Friday, March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012
Dear Family, Friends
We made it to Warren Air Force Base west of Cheyenne.  It was a beautifuldrive today with Bear Lake in all its glory (mountains reflected in the lake,deep aqua color, interesting clouds, etc.)  We are staying in abeautiful red brick building built around 1910.  It is in the circle ofofficers quarters facing what was probably the orginal entrance to the complexwhen it was a fort for the Infantry and Calvary. It is situated equal distancesfrom Mexico and Canada and was built to protect railroad workers fromhostile Indians. The Wyoming landscape is beautiful but cut up insegments by snow fences, energy producing wind mills, oil and natural gaswells. But...the sky is free to whip up all kinds of cloud formations.
 
About this week---it was full of more instruction than we could possiblyabsorb.  After going through Church Education Classes for teachingInstitute and Seminary we had a special class on security.  **Hey-we can say we were in the MTC with David Archeletta.  He arrived 4hours before we left but we didn't see him. We did see Tia for a littlebit. 
We then headed for Salt Lake City Wednesday afternoon, had a dinner meetingwith the couple we were replacing, looked at the church art again at themuseum, walked around the new City Creek Center, hit the sack at the PlazaHotel, got to the VA Hospital early, early the next morning where Papa got anew set of hearing aids that adjust automatically to different situations, gotto our Military meeting at the church headquarters a few minutes late. Then the training began on military activation, retention, security,resiliancy, addiction.  There were 5 couples total in our group all goingto different situations.  We heard lots of very spiritual, movingexperiences of work with the military and their families.  We were givennew badges- gone are the missionary badges because now we have to wearMilitary Relations badges some of the time and no badges some of the time. Wegot treated to prime rib dinner at the cafeteria.  The church groundswere abloom with wondeful splendor in maticuously groomed flowerbeds.  Things were reving up for conference including in theMilitary office where they were having a meeting of the church militarycommittee the next day.  We spent the evening washing, packing andcleaning and finally got away just before noon today.
 
We were told our families would be blessed for our service and we pray for allof you including our friends.  We feel really good about what we are doingbut are sure we are going to have a steep learning curve during the next 18months. We were instructed to get on face book and start texting so wecould use them with the young adults.  Wish we had started with all ourteenage instructors nearby.   We left meat and other things inthe freezer if anyone wants it.  Ty and Connie said they are moving in thefirst of next week. Papa got everything packed in the Prius except abox of grape juice.  There is not one inch of unused space in ourcar.  We left the Honda in the garage.  Cat watched us pack andgo with quiet resignation.  Pet her for us sometimes. 
Larry would you forward this to Paynes and send us their e-mail address? I have misplaced it again. 

Love you all,   Carol,Grandma,       

March 23, 2012

March 23, 2012

Dear Family,
We returned home tonight from 5 days at the MTC.  It was a wonderfulexperience.  Attached is a photo of our district.  Left toright:  Brother and Sister Crawford from Cedar City going to Uruguay formember support, the Johnsons (the oldest ones in the group- when did I get soold?), Sister Angie Zitting Cluff our trainer, Brother and Sister Hawkinsfrom Rexburg going to teach  CES in Anchorage, Alaska, and Brother andSister Graham from Springville going to work with the Perpetual EducationDepartment in Santiago, Chile.

We ate way too well at the MTC-for example we had salmon and wild riceyesterday and there was always a great choice of all kinds of food andBYU Creamery ice cream on Wednesday (not any better than Aggie IceCream). The training was much improved over the last time we werethere.  If I go back enough times I might learn how to teach thediscussions. It is always so inspiring to see so many young elders andsisters in one place- all dressed appropriately. We did a lot of roleplaying this week.  Papa and I had two elderly female friends who agreedto a first discussion, two couples who wanted the missionary discussion, aninactive couple living in Pincher Creek, Alberta who needed somefellowshipping and we played the role of an inactive couple from our ward foranother couple to teach.  Don and Deanna Smellie left Thursday forthe Palmyra, New York historical centers mission.  We met many othercouples including one set going the do CES in Paris, France, one couple goingto the Congo, one to Transylvania, etc. Several single senior sisterswere going to serve in Nauvoo.  A much older couple- the Holts- taught ustoday.  They have been on about 5 missions.  One quote today was fromElder Holland:  "Let's lengthen our shuffle." 

Our colds are fading away- mine faster that papa's.  We will continuepacking and washing here, go to church on Sunday here then head back to the MTCSunday afternoon.  We will have 3 days of CES training then go to SaltLake where Papa has an appointment for a hearing aid fitting at the VA hospitalearly Thursday morning then we will head to the Church Office Building fora day of military training then go home for the night and head out for ourmission Friday.

For the grandkids:  What is a sea without water?  MTC

Do any of you want small hymn books, book of mormons, or other relateditems?  We get a 40% discount at the MTC bookstore which is in ourbuilding.

Well that is all for tonight. All I can say is Preach MyGospel.    Love, Mom, Grandma,  Carol
 

March 19, 2012

March 19, 2012
Dear Family,
First of all thank you all for your support.  We so appreciated havingfamily and friends there Sunday and also to the art reception. Thanks so much to Betsy, Kurt, Bret and Elizabeth for organizing the dinner anddoing so much work and thanks to all of you that helped. Thanks to all whotraveled so far to be there. 

We made it to the MTC and got strarted on this process of becomingmissionaries.  Although Sardine Canyon had snow on the road the sky wasquite beautiful with the most unusual cloud formations all over the place thismorning.
The food here is good but too plentiful, the fellow missionaries great (theyare from all over and going to all over the world but no proselytingmissionaries in the bunch), and they  have lightened up a lot on the roleof senior missionaries.  Actually they only have a small percentage of thesenior missionaries needed throughout the world but have seen an upswing in numberssince the changes announced a few months ago.  Some of the other seniorcouples here with us are called to serve Church Education System, PerpetualEducation Fund, Historical Site, and Member Support missions. Papa is the ourgroup leader. 
We can have and use our cell phones, have wi-fi connections in our room andhave a bookstore one flight up at the end of our building. Pretty spiffywouldn't you say.

We saw Tia for a couple of seconds today. She really is a student at BYU.

Saturday is our P day so we are going home Friday afternoon to finish packingand cleaning and return to the MTC Sunday. We will probably go home thenext Thursday evening and leave for the mission field on the Friday beforeconference.  How can we hear conference on the road or in a motel room allyou technology experts out there? 

Chris and Adriel were on their way to Kirsten and Kirk's today. 
We met Don and Deanna Smellie at supper and ate with them.  They areheaded to serve at the Palmyra visitors center Thursday.  We aren't theonly ones traveling to the mission field over conference weekend.  Thereare about 3 other couples going to military bases as militaryspecialists.  One couple got their calling this morning and still showedup for training.
If we attend church Sunday at the branch meetings at the MTC we are instructedto sit on the back row, keep our hands down, don't make comments or we can justsleep so we don't take learning experiences away from the youngermissionaries.

Well that is all from the relatives with the badge.  Love You AllVery Much.  Mom, Carol, Grandma