"OLD" aka Former Missionary Friends

Three men who served missions in the West German Mission in 1965 find themselves serving together in West Africa in 2009. On the left is Ray Johnson who is Associate Legal Counsel for Africa. The man in the center is Lowell M. Snow, Area President Africa West Area. The old, fat, bald one on the right is Kurt Krupp. We got together Tuesday night the 27th of January 2009 for dinner and a mission reunion. Ray and Pres Snow live in Accra, Ghana. Kurt and Linda are in Accra for a week of training in preparation for being the Perpetual Education Fund Service Center for Nigeria. The PEF program has been operating for two years in Ghana. We will open it up and work on it for six months in Nigeria. Our students will benefit so much from access to loans for education.
The reunion of the three men was enhanced so much when we were able to connect to a fourth missionary who served with us. His name is Russell Watterson. He was trained by Pres Snow. Elder Watterson, Elder Johnson and Elder Snow were mission leaders at various times together. Elder Snow was Elder Watterson's trainer and Elder Watterson was Elder Krupp's trainer. Russell has been home from being Mission President of the Baltic States Mission, for 7 months. We used Skype to call him. He has seldom been surprised or caught "speechless". He was both surprised and speechless by our call. He thought we were putting him on, but he hooked his computer up and could see us. His response, once the picture came up, was that we "sure looked old". Linda said he should go look in the mirror.
The reunion and the dinner were awesome. 43 years doesn't seem like so much when you are all back together and can just visit and compare "war stories". All three of these men, Ray Johnson, Russell Watterson and Lowell Snow have contributed to my growing up. I owe them so much and I am so grateful for their good examples and their goodness. Being senior missionaries is a great adventure and an awesome blessing. Thanks, Lord for the experience!

Out to Dinner with Friends

Our last trip to Chopsticks. (l - r) Doug & CarolAnne Robinson, Gary & Sherri Neuder, Morgan & Jan Lynch, Val & VaLayne Finlayson, and Linda & Kurt

Our Aba Temple Friends

President Robinson (l) and Elder Finlayson (r) left the "lockdown" confines of the Temple compound in Aba, Nigeria, to come and help us with our water problems. We practically kept them locked up working on the project. They thought they were coming for a fews days and ended up staying 2 1\2 weeks.
Pres Robinson(Left) and Elder Finlayson (Right) are "hugging" their beloved pumping system. The blue tank behind Pres. Robinson is a bladder\pressure tank for the hot water. It is 200 Liters in capacity. The Nigerians think it is huge by their standards. By our standards, it is quite small. Another blue tank for the cold water sits behind the one you can see. It is to be exchanged for one to match this one. There are two sets of pumps between the men. One pump on each side is for hot water and the other (top) pump is for cold water. The two sets are for redundancy. The men have been gone for a week and one major part of their system has ceased functioning. Pumps, Pressure Switches and other components fail on a regular basis. It is just the nature of things that are available here in Nigeria. The hot water circulating pump is the part that failed. To get hot water now, we turn it on when in our apartment when we get up and then can shower 30 minutes later when the hot water finally circulates to the apartments.
We did a lot of dining out while we had Robinsons and Finlaysons here. They don't get to go out to restaurants like we do, so it was fun for them. We also got together for several dinner parties. The other things we did together was shop. We went for food, shopped for clothes, and even went to V.I. to shop for wood carvings and other souveniers.
Chopsticks is the high-priced Chinese Restaurant that is on Opebi Road, almost next door to the Church compound. We had never gone there before our Aba guests came, and it was fun to try a new restaurant.

Staying in Shape

Kurt has really enjoyed having a stationary bike to exercise on since we moved into the new apt. He is able to ride 5 or 6 days a week. He always loves to read while riding. Usually he reads his Book of Mormon, but this day he also got in some Fablehaven reading. Fablehaven is a series of children's fantasy books that Heidi sent us for Christmas.

Adam hits the BIG 3-0!

We love it when Adam comes to visit us. He lives far, far away in Las Vegas. He is one who is adventurous enough to build a snowman with his nieces, Megan and Kayleigh.
Our last Christmas together the kids organized a bowling party. Adam is pretty good at all sports, but I don't think he had the top score that night. He makes every game fun.
He and Eileen went off cross-country skiing with his friend, Dan. They both love outdoor activities.
They camp and hike in the summer. This was probably taken on a trip to Fish Lake.
Adam's other loves are watching sports on TV, playing tennis and Eileen. Eileen is from the Philippines, and they met while in graduate school at UNLV. They make a pretty cute couple.

Christmas Day in the Mission Field

President & Sister Neuder, President & Sister Jones, Elder & Sister Lynch, Elder & Sister Krupp

I moved the Christmas tree into the apartment on Christmas Eve, and it was nice to have all these presents to open on Christmas Day. I made cinnamon rolls first thing to share with the other senior missionaries and the guards at our compounds. That was fun.

We had a nice Christmas dinner about 1:30 at President & Sister Neuder's apartment. Then we spent lots of time talking to our wonderful kids on the phone. Although the day was far from a normal Christmas, it was a very OK day and I only cried a little.

I cried because Heidi surprised me with two cute little quilt kits that I could handstitch. How thoughtful was that! I have had so much fun stitching little blocks together that I haven't worked on the blog or done much of anything else. It was a fun diversion!