TENDER MERCIES - (Post by Diane, October 7, 2013)

Hi there!! It is Diane :) There are a lot of perks on the mission when you have a niece that lives 2.5 miles away from the member-house your daughter is living in!!! For one, your sister-in-law might go and visit that niece and phone you and ask if you want anything delivered to your missionary!!! OF COURSE!! And so it went!!! My sister-in-law, Necia, went to visit her daughter Laurel (and my other niece, Tiffany, came along). Then they proceeded to Denver to visit another niece, Kristen :) Whoo hook! I was able to send all of Hannah's winter clothes, coats and boots. She did not take any of that to Mexico City to the MTC, or she would have never made the weight requirements for her luggage at the airport - haha. Plus, it was the middle of summer! Necia saved me a bundle in shipping costs!!! Thanks! We were also able to send some of her favorite treats (including the famous "Connie Boshard"!!) which I knew would make Hannah one happy missionary! The best part about this tender mercy, is that Hannah visited Laurel on her mission in Nebraska years ago when she and her Dad drove to Indiana to help Uncle Brad and Aunt Jane move. The whole thing has come full circle, although Hannah and Laurel will probably meet up at the grocery store or in the chapel quite a few more times before she is transferred to a different area :) And the icing on the cake is that the quilt I made for Hannah was finished and ready to be delivered to her as well. I took a ton of Hannah's leftover design school fabrics, old fabrics we had saved from years and years of costumes and clothes etc, and a bunch of new fabrics and made a quilt for her. It was then stippled by the fabulous Lou Hale and was ready to send to her just in time for Necia's visit. I was more excited to get this quilt to her than I will be in sending her a Christmas package!!! I could not be happier that it was delivered to her personally by family that love and adore her :)

Cousin Laurel (Colorado resident), Sister Jarvis, Sister Mangum, Cousin Tiffany, Aunt Necia

The quilt before it left for Colorado!!

And here is the next great thing that happened! The following day or so, we got a visit from Hannah's actual "Host Mom", the fabulous Sister Engstrom that she lives with in Colorado!! She drove to Provo to visit some of her kids and wanted to meet us, so we had her over. In 2 seconds flat we could all tell why Hannah loves the Engstroms so much and why she is so happy to be staying with this great member family!! We had a great visit and I am sure we will always be friends. I am so grateful to know that Hannah is being taken care of by such a fabulous family!!

Instant friends! She loved Phoebe too :)

Yes, we made her swing :)

And this swing too!!

And yet another tender mercy for me this week! Sister Engstrom has a sister that also lives in Broomfield. Hannah talks about her in her letters and loves this family sooo much! Their names are the Kaisers. I became facebook friends with Sister Kaiser and she sent me the nicest email and picture of Hannah. Here it is:

Sister Mangum,
Tonight we had homemade pizzas for dinner with Elder Payne, Elder Lund, Hermana Jarvis and Hermana Mangum.  What a treat!  We had a busy day and we weren't quite ready for dinner when they arrived so we put them to work.  Sister Mangum is comfortable in the kitchen and it was nice to have extra help.  The guys all left for the priesthood session and the Hermana's and Michelle and I cleaned up a mountain of dishes and had a lovely visit.  The elders came back and got seconds on the apple crumble dessert with ice cream but the Hermanas waited for some mini cinnamon rolls to come out of the oven, the only problem was that I forgot the cinnamon :).
I think they all enjoyed having a break from the hard labor they have been doing for flood victims.  Conference was a needed break and rejuvenation opportunity.  We sure do love having Hermana's in our ward.  Sister Mangum is a sweet heart and she and Sister Jarvis are great companions, it is a nice fit.

Fun fact:  Our daughter, Hermana Kaiser, had lunch at Elder Lund's home in Eureka, CA yesterday.  He said most likely his mother served pizza.
Love,
Kendra

And last but not least, we received a letter in the mail this week from one of the couples that Hannah and her companion helped in the flood. It was so lovely and I wanted to include it as well.

How grateful I am for my sweet missionary. It has been an overwhelmingly BEAUTIFUL week filled with lots of blessings from her service. We are so proud of her and so grateful for her testimony and willingness to be a representative of our Savior. LOVE YOU HANNAH!!!