Tonight my Church assignment was to team up with the full-time missionaries. Some places these are called missionary splits; in this mission they are called team-ups. Essentially my job was to drive the missionaries to their appointments and participate as needed. We have two very fine missionaries assigned to our ward. One is from Springfield, Missouri, and the other from Memphis, Tennessee — Elders Conrad and Stanbaugh. They are good, dedicated young men anxious to work and to make good use of their time as missionaries. Their families should be pleased with these young men and their service. We visited a family in a neighboring ward tonight and then spent some time with the Stake President. As far as missionary team-ups go, this was one of the better. Quite often they are frustrating as nothing was planned and even less was accomplished. Not so with these two young men. We had a good evening and it was good for me to be along with them.

I spent yesterday afternoon being scoped and scooped by Dr. Davis. For some time I’ve had occasional problems with food getting stuck at the bottom of my esophagus. It usually would happen with meat and sometimes getting it to either go up or go down was nearly impossible. I finally made an appointment with a doctor to see what the problem was and determine what was needed to get it fixed. He explained that the likely cause was dysphagia, usually caused by acid reflux and that he would need to put a scope down my throat, take some pictures, and inflate a balloon to break up the ring of stuff that was constricting the bottom of the esophagus. The procedure was done yesterday afternoon. After starting an IV drip and wheeling me on a bed into the procedure room, the doctor injected some pain medication and sleep stuff into the IV and within seconds I was gone. Everything went well. The procedure seemed to work and he also took some tissue samples to be biopsied. He had told me occasionally the acid reflux problem will create some pre-cancerous lesions. I’ve a followup appointment next week when he’ll show me the pictures and tell me what he did and if he found anything interesting. In the meantime, I’ve added another prescription for a Prevacid to start clearing up the acid reflux problem.

The last time I was put to sleep was when I had my tonsils removed at about age 3 or 4. I don’t remember that, of course. The process yesterday went very smoothly and I’ve decided that’s the best way to do dental work as well! I’ve heard some recent advertisements from a local dentist who does dental work while the patient is under. A very good idea in my opinion!

Finally, a year ago when our granddaughter Madison was being baptized, Nina and I went out to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania for the event and stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast — The Jacqueline House. We had a great time staying at this bed and breakfast (and was it only just a year ago that we were there?). Today the owner of the establishment found my posting about their bed and breakfast on a search engine and posted a comment. It’s always interesting to me who finds the web log and reads it! It’s not just for family any more, I guess.

It’s a nice, quiet evening in Pocatello. It’s also cold with haze and fog. The days are getting a little longer as I now can leave work and drive home in daylight (if not twilight) rather than in the dark. The weatherman thinks we may get some snow over the coming weekend which is a good thing. Spring isn’t all that far away. Just for the record, it’s 22 degrees outside with a wind chill of 21 degrees, humidity of 91%, and a dew point of 20 degrees. The wind is calm. As I said, a nice, quiet evening.

I spent an hour in the dental hygenist’s chair this afternoon. The company’s dental plans offer Willamette Dental as an option. They are primarily oriented towards preventative care and do a pretty good job of that. The office never seems to be overly busy. This afternoon only the hygenist and the receptionist were there. It actually turned out to be an OK visit. I don’t enjoy being at the dentist office (who does?) but because there was no hustle or bustle, and particularly no other dental office noises such as drills and saliva evacuators or whatever they’re called, it didn’t seem very much like being at the dentist. They hygenist was very pleasant and just prattled on about life and things as she poked and pried around my mouth. Nothing that I needed to respond to or answer. I just sprawled in the chair, closed my eyes, and tried to drift off into la-la land. An hour later and I was on my way back to the office.

The week has also been full of political news both at home and internationally. President Bush delivered his State of the Union address last night. Last Sunday elections were held in Iraq and despite major threats of violence, more than 55% of eligible Iraqi’s voted. A political cartoon in paper today showed a fellow watching someone on TV going to vote in Iraq while dodging bullets and suicide bombers. The TV-watcher said, “Remind me of this the next time we have elections!”

There always seem to be very loud voices proclaiming that “it can’t be done!” and the elections in Iraq are a typical case in point. For months naysayers have been proclaiming that elections couldn’t be held, it was too soon, not enough preparation, too many people would be killed trying to vote, no one would turn out to vote, and on and on and on. Goverment officials are derided for trying to stay the course. Horrendous predictions are made about the outcome and strident voices shout that the elections must be postponed. I’m pleased that neither our government nor the Iraqi’s listened to the doomsayers and proceeded to plan and hold elections on schedule and as promised. The Iraqi people certainly made a statement to those who were sure the election could not be held and if it was, would be a failure. Congratulations to the people of Iraq who have proved once again that people truly want a say in their future.

We’ve had a visitor here for the past week. A good friend, in her mid-80’s, who worked with us at the Denver Temple came over last Saturday and will fly back home on this coming Saturday. She’s been widowed for several years and works faithfully two days a week in the temple. She’s been fun to have around for the week and I hope that she’s enjoyed being here. I’m sure we’ve also worn her out! I hope to be that spry and healthy when I’m her age. Life continues to be good!