TOTALLED

What a difference a week makes.  Last Saturday as I was trying to get a trailer off the the truck’s hitch, it was 25 degrees and overcast.  Today it is 55 degrees and sunny.  I’m writing today because tomorrow Eileen and I need to take a car to Brookfield, a town about 2 hours northeast of us.  More on that later. On Monday, President’s Day, I was no more successful at unhitching the trailer than I had been two days earlier.  Giving up, humbled, and just tired of vehicles in general, I called the one senior missionary elder in the Kansas City Facilities Management (FM) group.  They run the lot where I had left the truck and trailer.  Elder Shelton agreed to call me when they had time Tuesday afternoon to look at it.  I arrived to find Elder Shelton and a Church FM employee trying to uncouple the truck and trailer.  Watching them struggle to do so made me feel a little less stupid.  After a few minutes the FM employee walked away to one of their garages and came back with two things, a five-foot crowbar and a can of WD-40.  Using the crowbar, he popped the trailer hitch off the ball.  He then sprayed it down with lubricant and all was well.  Their kind efforts working on a trailer, something simple for them, was to me, a God-sent tender mercy.  

During the first four months we were here, we had eight car accidents.  During the last two months that number has doubled, with four in a nine-day span. Wednesday evening one occurred that I feared would someday come.  One that was more serious, one in which you wonder just how the missionaries survived to walk away from.  To use a few of their words to describe the incident, “just a little over the speed limit … a bump … airborne … rolled … airbags deployed.”  When I asked if they were hurt, both said no, with only one having just a single small scratch on his arm.  The next day both said, when I pressed them, that they were a little sore in their upper back and neck.  I am grateful for the divine protection they must have received.  Not something they deserved because of their less than careful driving, but something from a loving Father in Heaven; another God-sent tender mercy to the two missionaries, their families, President and Sister Sommerfeldt, and me.

As neither of the elders can now drive, both have been in other accidents while they were driving in the last two months, there will be an off-schedule/emergency transfer on Monday.  So that the elders in the area will have a car, Eileen and I are taking one to the area tomorrow.  The former car is unfortunately, beyond repair.  

To address the rise in accidents, my driver training in zone conference is going to change.  Beginning next week, we are going to use a “case study” approach, analyzing specific recent accidents in the mission.  I’m going to use pictures, street maps, speed and other relevant data to drill into the incidents and discuss as a group what went wrong.  While no names will ever be used in the discussion, my hope is that just the fear of not wanting to be the subject of next zone conference’s case study will be enough to encourage better driving.  I am grateful that when I had to call each elder’s mothers on Wednesday evening to tell them about the accident, that I could say their sons were okay.  We have to change behavior before similar calls with a different message are necessary.

The last couple weeks have been more challenging for me (Eileen) than usual.  I love the medical side of my role here, but just like when I was working at Primary Children’s Hospital, I dislike the management (political?) side of the role.  I have also had several situations recently where the nature of the medical issue is confidential and are just things I can’t talk about, yet my relationships with the individual missionaries are ones I don’t want to forget. Russell has suggested waiting several weeks and then going back and adding pictures of individuals on old postings without saying much as a way for me to keep the memories alive.  Earlier this morning I was telling Russell that I am very grateful that the missionaries feel comfortable enough with me that they will call when they are struggling with emotional issues.  Little do they know that they are helping me find joy and meaning in my calling here.  We all want to feel useful and appreciated.

Elder Sheldon and the FM employee doing their magic to get the trailer off the hitch.

Site of the most recent crash

When we went to see this car at the shop my (Eileen's) first thought was that I can't believe someone wasn't killed in this accident.

Gerry, pictured below, is 85 years old and still works on our cars with his grandson.  He is always pleasant but it seems like he wonders how so many cars can be damaged.  Sometimes we have had as many as 5 cars in his shop at one time. 

THE PETER PRINICPLE

The Peter Principle is an observation of the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, for an employee (or missionary?) to rise in the organization to their level of incompetence.  Well, I’ve hit mine.  After months of struggling to learn how to back up a trailer, the transfer six weeks ago was the first time I was successful at parking the trailer.  This week we once again had transfers and again I was successful (after three tries) at backing the trailer into its parking spot, only to find that I couldn’t get the trailer off the hitch!  After 45 minutes in the 25-degree weather, dressed in a suit (I had to present to the new missionaries an hour earlier), I gave up and just locked the truck where it was.  I’ll look at it tomorrow, while I won’t be any more skilled or smarter, at least it will be warmer.  

A week ago Friday, David Bezzant, our mission’s fleet manager from Church Headquarters in SLC dropped by for a short visit.  I drove him around Independence and then took him up to see the Liberty Jail historical site.  While we were driving around in Independence, he mentioned two things that stood out to him.  First, just how many different christian churches there are here.  And second, how many people were wearing clothing with Kansas City Chiefs’ colors and logos.  I told him that there are two religions here, and where there are many denominations of Christian’s locally, the second religion of Chiefs’ NFL football unites all the denominations of the first.

In preparation for Super Bowl Sunday last week, President Sommerfeldt sent out a message to the missionaries talking about them keeping the Sabbath Day holy and advising them all to be indoors by 8:00 PM that night.  Win or lose, the Chief fan’s potential post game activities were a concern.  But last Sunday night’s activities seemed to go okay.  It sounded a bit like a typical July 24^th evening in Utah.

On Wednesday, Valentines Day, there was a Chiefs Kingdom Champions Parade.  The schools and many businesses were closed to celebrate the Chief’s win.  The shooting that occurred that afternoon made the national news.  Two of our young elders, in who’s teaching area close to a million people gathered to see the parade, witnessed one of the victims being shot.  Unfortunately, this gun violence was not the only incident that our missionaries’ have recently experienced.  The  week before last, two of our young sisters had a gun pointed at them here in the Independence area.  The epidemic of gun violence that is plaguing our nation is no longer just in other cities, now it is in mine.

President and Sister Sommerfeldt attended our health council meeting with their Kansas City Chiefs shirts on.  

This restaurant in Olathe was full of kids on Wednesday.  The children had off school because  

of the victory celebration for the Chiefs.

The parking lot in Olathe had this very unusual three wheeled car parked. I am sure my grandkids would have loved a spin in it. 

Elder Healy and Elder Perry bought all the sisters in the office red roses for Valentine's Day. 

The newly arrived missionaries at the airport with President and Sister Sommerfeldt

One of our new elders is deaf and uses only ASL.   The amazing thing is he constantly had a smile on his face. He will be in a trio with these other two missionaries who can translate for him. 

Elder Binns translated our meeting into ASL for our new missionary. 

My amaryllis which I got for my birthday in December have finally bloomed. Just in time for Valentines Day.  They don't get much sun in my office. I think that is why it took them so long to bloom.

Elder Thomason is serving as a service missionary while on leave from our mission and recovering from surgery on his foot.  He received 19 scholarship offers and accepted the one from BYU. He is a gentle giant. The first time I met him I told him "please don't kill me".  He is kind, obedient and has a very sweet disposition. 

THOU SHALT NOT COVET

In Exodus 20:17, the Lord revealed through Moses the last of the Ten Commandments.  “Thou shalt not covet they neighbour’s house . . . nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”  The dictionary defines coveting as, “To wish for greatly or with envy.”  Jesus said, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life consistently not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15)

Until just recently, I (Russell) never dreamed that just performing my missionary calling as a vehicle coordinator could lead a number of the young elders to possibly transgress the tenth commandment.  Almost all the vehicles in our mission are compact SUVs, but last week we got the first of several (hopefully) compact pickup trucks.  In a number of the rural north, east and south areas of our mission, many of the roads are not paved and trucks fare better than cars.  On Thursday we drove to Maryville, near the Iowa border, to exchange this new truck for the elder’s SUV.  I was amazed at how easy it was to make someone’s day and turn them into the envy of many of their fellow missionaries.

The last two weeks have been difficult ones for Eileen.  Like most of her weeks since arriving six months ago, the missionaries have had a number of health challenges, several serious.  But what has made the last couple of weeks abnormal is the number of contentious interactions she has had with a few very unhappy parents and Church medical professionals who opine from afar, having never seen or talked to the young missionaries whose lives they are affecting. 

One situation, which at first, I viewed as just tragic, I’m now inclined to see it as unfortunate but surrounded by a number of tender mercies; mercies and love extended by many.  On Thursday, during our drive to Maryville, Eileen got a call from a young missionary who was suffering with a serious issue.  I consider it a tribute to Eileen and her relationship with the elder that he would trust her enough to call.  To meet the needs of this elder, a number of senior and young missionaries were called upon to help on very short notice.  It was heartwarming to see the love exhibited to this elder by his fellow missionaries prior to his return home on Friday.

We drove  these elders to get some medical records. Elder Besaw (on the right) was very  friendly to everyone including the medical records cashier.  It was fun to see him in action. 

It seems like a ritual that missionaries find a way to mark their territory when they have served in a certain location. In Mound City it was a goat's skull. In Marysville it is a surfboard. It must have been here a long time as I didn't recognize any of the elder's names on the surfboard.

The Marysville apartment had two big Christmas trees.  This one was decorated with balloons. I didn't ask if they keep it up year round.

Elder Mortenson and Elder Johnson with their brand new truck. It even smells new inside. Here is hoping it doesn't get in a wreck anytime soon. 

These were on the road going home from Maryville.  They looked like something off a futuristic movie.

                                                          Elder Hunick and Eileen

Dinner at Olive Garden with senior missionaries after a temple session

We were able to attend a Super Bowl Sunday organ recital at the Community for Christ temple. 

  The pipe organ was huge.  This is with the perspective of the tall corkscrew spire going up from the auditorium. 

This organ recital has occurred every Super Bowl for the last 25 years. The organist was excellent. 

There were definitely a lot of Chiefs fans in the audience. 

Jan Kraybill was the organist and was extremely talented.  She did one song which was mostly done with the pedals in honor of the kicker for the Chiefs.  The beginning song had bits and pieces of Taylor Swift's songs. The audience loved it. Since we are not familiar with what songs Taylor Swift sings it went right over our heads. 

MY LACK OF PROPER PERSPECTIVE

This past week has been an interesting one, not one we particularly want to repeat, but eventful.  Last weekend we had a record (during my short tenure) of five cars in the body shop at the same time. And this week another first, three accidents (Mon, Thurs. & Sat.).  Usually, we have only 1-2 a month.  Not exactly the type of records that I’m proud of but perhaps revealing on my last week.  The sisters’ car got hit while it was parked and unoccupied.  The two cars driven by elders suffered from the same problem, drivers thinking that the gap they wanted to get through was wider than their cars actually were.  While just an inconvenience if approached slowly, at 30-35 mph it creates quite a mess. I totally get why car insurance rates are higher for young males.

I’m not sure when it started happening (I (Russell) would never have thought to call my son’s mission office) and perhaps it’s just because we are in the U.S. where phone calls are free and mission office phone numbers are only a Google search away, but some missionary parents feel they need to call the mission nurse to both complain about their missionary’s health care and to ask why they are not getting better.  Eileen got two of those this week.  One went so far as to demand “blood work” be done, only to call back a few minutes later and say her bishop said no need for the blood work but suggested two medications.  The missionary has already been seen by a local physician and has been prescribed a different medication.  The mother told her missionary to take all three.

It was with this backdrop that Eileen and I discussed what we might write about in the blog this week. Between these and other challenges at home and in the office, Eileen suggested maybe we just skip writing.  However, another thing happened this week that has reminded me how minor my problems are and how myopic my viewpoint is.  Yesterday a funeral was held at the building where we attend church.  A young man, Jonathan Fielding, whose family lives in a neighboring ward, passed away tragically after falling while hiking in Southern Utah.  My heart goes out to his family, particularly his parents.  Their loss has reminded me of what a great gift life is, and how fortunate we are that none of our accidents in the mission have resulted in serious injury.

Our office staff during transition.  Sister Kearns (in the purple), is having brain surgery the end of the month and needs some time off. Sister Welbern (front row, left) lives locally and taught Sister Kearns how to do the office job. She has very graciously agreed to serve as the secretary to the mission president until a new missionary can be assigned. 

We needed to go to Tipton which is 2 hours away to pick up some appliances. We took Elder Barlow and Elder Paul out to lunch.   

Eileen had a zoom call with some members of her family and her sister Chris on Friday night. Chris is the one who was in a medically induced coma for a couple of weeks fighting ARDS.  She is now in a rehab facility trying to gain her strength back. It is remarkable how well she is doing. Three different doctors  told her she is indeed a miracle patient, as they truly didn't expect her to live. Chris sent the photo below  today of her standing on her own without a walker or oxygen. Just 9 days ago she was scheduled to have a tracheostomy and was so weak it took 4 men to lift her