Home Teaching Trials

When we last went home teaching, this harmless looking woman gifted Elder and Sister Jolley some Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. Sian Davies does counseling for a living, so she probably needs some of that sauce to keep her going! :-) She is coming to our home for a Christmas dinner tomorrow night - the 1st of December. What shall we feed her? She probably won't notice if we slip a bit of rum in her punch!

We missionaries have to be on our guard every minute! Even our ward members try to tempt us! And they usually succeed. We drank down that brandy sauce in a hurry...Oops! Were we supposed to pour it on the steamed pudding?

Sian Davis, Sheldon Ward

Standing in the line up...yes, SHE'S the one!

We've sent out photos of our other HT families in the past. But in case you have forgotten the Carrolls: Patrick, Marguerite and Timmy, here they are again...

Patrick on the right, Tim in the chair, Marguerite on left

Speaking of trials, we missed our monthly visit with the Carrolls in November, since Patrick got the chicken pox! He's in his 60s. That would be awful! These good people care for Tim although he's no relation to them. Marguerite was friends with the next door neighbor who cared for Tim before she passed away. Then Marguerite took Timmy in. Patrick is now Tim's official care-giver. Patrick had never been married when he met Margie. He was a drinker before he joined the church. She was divorced and had children to raise. They met and got along famously right away. They're a very nice couple - their faith is amazing. After they had married, Patrick was still having trouble with his drinking habit. One day, Margie asked him if he had prayed to the Lord to take that desire away. He said he hadn't. They prayed together and he never drank again after that day.

A couple of months ago, the Carroll family took a trip together and Margie left her purse in a restaurant where they stopped to eat. She didn't discover it was missing until they arrived at their destination. Patrick turned around and went back to the restaurant where they told him they hadn't seen the purse. So he assumed it was left at their first stop along the way. He wound up driving 4 hours, without a complaint, to try and retrieve the purse for her, but he came back empty-handed. When they returned home a few days later, Margie told Patrick she wanted to stop by the restaurant again because she was sure that was where she had left it. She had prayed about it. (She was more worried about her temple recommend than the bit of money in it.) When she asked the girl in the restaurant, the girl said that she remembered when her husband had stopped by but there was no purse there. Margie turned to go but felt prompted to talk to the manager who was standing near by. He said, "Oh yes! Your purse is right here!" It was under the counter the whole time. Happy Day!