This Week...

This Saturday we had 7 baptisms in our mission and we were blessed to attend 3 of them.  The first was a man named Ali, who was taught by Sister Koller and Sister Wilding.  We asked if she was related to our friends, Tom and Mary but she didn't know them. These are two exceptional sisters.  My children, who have been on missions tell me that it isn't unusual for baptisms to start late in the mission field.  This was one of those cases.  Ali had gotten tied up and ended up getting to the church at 3:15 for a baptism that was scheduled for 2:00.  Sister Koller and Sister Wilding were so calm and collected. Their worries were for those who were attending the baptism, but they were confident that Ali would show up.  When he did the baptism was sweet and his testimony after he was baptized was so tender.  It is wonderful to see people enter the waters of baptism, and begin on the covenant path.  

Elder Worthin, their zone leader performed the baptism.  Ali has a Mid Eastern heritage and his last name is not an easy one to pronounce.  It has at least 24 letters in it, and it there is nothing familiar about it.  The genius of missionaries is that they can always find a solution to any problem.  They wrote his name out on a chalkboard at the back of room, directly opposite of the baptismal font and Elder Worthin used that as a sort of cue card, so he got his name right.  

 Sisters Koller and Wilding, waiting for their baptism to show up.  Look how calm and happy they are.  

Next we went to the baptism of a sweet Spanish Sister, Maria, who had been found and taught by Sister Paredes and Sister Scott.  Sister Paredes is going home this Saturday and she is a true example of working to the very end.  It was so special for her to be able to have a baptism the week before she left.  We have a large group going home on Saturday and so to save on some of Scott's work load President Jardine did most of the exit interviews before we got here.  Sister Paredes didn't want to have her exit interview until a few days before she went home because she didn't want to think about home and wanted to stay focused on the work.  What an amazing example of being a finisher.  

I realized how much God knows me as I sat at that baptism, not understanding one word that was being spoken.  The spirit was strong and I definitely felt it, but I was also incredibly grateful that I am in a place where I can speak and understand the language.  My thoughts went to so many of the wonderful women we met at the Mission President's Seminar who were heading off to countries where they didn't speak the language and most likely are feeling like I felt at the baptism, all the time.  Feeling the spirit and loving the people, but not being able to communicate.  That would have been very hard for me.  

We left that baptism and went to the baptism of Katrina, who was taught by Sister Barnes and Sister Cundick.  Katrina is amazing and I was so happy to meet her. She is on fire, she actually had gone to church with friends a few years ago and then stopped going.  The sisters met her mom and gave her a Book of Mormon, she wasn't interested but said her daughter would be because she used to go to that church, and she gave the sisters Katrina's phone number.   She gave the book to Katrina and Katrina waited for the missionaries to call her. She wanted to go to church but didn't dare go alone.  They didn't call that week, and so the next week she just went to church by herself and found the missionaries and told them she wanted to be taught and join the church.  It's usually not that easy, I'm told, but Katrina is Gold and is going to be an amazing member.  She was so excited and her enthusiasm it up the whole room.  

The work is moving forward and we are seeing miracles in Sacramento.  We are still enthused and excited to #gototheedge and we love the our time from 9-10 when the missionaries call the miracle line and tell us their miracles.  I am trying to keep track of them, and have a quarter of a notebook already filled.  Here is just a small sampling of the miracles that are being reported to us.  

A ‘random’ non member family who’s good friends with some members came to sacrament meeting to bless their baby. So, of course we went to the little barbecue they had after church and it turns out this ‘random’ family is pretty sure they are the only Chinese family in Wilton. And they just happened to come to church while there was a missionary who speaks Cantonese?  Coincidence?  I think not!  It’s all about the Lord’s timing. (The Elder serving in this ward grew up in Hong Kong and speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.  He told us he wondered, with his language skills, why he came to Sacramento, English speaking, and then this Chinese family shows up to the one ward where he is assigned.  God knows where we are needed and who needs us) 

We met with a recent convert to do family history and she ‘happened’ to have her 5th grade project with her and she had enough information on it to be able to print off her great grandma’s name to be baptized for her in the temple. She also sent us a text saying that one of her friends is interested in the gospel and is coming to church with her.  

We have been teaching a woman since last transfer but haven’t been able to meet with her for about a month, and she wasn’t really progressing.  We finally sat down with her tonight and had an amazing, spirit filled lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the end we had scheduled a church tour to help her feel more comfortable and we invited her to be baptized, which is something she feels open to. 

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and we were dragging, it was hot outside and we were tired but we asked what we could do to go to the edge and got the impression to get out of our car and onto our bikes.  The miracle is that we had the energy to ride our bikes in the heat, and we go some lessons with people we met while on our bikes.

We were contacting and decided to visit our ward mission leader’s mother who is Catholic. She usually dismisses us and we don’t get off the front porch, but this time she invited us in.  We shared the 4 principles President taught us, we let her know we loved her and we got a return date. 

We decided to drop off one of our new thank you notes to our bishop.  We left it on his car and saw a less active neighbor, who wasn’t very receptive.  But while we were talking to him, another neighbor came over and said his daughter wanted to learn about the church and we have an appointment with them on Saturday. Gratitude leads to miracles.

We placed 15 Book of Mormons at a sport/dodgeball night. We got 2 new investigators. (this zone is so innovative, they hold a sports night on Thursday nights and get a lot of non members to come)

We had a family come to a baptism today and they loved it and their kids now want to be baptized.  We also met with a less active who has never prayed in public.  At the end of the lesson he said a prayer.  

We went to an appointment we had scheduled and she wasn’t there.  It was so hot, we sat on the sidewalk for a minute and a lady asked us if we needed water.  We didn’t need water, but we took it anyway. We started talking to her and found out she had gone to an LDS church when she was younger and she gave us her phone number. 

We got a phone call from our investigator last night, she was crying and going through a really hard time.  We prayed with her and asked our zone to pray for her, she was praying this weekend to know if our church had the fulness of the Gospel.  We asked the zone to pray that she could get her answer from the spirit.  President and Sister Hymas also prayed for her.  Today we told her she was going through a trial of her faith, God was seeing if she really had faith.  She agreed that was the case and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. 

Aren't we just the luckiest?  I was also able to go teaching with Sister Turner and Sister Morris to the lady from Nigeria that we met my first night in the mission.  Agatha is a very spiritual woman and has been reading the Book of Mormon.  She had many questions and said she feels like it is full of light and that she had a revelation that someday she would be telling people about that book.  The sisters taught her The Plan of Salvation and when they asked her what she thought about God's plan, she looked at us and said "it's perfect!"  She has some questions and some things to work out, but it was wonderful to be there and see the light go on, especially concerning the Book of Mormon.  

On Monday I got to drive to Elk Grove and meet Sisters Kearl, Cundick, Thomas and Barnes to play a little p day tennis.  We had a great time and it was so much fun getting to know them all a little bit better.  I was glad they wanted to spend a little of their p day with me.  

Tuesday we spent most of the day doing the transfer board.  We have 17 missionaries leaving this Saturday, and 11 coming in next Monday.  We have met all of the missionaries, but Scott hasn't been able to interview many of them yet and so we relied heavily on our wonderful assistants.  It was a sacred experience to see the revelation that came to Scott as he prayerfully considered the transfer board. As he told Elder Pennington and Elder Watts his thoughts and impressions, almost every time, they would look at each other and say, 'that is exactly what we were thinking too, President'.  Revelation is real and this is God's work.  

We started a fast on Monday night and broke it Tuesday, after the transfers were finished.  It happened to be Elder Pennington's 20th birthday so we had a birthday dinner for him, complete with a chocolate/peanut butter cake.  Elder Watts informed me that is the kind of cake his mom makes for him for every birthday.  I have never made a chocolate/peanut butter cake, but thanks to A Bountiful Kitchen, I found a recipe and I think it passed the test.  

A few other random thoughts:

We are firm believers in the power of gratitude and so before we came out to the mission, we had these cards made up.  We gave a stack to each companionship, and asked them to look for people they are grateful for, and to tell them by leaving a thank you note behind.  Whether it is when a member does something nice for them, like giving them rides or feeding them, etc.  We want them to be the most gracious, well thought of missionaries around, which does a few things.  It makes them aware of the kindness of others, and helps them look for things to be grateful for in their lives.  It also endears them to the members and makes them want to help them more.  I have had several comments already from people who have received thank you notes from the missionaries and how impressed they are with them.  Gratitude brings miracles.  

And finally, if anyone is still reading, this is so long... A few picture from our house.  Ethan and Preston hung all of our paintings and our pictures and the best wall in the house is this one of our grandchildren smiling at me.  It makes my heart so happy to see them every day.  

 

The View from our backyard

Our front door, which we would be thrilled to see you all walk through

If you look very closely you can see our new mission pet.  We found a rattlesnake in our side yard.  Everyone told us Sacramento was so good, it was like we were getting sent to the Garden of Eden.  There was a snake in the Garden of Eden, so we should have realized the snakes would come along with it.  Luckily we have good people who run to help and the mission didn't have a pet for long.  

Keep looking for and recognizing the miracles in your life.  #gototheedge

 

Go to the Edge

We have had a very busy, but wonderful first week in the mission field.  We love it here and we love our missionaries.  

On Monday we were able to get our house put together and Ethan and Preston were such a great help.  They hung all of the pictures in the house while we were able to get things put away and organized.  That evening we were able to have all of our senior missionaries come over for FHE.  We got to know them better as we all just kind of introduced ourselves, watched a little video from a talk Elder Holland gave at the mission president seminar, and had a delicious and festive fourth of July dessert Sister Gunn brought.  We have such wonderful and dedicated senior missionaries, and they all love serving here.  If anyone is contemplating going on a mission, after seeing how much fun it is for them, I would highly encourage it.  However, we met with the office couples today to find out their responsibilities, and do they ever work hard!  I had no idea the behind the scenes intricacies of running a mission.  They are invaluable and we could never do this without them all.  We are so grateful for them and all they have done to help us try to figure things out.  We love them all so much already and will be forever indebted to them.  

                                              Sisters Mu, Gunn, Stohl and Gukeisen

Tuesday was the  Fourth of July, but it was a work day for us.  We had our first Mission Leadership Counsel, or MLC at our home that morning.  I decided I should try to make a good impression and so I made cinnamon rolls for them for breakfast.  They got here around 10 that morning.  We had met several of them already, but wow, did we inherit a great force of missionaries.  We could not have been more impressed and it made us so excited to be involved in this work with them.  We had training for a few hours, then the office sisters brought lunch and then Scott and I did some training and we finished up around 2:30.  The theme of the meeting was being able to be directed by the spirit in all that we do.  They all had to be in by 7 that night because of the holiday, and so they got together at the churches with their zones and were able to take the training to the zones.  

 We have a great room upstairs that is big enough to hold MLC.  There is so much power combined in one place.  

We were told at Mission President's Seminar that it is the wife's job to keep their husbands balanced and that there needs to be a proper balance between being a mission president and a husband and father.  So, I told Scott he could be the mission president until 4:00 on the 4th of July and after that he was going to be a dad.  We were able to go to downtown Sacramento for a nice dinner that night.  We were going to stay in town for fireworks, but we were all too tired, Even Ethan and Preston thought it would be better to go home and play some games. 

Wednesday we started our Mission Tour, we went out and met all of our missionaries and had a 'Meet the President' meeting.  We had two meetings on Wednesday and two meetings on Thursday.  We have 8 zones and so we had two zones at each meeting, the first meeting started at 9 and the second at 1.  We have been planning this for so long, it was kind of surreal to pull up to the first church, see the parking lot full of cars with bike racks, and our assistants waiting at the door.  At each church we went to, we walking in to find all of our missionaries lined up in the hall waiting to meet us.  It was so wonderful to see them all lined up, and to be able to talk to each one of them individually before we went in to the meeting.  They are remarkable and we have felt so much love from them already. 

I have to write a little bit about the meeting.  Before we came out, we had kind of planned this meeting, and I had even written a talk out.  As we got here, it didn't seem like what I had planned was what the mission needed.  Scott had been planning on talking about vision and miracles and so we decided the whole meeting should be focused on Christ and on miracles.  On Sunday morning I was woken up with a line running through my head that I had heard from our neighbor, Brandon Henrie, over 10 years ago when he got home from his mission.  He had told of a miracle he had been a part of in opening the country of Slovakia for the preaching of the gospel.  It is an incredible story and the line I woke up to was a question his mission president had asked them before they went into Slovakia.  "Have you gone to the edge where miracles occur?"  I hadn't thought of that for years and felt very inspired to us that in my talk.  I contacted Brandon's mom, my dear friend Danette and asked her to send me the details.  That kind of turned into the theme of the meeting. The meeting went as follows: I showed them a power point presentation introducing our family, then we had Preston and Ethan share their testimonies and experiences of miracles from their missions.  The zones had prepared a musical number at each meeting, and then I spoke and talked about the miracle of Christ feeding the 5000.  I talked about D&C 35 about the miracles God will bring about in the last days using the weak things of the world, and how their arm shall be His arm.  I then told Brandon's story about the Slovakia miracle and asked them if they were ready to go to the edge where miracles occur in our mission.   I explained that that meant we are willing to go as far as we think we can go, and give all we think we can give, and then we go to the edge and give a little bit more, and that is when miracles occur. Scott spoke next and gave amazing counsel on this being the Lord's work, agency, faith and miracles.  He was so inspired and I could tell the missionaries were hanging on his every word.  They put so much faith and trust in their mission president.  He then challenged them to find and recognize the miracles God is sending to them every single day.  He told them that every night, between 9-10 p.m. we will keep our phones open and they are to call us and tell us their miracles of the day.  That seemed to light a fire underneath them.  The first night, we had only made it to half of the mission, and both of our phones were ringing off the hook. They were so excited to call us and report their miracles to us.  It was fun to hear them talking of how they went to the edge that day and what happened because of it. We have facebook in our mission and each zone has a facebook messenger group.  They have been reporting miracles on that, and the most common hashtag is something along the lines of #gototheedge.  We had one energetic companionship make a video of their miracle and at the end one of them said "are you feeling edgy?"  It has been super fun to see how they have taken this and run with it.  I can testify it was the spirit that spoke to me early Sunday morning.  We had an amazing two days and were so grateful to be able to meet each one of our missionaries.  We love them so much and have already been so blessed by their faith and diligence and obedience.  

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

 Cordova and East Sacramento Zones

 Elk Grove Zone

Sacramento Zone

 

Elders Thompson and Watts, who look like twins,

but aren't related.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

 North Sacramento and Carmichael Zones

 El Dorado and Folsom Zones

 This is what you find on your camera after the Elder's have taken the group pictures

We always joke that Scott has 'people' to help him wherever he goes, and the assistants have not disappointed.  They do it all.  

On Thursday after our training, Scott and I went out teaching with some missionaries in the Elk Grove Zone.  He went with the zone leaders, Elder Yorgason and Murphy and I went with the STL's, Sisters Cundick and Barnes.  We went and taught the first lesson to one of their YSA's and her grandmother.  It was so touching to hear them present the first lesson and bear strong testimony of it's truthfulness.  They were great teachers and you could feel the Savior's love for these sisters they were teaching.  I am learning a lot from these missionaries.  

I have to follow up on the contact we found last week when I was out with Sister Turner and Sister Morris.  I had my first day miracle when we contacted the sweet sister from Nigeria.  Sisters Turner and Morris called us today, so excited about their miracle.  They met with her and taught her about the restoration.  When they told her about Joseph Smith she asked them why no one had told her this truth before.  They read her Moroni's promise and she said that seemed to her like she needed to read and then find a private place to pray about it.  They are going back to teach her on Tuesday and if I can make it, I am going to go with them.  I was so excited, it made my entire week.  Miracles are alive and well in the California Sacramento Mission.  #gototheedge

 We felt very welcomed today.  We got two welcome baskets, met with the wonderful people who are taking care of our home and worked so hard to get it set up for us.  My new Relief Society President came over to visit and was so fun to get to know.  We were able to sneak away with the boys for a quick dinner after meeting with all of the office couples.

 This is the El Dorado Town Center, about 5 minutes from our home, and full of fun restaurants

As we were finishing dinner, Preston got a text from Emily Cox telling him that the Cox family, friends from our ward, were driving through Sacramento and were stopping to eat close to our home.  We were able to meet up with them for about 10 minutes while they finished their dinner.  It was so fun to talk to them for a few minutes and see people from home. 

 My friend Danette texted me and asked me if we were happily exhausted and that is the perfect description of how we have felt each day.  We are happy during the days, and we are sleeping very well at night.  We love this work and are so grateful to be serving with these wonderful missionaries in the best mission in the world.  

And so the adventure begins...

After 8 months of thinking, worrying, anticipating and receiving training and more training, our mission adventure finally began on June 30, 2017.  We left our home and arrived in Sacramento California around 10:00 a.m.  We had the most interesting feelings and though the plane ride was a short one, to us if felt very long.  I couldn't believe we were really on our way, I was filled with mixed emotions, sadness at leaving, excitement, nervousness, and all you can imagine.  

                                                         On our way......

We were met at the airport by President and Sister Jardine. We have talked with them on multiple occasions, but as we came down the escalator and saw them standing there and waving at us, Scott and I grabbed hands and said "here we go, we can do this"  It was very touching to me that as we stepped off the escalator, President and Sister Jardine reached up and took off their missionary name tags.  It was a sign that the keys had been passed and Scott was now the mission president.  How grateful we are for their kindness and graciousness towards us.  They went above and beyond to help make this a smooth and easy transition, they provided us with in depth information, and could not have been more lovely and helpful.  They left us a beautiful painting of the Savior going after the lost sheep for our new home, and stocked the refrigerator and pantry with food for us.  But even more than that, we have noticed that they left us with an amazing mission culture of obedience, purpose and love.  You can't help but be a little nervous to meet those who have loved their former mission president and wife deeply, but every missionary we have met has seemed so excited to meet us, and there is a great culture of love. The missionaries say I love you every time you see them or get off the phone with them, and that came because the Jardines prepared them to love and accept us and to follow the keys.  We are so grateful for all they have done and pray that when we leave, we will leave the mission in as good of condition as they did for us.  

They brought us to our home, which is in a lovely neighborhood in El Dorado Hills, and we came inside, looked around and then met with them for about an hour and a half.  We then had lunch here and headed for the mission office to meet our office missionaries and our assistants.  As we were walking out the door to our cars, a car drove past the house and screeched to a stop and two darling sister missionaries came flying out of the car.  They are the sisters who are assigned to our ward and they had seen us leaving. They wanted to say goodbye to the Jardines and meet the new president and wife.  They wanted a picture because they said how often do you get to be in a picture with both of your mission presidents.  

With the Jardines and Sister Baird and Wong.  (Scott and I really aren't that tall, our driveway is on a hill).  

We loved Sister Baird and Sister Wong immediately.  They asked if I needed any help and so I had them come and help me unpack some of our moving boxes on Saturday morning for their service hours.  I got to know them well and love them so much.  Sister Baird is from Illinois, and Sister Wong is from Hong Kong and is the only member of the church in her family.  I have been continually humbled by the sacrifices these young missionaries make to be on their missions serving the Lord.  

We went to the mission office, where we met 3 of our office couples, our mission secretary and the office elders who are in charge of the technology in the mission. Elders Mayne and Duncan have already saved us.  We think we have the greatest office couples in the church.  The Rasmussens, Gunns and Westrings, and our secretary Sister Stohl could not have been more welcoming, and lovely and I know we are going to become great friends.  I wish I would have snapped a picture with them, but I didn't.  Our assistants are two of the finest young men I have ever met.  Elders Watts and Pennington are stalwart, obedient and focused missionaries and their hearts are full of love for the other missionaries, for us and for our Savior. We are going to learn much from them and they have already been invaluable in our transition.  And look at those smiles, how could you not love these two? 

                                       Our assistants, Elder Watts and Elder Pennington

                          Elder Mayne and Elder Duncan, they are just the absolute best!

The first night in the mission, we wanted to go out teaching, we wanted to hit the ground running and so Scott went out with the assistants, and I had the great blessing of going out with two of our amazing STL's Sister Turner and Sister Morris.  Talk about a powerhouse companionship.  I didn't get a picture, which I wish I would have, but they are amazing.  Our first stop was to drop off a large print Book of Mormon to a man they had met through a referral.  He lost his wife of 55 years last month and his niece, who is a member, thought he might be open to the gospel message at this time.  He was so grateful for the visit, for the book, and wanted to take us through his house showing us pictures of his beautiful wife.  It was my first visit as a missionary and I found, with the calling of a missionary, it is natural to testify of the Savior and his redeeming power and the power in the Book of Mormon.  We then met with a priest from Nigeria they had been meeting with and he was such a nice man. After that we had a few minutes before we were meeting back up with Scott and the elders and I witnessed my first mission miracle.  The sisters decided to stop in at the home of a man they had received a referral for and had tried to contact several times.  As we were standing on his porch, realizing no one was home, a beautiful African woman was walking down the street with a little two year old boy.  It was a quiet street and so she noticed us and we noticed her.  In unison the sisters said "we need to approach her".  We walked to the sidewalk and introduced ourselves and missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and asked her if she had heard of the church.  She was from Nigeria as well and had come to live here to help her sister with her family, the little boy was her nephew.  she hadn't heard of the church and so the sisters started explaining the Book of Mormon, she wondered if we didn't use the bible and they masterfully explained how the Book of Mormon and the Bible are companions.  They asked her if she would like a copy of it and she immediately said yes.  I asked her if she would like to meet with us to learn more about the book and about our church and she said yes, she would like that.  She gave us her name and phone number and then said "I think God wanted me to meet you tonight.  I go on a walk every night and I have never walked down this street but tonight I had a feeling that I needed to walk down this street and I think it was because God wanted me to meet you."  What???  We were so excited, and as we got in the car I asked the sisters if it was always that easy.  They assured me that it is not, but I think I was just blessed with a miracle my first night out.  
As we were driving home that night I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the blessing of being in this place, at this time, with these missionaries.  We are in the right place and I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father has entrusted this sacred work to us at this time and in this place.  It has my heart already.  
We were able to attend a baptism on Saturday, which was a treat, we also got all of our stuff delivered and the sisters and the zone leaders came hand helped us unpack for a bit.  We had a few meetings and we were invited to a lovely dinner at the home of some members that live near us.  It was a full day and we were just thinking we could unwind a bit and got a call that an elder had dislocated his shoulder and was in the emergency room, so off we went at 10:00 that night.  Scott's phone has been ringing off the hook and we are only on day 2.  It's going to be a fun ride.  
Ethan and Preston and I were able to go to our new ward this morning. Scott came for the Sacrament but had meetings with 6 Stake Presidents all day long so he had to slip out. We have the nicest people in the ward.  Everyone was kind and welcoming and we know we will make good friends here.  We even got invited to lunch at the mission leader's home, along with the sisters, the bishop's family, a recent convert family and some of their non member neighbors.  It was such a fun and different experience  that we haven't had in Utah.  Unfortunately Scott couldn't make it, but we really enjoyed the afternoon, and the Pallea that Brother Bastian made for us. 

I know we are only 3 days in, but so far this has just been the greatest experience, we love it here, we love our missionaries and all of the members we have met,  and we love what we are doing.  Mostly we love our Savior and are so grateful to be part of this great work.  

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