It seems like I just did the blog yesterday, and here I am doing another one. The days seem to fly by. We got a phone call from our Zone Leader (who also happens to be in our District) on Monday evening. He wanted to know if we would help take some of their members to the Phoenix Temple Open House in the morning. One of their drivers had an emergency come up and wasn't going to be able to go. So we had the opportunity of going to the temple open house. It ended up being a 14 hour day for us, but it was a very special day also. The temple is a smaller one, but very beautiful. They have used the aloe blossom as a theme throughout, even hand carved the blossoms in the white carpet in the celestial room.

Another day we went and worked on a member's deck or porch. We are replacing the 2x4s in the flooring. It has turned out to be a bigger job than we thought. This time her nephew and his partner were there visiting, so they helped us and we made really good progress. She has to wait until she gets paid next month to buy the other ten boards that are needed to finish the job.

Owen got to go hiking with a less-active member this week. They hiked on his property up to some alcoves that had a lot of Indian writings there. I think Owen would be in heaven if he had a little house out in that area, then he could go hiking in those hills as often as he wanted. There is a lot to see that most people don't even know exists. Owen even gave him some tips on tracking deer, and how you can tell the difference if the track belongs to a buck or doe.

We also had the opportunity to meet with a new investigator this week. He is the friend of the sumo-wrestler I mentioned in a previous letter. We went to his home and spent quite a while getting to know him, answering his questions, sharing the Joseph Smith story, and had a good discussion about prayer. He doesn't have any bad habits and feels like he is at a turning point in his life. We do have a return appointment, so we are praying that things will work out.

Gallup Stake had their Family History Fair on Saturday. I had signed us both up to go. An opportunity to do a service project came up, so we decided to divide and conquer. The director at the Senior Center had mentioned to Owen that the well, that a lot of people depend on for their drinking water, had become flooded in one of the recent storms. So now they were getting red water out of it.

Owen brought it up in Branch Council, and they decided it would be a good opportunity to do some service. So Owen, our Branch Presidency, and two younger guys all met Saturday morning and went out on the South Mesa to clean the well. The Branch President brought a gas-powered pump that took a lot of the curse out of the task. In about two hours they had it all cleaned out and running clear water again. It is amazing to me that here we are out in the middle of the desert and there is a spring that puts out enough water to supply the needs of a lot of people.

After I got back from Gallup, I went and picked up the two girls. I thought it would be fun to make sugar cookies with them. Somehow my brain must not have been working, because we chose a recipe that made LOTS of cookies (between eight and nine dozen). Sugar cookies are time consuming anyway, and then when you are dealing with that many. I think we spent nearly three hours on that cookie project. We did stop long enough for a quick bite of dinner, but then went right back to decorating the cookies. The girls were able to take a lot home with them; in fact we had enough so that the younger one could take some to her boarding school for their Halloween party. When we were about finished, one of them mentioned that we hadn't even played any games. I guess they weren't as tired as I was – Oh, to be young again.

So this week some of our adventures were bus drivers, explorer, typist, carpenters, taxi drivers, bakers and decorators, water-treatment plant manager, teachers, and Missionaries – just to name a few.