September 19, 1982
Billings, Montana

Dearest Roy, Bob, Claire & Michael, Rick, Jean, Ricky & Barbara Jean and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie and Russell,

We just came home from Glendive where we went earl yesterday morning for their Stake (District) Conference - it's about two hundred miles from here. One of our Arkansas missionaries was from there and he returned home in June - he had written to us and invited us to dinner, Saturday night at the home of his brother and today at the home of his parents - we really enjoyed meeting them and being with them. The conference went really well - they had a Mother and Daughter Relief Society meeting this morning that was special. We let the assistants go with us (they love to drive our new car) and they about froze us our coming home - they had the air conditioner on all the way. We had a surprise snow storm last Tuesday and I hurried and put extra blankets on all the beds and then it turned warm again.

This has been a really funny week - I'm sure you remember how I bragged about how obedient our staff missionaries are. Well, two of them really threw me a curve this week. They announced last Monday that they were going on a diet to lost ten pounds - I didn't think too much about it until later that afternoon they brought all these vegetables into the kitchen and made a huge soup that was to be their snacking food all week. It went from bad to worse all week. We have been "babying" our tomatoes and bringing them into the kitchen as soon as they turned a little pink so we could have bacon, tomato, lettuce sandwiches one day. Wednesday I went to the kitchen to check on how sister Lowe was doing and these two Elders were frying hamburgers (6 each) and had cut up all the tomatoes - they announced that all they could eat that day was beef and tomatoes and that's all they ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had bought a lug of pears at the first of the week for our fruit - Thursday they announced that was their fruit day and all they could eat was fruit - they ate the pears like popcorn. Friday was another beef day and they finished the box of 40 hamburger patties we had in our storage. The crowning point was Saturday morning - we left at 7 to go to Glendive and they were down in the kitchen fixing huge steaks - another beef day. That's the first time I have been really upset since coming here but that did it. Sister Lowe is so sweet but she was really upset about it too and said the church was paying her too much to have the missionaries doing that - Daddy is going to tell them in the morning that if anyone else wants to have special food to just let him know and he'll transfer them out into the field - I think that will stop it. It's not in my nature to be really strict on them but I guess I'm going to have to. They rationalize that if they don't eat the meals that are prepared they should be able to fix what they want to. They pay $2.20 a day for three meals!

Tuesday night they called Daddy from the Missionary Department and told him they were sending a new missionary to us the next day - he was supposed to go to Texas but his allergies were acting up and they thought he would do better in Montana. Wednesday we cancelled all other plans and went to the airport to meet him and ha d a special dinner for him that night and then our regular orientation which involves all the staff and lasts about three hours. Thursday morning they put him on a bus to go to Helena. About three that afternoon Daddy received a phone call from the Stake President in Bozeman telling him that the missionary got in Bozeman and found that he couldn't talk and got off the bus and got a taxi to take him to the Stake Center for help. Daddy dripped everything and I went with him and we drove to Bozeman which is about 150 miles away - well, we got to the Stake Center about 7 p.m. and they were frantic - the Stake Presidency had gone into a meeting and the missionary had taken off. They were driving all around looking for him and we were surprised that he could have gone very far because he had three huge suitcases. After about an hour of deliberation and prayer a lady (non-member) who was in the chapel working on genealogy came and told us she had made a phone call for him because he had written her a note telling her he couldn't talk. Fortunately she could remember the people's name he had wanted her to call and it was purely a miracle that we found someone who knew them - they happened to be neighbors of the custodial in the church and they weren't even members. This elder had known them because they used to live in his home town in Oregon. I can't describe really to let you know how miraculously we found him - he was in a trailer house in a remote area about five miles from Bozeman. He didn't want to come with us - conveying everything to Daddy by way of notes - so finally Daddy called his family in Oregon and his Daddy told him he had to go back to the Mission home. He did not say one word all the way back - we listened to the Book of Mormon Tapes. We got here about midnight and we awakened the staff and they took him under their wing. Friday morning we came into the kitchen and when I offered to fix him breakfast he wrote that he wasn't hungry. Finally about 11 o'clock Daddy had had it and called him into the office and called his bluff - he gave him five minutes to decide whether he was going to face life like a man and talk or go home. It took him about three minutes to realize that Daddy meant business and he started to talk. It was kinda' sad - he had been in the army and had received a discharge after three months because of a psychological problem and had done some things he needed to repent of and had never told anyone about them until now. To make a long story short, Daddy received permission to send him home until he could get things straightened out and then he wants him to come back to this mission. These decisions take about one hundred phone calls to salt Lake and to his Priesthood leaders, etc. I don't know if all the missions have problems like we have had with missionaries but we really feel what we have had our share - Daddy says he is going to be really suspicious of anyone coming here who wasn't originally scheduled for this mission.

Wasn't that sad about Princess Grace - we just never read the newspaper or watch the news on TV. so we didn't hear about it until Friday. Yesterday when we got into the motel in Glendive I turned on TV. and got a little of the coverage of her funeral - she was really an elegant lady.

Johnny took all of his stereo equipment to the church last Tuesday night for a mutual dance - he loves to do that but it is a big deal to cart all that around. He told us today that they had a stake dance last night and used a car stereo for the music - he was quite disgusted so we asked him why he didn't take his and he said he would if they would pay him - I guess I don't blame him because there is a lot of wear and tear on it. He seems to be happy in school and says he is doing really well in trig and accounting - he doesn't mention the other subjects. His school is at least twice as big as Hall.

We haven't heard from any of you this week - we thought about you all day yesterday, Rick. We hope you had a really Happy Birthday. We're anxious to hear more about your house plans and we're getting excited about our next little grandchild - surely hope you're feeling good Jeannie. The family at whose home we had dinner Saturday night had a little three month old baby boy and I thought he looked a lot like Russell - Daddy said it was just because I was homesick for him. We hope you have had success with the boat and are on a trip to Lake Powell - did you ever check in the house to see if Mamie has covered everything with sheets? Sister Lowe reads me the letters she receives from Sally and I guess Chris is enjoying Med. School - Sally is really a lovely person, like her mother. How is your father enjoying his calling as Stake President, Claire. We had a really sweet card from Patrice, Roy - I'm going to write to her soon. We also had a long letter from Dianne and Garry telling us how much they enjoyed having you visit them in San Antonio. The missionaries in the home are always asking how you're doing - they really liked you!!!!

I have really confirmed something about myself that I have long suspected since we have been in Montana - I am definitely a Martha. Sister Lowe is definitely a Mary and you can really see the difference in us as we work together. She is a woman of great strength of character - it had been seven years on Wednesday since her husband had died and she received letters and calls from all her family - that was the first time I have seen her even a little bit homesick and she quickly recovered. She continues to love the church in Montana - they have called her to be spiritual living leader in our ward and she is happy about that.

Johnny just came upstairs with his laundry - I had it all done when I left yesterday morning but somehow he had three dirty pair of blue jeans - he forgets that we shouldn't do laundry on Sunday. I do all the missionaries bed linen on Monday morning so I'm glad he did his today - Ha! Next week is going to be hectic - we have missionaries going home whose parents are coming to get them and we have invited them to dinner and they'll probably spend the night and then we have two couples going home and two new ones coming out and they always stay in the home overnight. The couples do a great job here. Last Tuesday was our Billings Zone Conference and we had them all come to the home after for chili - thirty of them - I put whole kernels of wheat in the chili to extend it and it was luscious.

We love each one of you so very much - please let us know if we can help you in any way - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO.
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