Transfers!

4 March 2015

Hello family and friends,

As some of you know we have been transferred to Concordia, KS. We were very surprised because we expected to be in one place our whole mission, but here we are. We left Lamar, Colorado last Sunday evening and drove to Dodge City in heavy snow all the way. Then we went on to Wichita the next morning. 

Our last Sunday in Lamar was a very sweet day. Everyone was shocked and saddened that we were leaving. We had many sincere and tender goodbyes. We did make a lot of friends in the five weeks we were there.

We may have told you about Brother and Sister Beard in a previous letter. We met Karen and Brad on our very first day - in fact they were the first family we visited. They have not been to church for several years, We have been visiting them, and we have developed a close friendship. They live fifty miles from the chapel, but they have started coming on Sundays again now. Sister Beard had a serious back injury that caused constant pain, and she could not stand or walk without help. She has needed an operation since early November but has not been able to get insurance approval and could not get the hospital to schedule the surgery. She requested that Elder Gorden give her a blessing. After she was anointed with oil, he blessed her that the pain would subside and that the surgery would be scheduled without further delay. He promised that she would have a successful operation and her health would be restored. It was an exceptionally spiritual experience for all of us. 

She told us two days later that she had slept well for the first nights in many months. The next Monday after the blessing on Friday night, the insurance company called to tell her the hospital would be in touch with them to schedule the surgery. On Tuesday the hospital did call, and arranged for the surgery on February 23^rd in Wichita. We told her we would go with them to the hospital. (What we did not realize was that it would be a one-way trip for us.) Her surgery was very complicated and complex. They opened through her stomach to repair two discs in her back, then turned her over and operated through her back to insert metal rods in her spine. The whole procedure was done without any problems and was completed in less time than expected. She was walking down the hospital hall with us the next day. All four of us feel that they are the reason we were assigned to the Lamar ward for that time. The Beards want us to go with them when they attend the temple for the first time later this year in Denver. Of course, we happily await that day.

After taking an extra day off in Wichita, we traveled on to our new area. Concordia is about two hours north of Wichita in North Central Kansas. The population is about 5,000, and it is an old town with lots of old, large homes. We actually live in one that has been turned into a duplex. It is a quaint little town with lots of character. Unlike the flat High Plains of Colorado, there is a lot more "life" here, but it still has its challenges. There are many small towns around us, and the distances are not as difficult as they were in Lamar.

The branch is small with only about 35-40 people in attendance at church. There are about 6 youth total and 4 or 5 kids in primary. It is nothing like what we are used to in Rogers. We were pleased to see that the few members that attend seem very solid. The Branch President has already asked us to teach a Temple Preparation Class like we just did in Lamar, so we have our lessons already prepared.

One of the first people we met Sunday was a counselor in the branch presidency, and the first thing he told us was we have a speaking assignment in Sacrament meeting next Sunday. They are obviously hungry to hear from someone new!

We traveled to Salina, Kansas, Tuesday morning for our weekly District Meeting. There were 10 of us. We enjoyed meeting with that group of missionaries. Tuesday night we fixed dinner for the young elders, and we had our first meeting with the branch mission leader. He is a policeman and was wearing his uniform. Before our meeting he gave us an interesting demonstration of his taser. The charge emits for a full five seconds. That seemed SO long when he showed us. It would be well not to ever be on the receiving end of a taser!

On Sunday, it was announced that there is a branch temple trip to the Kansas City Temple on March 21^st. We hope we might see some of you there. The next temple trip for the Concordia Branch is to the Winter Quarters Temple in Omaha. We are about the same distance from both.  

It is time to head out the door to see some people this morning. We are going to two little towns called Belleville and Scandia. We hope you are all doing well and prospering. We are always thinking of you. 

Love,

Elder Gorden & Sister Gorden

Copy of Letter to Grandchildren from Elder Gorden

16 February 2015

Hi Kids,                        

I thought you might be wondering what it is like where Grandma and I are serving our mission, so I am writing to tell you a little about our area in Colorado.

The town we live in is called Lamar.  It is where the ward church building is located but our boundaries are gianormous.  If our ward was a state in the 50 United States like (Arkansas or Arizona), it is larger than eight of the other states. That is just our ward boundaries - not our stake! Our town of Lamar is not very big. It would take almost NINE Lamars to make one Rogers.

A Typical (nice) house in Lamar

Everything here is really old. A house people would call new  would still be over 20 years old. Our house is called a four-plex. That means it is a building divided into four living areas. We are upstairs  but only six steps up. The one below us is mostly underground. We think this building is about 50 years old, but it is pretty clean - just old. So maybe we won’t get cooties or anything.  :>)             

Main Street in Lamar                                          

All of the streets are really wide in town. Most of the other little towns around in our ward boundaries have DIRT streets, and they look SO poor. We can’t figure out why people want to live here by choice. Maybe they got hypnotized on accident by staring at a windmill or something.

 We travel on a LOT of dirt roads.

The land is really flat. Really, really flat. We see tumbleweeds, and jackrabbits, and prairie dogs, and coyotes. The clouds are really low to the ground here. It is not because the clouds are low, but the land is higher. We are about a half mile higher here than in Arkansas.  We thought it would be really cold and snowy, but it is not any different than home really. Everyone says is doesn’t rain very much here. That’s good, I guess, because all those dirt roads would be very muddy.

     We get to travel a lot and see the scenery. It ALL looks just like this! 

When we drive to the South part of our ward we pass two big windmill farms. They are so huge. If the windmill blades were propellers on an airplane, the plane would be too big to land at the airport!

We have been drinking bottled water, since the water from the faucet doesn’t taste very good. That is because it has so many minerals in it. There are cows here, but they don’t graze in the pastures. I guess it is because there isn’t enough water for them to drink or grass to eat. So they raise cattle on feed lots.  Those are big fenced-in pens where all the cows are grouped together, and they feed them in the pens until they are big enough to go to McDonalds. The bad part is that feed lots stink really, really bad because there is a WHOLE BUNCH of cow poo all in one place. When the wind blows you can smell them all over town. That is not the best thing.

Grandma likes to walk every morning, and she takes me, too. We go to a gym in the community center building, and we walk around the halls. She walks very fast. I try to keep up, but it is almost impossible. Sometimes other people are walking, too. She walks faster than all of them. I like to tell other people about the church while we are walking.

 Hey, Grandma, wait for me!

We have been meeting lots of good people. Many people in our ward don’t come to church. Some of them live 30 miles or 50 miles or 80 miles from our chapel. Part of our job is to get them to come back again. We already got one couple to come back, and we are working with several others. We are also teaching a non-member about the church. That is really fun. She and her new husband live very far away. Yesterday we had an appointment with them, but they overslept and could not hear the door from their bedroom in the basement. Our trip there and back was about 150 miles, and took about 3 hours of driving. We don t mind driving far to teach people, but it isn’t real fun when they aren’t there.

Grandma looked pretty on Valentines Day.

Two weeks ago both of us spoke in sacrament meeting. Last Sunday I taught a priesthood class. Tonight we are teaching a class to prepare people who are going to the temple for the first time. Also the bishop has asked me to help him start a Boy Scout troop (because we do not have one yet). Grandma is helping with some things in Primary, too.

I saw a boy at the gym that looked just like me when I was a kid!

We took a day off to Pueblo Colorado at a nice Riverwalk.

We have been visiting one man and lady in our ward who have not come to church for about 5 years. She hurt her back real bad and needs a big operation. She has not been able to walk except a little at home sometimes, and she hurts a lot. She has not been able to get the operation she needs to fix her back because her doctor can’t get the insurance to pay for it. She has been trying since last Thanksgiving. She asked me for a blessing to help her. I blessed her to stop hurting so much. I promised her the operation would get approved and everything would be okay. She told me she slept well that night for the first time in a long time. She doesn’t hurt so much, and she has been to church for the last two weeks now. The next Tuesday after the blessing, the hospital called and her surgery operation is scheduled for next week in Wichita. Priesthood blessings can heal people if they just ask for it with faith. Grandma and I are going to go to Wichita with them when she goes to the hospital.          

You could jump across the Arkansas River at Lamar.

Do you remember how big the Arkansas River is? When it comes through our state of Arkansas at Little Rock, big ships carry cargo all the way to and from the Mississippi River and to the Gulf of Mexico. The same Arkansas River comes right though Lamar Colorado, too. But here it is so small you could not even float a canoe in it.

I hope you all are saying your prayers and reading your scriptures and having family night and wearing your seatbelts and brushing your teeth and keeping your shoes tied so you don t fall down when you walk.  Those are the main things to always do. But, don t get gum in your hair and don t put mashed potatoes in your ears. And most of all - don t sing with your mouth full. Except for those things, everything else is okay to do.

Write us a letter soon. I love you very much!