January 8, 1984 Billings, Montana

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

It's really fun to add another name to the salutation of our letter - I Kinda' think they are going to capitalize the "A" but I don't know. We talked to Ann yesterday morning and things are going really well for them - Beverly has been a Doll - Russell went back to Jerome the middle of the week and Beverly and Mimi have stayed to help - I believe they are going home the first part of this week. Ann says she could never have done it without her help and we thing it is so wonderful when families unite like that and help each other. I guess Beverly has made every kind of cookie imaginable besides doing everything else - she's a hard act to follow!!!! Ann continues to have trouble with her veins and now she has little blood clots all over - she said she is relieved to know they aren't the kind that will kill you but they're painful - she is supposed to stay off her feet as much as possible and apply as much heat to them as she can. My offer to help is still good if they could just get their children up here for me to tend. I believe Jeannie is going to take them some this week - it's hard because Susanna is at a hard age to leave her "loft - school - mother" (in about that order) and would prefer to stay home - it will be interesting to see what happens - I told Ann that I was glad I didn't have to make the decision and enforce it. Ann and Ron said that little LeeAnna is a wonderful baby and doesn't have to eat as often as the others - that's a blessing they really need!!!

We loved taking to Claire and Bob last Sunday (I think that's when it was) and it was so neat to talk to Michael - we still can't believe it was really Michael we talked to - he sang Happy Birthday to me and told us all about his toys. He wasn't even talking when we saw him last February and now he sounds so grown up. They're doing fine and Claire wrote us the sweetest letter that we had waiting for us when we got home Friday night - you can't imagine how much that boosts our spirits!!!! Wait until you hear this ---- Claire has gone to cloth diapers and we think she is so smart!!! She said she discovered how expensive the disposable ones were and decided to try the cloth ones and really likes them better. I remember how old fashioned everyone in Little Rock thought I was because I always gave cloth diapers as baby shower gifts to new mothers. The cold weather is Memphis has frozen their gardenias and that's sad! We think you are smart you're smart to buy an artificial Christmas tree too - when I took the tree down here in the Mission Home it was so dry we felt fortunate it hadn't caught fire. We love our artificial tree we have used for so many years and have never worried about it being a fire hazard. It's hard to believe Laura is already wearing 6-9 month clothes - she has really done well.

We hope so much Jeannie and Rick and their family are in Orem today - Ann said when we talked to her that they were going to bless little LeeAnna today and the Weinerts and Cal and Sue (Ron's sister & brother-in-law) would be with them. Ann isn't able to go to church yet so they were getting special permission to bless her in their home with the Bishop and their home teachers - they wanted to do it today because Beverly, Russell and Mimi would be there. Jeannie - did you make the dresses Barji and Mary Ann have on in their pictures? Every time I pass a fabric shop I yearn to go in and get some material and start sewing. Those dresses are so darling and I'll bet you made them.

Roy - I'll bet the skiing is better in your area than it is here in Montana. Johnny went to Red Lodge and said the slopes were really rocky and as we traveled throughout the state last week it rained and was really warm and that ruins the skiing, they still have an over-abundance in Utah though (snow, that is) and I guess the temperatures are low so they don't have a lot of thawing. I think Johnny will probably put skiing low down on his list until he goes to BYU. We hope you have some good skiing this Winter because we know how much you love it.

This past week we spent traveling and it's really surprising how tired we get. Daddy had planned it so we wouldn't have to hurry from one place to the other so fast but we still get tired. We went to Miles City last Monday for a zone conference - we left early in the morning and I didn't get home until late so it was a long day - the Relief Society there planned a dinner for us after our meeting and that really helped - that is a small town but it has college and a lot of members of the church are involved in the college and they are really special. Our two couple missionaries in that area came and they had to travel a long way so we really appreciated that - one of the couples is really outstanding musically and they're doing a great job. (Some scuttlebutt!!! Dorothy & Dan called last night - Chick Luten has left Betty and J. T. Elliff has left Jewell - we're not surprised about the Lutens but the Elliffs is unbelievable!!!! Terry's dog had five puppies and she brought them home for Christmas - Ha!)

We had our zone conference here in Billings on Tuesday - the two couples from the visitor's center in Cody weren't notified about it so they didn't come and we missed them. One of them is leaving in April and he has been the director of the visitor's center so Daddy recommended to Salt Lake that the other couple be called as the director - well, someone in Salt Lake goofed and called them too soon and really hurt the present director's feelings. Daddy received an emergency phone call while we were in Dillon and it about scared us to death and it turned out to be this director and he wanted to know if he should go home right now. I tell you - the most important in the world is getting along with people!!!! It seems like some people are just waiting to get their feelings hurt.

Wednesday we went to Butte for our zone conference and it was really good - the zone leaders make all the difference in the world. They lacked one baptism of being the top zone in the mission last month and they had the coldest temperatures. The Relief Society there prepared dinner for us too and it was so good - pork roast, baked potatoes, all kinds of salads and cake. It was so funny - the temperature was 57(above zero and during the Christmas holidays it was 55(below zero. The roads were all so dirty and slushy but it was great to be warm in Butte. We drove to Dillon after the meeting because they had asked Daddy to speak to a special missionary fireside - it was about 60 miles and it was dark and after the fireside we drove back to Butte and we both wondered if those people really knew how much trouble it was to get there. On our way we went by Wisdom, Montana and just a week ago I had read that Wisdom was the coldest spot in the nation - when I mentioned that to a member at the fireside he said, "That is because they have a recording station - actually it was - 64( in a place a little further north" - can you believe any place being that cold??? They had had a lot of trouble with flooding in that area - big ice chunks were damming the river - one man said he had spent all day sandbagging on Christmas and it was about 50( below. We have really grown to appreciate these ranchers up here - they are a hearty group!!!

Thursday we went to Missoula - that was a fun day because we didn't have zone conference until the next morning. They have a big beautiful mall there and Daddy and I went shopping and had lunch (dinner) at a little Greek shop there - we had a "gyro; - they're sandwiches made in pocket bread out of specially seasoned beef and salad. It was so funny we were in our motel room and ready for bed by about 6:30 p.m. and about 8:30 p.m. we both remembered the special fireside telecast by satellite from Salt Lake - we had completely forgotten about it and by them it was too late. The next morning at our zone conference every single missionary asked us how we liked it - we were very honest and said we hadn't seen it - I guess it was really good with Elder Neal Maxwell talking about our relationship to Jesus Christ. We have both resolved that from now on when we don't have anything definite to do we had better find out what we are missing because this has happened to us before!!!!

Our conference in Missoula started at 8 a.m. with Daddy's interviews - I always go with him and just visit with the missionaries until the conference starts - I really enjoy this and find that I can help many of them by just listening. We have six lady missionaries in this zone and they brought me the most beautiful corsage - it really pleased me because I really need a new permanent and my hair had completely "died" and I looked so terrible but the flowers helped. This zone was the top zone in the mission for the month of December - one of their zone leaders is probably going to be Daddy's new assistant - he is really outstanding. We left Missoula about 3 p.m. to come home - we stopped in Butte for a special Chinese dinner at our favorite restaurant in the whole mission and then again in Bozeman for a double decker ice cream cone so the ride went fast. We got home about 9 p.m. and found that the furnace in our apartment had been our all day - Daddy got that fixed and then we went to bed. Johnny was out on a date with "Carolyn".

Saturday I washed and ironed and did some shopping - I cleaned the General Authorities' bedroom and bathroom because Bro. Tyler Woolley, the Regional Representative for this area, this area, was supposed to spend the night with us - he finally called about 9:30 and said he couldn't get in because of the fog (he was coming from Denver) - so we went to bed. Today, Sunday, we took the couple from Taiwan and Laos to church - they really need money and Daddy is helping them through the church - it's hard to discern if they are interested in the church or interested in money from the church. I made them a sweet cinnamon ring this morning but they want chickens!

We surely do love each one of you and we're so proud of you - PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you - WE MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!
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