We stayed dry yesterday. I got to stay home all day and Elder Graff and Elder Sommerfeldt didn't have any problems when they went out. So Irene is making her way the coast. It looks like North Carolina is still in her path. Maybe she will clean house when she gets to Washington DC. Elder Spud is making his famous beans for the Bar B Que lunch tomorrow at Hollywood. Then we get to have dinner at Ceri Steele's home with Gil and Jill Almquist. They arrive today sometime. We are really looking forward to that! I have started filling boxes to send home. We are trying to not have the car as loaded as when we came here. Still haven't figured out what we will do with the mattress we bought. Spud keeps saying he will tie it to the top of the car. Yeah, right! Like, that's going to happen.

Here we all are! I will enlarge the picture if you will tell me how.

It's time to do Apartment Inspections again. We have asked the powers to be to get all the information on one sheet of paper. Sister Sommerfeldt and I have been working on the project, but it is still not complete. We need the name of the apartment, address and phone number of the missionaries that live there; zone division; date and time of the appointment; conflicting Mission Activity; treats and "cleanliness focus". This month, we have been asked to show the young people how to pull out the fridge and stove and clean behind them. If we have time, we will also do the washer and dryers. We cleaned the vacuum cleaners last month. We have also taken bottles of Clorox and spray bottles for them to use in the showers to fight against MOLD. If I never have to fight that stuff again, I will be a happy camper!

These are part of our "tools of the trade". A list of all the stakes, wards, bishops and chapels we visit. Our trusty GPS, which we could not survive without, and our daily planner ( or brain). These little books cover six weeks and we could not function without them. Even when we list appointments down as neatly as possible, we have no shows, changes, directions and member numbers competing for the one line, one hour part of the page.

We start our last round of Apartment Inspections at the end of the week. For something that we really didn't want to do, it has been a very rewarding assignment. We have gotten to know the young people better and they have opened so many doors for us. We did the Key West apartment while we were down there last week. We took Elder Badillo down and brought Elder Sorenson back with us. That meant transferring their bikes as well as their luggage and them. We had a load in the van. With what the Porter's took and what we had to carry it probably added a good 700 pounds to the van. But we made the trip, the transfers and the presentations. Had a great time and we stayed in a beautiful hotel. It was the presidential suite at the Hilton. A complete apartment with two bedrooms and two baths, three TVs, complete kitchen, and king size beds. Nice digs!

We had 33 people sign the roll Sunday evening at the Snapper Creek YSA Fireside. There were 10 people that we taught at the Key West Chapel Saturday. The format was the same, just had to adjust it to fit the questions and interest. We are planning to teach at a combined ward function this coming Sunday. The Weston Ward and the Pembroke Pines Ward have agreed to let us do a Fireside that evening. I am using Elmo Hibbs as an example. I have developed a four generation chart for him. Hopefully Chris can find a death certificate for Hazel and we can find out what her maiden name was. We first met them at The Meadows Retirement Center, back in 1983. I had a dream about them Saturday night. Rae Myers told me that I had work to do. So, what can I say? It's past the 95 year rule.

Another laugh: We were at lunch with our friend Hilda at Stake and Shake. She asked us if we had read a certain book, I responded that I hadn't heard of "Life as a Mushroom". She and Spud began laughing very hard. She had actually said, "Life Everlasting". Yes, I am losing my hearing! Along with all the rest of the things going wrong. Then Spud asked the waitress how many butterflies it takes to make a steak. The flip chart menu advertised a "buttery steak burger". Then we take a trip to Key West and he orders a Tye Died Shrimp and Noodle dish at the floating boat restaurant. (Thai Pd ya). Oh well, we are senior citizens. We use to laugh at the funnies our parents and grand parents did. Now we are they!

The Irene Hurricane seems to be going up the coast off of Florida and now we hear that Virginia just had an earth quake. Wonder if it is connected to the one that hit Colorado? Maybe the local news will have something about it tonight.

The custom is to slice the arepa and fill it with cheese, chicken, black beans and salsa. I like mine with just butter on it. They were a great treat!

Like a great reward for doing Family History! The corn meal is very fine, more like a flour. We needed to wear a bib, though.

We were offered a great treat yesterday afternoon at the Castillo Home where we were teaching. Sister Castillo made us Arepas. It is made with a corn meal dough and fried in a molded skillet that you turn to bake the mixture on both sides. They are so soft then practically meld in your mouth. She showed me on the computer where you can get Venezuela recipes for that kind of food. What she showed me was all in Spanish, so i am going to have to try finding a web site in English.

I tried to capture the heavy rain that fell on us coming back from Miami Beach. The picture looks better than it actually was while we were driving. The ditches and canals are doing a pretty good job of moving the water along and back into the everglades or the ocean. We saw a pond in the process of being created today. Water run off is a constant problem. The highest places are still the trash mountains that are being created. Land height is only 27 inches and some places below sea level.

Another of the interesting trees that are blooming now. The floral spikes are about 12 inches long and hopefully you can see that they are a vivid magenta ( if that's a word they still use today). We see them along the free ways as we travel back and forth to the different parts of the mission. I am determined to buy a floral book of South Florida before we go home. There are so many things I don't have names for. The people we keep asking are not native to Florida, so not much information coming from them.

Our guest speaker was Marvin J. Ballard and Elder Gay from the Seventies. They told us of experiences they both had had during their missions as youths. Not unlike today, except the biggest difference is that the missionaries are not encouraged to memorize the lessons. they are to teach from the heart and with the spirit. It was a great experience to listen to the young missionaries sing the hymns. Especially, "We'll bring the world the truth!" They do such a great job.

Just got word from home that our house has water problems in the wall connecting the utility room, office and our bathroom. We think it is being caused by the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. Apparently the wall board is buckling and is moldy. Not a fun think to go home to. We have a Mission Conference to attend tomorrow morning. We are told there will be a guest speaker. The senior Elders have a lottery going on who it will be. Will let you know later who it is.

We just finished a week of Zone Conferences. Sister Anderson gave another talk about being ready in case of an emergency. We are to head to Key West this coming weekend and another tropical storm is scheduled to hit from South Africa. We are rather nervous about being out on the bridges if the storm actually arrives. We will be driving "Bertha" the 15 passenger van. Elder and Sister Porter, Pete Arnett, and Elder Ensign will be going down with us. Then we have to bring Elder Sorenson back with us. We are doing a Family History Workshop and the Porter's will be doing an Employment Workshop. We will be holding it in the new chapel that was just put up. It is not dedicated yet, they still have a long punch list to complete before it can be dedicated. Should be a lot of fun. The Porter's are fun to be around.

Today's headline is: "$10.99 for a frozen rose! Who would want a frozen rose?" We were heading home from a teaching session at the Ft Lauderdale Chapel and we drove past a Floral Shop. The sign actually said, "$10.99 for a dozen roses." Yes, we both need to get our eyes checked when we get home. The first week home we will be doing a round of doctors. My leg is felling better now that I graduated into "old lady socks". I tried the knee hi type and can't take the pressure under my knees. So now I am enduring the thigh hi. After five hours, they start creeping down my leg. So I am contending with the folding and rolling that I remember from my grandmothers era. Yes, time has marched on and here I am, OLD!

The living room at the Mission Home. Sister Anderson has invited all the senior couples to enjoy Family home Evening once a month at the Mission home. We will have a pot luck dinner each month. Elder Graff is going to organize the menus, so that we take turns bringing the different dishes. Not really pot luck; but when you get older, you want to KNOW what to expect at dinner! On the left is the formal dining area where the departing missionaries are enjoying a meal with President and Sister Anderson before they fly home the next day.

This is Elder Weese, Sister Lauren and the Spud and I. Elder Beer is taking the picture. We have been going down to the El Portal Chapel for several weeks. We call it our Taco Bell night. Elder Graff has been buying a box of Tacos and drinks and taking them to the chapel to eat while we are teaching. If you look close, you can see the small fan Spud has been using to try and keep the rooms that we teach in cooler. As soon as we were finished with Lauren, we taught Norvin. Both Spanish speaking. The elders translate for us and sometimes help me type, when my eyes give out on me. This eye thing is frustrating. In the evenings it is the worst. And most of our appointments are in the evening. Another challenge to work around; but the young missionaries have been great about helping.

The senior couples at work at the Mission Home, getting ready to serve dinner to the departing missionaries. Sister Anderson fixed Chile and Cheese Grits. My favorite! I could have made a meal just on them. She served it with Bar B Que Brisket and Green beans and rolls. Then we had peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Yes, once again I'm talking about the food we have encountered on this mission.

Now for the question of the month! What is this thing? They are growing on a tree at the El Portal Chapel. The skin is a pale green and is soft like a peach, but hard like a nut. It is the size of a large lime. i haven't found anyone that can identify it. When we go back to the chapel, I will take a picture of the tree. When you look at it from the stem down, it looks like a star.

This is one of the vendors on Key Biscayne Island. Spud is trying their fried corn cakes. It was like a pancake made with corn kernels and fried in a ring, so that they were the same size. Not bad! They also had brats and cold drinks, The cold drinks were the best. At the other end of the island they have a state park and on one side they have a Sea Aquarium. This should be on every one's list of places to visit in Miami.

The Somerfeldts went on a half day off with us to Key Biscayne Island. Wish we had known about this place when the kids were here. They have a lovely swimming area and water toy rentals. You can see the skyline of Miami in the background. It looks like I have spent the mission time eating. I guess we have! The Sommerfeldts have tried to get us to walk with them at night. Spud tells them he is afraid the critters will get him.

Before the storm broke we took this picture of the skyline of Miami. We decided to leave and try to head back north before we got pelted with rain. When it rains so hard, it gets dangerous to be driving on the freeway. Our dark glasses are still helping, but as many crazy drivers as there are out there, it is better to get home and stay there until the rain stops.

This is a time of reflection for us as we wind down this mission in Florida. We have met some wonderful people and have had some of the most amazing experiences you can imagine. It will be hard to leave here. We would like to come back for the South Florida Temple Open House. It would be great if we could go through a session will all the people we have taught. Elder Graff is away this morning helping move Elders out of one apartment and into another. Next week we will be involved in four Zone Conferences. Mostly listening and helping serve. We get to teach another recent convert again next Tuesday. He brought an amazing pedigree chart to our first session. We found a distant cousin that has done a lot of the temple work. The work only reflects what is on his father's side. He knows his mother's name and death date, but nothing more. I am trying to work on that. His father is still living and is 80 years old. We hope Tim can get him to reflect on what he might know about the mother's parents. Always a challenge. I use Ancestry as much as possible. That has been a big help to us with what we do.