The MTC

On Saturday, June 24, we entered the MTC for the 2017 New Mission President Seminar.  It was a week never to be forgotten.  It is hard to put into words the spirit that we felt during the time that we were in the MTC.  I'm inadequate in describing the events and the feelings we had.  

We had to check in at 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, so we got up and got ready and and had the amazing experience of having our sons give us blessings.  Ethan gave me a beautiful blessing and Preston gave Scott a beautiful blessing.  It was a morning I will treasure forever. I am so grateful for righteous, worthy children.  Then we went to visit Bennett and Stacie, and Alex and Allie at their homes.  We took them Dick's donuts, which was the one thing I wanted before we left.  Scott was able to give Stacie and Alex father's blessings and it was a very special time for all of us.  We went with every intention not to cry because this wasn't the final goodbye, but that didn't work out very well.  

                                                                                     When Andrea went on her mission, she hugged us and turned around and gave us the 'peace out' sign, so this one was in honor of her.  

We then went to visit with Scott's parents and he was able to give both of them blessings.  How we love them and are so grateful for their influence and examples to us.  They are and have always been so loving and supportive and we couldn't be more blessed to have both of them in our lives.  We will miss them dearly. 

After all of our visits, we were off to the MTC.  It was so surreal to pull into the MTC and to know it was for us, not one of our kids.  I just have to give a shout out to the entire MTC staff and the missionary department.  There was no stone left unturned.  We heard they had given all of the staff cards with their pictures on them and they had memorized all 127 of us. As we walked in the doors, they greeted us by name and were so incredibly kind.  We were blessed to be taken around for our initial orientation by Ashley Richins, the wife of Ethan's (and our) good friend, McKay Richins.  How comforting to see a familiar face of someone we love.  We got our missionary name tags and it felt very real!

We stayed at the Springhill Suite Hotel in Provo and so we went and checked in to our room and then went back to the MTC for dinner.  We walked in to a reception room and there was so much excitement in the air.  It was so much fun to see so many of us there, and ready to serve.  We were blessed to have many friends in the MTC with us and it was fun to see everyone there.  The Smoots, going to Japan, the Bednars, going to Pittsburg, the Hewletts, going to Houston, the Christensens, going to Guatemala, the Boyers, going to Germany, the Goldens, going to Anaheim.  It has been so fun sharing this experience with friends.  

In the MTC they split us up into 7 groups and each group was presided over by the member of the Presidency of the 70 in charge of those areas.  We were blessed to have Elder Hallstrom (who is the one who set me apart, so that was especially nice for me) and in our group were 28 couples, going to the North America West, North America Northwest, Europe, and Europe East areas.  We had dinner that first night with our group and met so many wonderful people.  There were 14 couples going to California, or the North West and we will get to see them every six months at Mission President's trainings.  We made such good friends with all of them and I am excited to see them in a few months.  

Sunday was one of the most spiritual days of my life.  We had sacrament meeting and we had every member of the quorum of the 12 apostles there with the exception of Elder Hales, and President Eyring and President Uchtdorf were also there.  They began with a choir of missionaries, and it was also missionaries who blessed and passed the sacrament, followed by our sacrament meeting speaker, who was President Eyring.  I sat there wondering how I ever got so blessed to be in such a meeting and the power and the reality of living prophets and apostles, who were feet away from me, hit me with such force that I almost couldn't breath.  There was not a dry eye in the room, the spirit was so strong.  We also had talks that day by Elder Nielson of the 70, Elder Anderson and our group training by Elder Hallstrom, with a special training by Elder Bednar for missions with i pads, of which we are one.  The thing that surprised me through the entire time, was the accessibility of the apostles and the general authorities.  They walked the halls and chatted freely with all of us, ate lunch and dinner with us, and were so kind and loving.  It was an amazing opportunity to rub shoulders with such great leaders.  Here are some pictures with just a few of those we spent time with.  Preston works in the MTC travel office so we went and got him one day during lunch and he was able to meet some of them with us.  

                                                   Elder and Sister Christofferson

             Elder and Sister Klebingat, who is a favorite of Ethan's, he was pretty jealous

We had our first interview with Elder Rasband and he couldn't have been more kind and loving to us then, or at the seminar.  He treated us like the dearest of friends.  

We were able to meet up with Shane and Stacey Smoot, and Steve and Cindy Bednar, good friends from our Stake, for a picture.  #centervillenorthstakerepresented

                                            Our Friends Spencer and Ann Hewlett

My friend, Angela Boyer and I showed up in the same jacket.  #twinningiswinning

On Monday we heard from President Uchtdorf, Bishop Waddell, Elder Cook, Elder and Sister Rasband, Elder Hallstrom, and had a FHE concert by Dallin Bayles.  Tuesday followed with talks by Elder Holland, Elder Renlund, Elder Christofferson, Elder and Sister Stevenson, Elder Hallstrom again, and and MTC devotional with Elder Bednar.  On Wednesday we got to hear from President Nelson, who bestowed upon us a sacred apostolic blessing, Elder Ballard, the Women's Auxilliary Presidents and a final training by Elder Hallstrom.  Followed by a testimony meeting with our break out group, with Elder Ballard.  I told Scott, it was worth going on a mission for three years to have the blessing of being part of this seminar for a week.  

A few other highlights were when we got to meet two of our sister missionaries who are in the MTC learning Spanish and will come to Sacramento in three weeks.  Sister Peterson and Sister Smith were adorable and we feel a deep love for them already.  

We also had the opportunity on Monday and Tuesday to teach a district of missionaries for about an hour.  That was SO MUCH FUN.  What amazing missionaries they are, they are going to Montreal Canada, but we so wish there were coming to Sacramento.  They were a delight to be with.  Here are just two of them. We failed to get a picture with the whole district.  

Another very fun and humbling thing that happened time and time again was meeting people that knew and loved my parents.  Every apostle or 70 that we met, when they found out I was Sheldon and Joan Child's daughter, they raved for several minutes about how much they loved them.  Elder Holland told me that at least I wasn't going to the Philippines or Africa and I told him the second generation is softer than the first.  I was asked to give a prayer at the beginning of the musical fireside and as I was coming down from the podium I heard one of the 12 whisper, "that's Sheldon Child's daughter".  We were sitting at lunch one day with two couples from the Philippines and when I told them my parents had served there and who they were, in unison, they all raised their hands and cheered, they kept saying, 'we love F Sheldon Child'.  And we also met a couple that loved them from Ghana.  I felt very humbled to be following such wonderful people who paved the way for us.  We are definitely standing on the shoulders of Giants.  The following pictures are of my parent's fans.  

Scott also had so many of the general authorities do a double take and think he was his brother Rob, who was an area seventy that many of them had worked with.  They all thought so highly of him and were so complimentary of him.  We are very blessed to have such wonderful examples to follow.  

Here are a few more pictures from the week. 

              These three all served in Buenos Aries Argentina under the same mission president

When you go to the MTC you have to take the obligatory map picture, and when you are a missionary you have to perfect the thumbs up in your pictures

This seminar was one of the greatest experiences of our lives and we feel so grateful to have been called to serve in this great work of salvation.  #hurrahforIsrael 

Setting Apart and Farewell

We have had a busy week leading up to our departure for our mission.  We have been blessed to be surrounded by family and friends for the past few weeks.  It has been so fun to have Andrea and her kids here and to have all of our kids and all of our grandchildren together.  They are the best of friends and we love them so much. 

On Thursday, June 15 we were officially set apart: Scott as the Mission President of the California Sacramento Mission by Elder Bednar, and I was set apart as a full time missionary in the California Sacramento mission by Elder Hallstrom.  We were able to have our family there with us and it was a very sacred hour.  I was pretty nervous going in, but I was amazed at the difference I felt as I was set apart.  Almost immediately I felt a peace come over me that was hard to describe.  It was a strong testament to me of the power of the priesthood and the peace that can and will come to us as we put our lives in the hands of the Lord.  Although I am still so sad to leave our family and friends that we love so much, after we were set apart I feel ready and anxious to go and start serving in this capacity.  It is a blessing to be part of this great work.  

                                                               We are official!

On Sunday, June 18 we were able to speak in church before our departure and it was a wonderful day spent with so many people we love.  Thanks to our family and so many friends who came to support us, as well as our wonderful Brookhurst ward family.  It was so surreal to be at our own 'farewell' meeting.  I have done that with 4 of our children but didn't dream I would be doing it myself at this point in my life.  But it was a  joy to see so many people that we love gathered in one room.  I was sitting up there looking at so many people we love and thinking this is what heaven is going to be like.   Our lives have been impacted by so many in such significant ways, and we have been blessed immeasurably by all of our associations.  My heart was and is full of so much gratitude and love for the good people in our lives, who have helped us become who we are and shaped our lives forever.  I have said before how we are going to take a part of each one of you with us, we have been taught and blessed and loved by so many and for that we are so very grateful. 

This is the only family picture that we got, and James was our photographer, so we didn't get everyone in it, but it is a fun memory.  You can tell by all of our faces, we were all wondering how this was going to turn out.  

The Farewell Tour...

We have been overwhelmed by the love we have felt from our family and friends as we are fast approaching the start date of our mission.  We have had some fun open houses and send off parties prior to our leaving.  We have definitely felt the love this week.

Our sweet friends had an open house for our ward and other friends on Monday night at The Strong's home.  They were so kind to open their home to us and our dear friends.  We will miss these people dearly.  

Ethan might kill me for posting this picture, but Scott just looks so cute.


Can you even stand how cute these grandkids of mine are?

 My sweet visiting teachers who are like second mothers to me!

Tuesday was Scott's last day at work.  He has been the CEO of RC Willey Home Furnishings for the last 16 years and has established some wonderful relationships with his co-workers.  They had an open house for him on Tuesday and it was so nice to see how well respected he is by those who work so closely with him.

 We loved having the grandkids there and they loved the cookie and water bar.

On Wednesday my sweet sister in law, Mary Jayne hosted a fun garden party for all of the aunts, nieces and our grandchildren.  She went above and beyond and even rolled out the red carpet for me.

 I have such a great family.  Love and admire these ladies I am blessed to be related to.

 I adore this picture of my mom and Sam

 Babies everywhere you look.  Can life get any better?

Words can't express the gratitude we feel to all who have loved and supported us and who have made it very, very difficult to leave. We will miss you all so much, but are also so excited for our adventure ahead.  Love you all!