Last month, our bishop and his wife took a trip to Vancouver to visit their son and his family. I loaded up a box of some of Wesley's favorite things (green chile, pineapple chunks, gummy worms) and some of the things he hates spending money on (shampoo, toothpaste, deoderant) and asked them if they would drive through the Seattle area and deliver a package to my missionary. They were gracious enough to accomodate me. They returned with pictures and stories!
Here you see Bishop Wells visiting with Wesley and his companion. Their rendezvous was at a meetinghouse. Sister Wells reported that the first thing Elder Whipple did when he saw their car drive into the parking lot was run over and take a picture...not of the kind people bringing him goods from home. No, this NERDY missionary took a picture of their New Mexico license plate!
Here's Wes with Bishop Wells. Bishop actually took a short video of Elder Whipple telling his family about the people he was teaching, but the Stake President didn't think it was appropriate to post it on the blog, so I didn't. Suffice it to say it made us all (brother, sisters, nieces, mom, dad) miss him ever so much. Still, it was good to see and hear him so happy doing the Lord's work. Before they left, Bishop asked Elder Whipple if he hugged his mom and dad. When Wesley said "yes", the bishop had Wesley give him a hug, which he passed on to Wesley's dad upon return from their vacation. Sister Wells had a similar gift for me. Thanks to the Wells for taking a little love to Elder Whipple and returning some too!