to hit the ground running.

I spent about 5-6 hours sending a bike home for an elder that had to go home early. Picking up the bike, helmet and lights from three different locations, and taking the bike to a bike shop for packaging and arranging for the bike to be shipped home takes a lot more time than you think it should.

Our friend David is doing well.

Fun Stuff
Saturday Mom and I went to a baptism in Ashburn of an African American man. He has a great spirit and he brought many of his family and friends to the baptism.

We were invited to attend a party of the Seely family. Elder Matchett Seely served in the Santa Clara Ward just before we left. He was then transferred to Lance’s ward. He had a tussle with an intruder in their apartment. In the tussle he really messed up his shoulder and he had to go home for surgery.

Dan and Mary Kay Seely have two married children that are returning to Idaho in a few days. They had a going away family dinner and invited about 8 other families to come too. It was almost a ward party.

Their modest house is on a 13 acre farm. Dan and Mary Kay wanted to teach their six children the blessings of working hard. They have chickens, goats and cows and other amimals. Mary Kay recently delivered 4 goats. One of the goats was coming out sideways so she needed help out a lot or the mother and kid would have both died. Dan works for Lockheed Martin and commutes to work from Warrenton.

Mary Kay gave us about a pound of her home-made cheese and two quarts of fresh raw milk. We stopped by the store on the way home so we can have peaches and cream today. It won’t be as good as Grandpa Ford’s, but I am looking forward to it. I would eat if for breakfast but today is fast Sunday.
I loved the yard around their house. There is about an acre of grass with a covered eating area and a good sized outdoor “kitchen”. The weather was great especially nice after the sun went down. They had a blow-up jumping pad for the kids.

It was a very delightful evening with really nice people.

House to the left, dogs and jump house.
Matchett’s sister, child and grandmother. Play structure in the background.

Mary Kay. Behind the trees is the rest of their 13 acres.
We were a bit early. The covered area in the background is the outdoor kitchen.
Kid holding a kid

Later in the evening the group of friends visiting.
WES NewsWES is doing OK. Carlos is very busy, but he does not want to hire anyone to help him. It would cut into his profit sharing.

I am working with one broker and he is doing an estimate of the value of the company. I want to have a couple of brokers to get involved too. I want to get a consensus for the selling price and find a broker that I feel comfortable working with.

Family NewsDerek and family are hunkering down for hurricane Dorian. They are still in the “cone” of high probability where Dorian could hit landfall. Brynn said they should come up and visit us for a few days – very smart girl!!!

Of course the big buzz is Kent and Lindsey’s wedding on November 2, 2019. Travel plans, what to wear and where to stay are filling the text streams.

Lindsey had her first preliminary one hour interview already. I plan to complete her interview in the next week or so.

Love you all,
Dad

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