March 22, 1999 Farmington, Utah

I hope SO much that you all are doing good!!! I went to Orem on Friday to go to a luncheon with the "Friendship Club" that I used to belong to. John came home from his work so he could meet me at their home and discuss my "finances" - it is amazing to me how quickly he can get things done that take me weeks. John had me change banks so I called one of my insurance agents to get them to have the withdrawal changed to this new bank. WELL - this dumb agent gave me the address of a place in North Carolina and they called me and said they didn't have any record of my policy with them. While I was with John on Friday he called another place and got it changed in just a matter of minutes. I went to the Lehi First Security Bank and took all my things out of the safety deposit box - that was kinda' traumatic!!! John has put the titles to my condo and to the Subaru in his safety deposit box and I have the other things here. Most of them are just sentimental things and it might be fun for you to go through them if you want to. There were some dollars that Aunt Marvel had saved and labeled "Jess's last dollar" "Hugh's last dollar" etc. and they are in John's safety deposit box too. Things like that meant SO much to Aunt Marvel. There is also a little box of Roy and Bobs' coin collection and I have that here and will give to Bob to put in his safety deposit box. It was foolish for me to keep my box in Lehi and if I decide I need another one I will get one here. I am going to upgrade my condo insurance and when I do I will ask John to put the policy in his box. I just have $50,000 in household and personal things and I don't believe that is enough now that I have had time to settle in and understand it better.

When I went into John and Juliannas' home I was greeted by TAR. He is such a beautiful and gentle dog and so is MOKI. They still haven't decided exactly where to start in their home so they are in a mess but it will be WONDERFUL when they get it finished!!! I love the way the kitchen and family room are now. I enjoyed being with my Orem friends but they seem SO old to me which again reminds me how old I am!!! The luncheon was at the "Seville" - that is a beautiful retirement home where my friend, Beth Tippets, lives. She is 88 years old but she is in good health and was living with her son and his wife and their family. She decided it would be better for everyone for her to move.

I went to a "DUP" (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) meeting on Wednesday and the women who belong to that are very old too - SURELY I'M NOT THAT OLD!!! I have to get all kinds of records for them before they will accept me as a member - it will take me a long time because I am lost when it comes to my genealogy!!! I know I am eligible because my Father belonged to the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. My Mother preferred to spend her time playing bridge - Ha!!! Aunt Carol has been a very active member of DUP for many years so I decided it would be good for me to join and get more involved in genealogy. They study the histories of the members' pioneer families and last week they told about a family living in Piute County - I didn't even know where Piute County was!!!

I am enjoying my teaching at the Humanitarian Center. The people I am teaching are so eager to learn - they are much further advanced than most of the ones I worked with in Bangkok. I LOVE to hear from my Thai friends. The Director of one of the schools who helped me so much wrote to me this week and said she would like to come visit with her sister sometime SO I will probably be having lots of friends from Thailand come and I will enjoy that. I had written and told her about my granddaughters performing in the Glen Miller program and she said she would like some pictures of them - I don't believe she has any idea who Glen Miller was.

Jean, Rick, Barji, Mary Ann and Sarah came and had dinner with me yesterday. I "practiced" on them - it has been hard for me to become accustomed to entertaining again in a new kitchen and a new place. I LOVED having them come - the first thing I do when I start to plan a menu for my granddaughters is to look for "low fat-low calorie" foods and that is hard for me too. I REALLY never know how good anything tastes but they were sweet and said it was good. We all went to see their new home and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! They will finish it this week and they hope to close on Friday. It was SO cute yesterday to see Sarah go into their garage and look through some of her packed clothes to find some shorts since our weather has turned so warm. THEY WILL BE VERY HAPPY TO HAVE MORE SPACE. RICKY - you are going to be in real culture shock when you move into your new home. When I came home from Bangkok all the materialism here was very hard for me to get used to - as I unpacked my things I just wanted to cry thinking about all the things I had that the people in Thailand do without. I remember not wanting to go into Bob and Claires' home during the first few days I was here because it "just didn't seem right". I am much better now but I am also much more appreciative of America and I pray constantly for worthiness.