LOOKING HOMEWARD

Last Saturday I attended the Folsom Quilt Exhibit.  It was wonderful--exceeded my expectations.  One group had created wall quilts, each having a red ribbon running through it.  Then they hung the quilts in such a way that the ribbon connected them.  Pretty cool.

(Wish I could do as well aligning them as the quilt hangers did.  This picture won't move up.)

On Sunday I held my annual Chinese New Year party and invited the Cliftons, the Cherringtons, Pete and Alta Hart, and Sisters Porter and Thompson.  We ate potstickers and compared notes about our Chinese zodiac signs.  The next day at the office I found a beautiful potted orchid on my desk with a Curious George thank-you card from "Alta, the monkey."  Good people.  Nice evening.

I enjoy the names I input from the baptism records.  Today's favorite was Tonia Sunshine Day.  Doesn't it make you happy to know there are people in the world with that outlook?

My replacement will arrive April 8, a transfer week.  I'll train her for a few days, then start for home by the end of the week.  I read a long email today from my MTC companion who was sent to an Indian reservation to set up an RN program at the local college.  After 9 months, living alone on the reservation in a trailer, she is being called into the mission office to complete her mission.  The Church is abandoning the program because of lack of involvement and follow-through by the proposed recipients.  She's disappointed at her lack of success in what she was called to do, but wrote that the Lord knew best and she didn't regret her effort.

I feel somewhat the same way.  The mission has not been what I expected.  But though I'm not entirely satisfied with my performance, I don't regret the effort.  I've been tested.  I've grown some, learned some, and I think contributed some.  The Lord knows best.