WE BID SISTER McFARLANE A FOND ADIEU!

Today (Saturday) we drove up to Tell City, Indiana to visit Sister McFarlane and her companions, Sisters Ita'aehau and Zamudio. It was a fun filled day and actually somewhat bitter-sweet . . . especially for Lynne. In little more than one week, Sister McFarlane will leave her mission in Kentucky behind and depart for home in Morgan, Utah. We, along with many others, are really going to miss her. It's always a bit difficult for Lynne whenever one of 'her girls' goes home. Even though she is very fond of and close to all of the missionaries, Sister McFarlane - like Sister Roque before her - soon became one of Lynne's favorites.

We gave Sister 'Mac' (her real first name is Jacci) a farewell gift and treated all three of them to fun times in Santa Claus, Indiana (home of Holiday World Amusement/Theme Park and Splashin' Safari). Holiday World has the number one rated wooden roller-coaster in the world and some other awesome rides. You can check out Holiday World at the link we added in the sidebar.

The entire city of Santa Claus is completely be-decked in Santa Claus and North Pole themed regalia all year round. Christmas arts & crafts stores, candy stores, even a fully staffed Santa's workshop are among the many places to see and visit. One of the places we stopped into was called Santa's Christmas Candy Castle. Neat place. All of the tables and chairs were pretty much miniaturized to kids' sizes. Lotsa fun and some great homemade chocolates, 'cold' hot cocoa (that would be chocolate milk-shakes) and divinity. We also took them out to dinner at a nice restaurant called The Patio where we introduced them to frog legs for the very first time.

There was some initial hesitation, especially by Sister Ita'aehau, when it came to the frog legs. There was, on the other hand, NO hesitation whatsoever from from Sister Zamudio. . .she simply refused to even contemplate the ordeal. Sister McFarlane, hardy-stock country girl that she is, attacked the frog legs with zeal. Ita'aehau needed more coaxing and convincing, but ate her fair share after being assured that frog legs were indeed 'seafood' and not 'swampfood'. "If they're seafood, why don't I see them in the ocean?", she would ask.

After a wonderful dinner we accompanied them down to the banks of the Ohio river for the fireworks display celebrating the Tell City Days Festival. They had been invited by several members of the Tell City Branch. Great fireworks and the night was perfect. . . no wind, 80 degrees and beautiful. We had originally planned to stay overnight and attend church in Tell City with the missionaries, but there were absolutely NO motel rooms available because of the festival. Bummer. . . so we just took the sisters back to their apartment and drove back home to E-town. A really good day.