I hear you are on daylight savings now, but we won't be until the end of the month (I think). I'm looking out the back window at the blooming yellow, white and pink blossomed bushes and trees, and I like it! It's trying to be spring around here, but it is still cold and cloudy, and hovering in the 40's temperature wise, so I'm not officially 'crowing' about all this yet. I made crepes in my new pan this morning, and they turned out just right. Sister Bouchard's 3 pans are all too clunky and heavy for me, so I went out and found one that I could handle, lightweight with a nice round bottom and high sides. That for breakfast, and the fact that he had a good night's sleep, got Jack's day started off right. He spent the morning helping the Corga's with their car problems, and said that Joao finally realized that his prayers for help WERE being answered by Heavenly Father. "Can He come down to earth and help you Himself?" Jack asked him. "Well, no, He doesn't do that!" "Then, how does he help you?" "He helps us by sending you and your wife to us!" blurted out Sandra! They looked at each other, and knew it was true, and that was a breakthrough moment.
I've mentioned Sister Trillaud (tree-oh) before, she is the home bound member whose heart problems have caused her body to swell up with retained water to monumental proportions. Even though she must weigh close to 400 pounds, she can get around fairly well, but cannot get too far from her oxygen tank. We visited her with the Elders to give her the sacrament, and had a testimony sharing meeting with her that was wonderful. When her turn came, she told what the gospel means to her, and how she knows she can't make it to the temple, but that it comforts her to know that she could hold a recommend. It's what Jack told her last week, and she's been pondering the idea since then, so he set up a meeting with her the following Thursday. When that day arrived, I sat in her kitchen reading while he interviewed her in the living room, and everything went smoothly until they came to tithing. It would be $54 a month, and she says everything is such a tight squeeze all ready (her oxygen unit sucks up electricity madly), she doesn't know how she could possibly do it. They went over her expenses, and it would not be easy, so he asked her to pray about it, and they will talk about it again soon. As we left, I found out that we and the Elders had been invited to lunch with her the next day, (Yikes! she doesn't need to feed us - that would be money saved right there!) and she asked if we would bring her some parsley from the store.
In the evening, on our way to genealogy, we stopped by her apt. with the nice bunch of french parsley we got for her, and I jumped out of the car to take it in. I pushed her ringer button and rehearsed a few words to dazzle her with; and heard the door unlock. I pulled on the door, but the dumb thing wouldn't open, so I kept on pulling (mumbling under my breath), all the while getting more and more frustrated. I heard her high pitched voice calling to me, but I couldn't understand any of it! "Pousser, pousser!" she shouted, as I continued to pull and pull, and I could have cried as I watched her heave herself down those stairs little by little, until we were face to face through the glass, and she opened the door, that just needed a little PUSH. (Another singular 'senior' moment in my life). I lowered my head in despair, and she lowered hers, and our foreheads met; I said, 'sorry', and she was gracious and kind and smiled that all was well.
The next day at lunch, she told us that as a young married woman with two children, she and her husband lived in Paris, and were very happy together. He was a postal worker, and all was well until he "allowed" his mother to make job changes for him, and they moved down here to where she lived. They began to argue and fight, and then they split up and were divorced. She became suicidal, once overdosing on pills and waking up a week later in a hospital, and one time leaping from the top of a 6 floor building, and only fracturing her arm! But, it was here in this area, where she came into contact with members of the church, and now at least she has the gospel. The food was too much, as usual, but it means something to her to reciprocate a little of what she feels she receives, so we ate! For dessert, she brought out 2 (two!) identical timisu cream cakes (a first for all of us), which have a thin layer of cake topped with cream, whipped firm, and sprinkled with cocoa. We each had a piece, but the other one was untouched, so she insisted that we take it and share it between us. As we cleaned up in the kitchen, Elder Gunter checked the package label, and the thing had some coffee and some alcohol listed in the ingredients . . . oops! I'm sure she had no idea about that stuff, so we had to repent that night and try to stop our misbehaving ways! When we picked up Sandra later for her daughter's eye appointment, Jack saw a busy street worker, so he got out of the car and took the 2nd timisu over to him, "For all your hard work!" The surprised man thanked him, and now has a story to tell about the moment that he was thanked for being a street sweeper.
Well, that's all for now, you take care of yourselves until we see you again.
Love, Sister Mom (Joanne)
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