Dear friends,
It is two weeks today since Elder Alldredge and I arrived in Cambridge Ohio to serve in the Cambridge LDS Branch (Ohio Columbus Mission). Our Branch President actually lives 40 miles away in a Zanesville Ohio ward. He was called to serve in this Branch so he, his wife, his in-laws, 15 year old son, and daughter all attend meetings here in Cambridge. There are well over 300 members listed but attendance is usually between 30 and 50 - according to the weather.
 |
| Our small Cambridge Ohio Branch Meetinghouse |
The Branch boundaries extend out 20+ miles in all directions. Elder Alldredge and I have been traveling throughout the area leaving/giving Christmas cards at members' homes. It has helped us get to know the area and all of the small towns and people in our branch. We hope to meet them all but it will take a while as the weather will be getting worse.
Cambridge Ohio is a town 85 miles east of Columbus. It is in Appalachia - the foothills. There was even a coal mine here until the 1940s. Some of the members are under-employed or unemployed. They are good-hearted people. We are excited to get to know more of them as we serve here.
There are Amish groups in the area. We were out to visit a member about twenty miles east of here last week and passed a buggy with two women and a small boy in it. It was 28 degrees! We were very happy to be in our warm little car. And it is getting colder...
We are grateful to be serving the Lord at this time. It was very difficult to leave as our 15-year-old granddaughter, Josie is very ill. We stayed until her biopsy was over but didn't get the diagnosis until we were in the MTC. She has stage 4b Hodgkins Lymphoma. It is very wide-spread. We pray her body can stand up to the treatment. Josie is undergoing treatment of one full week of Chemo at Children's Hospital in Seattle, home for two weeks then it starts over again. She has been back in hospital with influenza this week and also received a blood transfusion. She is a wonderful person (we lived next door to her) she was on Monroe's high school dance team. Our first great grandchild was born the day before Thanksgiving - same family. She is a lovely baby. Here is a photo of Josie home from her first round of chemo holding her new baby niece, Ryder.
Josie and her new baby niece, Ryder Fern Marie
My mother had also been in the hospital, so it was also hard to leave St. George. We visited my parents there after we left the MTC. Michael and I enjoyed our drive across the country to Ohio. We had good weather all of the way east. We were driving through Kansas on Thanksgiving Day and couldn't find any place open to eat dinner not even a McDonalds in a truck stop. We finally found a Golden Corral open in Hays, Kansas. So we ate dinner there alongside many single men and a few families.
As I'm sure you can tell by this post our hearts are torn as we would like to be home with our family. But we feel very blessed to be serving a mission with each other. This is a lovely place to be and we hope we can do what is needed to support the Church in this part of the Lord's vineyard.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Elder and Sister Alldredge - Cambridge Ohio
 | ||
| It snowed yesterday and I was cold. I'd better get used to it! |
