Trying to Explain the Unexplainable

Another two amazing days have passed in the Congo. Each day I think that it will be an ordinary day and it never is. The last two days are no exception. I wish that I could share every experience with family and friends and have you see it all and really take it in like we can,although sometimes it's overwhelming and hard, it also makes us feel a tremendous sense of purpose and we know we are needed most desperately.

First we took a trip 75 miles North to Likasi for a zone conference. There are six incredible missionaries and an African couple there. There are four branches and a beautiful building almost exactly like the one in Lubumbashi. They stand out so much in the surrounding ville. We spent time with our missionaries and loved it and then we went to see the couple Motshikana home, which is very, very nice by African standards. They are a great couple who work with the missionaries and the branches in Likasi. They are the first Congolese couple to ever serve. Their way is paid for by the church and it's worth every penny. Here in the kitchen you can see the water pump and the filters that create safe water. They are pumping water from the red bucket through the filter and into the tap. Ours goes directly to our tap.

Likasi is in a hilly area and the air is clearer and the contour of the land is interesting. It seems to be a little nicer to me, but is smaller and quite isolated. As with all the places we've been there is one main street in the town that is paved and the others are just dirt. This area is very, very dusty.

This big statue in the center of town was built to honor women.

The trip itself to Likasi was something I will never get over. This is the real story of Africa. It is devastatingly sad and overwhelming in its scope, when you realize that we only traveled 75 miles and there are millions living just like this all over the continent. There were probably 30 or more little villages along the way there. Most are without running water or power and they sometimes have to walk long distances to get to water and fuel. You saw them walking along the road all the way carrying water and cassava and every other thing they could have been carrying. These villages were filled with people who live in such poverty that we could not believe our eyes. It's rougher camping that we ever did in all our years of camping. If you have something to sell, you just sit by the side of the road and try to make a little money to keep your family going. If you don't you cook, clean or just sit or visit or whatever one can do with almost no personal belongings. We saw some children playing with a soccer ball made of strips of rags and some dancing. They cook outside on open fires made with charcoal. They eat mostly casava root which they mash by hand and make into a food like mashed potatoes, with a little stew of onions, and maybe peppers or tomatoes in it. There were a few chickens and a few goats. Some of the houses were open and you could see just dirt floors and no furniture inside. Most were less than 10x10 feet. Every two minutes I could have taken a picture like these. It was like that for 75 miles.

It's really quite an overwhelming site. We drove for two hours, on a pretty good two lane highway. When the pot holes get bad they just drive in the dirt on the side of the road.

Then we drove on about 6 miles of "teeth rattling dirt road". Just like four-wheeling! We totally got the giggles because we were bouncing around in the back of the truck. The picture below is the most interesting point in the road trip. This car full of stuff is a NOT very usual sight through the city and villages, but with cows and trucks added and driving off the road to avoid pot holes, it was a great mix of common sites in Africa.

Our friend, Desiree, who drove us this first time, wanted to stop and get some charcoal, which is how they cook. It's much less expensive out in the country then when the bicyclers bring it to town. So, we stopped for some charcoal.

After our long trip yesterday, we decided to find the the produce market in Lubumbashi today.
We got stopped twice by the police and each time they looked at Brent's badge and said "church" or "missionaries" and waved us on. One of them said "We are here to help you!" Africa is a place where spiritual things are important. It's a blessing to serve here. I want you to know that we are not afraid, except of the roads. They have pot holes that you could disappear into and never be found. But these people are warm and kind and very good to us. They are friendly and they appreciate every good thing they get.

These pictures tell the story of the African market. This market went for about a block down the street and a block back behind what you see here. We did find good produce and the people were so glad to have white Americans (muzungus) who will pay lots more than the African people. There were many tender moments-- the street kids who we gave $.60 for a bag for our food who went away smiling because of a big sale--the mother with her tiny baby selling peppers-- and especially the cute lady with pears who chased us down to give us one more pair for our money, which I'm sure was not a good deal, but was a sweet moment. Life is hard in Africa and we are people of great privilege. It makes me so sad and so grateful and so aware of all the work we need to do. We will go back to the market.

We were told that this mission would change us forever, but this trip did that. The light of the gospel needs to shine brightly here in Africa. It is the only hope for this land. I think it will take until the Savior's return to make this a place without terrible suffering. But if you see the light in eyes of the members you will see what real hope is. We are so lucky to share in helping them.

The good, The Bad and the Ugly

What a day it has been! Today is Brent’s birthday and it will not be one that we will ever forget! It was sad for me that I had not thought ahead to get Brent a gift and here it wasn’t possible. But he came out with a shirt, tie and pants that he had not worn today and called it his new Birthday clothes. What a sweet guy!

We started off the day with a wonderful experience. We had a zone conference with 16 fantastic missionaries. They are the light of our mission and we are so honored to be able to serve with them. They have amazing faith and testimony and they are working hard. They don’t have to work hard to find people to teach. They have to work hard to keep up with the people who want to be taught. One elder, who just went home when we got here, personally taught and baptized 300 people. I think that is the mission record, but I'm not sure. It’s staggering how many people are being taught. We went to the grocery store two days ago and a bagger saw our name tags and asked if we were Mormon missionaries. When we said yes, he said that he loves the Bible and reads it every day and he understood that we had another book about Jesus and how could he get one. We took his number (everybody has cell phones) and told him we’d see that he got one. Today we went to the store to get some things for the zone conference and he came racing through the store to catch us to see when he could get his book. Can hardly believe it. At the church during zone conference two young men came in to see if somebody would teach them about the church. It's just crazy! But our missionaries are as good as any missionaries in the world. Many have served as ward and branch missionaries before. They have gone to the temple and to the MTC. Here they are.

We just love them. During the conference they get to have KFC and they love it. However, it’s not the Colonels. It’s KATANGA FRIED CHICKEN.

Elder Mpoi, whose head is on the right and who has taught me three phrases in Swahili, thought I was funny to want a picture of chicken. It’s a little box with chicken , fries and a little coleslaw wrapped up in foil. We didn’t eat it, but it didn’t look all that bad. After they ate they found out that it was Brent’s birthday and so they sang to him, twice—once in French and then again in English. So cute! The second missionary on the right, Elder Yongoi, is the one who got seat for another elder on the plane. Next to him is Elder Kapele (with glasses), He carried my bags all the way from Kinshasa. Remember him for later.

After At the conference Elder Kapele came up and asked me if he could have a bottle of water. Not want wanting to set a precedence, I asked why. The answer was that they had not had water at their apartment for three days. We talked to the President and decided we should to see this place. So we went. I didn’t take the camera and was sorry, but now I’m glad. It would make you cry to see this place. It was horrible. It was far out on a dirt road with ditches of raw sewage in front of it. Inside it was a cement box with two rooms and no windows and no furniture, but a table and four chairs. Four elders live here. There was no water, no electricity and only a hole for a toilet. They cook on a charcoal fire on the floor of one of the rooms. Up the shaky metal stairs were two bedrooms with a small dresser in each and mattress on the floor. These sweet elders had not had power for three months and no running water and no water delivery for three days. It broke my heart. I tried to talk to them, but I could not talk and hold back the tears. So, Brent just told them how sad I was for them and we would change things as soon as we could. We gave them money to get three days worth of water. I hated to leave them there, but had no choice. Then we went to the zone leaders place to see it. It was much better, but still not a place we would want anybody we liked to live. They had room and electricity, no running water, but deliveries of water. had n , but no place to clean up except outside with a pan. The same dish pan is used for bathing, and washing clothes. We went home very sad and determined to change things. Pres. Headlee thought that we could move them to the old servants quarters on in our compound until we found a new place. These are pictures of it and it’s a giant step up. They are cement with no water, but they do have electricity. The two little outside rooms are a toilet and a shower. There is a tap with water outside. Most of the elders buy water by the barrel. They would cook outside on a brassier using charcoal. This would be a pretty good place to stay compared to what they have.

This is the "toilet". It's just a hole in the ground.

This is the "shower"

In the evening we went to one of the nicest restaurants in town with the Headlees, Bro. and Sister Monga, and Desiree and his wife. It was a wonderful evening. We talked and laughed and had a good time. There two men are the ones who have helped us to get settled and will be our main support. Monga was the first Congolese ever to go to the Temple. That was in 1993. Desiree and his wife were married in JoBurg Temple, but all alone. No money for family to go to be with them.These are devoted, wonderful members and we are so grateful to know and love them.

Brother and Sister Monga gave Dad a birthday present. It’s to make a Congolese shirt for Dad and a dress for me. It was so sweet of them. Can’t wait to find a dressmaker and get them done.This is how the Congo is. There are some things that are so good, Some that are pretty bad and then there are those things that are just darn ugly! We just look for and enjoy the good and try not to focus on the rest.

Our first solo venture out into the world - Sept. 16th, 2009

Today we had our driver's licenses so we ventured out to see the world. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words & every time I blinked I could have taken another picture. But here are some. You will see what a different place we're in when you see these pictures. We only got stopped by one policeman & he wanted sugar. We think that means cookies, since some of the missionaries in the past gave them cookies. Then the other police who were in the middle of a traffic jam got mad at him for stopping us & holding up traffic. So we just went on. My prayer was answered that we not have any traffic confrontations today on our first time out alone.

This is what the entire main downtown look like. People walking everywhere. The church in the background is the nicest building in town. (You may want to click on it to enlarge it & see the details of this crazy photo.)

The mounds are termite hills. They no longer have insects in them. Trees now grow on the top of them. Some of them are over 10 feet tall!

This is a taxi. There are zillions of them. They cram about 25 people in them.


This is how they move things. Not many trucks around. Kind of like handcarts.

Notice the load. It's the common way to carry things.

Africans carry everything on their heads.

People here cook with charcoal made from wood burned out. Just a typical city street with stores on the side of the road.

These men ride their bikes 60-80k to get to market.

Wish I could really share this place with you. It's amazing! We made it through another day & even drove.

Oh, Brent also had to go to the bank & get cash for all the expenses for the mission for the month. We went out of the bank with $13,000.00 in cash! I was a nervous wreck. We'll do that every month. Crazy!!!

Love, Mom & Dad/Brent & Lorraine

Driver's License Day- Sept 15th, 2009

I just finished a busy day of things that I didn't think would be very interesting to tell anybody about. It was just kind of an ordinary day in L'ishi (the easy way to say Lubumbashi). So, I went in to just relax a minute in the bedroom, which is the only room with air conditioning & rapidly becoming my favorite place to be, when suddenly everything went black & we experienced our first power outage. I think it was pretty good that we've been here for four days & just had our first power outage. We had begun to think that it was just frightening stories that we loose power. So, I got my trusty shake flashlight and went to rescue Brent who was in the office. We have candles by our beds left by the kind people who have been here before. So we lit them and laid on the bed discussing the day & how it seemed fairly normal.
We worked around the house for a while & then we went with our trusty guide, Monga, to get our driving permits. I think that I said that the Congolese DMV has been shut down for 2 months because some employee forged a driver's license. But you can get temporary licenses, so we headed off to get it. This outing seemed pretty normal to us while we were doing it, but now that we think about it, it was an adventure.
First we went through the middle of town, which is quite a sight to see. There were hundreds people just walking around & quite a few cars too. It was just your normal African scene - men sitting around on the ground or in white plastic chairs, other waling as if they had some business to do, women with babies in wraps strapped to their backs, and people carrying all kinds of things on their heads. This time there was nothing very unusual, just giant baskets of bread, bananas, mangos, or bags with who knows what in them. It is beginning to feel normal to see these kinds of sights. The weirdest thing is the money sellers. They are all men who sit in a chair on the side of the street with a "brick" of Congolese Francs to exchange for Dollars. They just put out a piece of cardboard that says $$$ & they're in business. I wonder why somebody doesn't come along & just knock them over & take their money, but they don't. Strange in a place where people have nothing. A "brick" is about 2 inches tall & about the sized of our money. It would be lots of money here, but the CF is not worth much. The smallest denomination you see is 500CF & that's worth about $.60. So, it takes a pile of money to get anything.

A "brick" of Congolese Francs

Working in CFs is a challenge. It seems crazy when they say they want 8,000CF for a picture. It sounds like a log, but it's only about $6.50 for five little passport size pictures. What a laugh to see us counting out $100 worth of CF to pay for our groceries. They finally offered to help us. Very pathetic!
The picture taking was another adventure. Besides the fact that everybody stares at us like we have two heads because we are the only white people around (literally we haven't seen an Anglo since the mission home) it was quite the interesting place to have pictures taken. We sure were glad the Brother Monga was right beside us the whole time. The photo shop/shoe store was a tiny room about 12x12 as are most of the shops here. We had to go up some stairs for the actual picture. The stairs were really a bit terrifying. They were sort of suspended so they moved as you walked. They were padded & then covered with heavy plastic so that you couldn't see what was under there & I think that was a blessing. We stood in front of one of the 3 circles (white, yellow, & green) to make a nice background for our photos. That room was about 8x8 & I was glad to be out of that tiny place.
Next we thought we were off to the Congolese DMV. We left the main road & drove on other streets that were just dirt with huge ruts & gullies in them. It's like a 4-wheeling trip every time you leave the main paved road in Lubumbashi. Instead of ending up at the DMV we ended up at a Dispensary, which is a clinic. there we met a woman who was dressed, like most women, in a beautiful African dress (almost no women wear pants) and a matching scarf wrapped around her head. She was very beautiful (wish I'd had a camera for this whole adventure. I'm going to take it with me everywhere I go from now on). She had a little boy with her because she'd taken him to the Dispensary. the kids really stare at us & most won't acknowledge us when we wave or say hello (freaky white people). It turns out that the Congolese have a great way of doing things. You just pay somebody to go to the DMV and negotiate & get your license for you. Pretty cool! I've pent hours at the DMV to ask a simple question & we got driving permits without stepping foot in the place. They are just pieces of type paper with our picture stapled to them & signatures on them. But they're what has kept us prisoners in our own home because if you get stopped without one, you are in jail.

Here is Brent's drivers permit

Now we can go out & see what this town is all about. We have about eaten all our food from our first trip to the store, so it's a good thing we're free at last.
So, just a typical day in L'ishi! Now we're all locked into our house & the lights are back on and life is good!
I've done lots of cooking. Everything has to be made from scratch & with rather funky ingredients. Made my first brownies tonight. They turned out OK despite the weird sugar & no shortening. Our password is FLEX!
Tomorrow the mission Pres. & his wife arrive for a week. We have stake conference & our first trip to an outlying city, Likasi, for a zone conference. There is no internet in Likasi & no food we can buy there, so we're packing a lunch & it will be most interesting. Life has not been dull since we left home. I don't think it will while we're here.
Have to run. I'm on the program for both Zone Conference & Stake Conference to "say a few words" & it will be in French! Easy for them to say. But I'm doing better un peu par un peu! The people are so kind when you try to speak. They are just pulling for me & helping me when I can't find the word. It's amazing!

Getting Settled in Lubumbashi - Sept 13th, 2009

So much has happened since I last wrote. We are in our house in Lubumbashi & we have been totally cut off from the world for FOUR days, since we got here. The wonderful people have been so kind to us & helped us, but it's been hard not to be able to contact anybody. No phone or internet yet. It's a little strange and frightening, but we are locked in our house with giants steel door & windows & gate is shut tight, so I'm trying not to be too nervous. It will be good to have Mon. come & be able to get phones & internet set up.

So, I'm writing about our time since we left Kinshasa. We had our first trip on an African airline & it was quite the adventure. It's two hour plane trip from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi. We left the mission office at 6:30 along with ten wonderful young missionaries & Jule, an IT man from the church. Eustash, who is a wonderful young man who works for the church, drove us & lead the way. He was so helpful the whole time we were in Kinshasa. He does a little of everything to make things work for the mission. Without him & the office couple, Brother & Sister Moon, the mission would shut down. They were amazing & dedicated workers.

We drove the half hour trip to the airport through Kinshasa that we had driven at night on the way into town. I couldn't believe my eyes & cannot describe to you the sight we saw. The entire route was filled with tiny little shacks, which were filled with small businesses, on the side of the two-lane highway. People were everywhere. They were already filling their baskets with bread & wood & other things that they carry on their heads. Fires were set on the sides of the road, which were cleared back about 20 feet. The people were burning trash & sitting by fires (I guess to keep warm & to burn garbage since there is no infrastructure) although it was about 80 degrees. From the street to the little shacks that serve as stores there was only dirt. I wish I could have taken a picture because it's impossible to help you imagine what it looked like, but my camera was in the back with our eight bags & one bag for each of the 10 missionaries.

We began our trip at 6:30. The plane was supposed to leave @ 9:45. It took us every minute of that time to get us & our 8 bags & the elders & their 10 bags through the procedure of getting on. The people who looked through every carry on couldn't believe the things we had in our bags. They asked us why we needed all the medicine & Brent said, "because we're old". They they looked at our tags, read the words on them, asked me what that meant & let us through. In the end, a cute security worker came up & introduced himself as a member of the church & helped move us through the process of foreigners getting through security. He just walked us right of to the place we needed to go and was so helpful. But all that was OK because the plane didn't leave for another 90 mins! The cute elders watched us as we struggled with our 2 very heavy carry-on bags & after a few minutes elders took them from us & carried & pulled them all the rest of the way to Lubumbashi. They were so dear & so kind to us.

When we got on the plane & arrived at our assigned seat somebody else was in it. So, a stewardest kindly showed us to another pair of seats. In the end there weren't enough seats for everybody & one of our elders ended up standing. I was sure that they were going to make him get off & he was on of the elders returning home after his 2 year mission. I was so worried for him. Then one of the other elders got out of his seat & went to help this missionary. They warned him that he would lose his own seat, but he went right ahead. Finally, he found a seat for the returning elder when some one got up and then that person had to sit in the jump seat. From that point on things went well. They served us a little piece of hard candy, then a drink and then a hard roll with some cheese on it. They said all the things that they normally say on any other plane, but they did it in between 2 & 4 languages.

We landed at last in Lubumbashi & had the same kind of process to get our luggage. We were met by a church employee, Brother Monga, who had to stand outside the airport until we identified him & then they let him in. They told us to just sit down & they would take care of everything & we were glad to do so. Again the elders hauled our bags for us. What wonderful, sweet young men they are. I feel so grateful to get to work with them. We saw the family of the returning missionary and they embraced him for a long time & then they came & shook our hands & we told them what a fine missionary he had been. His Dad just beamed from ear to ear & kept sort of bowing toward us & saying thank you. What a tender time to share. I hope we see them again here in Lubumbashi.

Lubumbashi is a lot different than Kinshasa. It's hard to explain, but it's just slower pace & the businesses, though small, are better kept up & there are many old homes from the Belgium era here. There are street lights & even some new construction. there is still poverty & it makes me so sad, but it's a much happier & friendlier place. we are the envy of all the mission couples to get to live here.

We stopped at a grocery store that is new & a very pleasant surprise. Sister Monga kept saying that we could get anything in Lubumbashi & I think she's right. The place is called Jambon Market (Jambon is the word for Hello in Swahili.) One of the missionaries tried all week to teach me some Swahili & this is what I have from that. Jambon means hello & Mosori means I'm well. I'm kind of a slow learner, but we had fun doing it. I love these missionaries!!!

We have been in our house three days now & because we can't drive (the driver's license offices in Kinshasa have been closed for three weeks) we have pretty much been putting things in order & it's starting to feel like home. We are locked in behind big iron gates & our guard/gardener/worker bee has to open them to let people in. Everybody will call before they come when we have a phone. For now we go out & ask who it is & identify them to Robert, the guard. He's a really sweet man who works hard & is very nice. He puts his hands together near his chin & bows when he talks to me. So, respectful & makes me feel so old! I'd guess he's about 10 years younger than we are. He has 10 children & has not had enough money to send any of them to school. He makes $250 a month to support his family of 12 people. So sad! But at least he has work. He is very hard working. Every day he washes down the whole yard, and washes the cars. Everything is very dusty & dirty so it's nice that he washes things down. The rainy season will start soon & I think it will be good to hive this place a good washing.

Today the washing machine didn't work when I went out to do laundry in the "wash house" so I left the laundry there. When I looked out next he was hanging it on the clothes line. He had washed it all by hand & hung it out. Then tonight we found it all folded nicely in the laundry house. I am not comfortable with him doing my laundry & will tell him he doesn't have to do it anymore. We hope to get a new washer when Pres. & Sis. Headlee come on Wed. This one is on its last leg, or maybe past that.

What an amazing life we have here. If we can get the internet and phones and driver's license, all will be well. We wish that we could really show you what this world is like. It's impossible to explain, but it is wonderful in its own way.

I'm out of time & I'm sure you're tired of reading. I want to tell you about church yesterday just briefly. Church yesterday was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. Desiree & his whole family came by to lead us to church. People were so friendly & kind. We could just feel their wonderful spirits. I was so excited that I got the main idea of most of what was said. They did ask me to pray in RS and to give my testimony in Sacrament meeting, which about made me faint. But the gift of tongues is real and I made it through. Brent said prayers in every meeting and gave his testimony in Sacrament Meeting. We met Bishop Lulu, who was awesome and the Stake Pres, who was very kind to us. Since Brent will be acting as the mission pres. in this area, they were eager to get to know us and so open to our help & advice. I think we will learn more from the than they do from us. These people are amazing. I wish that the people in our home ward back home would make newcomers so welcome. We sat on the stand with one of the cute new elders, Elder Mobugi (still can't get those names right). He is Elder Kapele's new companion. Elder Kapele is the brother to one of the missionaries that was in the group of missionaries who came with us from Kinshasa. He sure looks just like his brother. I thought they must be twins. We loved Elder K. so much. The new Elder Kapele carried my heavy suitcase all the way to Lubumbashi. What a kind, dear, young man. This was a ward and they filled the chapel. They sat in families just like we do & they were attentive & the singing was amazing. There were very few hymnals, so people just sang. They knew every word of all the verses & everybody sang. I watched one little boy of about eight & he never missed a word on any of the hymns. The mic. didn't work, the organ stopped on one song & the Bishop had to help his counselor a couple of times, but the meeting went right on & the spirit was strong & wonderful. I could just feel them pulling for me when I got up to speak & accepting me when I spoke in my horrible French. It was just a joyous experience. I told them in my testimony that my heart had been turned to the people of Lubumbashi & Africa immediately when we got our call. Sunday it was even more so. I am so grateful to be here. This is so much more wonderful than anything I could have imagined for a mission. Life is good!!!!

We made it! Kinshasa

We arrived at the mission home at 2:30 in the afternoon your time. That meant 32 hours of travel! It was quite the adventure. First, they didn't have reservations for us in Salt Lake City. So, we waited about an hour for the missionary department to get that figure out. Then the trip from Newark to Paris went very well. We even had an empty seat behind us so we could stretch out and even slept a little. We had a good flight from Paris to Kinshasa until five minutes before we landed and they told us that we would be landing in Brazzaville (which is 2 miles across the Congo river from Kinshasa). Everybody in the plane was moaning and groaning and we had no idea how to get with the mission president or with Antoine, who was to be our guide through the airport. The river's ferry stops at dark, (which it was when we arrived) and the only way across the river after dark is in hollowed out log boats (not kidding) & we had no intentions of even thinking about that option. It was crazy!! As we landed they announced that we had landed in Brazzaville because the President was at the Kinshasa airport and so it was closed. About 5 mins later they came back on and said we were in Kinshasa after all. It was nuts, but it was Kinshasa. We had to wait on the plane for about an hour and 45 min before we could get off, but we were much happier about that option. We made it with 7 out of eight bags and the other one is promised for Fri. We sure hope so. It was a total of about 32 hours, but we are here safe and sound and not too hammered. It's 9:30 at night here and on the way there were tons of people walking all over the place. There was very little light, so we don't really know what the place looks like, but the Headlee's had soup and a nice bed waiting for us. So, we're good to go. The Mission President's beautiful home among all the poverty.

(Written a few days later) Yesterday as we walked along the Congo river and saw the president again as he went whizzing by us on his MOTORCYCLE followed by two SUVs filled with military with automatic weapons. Crazy place! But we are so happy to be here and see the work that is just waiting to be done.
Today we venture out into the city to buy some food. What a fascinating place it is. Although “pictures are forbidden” and they fine you a ton and destroy your camera if the police see you, I got a few shorts to share. We went to a street market to get veggies and fruits and then to a store. Below are the pics.Dad carrying the eggs from the "store"The view from our window

School getting out. Only 5% of children get the chance to go to school

The 13 new missionaries at the Mission President's for lunch And this is what it's all about. Africa is in the Lord’s hands and the work is only slowe down by the lack of people to teach all those who want to learn and are waiting. We are so grateful to be a part of this work as the Lord’s hand rests on Africa.

What a difference a Week makes/MTC experience.

A week ago we were set officially set apart as missionaries

Our family was there and it was a special time for us.

All our fine young sons,except Ryan, were there to stand

in as Pres. Clegg set us apart.

Then, we really made it to the MTC. It has been really wonderful. I finally have a minute to blog. It's been such a busy time and so much has happened. We did have one last hurdle when Linsey’s keys got locked in house as we were leaving. Luckily she had left a window open and so we had to take the screen off and send Sunny through the window. Luckily Dad had wanted to be the first person there so we were not late. But it was the last obstacle. So, we made it.

The senior missionaries are treated like special people here and it’s so fun to see all those wonderful sisters and elders.We did get the prize for the most crazy mission, although they are going all over to do all kinds of things. There are 12 senior couples and two single sisters going to work in offices, seven going to visitors center missions. Three couples going to Africa, but both the others are going to South Africa.
We've loved our MTC experience. The spirit was strong, reassuring and very motivating. It's just something you can feel and almost see. It's such a place of learning & comfort & encouragement. We loved every minute of it & came away feeling like we could do whatever was asked of us. We had a great group of friends who we learned to love & who were very inspiring to us. We loved the senior couples. They were so full of faith and had such willing hearts. It was a privilege to be with them. All this grey hair is going all over the world to do all kinds of things & it was just wonderful to share a week with these great people. I think that anybody who has not served a mission is really missing out on one of the great experiences in life.