Not Yet. Here's Why.

So I asked myself how long it should take to get a letter from Salt Lake to Twin Falls.  Interesting question, I suppose.  The message we received from our bishop was that our call had been mailed out on October 8, 2012.  (The year might be important here.)  He said he thought we could expect our call as early as Thursday or as late as Monday.  That should be enough time to get a piece of mail from a couple hundred miles.

October 8 was a Monday, officially the celebration date for Columbus Day, so there would be no activity in postal matters on that day.  Seeing the calendar I decided that I would go for the Monday delivery date as more realistic.  We checked the mail every day, of course, and some of our kids were thinking of gathering for the big event.  But nothing arrived before the weekend so Gaye and I just settled in for the week.  It was actually nice to have the quiet house to ourselves for a couple of days.  We love having the kids and grandkids visit.  But it also takes a couple of days to recover, get things put back where they belong, unlock the doors and drawers where the little ones find their treasures, find the remote controls to various electronic devices...you know, that sort of thing.

Nothing on Monday, October 15.  Nor Tuesday.  Maybe Wednesday.  We have had Gaye’s final doctor’s appointment in Boise to follow up on the hip surgery scheduled for several weeks.  That happened to be on Wednesday, so we drove 2 hours over there for the 7.5 minute checkup, visited the Potters Center for some pottery supplies, and even took in a tour of the remodeled Boise LDS Temple.  (It is very nice, by the way.  The chandelier in the Celestial Room took my breath away.)  As we sat down to eat at the Chuck Wagon there came a message from Kim, the daughter living in Twin Falls.  She had gone to our house to check the mail, certainly with mischief in mind, but nothing had arrived.  So we did not hurry home.

Maybe it will come Thursday.  I’m trying to not lose sleep over this, though, so I lined up some projects for the day, including mowing the lawn.  I have put the garden to sleep, but the lawn will probably hang on for a few more weeks.  If it does not come today, I thought, I will call somebody to find out what is going on.  After all, I think I could walk to Salt Lake in 10 days.  Well, I would have to be in better shape than I am now, but it could be done.  So while I was out mowing the lawn the mail was delivered.  I just rode my little tractor over to the mailbox, with a little elevation in my pulse, and wondered whether we would be going to somewhere like Madagascar or somewhere like Butte Montana.  Only the usual 6 or 7 catalogues; nothing of even cursory interest was there.  So I called my bishop and he said he would check on it.  Meanwhile, Gaye called the Church Headquarters operator, was connected to the Missionary Department, and was informed that the letter really was sent out on October 8, 2012.  

She asked where it was sent.  That was when she learned that the zip code was wrong,  It was sent to 88301 instead of 83301.  With Google at hand we quickly found out that the letters (there will actually be one for each of us, or so I have been told) were headed for Carrizozo New Mexico.  I am not making this up.  It was a little hard to find on the map, but Google Earth brought it into view.  Interesting little place with a population of 840, down from 1488 in the 2000 census, majority of whom are Hispanic (I knew I should have taken Spanish instead of French).  It looks like there are a few young families there, the highest price for house sold in the past year is $120,000, average wage is $23,000, population density is 0.765 per square mile, cost of living well below the national average, a few hours drive from Carlsbad Caverns (I would actually love to go see the caves and the bats some day), and about mid-way between Albuquerque and El Paso.  Check it out.  http://www.city-data.com/zips/88301.html#b  Maybe we will be sent there for the next 18 months.  Maybe we should just hop in the car and drive down to retrieve our paperwork.  The Missionary Department said they would send out new call letters that should arrive at the correct address (how can 83301 be confused with 88301?) some time next week.  I thought about calling the postmaster in Carrizozo to see if he/she would open it and read it to us before sending it to the right place.  Maybe I’ll do that today.

Meanwhile, I think I will go out and make some more pots.  We will quite likely be here until Christmas and I need some pots to give as gifts.

That’s all for now.