April 21, 2002 Farmington, Utah

The big news for this letter is the predicament in Madagascar. I have thought about Russell so very much during the past few days as we have all received e-mails that Ann & Ron have forwarded to us from his Mission President as well as parents and church officials. The last news we have all received is that all missionaries have been evacuated from Madagascar on orders from their government but they don't know for sure where Russell was taken. That sounds like something from a "mission impossible" movie and I'm SO grateful for the stability and faith of the Woolley family - I'm not sure I could be that strong. I also know for sure that Russell is just fine and having an experience of a lifetime - the church WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD PUT MISSIONARIES IN HARM'S WAY. My heart goes out to the innocent people who live in Madagascar and must endure hardships like lack of food, fuel, etc. and I know the missionaries who served there would love to go back to finish their missions.

WOW - have I ever missed Little Rock since I came home!!! It has been very cold here with snow and rain - the sun is shining right now for the first time for many days. I keep thinking of the beautiful azaleas and dogwood in full bloom and I'm so glad I was able to see them in their prime. I also miss being with the Roy Mellor Family and Sammie - WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY!!! Patrice - I had unexpected company for lunch today and I made your "tuna wraps" - they were delicious and SO easy. I'm going to buy some sweet relish like you used because I liked it better than the dill I have. I had to use some salad greens and they didn't compare to your fresh lettuce from your garden but it was the best I could do!!!

John - I hope you have been able to jog in Central Park the past few days - I believe your temperature dropped from the highs it was last week. Thank you SO much for your e-mails. David Taylor called me this afternoon and asked about you and said to tell you "hello" - he said they will come see me soon. I haven't seen them for quite a long time.

Bob and Claire - thank you SO much for the delicious sushi dinner last night and also the ice cream treat. John has talked SO much about sushi but I have never tasted it except for the sushi he used to fix for our family get-togethers. I want to make some of that again - he gave me his recipe and I got all the stuff and made it for one of Ellen Mae's parties but I got discouraged because she wouldn't eat it. Laura had come home for the weekend so she and Claire went to Salt Lake to shop and then Bob picked me up and we met them for dinner. They had planned to eat at another restaurant but there was an hour and a half wait so we went to the sushi place. I couldn't believe how good it was and it was served so beautifully - reminded me of the way food is served in Thailand and it just melted in our mouths. They also served fresh ginger that had been crystallized or something and I loved it. Then we went to an ice cream place that isn't very far from where I live and had fabulous ice cream treats - I would like to open a place like that close to where the Roy Mellors live because it would be a HIT!!! Bob had spent the better part of the day helping a family move

into a home close by where they live. I thought this was funny - I asked Bob if they were members of the L.D.S. church and he said he didn't know but the man moving in said they had thought about asking the Baptists to help them move but they heard the Mormons were better at it - Ha!!! Bob also told me he had worked Brett really hard all day and we both talked about how he and all of you worked every Saturday mornings of your lives either in the yard or the house.

Laura - thank you SO much for staying to visit with me last night. I haven't visited with "just her" for a long, long time and she has the most interesting story to tell. She has been friends and close roommates in her apartment at Utah State all year with a young woman who has spent weekends at Laura's home and Laura has spent some time with her family at their Orem home. WELL - she just found out on Friday that this girl is Mark Pinegar's daughter - Nicki Pinegar. They just never did pay much attention to their last names until they started to talk about the reunion that was held about five years ago at the park in Provo by where the Woolleys live and then they discovered they are cousins. Laura just loves Joannie (Nicki's Mother) and their children - they have an autistic child and a son who just came home from a mission and I believe four or five other children - SMALL WORLD!!! Laura is looking forward to being in school this Summer with Michael - many of her close friends are leaving for the Summer so it will be good to have Michael home. I envy Laura's hair - she can just do anything she wants with it.

Mary Ann - thank you SO much for your visit too. It was WONDERFUL to have you come and bring Peggy Steed - she is such a cute woman. I wonder if she went to the movie "The Rookie" with her husband - she said she didn't want to go but he wanted her to go with him. Lynn always coaxed me to go to movies until he found out that I went to sleep right after I sat down - Ha!!! Laura tells me you have been dating some VERY CUTE young men!!! I want to hear about them.

Jeannie - I'm worried about you. Mary Ann said your feet still hurt. Claire told me last night that her bunion surgery took at least 6 weeks to heal so maybe you are just impatient. I can't imagine anything worse than having your feet hurt all the time. Thank you for your phone call Friday afternoon - I'm sorry I wasn't home but I'm glad you were able to leave a message. When I came home from Arkansas I had 68 messages on my answering machine but I couldn't access them so I pushed the reset button thinking that would help and it erased all of them - Ha!!! The problem was that the battery was low so I got a new one and it's working great now.

Katie - I LOVED your visit this afternoon and I hope you got your report on World War 2 finished. Katie and Claire came over so she could interview me about my feelings on the war - it's SO funny some of my memories are very vivid but I have forgotten many of them. I couldn't remember the name of the club that was nation wide that was used to entertain the servicemen. The American Legion Auxiliary in Brigham City sponsored this and recruited the young women my age to go dance with them and serve refreshments - we were highly chaperoned but it was fun!!! Those were very sad times for my family but I was so protected that I really didn't react the way I should have done and I regret that - I was in college and having lots of fun even though there weren't very many young men because they were all in the service.

I had a very funny experience today. The phone rang about 8:20 a.m. and I wasn't quite ready for our church which starts at 8:30. It was my Thailand teacher friend, Vicki, and she asked when my church was so I told her it was in about 10 minutes. She talked for 15 minutes telling me her plans so I was late for church. While I was at church my home teachers asked if they could come visit at 12:30 - I get home about 12:45. I was just changing my church clothes when the doorbell rang and it was my home teachers and also Vicki and it was 12:00. I hurried and got ready and they came in to visit - the home teachers said they were early because the other people they were to visit weren't home and I had no idea why Vicki had come so soon because she was in Provo when she called and said she would go to church with her relatives there. ANYWAY - Vicky stayed until 6:00 p.m. and really all I did was listen. She was excited because she had gone to dinner last night with a man in Provo who had been a Mission President and his wife had died several years ago. I'M SO GRATEFUL I AM NOT IN THE MARKET TO DATE!!! I was SO happy when Katie called and said they wanted to come over - I thought sure Vicki would leave when they came but she didn't and stayed several hours after they left. She's trying to sell her home in Afton, Wyoming but she's asking over $300,000.00 for it and I doubt she will get it. I really feel bad for her because she is unhappy - she has a great family - 6 children.

Michael - were you frightened when the airplane hit that tall building in Italy??? The news reports were that it may be another terrorism attack and that was scary. You are surely having some wonderful missionary experiences - I don't know of many young missionaries who help dissolve one mission and combine it with another one. GREAT LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCES. I LOVED the picture of Allessandro - I told your Mom that I expect him to visit you in America sometime - Ha!!!