Sometimes I feel I must be riding in a covered wagon....

If you think the roads are terrible where you live, you should ride a few miles on my treads.  The roads in Queens are filled with potholes and the asphalt is crumbling!  They are the so bumpy I have a headache before the end of the day. The other day, about the 7th hour in the car, I told Elder Johnson I felt that we were traveling in a covered wagon.  I'm sure it couldn't be that much different than what the pioneers endured.  Endured being the key word.

This morning before church we needed to go to Jamaica (that's where the bed bug problems usually are) to fix the toilet in the sister's apartment.  Their superintendent said it was their problem.  I guess it is a problem for them and not him!  While Elder Johnson was working, I visited with the sisters.  They are serving a Korean speaking mission.  One is from Korea while the other is from Mongolia.  The are both accomplished young women having already received their undergraduate degrees.  After serving their mission, they would like to return to the United States and attend BYU to receive their master's degree.  We talked about their countries and then the topic of food came up.  So, they invited us to dinner Thursday night.  We will have a cooking lesson as they teach us how to cook their native food.  I sure hope we like the food because they are excited to share this part of their lives with us.  Here is a picture....the shorter sister, Sister Batsuuri, is from Mongolia and Sister Laxton is from Korea.  Aren't they just too cute??

On another note, the other day before an apartment inspection, an Elder called with this question:
"Hey, we have a question....We have some carpet in our apartment and it's been getting dirty and we were wondering if the mission has a carpet cleaning thing so we could get the apartment looking really good.  Like one of those shampooing vacuum things."  Another little "prince."

Our spiritual thought for the week:
This last week we found two apartments for missionaries that were just perfect. We went home feeling so "proud".  No sooner had we arrived home, than we received two telephone calls saying the landlord did not want to rent to a corporation (the church).  We were then reminded of a lesson this week in our Institute class on humility.

We need to humble ourselves before the Lord. We do not accomplish anything without His help.  Prayer is the key....talk to your Heavenly Father and ask for His inspiration in all you do.  No matter what you need, He knows you...you are his son or daughter and He loves you.