Strolling, Science and Astros!

John loves this sign at a nearby restaurant. He is so happy to have a major league baseball team to cheer for - and one that is in the World Series no less! 

He is also happy to find some delicious cajun food again - here he has half a shrimp po-boy and a bowl of spicy gumbo! 

Here he is hard at work so he can enjoy all of that good food!

We usually go for an early morning walk to start the day. This is in front of our apartment complex.  This last week was interesting because our car was in the shop Monday - Friday. We decided not to get a rental car because we have everything we need within a few blocks of us! We got a ride to zone conference on Monday and to dinner that night with the other senior missionaries, but other than that we walked. It was very nice!

This morning there was a touch of fog on the river and we always see this beautiful white crane on our morning walks! 

This is the Ben's Branch of the San Jacinto river. 

This is how the river looked with the tropical storm that came into town right when we did! One of the senior missionaries in our complex took these photos. We thought we would show you some before and after photos. 

These are the two AP's that live in our complex - Elder Nelson and Elder Topham.

This photo shows how close the river came to the back of our apartment complex! People here were afraid that they were going to see a repeat of Harvey. This area was hit hard two years ago with flooding. We were grateful not to have to go through that!

This is how the bridge normally looks that you can see in the photo with the missionaries.

This debris was left after the water subsided.

They just came this week to clean it all up.

On Saturday we got brave and drove into the city to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. 

Traffic wasn't too bad, so it was a nice time to try big city driving.

             The museum was really great! We just wish we had all of the grandkids with us!

Can you tell I was at the very top of my tippy toes to see out the face mask!

John is more astronaut sized.

We loved this display of before . . . 

 . . .and after - showing what these fossils might have looked like. 

I loved the chemistry section - but John said it gave him flashbacks nightmares of organic chemistry!

This display of the Periodic Table showing the elements and what they are used for was cool!

John liked seeing his favorite hot sauce on a molecular level.

John took this photo in our Neighborhood Walmart - he was pleased with the palindromic price in the pumpkin patch :)

We are still loving mission life! It is hard when we see missionaries struggling with physical or emotional health problems. We average somewhere between 3 and 5 missionaries that go home every week (from the 10 missions in our area ).
When you think about all the the preparation that goes into them getting here, for the missionaries, their parents and leaders, it is hard to see them have to leave. But, we feel like they need to know that we are proud of them for being prepared and willing to come! Being on a mission is hard for every missionary! Except for maybe that rare missionary that has such a hard life at home that mission life isn't so bad. I hope we all can help to soften the landing for those that have to come home and let them know they are loved. And we will keep working hard to support those that are still here by helping them to get the medical care they need. Until next week - Go Astros!!