Pride! Followed by a Really Good Ending!

Well, as difficult as it's been to get around I finally had to swallow my pride and use two things meant for older...MUCH OLDER senior citizens! I use a motorized chair and a cane! It's embarrassing, that's all I have to say. However, it makes it possible to get around without pain and suffering. So after weighing the options this is the one that makes the most sense.

It's not too bad actually. The worse part is that Mike has to unload it every time we go anywhere. He says that it's not a problem but I feel bad for him.

As for the mission; things are going really great and we love serving here in Jacksonville. The Institute program has been split from the FHE night. We are having great success by doing that. Typically we use a round table format so it gets us away from the feeling of someone talking AT us and makes it more comfortable for sharing ideas. Our numbers for Book of Mormon study are growing each time we meet.

We have grown to love each member of our military group and appreciate the training they take to further the cause of freedom. Some of them have already been overseas and some will leave after the first of the year. It is an constant ebb and flow of the way things are here.

Jacksonville 2nd ward is comprised of mostly married Marines; many with young families. The Jacksonville 3rd ward, while also having many Marine families, is where we have the largest group of single Marines. I can't even tell you how big the wards are because, frankly, no one has a map! We just know that when we do our Sunday pickups for meetings, we usually burn about half a tank of gas. I'm always torn between, "Yea! We're picking up four people!" to "Yikes, we need to drive 25 minutes (one way) to pick up so and so from somewhere out yonder!" Z does all the driving and picking up while I attend the meetings we need to be to. It is a good arrangement...

The holiday pace is now here and I'm amazed as I watch the shopping that people are doing. I love to listen as they say things like, "Joe's gonna kill me when I get home and he sees how much I spent! He'll just have to dip into savings to cover it." And I see in her hands the latest craze...a soda making machine and a package of guitar shaped coat hooks. Go figure...well, I really did think the popcorn machine was kinda cool!

I posted the following on Facebook but wanted to repeat it because it's caused me to reflect a lot on the way we've done things at Christmas's past in the hopes of creating the "perfect" Christmas, where everyone was filled with happiness and joy...

The reality is, I find myself challenged to remember anything anyone ever got in our family that made a difference in their true state of happiness OR joy! I mean, the stores at this time of year are plastered with signs that shout, "COME BUY ME!" when the true, quiet message should be, "Come by ME!" Think about that...what if rather than getting caught up in the frenzy of what the world has convinced us we need to do at this time of year, well, what if we did as the Savior taught us to do instead; give to the poor, the homeless, the less fortunate.

I've found that my prayers lately have been centered on those who have suffered and continue to suffer the most horrendous of events; the volcano eruptions, the hurricanes and flooding and the disease that followed. I pray for the families who in this lifetime will not be blessed with a fraction of all that we've had and continue to have; comfortable homes, cars, education, plentiful food...

What if we could change it a little bit at a time? What if rather than buy that item "we can't live without" we gave a more generous Fast Offering. Imagine what true happiness and joy that would bring...it's just a thought. But it makes for a really good ending!

Happy Holy-Days from

Elder and Sister Zollinger

(no, I am not punching him in the stomach!)