The baby ducks that have survived seem to come by every ten days or so. We are not sure where or how far they roam, but eventually they come by the window. One of the mother ducks is sitting on a nest again. I had no idea that they would have that many batches of chicks.
Here some of the older ducks are trying in muscle their way into the feeding circle. In this picture there are four of the babies that were hatched two weeks before Easter. It has been fun to watch them grow up. These still do not have feathers. They are still in the down stage.

Some of the growing baby ducks that have survived the big birds. Here they are enjoying some Christmas bread that was taking up space in the freezer. After I threw out all the bread, they followed me up to the front door to see what else I could find to feed them. I put out some bird seed, but they would rather have bread. I'm going to buy some oatmeal and see if they will eat that.

We were greeted in Coral Springs with this sign. Sure makes your heart glad to work with these young missionaries. We couldn't do what we do without these young people. Because of them we have broken into the upper stake on the north of the mission. The numbers are still low, but we have broken the ice and are on our way.

Cupcakes and treats are always waiting for us when we visit Sister Guzman and Sister Edwards. These spell out Coral Springs, where they live now. It is north of us about 10 miles. They are working in the Pompano Stake and are trying very hard to get some more appointments for us. The last one we taught has already been asked to be a Family History Consultant. So maybe we are doing something right.

This is our final day with Sister Guzman, my Spanish coach, before my talk in the Spanish Ward. She and Sister Edwards prepared a special door greeting for us that we were able to bring home. They are such great young ladies. They made a vowel chart for me. We took them to Applebee's for dinner and the final rehearsal. Then we came home and had cupcakes!

Brother Torsok, in the Hollywood Ward Bishopric, has not completely shaved his face for the three years that President and Sister Hale have been here in the Ft Lauderdale Mission. This is Brother Torsok farewell gift to them. Elder Frederick is doing the honors. Torsok really looked different when they were done. He has kept it shaved since this event took place.

Thanks to Joyce Graff, we now know a little more about the family history of Jared! Hope ya'all enjoy this as much as we did. Email is a lot of fun. We may have to use this approach for one of the people we taught last Monday. His grandparents came out of Russia and changed their names completely for safety reasons and will not tell anyone who they really are. So this young boy has no idea what family he comes from. Life is not easy for some people. He would love to go on a mission more than anything, but he joined the church after the cut off date. Maybe they can come up with a Stake Mission for him.

We were greeted at the front door by a snake when we were returning from a teaching assignment. It was rather small, black and had an orange ring around it's neck. If snakes have necks. This is a Black Ring Neck and will only grow to be 12 inches long. They eat slugs, earth worms and small snakes. They like to hide under rocks, so we hope it finds a nice rock and stays there. But the fact that it found it's way to our front door, makes us nervous. Spud has named him "Petey", but I hope that doesn't make him feel at home and want to stay around. Two people have been bitten by water moccasins in the Pembroke Pines area. That is 12 miles away, but too close for comfort. I think the fact that the everglades is so low, is causing these creatures to follow the water source. If any of you have had any encounters with this type of the snake, let me know.

President and Sister Anderson take over the reins on Tuesday of next week. All the senior couples have been asked to go to lunch with them. We are going the the Dragon Buffet off of University. The Beagley's have moved up from Marathon and are now living in an RV park about six miles from the mission office. He is being trained to take over Elder Martin's job as vehicle dispatcher and she is learning all the different jobs at the front desk. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics of the mission will change. President and Sister Hale fly back to Utah on Tuesday evening after they turn over the keys to the mission home and cars. That has got to be a strange feeling for them. I can't imagine how that will feel. It would almost be like giving up your children to a stranger. We will also be losing Elder Bacon, who has been the President's Assistant all the while we have been here. He has been an important part of our lives and what we do here. I sang him the first line of, "It's crying time again, you are going to leave us." That is from at least two generations before his time. He just gave me a strange look. They are fun to tease!

I was asked to speak in the Riverside Park Branch as the companion to their high Council representative. They are a Spanish speaking branch. Dr. Stringham told me he would line up an interpreter for me and I said I would have my talk translated and I would read it in Spanish. So I had Sister Steimle translate it for me and Sister Guzman, Sister Edwards, and Sister Sobkowicz coached me. It was not a stellar performance, but the spirit was there and helped me to the point about asking the bishop for a recommend. Then I broke down and cried and could not see the paper. Sister Sobkowicz came up and put her arm around me and finished the talk for me. The man that was asked to give the closing prayer, addressed me first, and said what a brave lady I was and thanked me for my remarks. After the meeting we made three appointments to teach more people in that branch. So all is well and over with.

We got caught in a down pour coming home from Miami Beach last night. It was still daylight and I had my dark glasses on. I took them off to see if there really was a difference in seeing through the rain. I couldn't believe what a difference they made. I gave them to Spud so he could see better and he couldn't believe what a difference they made. So, we are now firm believers in keeping sun glasses in the car. Especially down here where they really get the rain storms.

They had to put up an electric fences to keep the cattle away from the tent and the people. There was a strip of white dirt in front of the pulpit about 20 feet long and two feet wide. Several photo shots were taken with different people in them. All had shovels painted gold; it was very impressive. Brother Torsok sang in the choir along with Sister White from the Hollywood Ward. None of our invited quests showed up. But we had an opportunity to talk to them about what the Temple means to the members of the church. I am going to give them a copy of the Story Teller Talk.

Getting ready for the ground breaking ceremony. The men are putting the final touches on the sound system. They will send the images to Salt Lake and then the signal will be sent to the chapels in the area. It amazes me how these things work.

The South Florida Temple ground breaking ceremony will be help this coming Saturday, June 18, 2011. We have been instructed to go to the Plantation Chapel and invite our non-member contacts to come and sit with us. We have sent invitation to the Rogers, Gwendolyn and Syncere and Marcus.

Elder Spud has been busy with his tee shirt project. We gave away another three more today. We have been giving them to the missionaries. They love them and it is fun to see their faces when they see the picture of the temple. I told Elder Spud that I definitely will be back here to the Temple Open House and the dedication. It will be exciting to see some of our friends again. Spud said he thinks it will be harder to leave these great people here in Florida, then is was to come out here and leave you all behind. They definitely have made a place for themselves in our hearts!

A couple of weeks ago, the Relief Society put on the Sacrament in our Hollywood Ward. One the musical numbers was done by the two sister missionaries, Sister Lawrence, our RS president, her two counselors and Sister Laura, who is a very small, frail, 82 years old, dark skinned lady. They sang, "I am a child of God". Before they started, Brother Torsok in the bishopric escorted, Sister Laura, to the pulpit. She sang her part oblivious to the rest of the ladies and the organist. It was the most beautiful rendition I have ever heard. I know the Lord was smiling down on us that day. Sister Laura, knows she is a child of God and that he loves her very much. I thought listening to little children sing that song was as good as it gets, but Sister Laura brought tears to all our eyes that day.

Seamus (Shamus) Gene Graff, reported to the world on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 5:02 PM Mountain Standard Time. He weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz and is 20 3/4 inches long. His parents are Carson and Ashley Graff, youngest brother to Bella Lynn and Tristan. Mother and son are reported to be doing well. Harlan's hands look bigger than he is. Grandpa Harlan and Grandmother Kimberly, are busy on the phone, letting us all know that Seamus if finally here. Ashley has been ready for the last two weeks.

We have been doing apartment inspections again. We also went to Key West on Wednesday to meet with a new member and the lady that has been called to be the Stake Family History Director. She is married to Sister Hogge's cousin and they have moved back to Key West after several years of being out west. She and her husband will be meeting us again in two weeks at Marathon to help them understand the role Roots Magic can play in getting people started on the right path to New Family Search. We have asked Elder and Sister Steimle to drive down with us. They haven't done any sight seeing yet. We think they are very timid about seeing the area. He doesn't enjoy driving and she doesn't drive. So it should be a fun outing. We hope to meet with the Beagleys and have a great visit. The Beagley's have been called to help with the branch at Marathon and so what they can for the young elders at Key West.

I was asked to speak in the Snapper creek YSA branch today. I gave the "Story Teller" talk again. You would think that by now I would have that one memorized, but my mind is not what it was years ago. So I read, and still get choked up in parts of it. Thank you, Chris for finding that on the Internet. It makes a good spring board for teaching about the importance of keeping records and stories about your family members. We had three people come up after the meeting and ask for appointments to get them started. Sister Hendrix and Sister Geest are making the appointments for us and getting the key to the chapel so we can get in next week. Sister Hendrix will be leaving us this coming Wednesday after the finishers dinner. Another one going back into the big wide world. She will be booking a cruise with us when we get home for her family. I said only, if we get to go with them! She is another one of our favorites!

And the rains came! We just returned from Kendall after speaking in church and got into a heavy down pour. When we got out of the car, we thought there was a plane flying over, but it was "rolling thunder". We made it into the condo and the skies opened up and it is raining straight down and we have two inches to go before the water is on the little porch we have out the sliding door. At this rate, we may have to put down towels to keep it out of the sliding door. I've never seen rain like this before. The drops on the car were at least two inches wide. It almost sounded like hail was falling on the car. The good news is, that the everglade fire is out! So those towns off Chrome Ave can rest a little easier. The Indian Reservation is claiming that their "rain dance" did the trick. Maybe so. Their village is out of danger now.
NEWS FLASH! We did have hail stones! It is still raining, but not as hard, and the drains around the condo are taking the water off to the canal. So we are breathing a little easier. They expect the rain to last all night.

Elder Graff has gotten such a kick out of this picture, he wants me to send it to everyone we know. So consider it sent! Some of the things people dress their pets in is way beyond my imagination! Anyway, The Spud may be getting to the point that he might learn to use the computer, that's right! Of, course the operative word here is may, but he can see that it would add a whole other dimension to his life. He is getting rather good at setting up my equipment and taking it down and carrying it to the car and back into the house or the chapel or where ever. You do that three times a day for several months and you can't help but catch on to things.