June 17, 1984

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

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you FATHERS!!!! This has been a happy day for Daddy and we hope it has been for all of you. He really appreciates all your remembrances. We just came back from a little ride to try to find some animals - Johnny gave him a "20 power spotting scope" so we could get a closer look at some of the antelope, deer, etc. as we travel around. We went up to the "Rims" and we could even see the baseball game that was being played a long, long way away and Johnny could see some of his friends in the stands - Daddy will enjoy it!

The phone rang just a few minutes ago and they buzzed upstairs for us and I answered it and Elder James said, "Sister Mellor there's a darling voice on the other line and he says it is Michael Mellor" - it doesn't seem possible that he is old enough to really talk. About that same time the Elders in the kitchen had come to ask me to show them how to cook turkey drumstick and I didn't want all that confusion on the phone so I didn't get to talk to him. Daddy said he just talked and talked - he also said that Bob & Claire and the children had been on a little camping trip in the Tennessee mountains and they had had a really good time - that's wonderful! They sent Daddy a picture of Michael & Laura done by Olan Mills and it is just precious - it is in a frame or we would try to duplicate it - we think Michael is a Mellor and Laura and Ezell.

We were invited to attend the Hutterite wedding of one of our Hutterite friends - it was held this morning in the "Ford Creek Hutterian" church in Grassrange supposedly at nine o'clock in order to get there in time - we thought we would go to the wedding at nine and then leave at ten and get back here in time to go to Sacrament Meeting with Johnny. Well, - we went into the very tiny chapel when we got there and we had driven way back in the hills in order to find it - very quickly someone came and ushered us out of the church and told us we really wouldn't enjoy the services anyway because they were all in German so they took us into one of their homes. It was "utter chaos" - there were a million children running all over as well as almost that many adults and of course they all wear those very different clothes and it's hard to tell them apart. We found out later the had "partied" almost all last night (and we didn't think they allowed alcoholic beverages) and they were all late in getting up. Finally someone came and told us to watch the wedding party go from one of the buildings to the other - they really looked different - the bride was in royal blue but a very plain dress with those little scarves around her head and the groom was in a traditional Hutterite black outfit. They told us they would come get us when the marriage ceremony was going to start - we waited until about 10:15 and by then we had had it so we left and came home. We're glad we went because we learned a lot about their customs - it reminded me of what I would have imagined "Jonestown" was like only of course, this is based all on good and that was on evil. They told us there were fifteen colonies represented at the wedding and I guess they had been celebrating all week and would continue through another two weeks!!!!

This has been a fun but funny week. Daddy has to have those little skin cancers burned from his face periodically and they really "mess" up his face for about ten days so he decided to have it done during the time Johnny would be here before going to school so we could stay home and be together. I decided to do some of the deep cleaning that has to be done once in awhile. First of all, I took all the plastic runners from the kitchen out tot the carport and really scrubbed them and then I put them on the lawn to dry. Well - we have six large burned spots on the grass and everyone could kill me because they all try to get everything looking so good. Then I vacuumed the carpet which I have done a million time (that indoor outdoor kitchen carpet) and as I ran the vacuum over it I could see little lines - I thought it was water that was on the carpet so I kept pushing it back and forth ALL OVER. Finally, I turned the vacuum upside down and discovered the belt was loose and it had "burned" all those marks all over the carpet. I was really upset and picked up the vacuum and marched down to the place where I had bought the new belts and told them they had sold me the wrong size belt and I had ruined the kitchen carpet - they quickly showed me that I have put the roller in backwards and it wasn't holding the belt in place like it was supposed do. They suggested I use a solvent like paint remover to try to get the marks up - I spend all afternoon scrubbing those marks and now I have white marks instead of the black ones but it does look a little better. I had spent the whole day working and had made a bigger mess than I started with!

The next day I decided to make Johnny some of his favorite white bread so I went to the kitchen bright and early and had a big batch of bread all made and when I went to take it out of the bread mixer I could smell the worst odor I had ever smelled. Come to find out, the top of the mixer was loose and was loose and some dough for the last two or three years had been stuck in there and since it hadn't been used since Brenda left it was really a mess. I salvaged some of the dough and then called the maker of the bread mixer here and he said if I brought it down he would fix it for me - so I spent about two hours with that. Then our missionary couple from Lodgegrass came in and spent another two hours!!!!

The next day when I did the laundry all the water backed up in the laundry rooms- Daddy came to help me and we put the hose down in it and then turned the outside water on full force. Well - we must have let it run for about five minutes at least and thought everything was going down the drain but when we went in kitchen we found the floor was completely flooded and all the carpet in there soaking wet. We had to take all that up again and have the fan on it for all day and night. It has finally dried!!!! The plumber is coming in the morning.

Yesterday we had a cloud burst and the water came running down the hill in front of the Mission Home - Daddy hurried and got the Elders and they put up the flood gates. They were all in the kitchen eating and were all dressed to go out to proselyte and they just dropped everything and ran through all the water in their good clothes and shoes. Elder Cardinet has had a bad cold anyway and now he is wrong - he got soaking wet!!!

One of the Elders in the home has a brother who just married a girl from Billings. They had an open house for them here at the Stake Center and we were invited - I bought them some brass candlesticks and when I went to wrap them I discovered there was only one in the box so I had to hurry to take them back and get a pair. This Elder is from California and his whole family came for the open house and they came to the Mission Home to see it that afternoon.

Well - since I started my letter some interesting things have happened so I'll include them now. We just had a wonderful visit with Roy over the phone - you sound so good Roy and it gives us such a boost to talk to you. (He had just come from Cleveland, Ohio where he went to attend the wedding of his friend, Keith). Keith was one of Roy's first friends at Brown and we liked him so much - Roy said they were married at the home of the birds and it was very elaborate (they had a tent over the backyard and that's what we should have had at the Mission Home for the wedding here). Roy starts work at the new hospital the first of July and Patrice will start her new job in about a week - he says she'll be much happier in her new one and that great. Another thing that happened - our Hutterite friends just came by to bring us some of the wedding cake and they really felt bad that we had left before the wedding ceremony. These friends are much more refined than the colony we went to this morning.

I don't know if any of you have discovered this or not but Roy did - we have had Johnny's phone disconnected - he had tried to call on that line first. Since Johnny moved down in the cook's bedroom his phone has been quite a nuisance - we would hear it ringing and would run to get it and so often it would be salesman trying to sell us something or some of Johnny's girl friends and they would hang up when they heard our voices or else we would just barely miss it!

Daddy and Johnny have given their dog away and it is kinda' hard on Daddy - Johnny lost interest in her a long time ago but Daddy has taken her for a walk every morning when we are here for the last year. There is a Bishop here who wanted her so he came to get her when we weren't here and he took her dog house, a special steel watering bucket Daddy had made that wouldn't tip over, her dog food, her bowl and everything else he wanted. Daddy had given her to him on the condition that he would breed her and give us the pick of the litter so we would need all those things later. It's better for the dog to be where she doesn't have to be penned up all the time like she was here so I guess it's all right.

Daddy has planted his garden again and we'll probably have as big a one this year as last. He said the House Elders would really enjoy it more this year and I think he's right - they are very much aware of the cost of food now - much more than ever before. Incidentally, that is working out just great.

Johnny will leave here Saturday morning early - he's excited. He has spent a lot of time playing "hackysack" - that's a clever game. WE WILL REALLY MISS HIM!!!!

We love each one of you so very much. PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO and let us know how we can help you!!!!
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