Mystery call

Hi there. It's Z, Andrew's sister.

I just got the most wonderful phone call.

I'm sitting at work, and my phone starts buzzing. It was an Arizona number, and I thought I recognized it as one of my "trouble" contacts I'd needed to call from home a couple of weeks ago to resolve an issue. Reluctantly I answered, but it was not the young male voice I was expecting. Instead, it was a kind and rather matronly voice.

She introduced herself as Sister Marsh, and told me my brother was serving in her area!

If you'll recall from the last post, Sister Marsh is the name of the wonderful lady hosting the missionaries - Andrew's living in her home!

I'd gone down to Arizona with the hubby last weekend, and although we were sorely tempted to do a little Elder stalking, we resisted the temptation (because we're both returned missionaries and know exactly how against the rules that is and how distracting it can be for the missionary).

BUT ... I couldn't resist sending him a postcard to let him know we were all of 198 miles away...

He got my postcard today! And, not reading closely enough to realize we'd already left that dry and hot place, got Sister Marsh to call me to try and arrange a meeting (apparently his mission rules aren't as strict as mine...)

Needless to say, the meeting won't happen.

But I did have a lovely conversation with Sister Marsh, and she reports that Andrew is young, enthusiastic, working hard, and having a great time.

She said he made chicken for dinner last night while she made the salad, and once the meal was over, he said, "Now I want to cook something for real!"

How like Andrew.

She also said that she's learning all sorts of random scientific-y trivia from Andrew. Like some stuff about the stars he pointed out, then a diatribe about propane systems, and then... well, you all know Andrew, so the list of random comes as no surprise.

Sounds like he hasn't changed. Well, except that she reports him to be an efficient and responsible missionary. "Efficient" and "Responsible" are traits he must have learned down in the heat. :)

Most of all, Sister Marsh said how grateful she is to have the missionaries in her home. Her husband died last year, and she's been horribly lonely. So it seems that even while he's home sleeping or doing his laundry, Andrew is still actively serving just by providing this lovely lady with company and purpose.

Way to be.

I'm tempted to save her phone number, should I ever need to use it... tempted, but I'm pretty sure that's another iffy space in the rule book.