This is Ron Richardson--and his new truck! He had surgery on his knee a couple of months ago and is doing quite well with his recovery. December 27th, 2008 we had the privilege of going to the Columbus Ohio Temple with Ron Richardson, his first time, and his wife Pam, who had been to the temple several years ago and has returned after several years. Also attending for the first time was Lori Altvater, next to Sister Owens. She is a convert of one year and is a sweet and loving woman who loves the gospel and has a strong testimony of it. What a blessing it was for us to be able to be in the temple with these great people of Ohio. On the right is our Bishop Converse who has taught Ron and Pam and Lori the lessons preparatory to coming to the temple. Ron and Pam will be back next week to be sealed for time and eternity! We will all be there with them for this occasion.

Elder Owens with Lee King who was baptized in November 2008. Elder Owens had the privilege of confirming him on Sunday in the Delaware Ward. What an awesome member he is and he will be such a strength to his family. These pictures are a little out of order but oh well!! We spent Christmas Day with Bea Zufelt and her family in Chillicothe. Larry and Ann, her dear friends, were with us too and we had a wonderful time and a delicious dinner! Bea's teenagers are really sweet and they are so kind to us!

Here they are spelling O H I O . Can you see it!?? They really enjoyed taking crazy pictures. We found out that most of the Elders do the same thing!

We all went to Red Robin for lunch one day to celebrate Elder Pridgen and Elder Brusch's birthday! They are a great bunch of Elders!

Elder Brusch went home December 20, 2008. We look forward to seeing him again when we are in Salt Lake. He is a very humble missionary and we know he will never quit being a missionary.

Elders Brusch and Titensor presented Elder Owens with this beautiful tie before Elder Titensor got transferred. They really enjoyed Elder Owens and his stories and would come to the office and go to Elder Owens little office and sit and visit. They always had a spiritual story to share with him and Elder Owens loved their visits. Elder Pridgen was there often too so they would have a real story sharing time.
We are here with Elders Titensor and Brusch. They were the Zone Leaders in the area where the Mission Office is located so we got to know them quite well. We had some great lunches with them and enjoyed getting to know them--Elder Titensor is from Texas and his dad played for the Dallas Cowboys years ago and Elder Brusch is from Salt Lake City and lives really close to our daughter, Tammy.

These two Assistants are Elders Pridgen and Yablonovsky and they went home in November 2008. We really enjoyed them and miss them here in Ohio. We loved it when they would stop by around 9 PM for ice cream or come over for dinner. They were great leaders and we really grew to love them!