JANUARY 1st . A great first day. Awake at 3:30 so I thought it good to read over my Patriarchal Blessing. This continues to be a great motivator and guidance in my life. After my morning routine,I was out and about as I needed to pay my rent,phone bill and get the last months report for the Sarah Granger Kimball home.  The Christmas decorations are coming down which is so sad to see. Then off to the Seventies Hall for today's assignment. I had quite the experience today as the Sister that I was working with has diabetes and had low blood sugars today.  Thanks to a call to her husband, he told me what to do. When he arrived he took her home and another Sister came to help me. Spent the rest of my day and evening trying to find my room.Talked to Donna and she still has a cold and is very miserable.
 WEDNESDAY
This is just great to begin the year with some news. I have a new assignment. I am one of the Mail Room persons. I pick up and deliver the mail Tue.Thur and Sat. I am going to enjoy this as I am out and about and then when I am finished I go to the Family Living Center. to work till 3. This month we do Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo (the stage show) on Mon.,Wed. and Fri. so we had had a break for a few days.Some nights there are only a hand full of people but the show must go on.  Talked to Kari and Skyped Nathan, Megan and David This is so fun to see the babies.
THURSDAY
My first day of my new assignment at the Mail  Room.I start at 9 AM and drive a  Dodge Caravan to pick up the mail at the Mission Office which is part of the Visitors Center and Facilities Management. Then to the Post Office to pick up the mail. Then back to the Mail Room to sort and take care of the numerous magazines and mail that has to be forwarded. I then deliver the mail to the Mission Office,FM and Land & Records, back to the Mail Room. Park the Van and then head for home, have a quick lunch and head off to the Family Living Center till 3PM.Tonight I worked on catching up on my desk.
FRIDAY
The first Friday of the month we have a Mission Breakfast at 7AM to say farewell to departing missionaries and welcome the new ones.We all sign up to bring food and it is a great way to see those we have not connected with this past month. Went to the Sarah Granger Kimball home to pack away the Christmas Decorations. Then went to the Visitor Center to serve today.11:30-5PM We had  41 people come to the center today. After supper headed to the Cultural Hall for the show Rendezvous did I mention that it is only an hour long. This has been a very long day but then they all are.
SATURDAY
Went to the temple for an hour and then to the Mail Room. I am still in learning mode but the actual Post Office is only open from 9:15-10:30 on a Sat. so I needed to collect the mail and get there before it closes. We had snow and rain today which was very interesting. Came home for lunch and then walked to the Family Living Center. On the way I passed a field that was full of Canadian Geese. I have no idea how many but it was black, I guess over 600. The noise was incredible.. What a time to not have a camera. The Mississippi River is the flyway for thousands of migrating birds and they even have the nesting boxes for the spring time so I will let you know when they leave or come back for that matter. Hunting season is over but there were some very aggressive hunters around for the season. They even have blinds and camouflage boats. We apparently are waiting for the hundreds of Bald Eagles that are the next to move through. There is even an island that is just for them. So back to my story. When I got to the Family Living Center where we do demonstrations of different Pioneer skills I was asked to work on the hand weaving of a shawl that they are making for a lady. So that was fun to do. Left at 3 ish and the noisy geese were still there but some more joined them. They seem to take turns going to get a drink from the River.