Week 66 - Dwight

Kari, Linda, Dwight, Sheila

My brother Parley was three years older than me.  He was one of my heroes.  He was excited when UPS gave him an early retirement option when he was only 55 years old, because he and Sheila could now do something they very much wanted to do.  Parley did not serve a full-time mission as a young man and he always looked forward to the time he could serve a mission with Sheila.  They got the call to go to Russia and were having amazing experiences!  They had been out about 18 months and had three months left.  I was excited that they would soon be home because I was working on a major project, that was literally over my head and I needed my big brother's help.  In the middle of the night we got a call from Sheila, and Parley had died of a heart attack while serving in Russia.  I miss Parley.  Sheila came to see us this weekend, and we've done a lot of reminiscing while we've watch General Conference. 

My sister Linda's family, Sheila in the mirror

My sister Linda and husband Donald are still here in NC.  I took a somewhat candid picture of the family.  Sheila tried to avoid the photo, but I caught her in the mirror!  Kari, Linda's daughter has been making apple jacks at the Wayne County Fair all week and Linda's been helping.  We headed over to the fair this week, because Kari's apple jack's are free to missionaries!!

Wayne County Fair

Susan loves the animals!

 Today we had a group of our Haitian friends at church to watch the 1st Sunday session of General Conference together.  It was all in Creole and I'll have to watch it again to get the full meaning as I'm still learning Creole.  Haitian's tend to love music and I love hearing them hum along to the hymns the Tabernacle Choir was singing, even though they didn't know the tunes or the words.

General Conference with our Haitian friends

Everybody enjoying Conference

This week found us helping some of our friends, rent a new house, get to work because of car problems, hook up utilities, and a few other things.  My buddy JR got out of the hospital with both feet still attached.  The doctors wanted to amputate one, but they're going to try antibiotics for a month to see if it can be saved.  I sure hope so!  Took him breakfast today (including my favorite - grits!) and met his daughter and her family.  What an amazing person!

The highlight for the week had to be the baptism of Monica, a 13 year old Haitian girl that we totally love.  She was so excited and so ready.  It was a little sad because none of her family was able to attend the baptism, with the exception of her 5 year old nephew.  He was excited to be there!  In any case, the baptism was great and we celebrated at Wendy's (Frosty) afterwards and helped her buy a few needed school supplies - which was fun.

Elders Smithson, Hafen, Bates, and Hansen; Monica, Jason, Susan, Dwight

Celebrating at Wendy's

We've had a lot of questions about the floods in Western NC that happened last weekend.  It's just devastating, all that has happened.  Here in the eastern part of the state it was just a lot of rain with no real damage.  We're ok, but our hearts go out to all those that have and are suffering with loss of homes, businesses, and family members.  We thought we were going to help with the clean up this weekend, but it's been postponed until next weekend because they just weren't ready for us.  Not sure how much we can do, but if we can relieve the suffering just a little bit and provide some hope, it will be worth it. We don't always know why some things happen, but God has a plan.  If we follow in faith all things will turn out for our good, because He has designed everything for our eventual happiness.

We love serving here on this mission.  We are the ones receiving the most benefit and learning and growing so much.  We love the people here.  We love the experiences we're having.  We feel so blessed and have to pinch ourselves occasionally to confirm that all this is real!  We thank Heavenly Father that He sent us here.  We thank you for your love and support.  We love you!