President and Sister Thawj Tawj Ham Choj

Scott's dad's funeral was last Saturday.  We were so blessed to have our dear friends, Hayden and Lauri Felt come out to visit us that weekend.  They arrived just in time to watch the funeral with us, via Facetime, (thanks Ethan).  It was a wonderful funeral and we were so grateful to have our friends here with us.  We had a wonderful weekend with them.  Here are some highlights:

We had a backyard lunch after the funeral and then we drove up to Placerville for the afternoon, before we had to be back for Lauri and I to go to the General Women's meeting.  And, by the way, wasn't it just the greatest women's meeting?  It made me so excited for more of General Conference this weekend.  

Placerville is the cutest little town, just about 15 minutes East of us, in the Mountains.  Scott and I had driven through and even had dinner there one night, but we had never explored the shops and the town by foot.  There were some cool stores, and some crazy ones. 

This is the Placerville Hardware Store.  I thought Scott was going to have a heart attack. There is so much inventory, the retailer in him couldn't get over the fact that there was no way they could track the inventory in that store.  But if you ever need ANYTHING, if you have enough patience, you could find it at that store.  

                     This is what Hayden and Scott do when Lauri and I are in the shops.

Lauri and I have been known over the years to show up wearing the same outfit, or a variation of the same outfit.  It is uncanny how often it happens, so as a joke, and we both really liked this sweater, we bought twin sweaters and wore them out of the store to see our husband's reactions.  We said it was our 'fast Sunday' sweater that we will both wear on Fast Sundays while we are gone.  What we didn't realize is that the next morning I walked out and Lauri had on a dress, and I have the exact same version in skirt form.  I thought about changing to see what Scott and Hayden would have done, but a picture with my skirt on the hanger had to suffice.  

They were such good sports to just follow us around and do what we do.  We had to speak another Spanish Branch and snapped a picture with Hermana June and Hermana Peterson afterwards.  I will say I am getting a little bit better with my 3 Spanish sentences, but it is really hard to try to speak with a translator.  This was funny, I started with my few Spanish sentences, and the Branch President, who was my translator, whispers, 'do you need a translator?' I quickly told him that, yes, I am just about done with all I can say in Spanish. 

Monday we had our third combined zone activity with the Cordova zone and the Folsom zone.  The pictures are looking very familiar, because we do the same thing, but the faces are different so I will just keep posting them.  We love our Mondays with our missionaries, we love working hard with them, and feeling the spirit in our meetings, and we love feeling the spirit as we have fun with them as well.  

This game is a hit every time.

                                                             Ping Pong and Lunch

  Preparing for Gummy Bear Races

                                                       And we are off to the races....

And the winners are... Hermana Smith and Hermana Clark: The Gringas

We were able to sneak in a nice dinner on Monday night in Midtown at The Waterboy. As we were parking, we see two young men on bikes waving at us.  We had just been with Elder Westra and Elder Babin at the p day activity, what a joy to see them dressed in pros clothes and on their bikes as soon as p day ended. It was like catching your kids doing something good, even when they didn't know you were going to be around.  How we love all of our diligent, obedient missionaries. 

On Tuesday we had to say goodbye, but not before we all went to the temple, and Lauri and I took a quick tour of the Crocker Art Museum, while Hayden stayed at the pool, while Scott did some interviews.  I think he secretly, or not so secretly, would love to be a pool boy.  

Part of the museum was in this gorgeous old home.  It was a really nice museum, but worth the price of admission just to see the workmanship in this home. We loved having the Felt's here and are so grateful they would come to visit and be happy to tag along and do what we do. 

Now, to the title of this post.  On Tuesday night we were the speakers at a Hmong missionary fireside.  A few weeks back, we had spoken in their Stake at Stake Conference and the Branch President said the closing prayer.  We talked to him for a minute and then Scott asked him how we could get a Hmong name. All of our Hmong missionaries have a Hmong name.  I might be simplifying this, but there are only 17 or 18 Hmong names, or clans, and each missionary has been adopted into one of the clans and given a Hmong name. We had forgotten that Scott had asked the Branch President about getting a Hmong name, and so we were at the fireside, and there were three speakers before us.  Then the youth all sang a song, and it was so touching to see all of these wonderful youth singing about being a light and a missionary that we were both pretty emotional.  I was worried about getting right up to speak, but after the song they announced that the Branch President wanted some time before I spoke.  I was grateful for the time to gain my composure, until I realized what they were doing.  They were giving us our Hmong name.  He said that the elders (meaning the older men in the branch) had gotten together to give us a name.  They didn't give us one of the clan names, but came up with a first name that they counseled together and came up with.  In that culture the husband's name is the wife's name so they told us we were President and Sister Ham Choj (pronounced Ha Chaw).  They said it was a name that meant bridge builder because we are here building bridges for all of the members and non members alike.  One of the elders said it was like when Abraham got his new name that meant something.  It was really touching, and then the Relief Society President came up and gave us this beautiful Hmong Jewelry.  Scott got a necklace that an honored man would wear and I got a necklace and earrings fit for the honored man's wife.  It was a wonderful night, with wonderful people.  I told them we were so honored to be there with them, that in my wildest dreams I had never imagined being in that place, with those faithful saints, and getting a new Hmong name.  What adventures we are having, and we love it. 

 The youth of the branch that sang the beautiful song

The Branch President and his family

 This is the brother of Brother Her, and his beautiful wife. The Her's (his brother) are the family we had dinner with last week.  They live in North Sac, and this brother Her is a counselor in the branch in Sacramento.

Happy conference weekend everyone.  One of the best two weekends of the year. We can't wait to listen to prophets and apostles and receive guidance and direction.  And, Ethan and Preston are coming home this weekend. Hurrah!!!

Blessed

It was my father in law's viewing tonight, with the funeral tomorrow.  As hard as it is to be away from family at a time like this, it has caused me to reflect on how blessed we are.  It is always a good idea to focus on your blessings, and for me that has been particularly true this week.  

I feel blessed to have such a wonderful family, who pick up the pieces and stick together, support each other and fill in when we aren't there.  I have kind of felt like we have left our kids as orphans to deal with the death of a loved one, that they really haven't experienced in their lives to this extent, which is a blessing in and of itself.  I have been so grateful and proud of the way our children have just filled in for us in our absence.  They have been there for each other, they have helped with arrangements we probably would have made, they have loved and supported their grandma and us and each other and I couldn't feel more blessed or proud of them all.  And I feel blessed to have friends and family who have reached out in love and support to us and to our kids.

We are so blessed to have Scott's siblings and their spouses, who have made every arrangement, cared for their mother, and carried more than their share of the load because we weren't there to carry ours.  They have done it without a complaint and have kept us informed and included and have shown complete love an support for us.  We love them and are so grateful for them.  

 How blessed we are to know and have a firm belief in the Plan of Salvation, to know that families are forever, and that this parting is temporary. That we will be and live and love together again. 

I feel blessed to have technology in our lives.  The family got together after the viewing tonight to share memories of grandpa and thanks to facetime, we got to participate and share in the wonderful memories.  

I continually feel blessed to be surrounded by good and valiant missionaries.  We had a meeting with our assistants this afternoon and as we sat around the table I thought, 'what if we hadn't come, and I had never gotten to know and love these young men.'  What a blessing to love and be loved by so many wonderful missionaries.  We got the opportunity to take several of them to Coloma this week.  Coloma is where the Mormon Battalion members were helping to build Sutter's Mill, when gold was first found.  It is basically the place that started the California gold rush.  We had a great day learning about California and Mormon history and we even got to pan for gold and Scott and I attempted to use a two man saw to saw a log.  I hope we are better partners in life than we were on the saw.  

                                 We started the day with Breakfast at our house

                    Sister Gomm and her goat Taggart were our special tour guides

 Always have a Book of Mormon in your hand

                       Scott with our wonderful assistants, always teaching them something

                        We did it!!! Eventually

Panning for Gold was more difficult that it looks

I have also felt blessed this week to have been able to meet so many remarkable and kind people here.  Last Sunday we were able to meet with a wonderful couple, The Martinezes, who know everything about the Spanish wards and branches and have a unique perspective and were so willing to do whatever we need them to do to help nurture and care for the latin members of the church.  Then on Tuesday we were invited by our Hmong missionaries, Elder Seamons and Elder Bitner, to have dinner at the home of one of their Hmong members, the Her family.  They were so kind and generous and we had the best time being in their home, and eating their incredibly delicious food.  It was an honor to be with them.  As we were driving home, I thought again at how blessed we are to be here and to be having these wonderful, not only spiritual, but cultural experiences that we would have never imagined having.  

We are so blessed to work with the best senior missionaries, who keep our office and our mission running so smoothly. They are so diligent and work so hard. They are also so extremely kind to us.  And I have already talked about what a blessing our assistants and office elders are to us.  We could not do this mission without each and every one of these people, and all the others in the mission as well.  

And finally, but first and foremost, we are blessed to have testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to have the opportunity to be led and guided and directed in this, His work.  To be a participant in this great work is a blessing for which we will be eternally grateful.