Missionary Moments #32, April 12, 2015

It has been a great week for record preservation here in New Hampshire.  For us opening the 10,000th probate file for so exciting.  It is nice to have a project that you can actually see that you are getting things done.  Another week gone gets us closer to seeing Rachel who will be coming to spend the week here in New Hampshire.  We have loved having the Dukes come each week to help us out.  They are great people and so nice to talk to which makes the day just speed by. Since grandpa had a birthday this week we did a little celebrating.  After he went to bed on Monday night I made him a lemon meringue pie and had it waiting for him when he woke up on Tuesday morning.  The problem with us being here by ourselves is there is still half a pie left!  I had found a German restaurant but it was closed on Monday and Tuesday so we had a really authentic and good meal on Wednesday after work.  Yesterday we did some more traveling which involved visiting Hampton Falls, NH and Hampton beach before heading down to revisit Rhode Island without the rain and fog.  There was a beautiful statue at the beach in Hampton.  It was a woman looking out to sea while holding a wreath.  She is watching for her husband to return from the sea.  I suspect many women did just that during the early part of history when there was no way of communicating to the loved ones left behind.  That must have been really hard not knowing what was happening for months at a time.  When we left New Hampshire we headed back to Rhode Island.  I had a print-out of things to do in Rhode Island and the first involved finding the bakery that has the best Boston Creme pie in the area. Mission accomplished!   The magazine was right and the pie was amazing.  From there we headed to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.  They have a preservation area and we were able to wander around for quite sometime.  Check the blog for pictures in the next day or so.  Again we found another treasure on our journey.  We then went back onto Newport Island.  Right now I am reading a book about a hurricane that struck the area in 1938 so this was a real treat for me. We wandered around seeing the rich history that is on this island which is about 20 miles long and probably 5 or so miles wide.  We finished there and headed towards Concord arriving home about 8:30.  It was a nice day and in spite of the four inches of snow we had on Wednesday and Thursday the weather was beautiful and hopefully becoming more permanent. We are now taking Sister Villalobos to church with us each Sunday. She is originally from Chile but has lived in Magna, Utah for the last 20 years.  She came out here to help her daughter with her new baby almost a year ago and needed a ride to church.  We love spending time with her. Her father served as a Stake President in Chile for years and worked as an attorney in Chile representing the church.  I am excited to hear more stories as we get to know her better.  She did mention that he met Fidel Castro when he was on assignment from the church to talk about the Temple that was being built in Chile. It has something to do with the Cuban Embassy but I didn't understand all that she was trying to tell us.  What a sweet and impressive woman.