Our last District Meeting.  Elder Bringhurst had left and Elder Wright, another Visa waiter had replaced him.  Elder Wright (second from left) is from Idaho Falls and he is waiting to go to Brazil.  It was a melancholy day as we said our goodbyes to these special missionaries we have grown so close to.

Our Hartford branch had a special FHE/going away part for us.  These two special cakes were part of the menu.  It was a great evening held pool side at Butch and Diane Canty's.

We have become close to these two as we have often visited with them as they attended FHE at our apartment.  Betty Lindsey and Barbara Behrend have become special friends in the process.

We have really enjoyed Tom and Barbara Pulvino.  Tom is a wonderful singer and Sister Peterson was practicing with him and was planning to accompany him while he sang the Lord's Prayer.  Unfortunately we left before it could happen.  Babara is a good Baptist but we really enjoyed her.

Kristen Velasquez and her children.  They are the bulk of the primary and one of the few young families in the branch.

Brother and Sister Ralph were not at the party but they were some of the people that we really grew to enjoy. She loved to visit and would call if we didn't come often.  They lived way out in the country and couldn't get out much so they dearly loved our visits.  He has trouble walking and is pretty much confined to a wheel chair.  We never saw him with his shirt on.  They are in their eighties and she is his caregiver.  She is getting tired and struggling a bit with her own health.  They were two that we really hated to leave behind.

Danny and Lorei Deweese in front of their home in Morgantown.  They are some special friends in that branch. They often invited us for Sunday dinner when we were serving there.  Lorei and sister Peterson were like sisters in that they laughed alike and talked the same and enjoyed the same things.  When they got together it sounded just like Sister Peterson does when she is with her sisters.  They really enjoyed being together and Danny and I got along well too.  They were some of the last we wanted to see when we left town.  Danny is not a member but comes regularly to Sacrament Meeting.  We called him a dry Mormon and he just laughed.

A great picture of two good friends.

Elder Shiner and Elder McCray were our last visitors as we were loading our car and getting ready to leave. They came up with a car problem that brought them to our town one last time.  We truly wondered about how it just seemed to happen as we were leaving.  We were just getting ready to have dinner so we fed them one more time.  We had to get a picture and they hurried and posed in their hats.  Elder McCray has only recently been transferred to the area so we haven't got to know him as well.  But Elder Shiner has been serving in the nearest branch for most of our mission.  We have gotten very close to him and he to us.  It was very hard to say goodbye to him.