On this Veteran's Day we express our thanks to all who have served our country and put their lives on the line for America. We started the week with a FHE presentation "Who Are the Mormons" by the Stake President - using the graphics similar to those atop Mormonism 101 at mormonnewsroom.org (read the intro and 10 questions & answers on that site too). The end of the week began today with the YSA - and driving one of the 13 routes to hand-deliver invitations to 176 churches in Muncie for the upcoming Nativity Event put on by the Muncie LDS Wards. An excellent stake conference followed. The visiting area authority Seventy was Elder Robert Smith. He gave a great talk about trusting the Lord - not just praying and asking, but really trusting Him.

He reminded us that just having a testimony isn't enough. It must be accompanied by spiritual knowledge and commitment. Our Mission President spoke and gave a great talk about the sacrament. We thoroughly enjoyed a turkey dinner and much visiting with our Branch Presidency and wives and another senior missionary couple after conference. Great day - except for the storm blowing in from the west . . . Saturday we joined our family in Indianapolis - visiting the dedicated site for the Indianapolis Temple (we forgot to wear our missionary badges!) and spending several hours at the wonderful Children's Museum.

We also went to the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway - home of the Indianapolis 500. Although we aren't big fans of this sport we enjoyed seeing lots of race cars in the museum and seeing how they changed from 1909 to 2011! We rode one lap around the track in a bus and enjoyed being on the same 2 1/2 mile track that Kevin & Dacia have run as part of the Indy mini-marathon.

It is mind boggling to think of more than 250,000 fans sitting in the bleachers that surround the track - the highest capacity stadium facility in the world. They also run NASCAR, Formula One, and Grand Prix Motorcycle races here.

Gary taught our Institute lesson this week on Zion's Camp. He was very creative - providing his "panel of experts" with answers to the questions the rest of the class posed/read. Several students presented the short bios of Zion's Camp members that he had prepared for them. He showed a good video about this piece of church history. Many of the kids stayed after and sang Christmas carols and hymns around the piano. Delightful! He also taught the Tuesday New Testament messge with 13 students - the most ever on a Tuesday. Fortunately Brenda had cooked 16 baked potatoes for lunch. Brenda also taught 13 students on Friday during lunch. The week included getting flu shots, following election returns & stats & speeches, raking tons of leaves, reparing flooring seams and a clock, cleaning, office work, lesson prep. . . . . . . . . . . . Happy to report that Gary's back is better.