All those service projects that Owen worked on finally caught up with him big time. He has been having a lot of back pain. Monday we had to make a trip to Sawmill to take some stuff to the couple up there. When she saw how much pain Owen was in, she called a doctor in Holbrook that they had gone to and felt he had really helped them. We were able to get Owen an appointment for Wednesday.

Monday evening my youngest sister, brother-in-law, and their two girls came to our place for a visit. The girls were on spring break, so they decided to take a road trip. What better place to go than Lupton, Arizona?

On Tuesday we went to tour Chaoco Canyon where the Anasazi Indians lived about a thousand years ago. There are ruins from several “Great Houses”. It is an amazing place, hard to imagine how they built them, and what their life must have been like way back then. They figure this was the center, or hub, of the Anasazi civilizations. From here they moved to Aztec (up by Farmington), and then to Mesa Verde. The thing that is cool here is that they are all on flat ground, not too far off the road. You can walk through them and try to imagine what each of the separate rooms were used for. Other than being a very long day and a little on the hot side, all went well. We even saw three elk as we were leaving the Park. Owen didn't go with us because he decided to try taking it easy and see if his back would begin to feel better.

We drove to Holbrook on Wednesday for Owen's appointment. We didn't realize that they are on Arizona time, so we were plenty early. Arizona doesn't do Daylight Savings, but the Navajo Reservation does. So sometimes it can be confusing. We drove through the Petrified Forest on the way home. Each time we go there, I am amazed at how many petrified trees could end up in one area. Talk about climate change. The only trees in that area now are just the petrified logs on the ground.

We got home with about an hour to spare before Family Home Evening. Some of them brought soup, rolls, and a melon. So, in addition to Home Evening, we had a delicious meal together. We had nine people come besides our six, so that pretty well fills our front room. I keep thinking one of these weeks we will have to move to the church to hold our meeting. We sure enjoy the association with have with them.

Owen's back was feeling about 70% better the next day. He could even stand up from the chair by himself without winching from the pain. He felt that it was another tender mercy that we went to Sawmill when we did and was able to find out about this doctor.

My sister's family left on Thursday, but not before a shopping excursion at the Nugget store in Gallup, and a stop at the Window Rock Park to have their picture taken with the Code Talker statue and the Window Rock arch. We enjoyed their visit so much. It seems like whenever anyone comes, the time speeds up so much. They just get here, and then it is time to tell them good-bye.

We had a final Zone Conference and interview with the Mission President this week. It doesn't seem possible. There were seven couples that spoke and our Mission President because we will all be going home before the next Zone Conference. Our numbers just keep getting smaller. We did meet the new employment specialist missionaries. They will live in St. Michaels and will be in the Window Rock District. We have also heard that there is a CES missionary couple coming in July, and they will be assigned to Ft. Wingate. They will be the only senior missionary couple in the Gallup Stake. So that will be two couples in the Window Rock District.

One of the office assistants talked to me after the Zone Conference. She was helping the President do a report about missionary assignments to the different wards and branches. She pointed out to him that Lupton didn't have any elders assigned to it. She said that the Lupton Branch is the only area in the whole mission that does not have young missionaries assigned to it. She had been worried about the Lupton area, but said that after hearing our testimonies, she wasn't worried about Lupton any more.

We were able to go to a member's home and catch a couple sessions of General Conference and have a nice lunch. I watched the others on the computer at the church. Thank goodness for modern technology that makes these things possible. We had an investigator come and watch one of the sessions with us. She seemed to enjoy it and was impressed with the messages.

Well, we will be starting the week out with both feet on the ground running and trying to keep up with all the things we need to be doing. I am sure there will be new adventures awaiting us and we look forward to them.