Humanitarian work

Here in Florida the Elder Missionaries have a set routine. They go to work every day. The Sister missionaries on the other hand have several things they can choose to do. We are asked to do community service. We choose to do things that we can work on at the ranch and then deliver.
The ranch is so large it is actually in 3 counties. It's biggest part is in Osceola County. We located a volunteer Center which is called Osceola County Council on Aging Volunteer Center. This center works with the county, but is an independent organization. More than 1600 volunteers spend time to organize Meals on Wheels, handle the Womens and Childrens Abuse center, handle the "Food Bank", help @ Hospitals with the newborns, care centers for the elderly and many more needs. It takes in every kind of need in a community there is. This was the perfect fit for us Sister Missionaries. So we set up a time to meet with them, took a tour, then asked what we could do.
So here are the needs so far: We sew cloth dolls and doll dresses(1) and we sew Nerf like balls and stuff them with plastic grocery bags for the abused center for children(2). One sister is now teaching us to make simple toddler dresses for needy children. We color "ABC books" (3)that teach underpriviledged children colors and the alphabet before they begin school. These books take about 13 hours of labor to complete just one. They go to places like Headstart programs. We crochet hats and booties(4), burp clothes(5), and receiving blankets(6) for the Newborns @ the Unwed mother center. Yes, I have learned to crochet and it wasn't easy. I had not crocheted since Young Womens but it came back pretty fast. I have just learned to do head bands with a flower(7) for newborn girls and they are pretty fun. We sew together quiet books(8) they use in Free Clinics for the children to play with. Of course, we make tons of lap blankets, fleece blankets(9), and tied quilts(10). These are used in care centers for the Elderly, on buses when they drive patients to appointments, and at the Abuse Centers.
The holidays are coming soon, so we'll be doing other projects also. This work is so rewarding. When we deliver and see the faces of those people and those that get to deliver them, we know they are going to great use. Service truely is the greatest feeling, so we sister missionaries say

"Forget ourselves and go to work".

A day for Donetta

Well, SURPRISE SURPRISE. Here's an update.


It's official, we received our formal letter extending our Mission until April 1, 2011. Wow, that sounds a long time away. We are currently in the Carrol House (Visitors Center) and it's a busy time for me. On the late mornings I get to sleep in until 6:15, dad is up by 5:30. By the time we get him out the door to be @ the office by 7:00, I feed the deer & the Sandhill Cranes, then we sister missionaries meet on the street and go walking. We get back by 8:00, it is so hot and humid that we are drenched by then. The days are busy with cleaning, tours, service projects, running errands, baking cookies, preparing lessons. Last week was a killer for me. On Wednesday my day started @ 4:00am because I went to seminary @ 5am in the morning to talk to the students. Yes 5:00am the kids have seminary. There were 14 youth in seminary this year and we went to their graduation. All 14 was on the honor roll, meaning 80% attendance & all 25 scriptures were memorized. On Thursday is our normal temple day which we have to be on the road by 5:30 so again 4:00, then Friday the whole Stake had a "DAY OF ELIJAH" at the temple. We were asked to help out so we had to be there again by 7:00. Friday night I crashed.

We had visitors!!!

On July 28th, David's birthday we both received the best present ever. Tiffany, Colby and the kids came to Florida on vacation and we made arrangements to spend most of the time with them. We met them @ Epcot Center and I could hardly refrain from crying, I was so excited. The kids have all grown so much. Lexie had changed the most, of course, and I couldn't believe how much she talks. We spent that evening having dinner at a restaurant that moved like a carousel and Cutler was very intrigued then we watched the fireworks. Noah kept trying to figure out how they made them go off. He's so smart.

We stayed in Orlando also so we didn't have to travel back & forth. Early the next day, we went to the Magic Kingdom. By this time the Labrum's had learned how much water and gatorade you have to drink. It was really hot and humid, we were all very drained. We rode all the rides we could like Peter Pan, Thunder Mountain, Pirates and Lexie liked the Carousel Horse the best, I think. We were exhausted by noon but we kept on going. About 3 we finally gave in and went back to our rooms before we met for dinner. That evening we went to dinner at a really nice place called T-Rex Restaurant. The food was in enormous portions and it was decorated with dinosaurs and ice caves.

Friday we spent the day @ Animal Kingdom, I think this is were we all had the most fun. There wasn't a lot of rides but the safari ride was nice. Seeing the animals was really neat and we didn't have to walk and it was in a covered safari bus. We were really worn out and hot. 

 Saturday we went to Hollywood Studios. That afternoon we said goodbye and drove back to the ranch. After church on Sunday, we traveled back to Orlando and picked them up and brought them to where we are serving our mission. There is a guest trailer that is nice and because there's no room in our place we had them sleep there. We loved having them there and showing them around. It only took the kids a short time and they felt right at home. They loved Gus, the alligator that is stuffed and lives with us in the visitors center.

 

Monday we loaded up on the tour bus and took them on a tour. It was so hot we didn't see too many animals, but we seen a few small alligators.

We drove to the beach which is only 30 minutes from us and everyone had a great time. We couldn't stay too long because we had arranged for an Air boat ride and we didn't want to miss it.

That evening we meet with Robbie Justesen who works on the ranch and we gave us a ride on the air boat. I hadn't done this before and it was awesome. We drove down a canal which was beautiful and then it opened up into a lake. It was huge and had lots of alligators. As they could hear the boat they would run off the banks into the water. We saw lots of birds and even saw a wild pig. It was too quick to get a picture, but what a ride. We really had a great time.

Tuesday morning I took the kids and went on a hike from the trailer to the visitors center. It's about 3 blocks. It was lots of fun, they picked up sea shells, looked for bugs, chased the butterflies, dug in the dirt with the shovels. and played on the porch chasing the little green frogs.

We went to the church and made tye-died shirts with my summer club group and that was lots of fun.

I really enjoyed showing them what grandma and grandpa does here on our mission. While we went to the church Colby went to work with Grandpa. The afternoon was quiet and we finally had time to visit and catch up. What a wonderful week. The only thing that could have made it better would been if all the family could have been here. We drove them to the airport which only took about 45 minutes. It was really hard to say goodbye. We are so blessed to have such wonderful children and grandchildren. We know this mission is a blessing not just for us but for them also. We can see the Lord's hands in the lives of our children and their families and we are so thankful for it. We hope that our grandchildren know why we are here and realize how much we love the Lord.

THANK YOU FOR COMING AND SPENDING YOUR VACATION WITH US.