Success!

We did get a chance to talk to Benj yesterday and he is doing well. The police did catch the guys who hit his car. Only time will tell if he is able to squeeze any blood from the proverbial turnip.

Last night's presentation to the Council of the Twelve and the Area Committee was a big success. Elder Packer's generous praise of the work being done by the Area Presidency was very much appreciated. There is a good sense of understanding of just how difficult it is to operate and grow the church in such a challenging environment. The presentation generated a lot of discussion among the group in Salt Lake, long after we left the office. So, it was certainly worth all of the effort.

We got to sleep in this morning. We got to work just a little past 9:00 a.m. Marina, our Liahona Local Pages Editor returned for the first time after her wonderful trip to the U.S. It is great to see these wonderful people have such an opportunity. She and her group loved every minute of it. The only sad note was that inclement weather kept them from hugging a redwood tree in the Mariposa Grove. So Marina, this picutre is for you. I can't access the hundreds of pictures that I have taken in redwood forests all over California, so this one that I lifted off the internet will have to do!

I wonder how long it will be before I get to stroll through a redwood forest again!!

We got pretty well caught up again today after the last fews days working on the presentation. Chris made up some chocolate chip cookies and some cranberry and chocolate chip cookies to take into the office. We also sucked on a See's sucker that the Price's sent back with Marina.

We had a question about a decison the area presidency made a few weeks ago. President Pieper tried to stimulate my memory (that's a little like putting air into a leaky tire!!), but he gave me enough clues that I was able to query Decisionpoint and brought up the exact minute with the key points of discussion and the decision. We all felt pretty good about that!!

we left the office a little early today and took a wonderful nap this afternoon. Chris made some sweet and sour pork over rice. It was great!!

We are looking forward to getting out and about this weekend with some of the other seniors. We do have another video conference on Saturday that I must make sure comes off, but I don't have to be there for the conference. So I will probably just swing by the office for a few minutes, get things set up and then head for the metro to meet the other seniors!

Got a nice B-day greating from the Price's. Thanks Al and Barbara!

Best to all of you.