Things are continuing to go well here in the LA area. Last week we had our son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren stay with us on Sunday night. They left on Monday morning to drive on to their home in Oklahoma. I told them that we have enjoyed their weekly visits, and it would sure be nice if the visits could continue.

On Friday evening, one of my sisters and her husband came to our place. They stayed until after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. Saturday morning we got up early and was at the Red Rock Park by Gallup by 7:00 a.m. to watch the hot air balloon festival. It was neat to be able to watch them prepare the balloons, inflate them, hook up the basket, and then lift off into the sky. They said that they had 90 balloonists register for the event, but only about 80 showed up to launch. This was our first experience seeing a hot air balloon festival like this. I thought it was pretty fascinating to see the process of how they launch a balloon and then to see so many balloons in the air at the same time.

We also had rain for a full day and a half. Lots and lots of rain that really play havoc on all the dirt roads. There wasn't a whole lot we could do in the rain or until the roads began to dry out. Our Branch President has even told us we are not to get on the roads when they are bad. So we took advantage of being shut in and worked on getting the Christmas presents ready for our kids and grand kids. It is nice to know that we at least have that much done towards Christmas. Now, hopefully, we won't forget to mail them.

Missionary work is still progressing, even though it was a little slow this week. We were able to spend time with some of the members, give a couple of lessons, have Family Home Evening, and prepare our lessons for Sunday. It is interesting to see how each week develops and how different it can be from the previous one. But, we continue to love it, love the people, and the time we are able to spend with them.