Merrill Mission

Christmas in Madrid

2010-12-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Loved ones!
Today is Saturday here in a very cold Madrid, Spain. We were on the morning shift in the temple. I was assigned to the Celestial Room for a couple of hours and I want to share with you some of my feelings. We had many many people in the temple this morning from all the countries in our district. One couple from Italy was here for several days. He could barely walk and had to have help in sitting down and standing up and dressing. His wife helped him alot and so did the temple workers. The wife shed many tears in the Celestial room and I thought about her and how hard she works to help her husband come to enjoy the temple. I saw people hurrying to go on another session today because this is there last day for several weeks to be here. I thought about how different the people are. Some are smiling and happy, some are very serious, some seem sad and unhappy and I thought about the love our Heavenly Father has for all his children. He wants them all including us to be happy and successful. It isn't that hard for most of us to get to a temple as often as we want but most of these people this week came long distances and great expense. The air traffic controllers went on strike today so many of the members are having to find other means of returning to their homes. I wondered about one sister who I never saw smile the whole time she was here. I wish I could have helped her in some way. One other sister who I was training was from Barcelona. She told me that she had not had too much schooling but that she could do anything she wanted and needed to. I noticed that she couldn't write very well. I also found out that she is the Stake Relief Society President in Barcelona and has been the Stake Primary President as well as President of the YW. She is a very elegant and charming sister. She is a professional seamstress and was wearing a beautiful white dress in the temple that she had made. She was so warm and loving with me and tried so hard to learn what she needed to be a temple worker. She gave me many hugs and kisses as she left today. I will miss her! We really learn to love and appreciate the wonderful members here. I think that you will enjoy seeing some of the attached pictures. The Skousens and us went down to the Plaza Mayor on Monday to see the Christmas decorations and kioskes. While we were there it started to snow! The first snow of the season came quite early this year. We will get out the heavy coats and hats now. Our missionaries have gone and only 2 new ones came in. We have 30 waiting for visas in the states. These two are from Portugal and speak perfect English. Hurray! We can teach in English. Just trying to share feelings in a different language is muy muy hard!! This last week our friend Hugo Morelli asked us to be with him when he came to the temple for the first time. We loved being with him and tried very hard to help him get ready. After the session in the temple he expressed his love for us and told us how happy he was to finally have his endowments. It was a special day for all of us. He joined the church after reading about the church on the internet. He is a successful business man, 32 years old, single and very nice looking. He is part Italian, Swiss and Argentinian. We hope he will visit us sometime in Arizona.

Thanksgiving in Spain

2010-11-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

We are thinking of all of you and feeling very grateful for your love and support to us. We are blessed beyond words. Our time here is rushing by and we are seeing things for the last time. We have had a busy week in the temple with many fine patrons from Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. We had families that came with their children and young adults to do all the ordinances. We were deeply moved by their willingness and for their sacrifices to be here. On Monday of this week we had our Thanksgiving dinner with 51 people attending. It was so nice of everyone to celebrate Dick's birthday. Thank you all for your gifts and well wishes. It was a super day! In thinking about past Thanksgivings we remember many wonderful times. One that comes to mind is the one in 1999. We had dinner at our home and then went to Vance and Tina's for pies. We played games in the park across the street. We will always remember seeing Vance come over to join with the games. It was his first time to really be up and about since the transplant in August. How happy we all were!! Another one was in 1991 when we went to the church and joined with the Pickles and Draughons. This was when we all met Trisha's Chris Lloyd for the first time. Another one was when we joined with the Thompson and had smoked turkey for the first time. We have had the best time in remembering our blessings and most of all we are and will be eternally grateful to have all of you in our lives. Family and friends are forever. We pray that you will have a wonderful day and feel the joy and peace of the gospel in your lives. Nothing is more important than our testimonies of our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. We pray for you all! Be happy! Don't get discouraged! Keep believing! Things will get better. The gospel is True!!

General Conference and Tapestry Factory

2010-11-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

We are having a day to catch up on household things and emails. We realize that we have been busy but when we see how long it has been since we sent anything home we are astounded!! We are sorry! The month of October went by very fast. We loved General Conference and have made copies of the talks so that we can review them. Many of the talks are right on the dot for us. We had our combined FHE with all the temple missionaries. I made my home made noodles and chicken over mashed potatoes. I wasn't sure if the Spanish would like it but they ate every drop. Whooee! We went to a Tapestry Factory with the Skousens and were so amazed how how much work has gone into the wonderful wall hangings and the carpets that we have been seeing in the palaces and castles. During one of our shifts in the afternoon we were the leaders of the 1st session but we had already attended the early morning session with the MTC missionaries so we were a little surprized when they sent us as patrons on the the 7:00 PM session. I decided that that was a good way so spend a day and that 3 sessions a day is A-okay. We attended a concert one night in our Stake center. One of our teachers in the MTC is from Italy. He played beautifully! We knew he could play but were really impressed with his concert. He has returned to Italy to continue his education in music. Can everyone from Italy sing or play instruments? One of the high lights of our month was a trip we took to see the King Tut exhibition. We went by Metro and walked a little but found it okay. That is always a problem the finding of things but we are getting better and better at getting where we want to go. We had a special experience this month. A couple from Barcelona asked Dick to perform their sealing. We didn't know them and wondered why they had asked Dick to do it. The day of the sealing he found out that the wife is the niece of our good friends in Bolivia who came to see us the week before we came to Spain. He had told his niece to ask for Dick. It was a very touching sealing as they had their deceased baby daughter sealed to them. Many tears !!! There are many things in the temple that reaffirm our testimonies of the love our Heavenly Father has for all of his children. Dick did not expect to be asked to do live sealings here. We love the Ayaviri family in Bolivia. Maybe you remember them when we had our farewell for Spain. We had a lovely FHE at the Wilson's home. There were 21 of us gringos invited. It was an hour and a half metro and train ride each way but we made it okay. 3 kinds of soup, my homemade rolls, salads, root beer and dessert. It is our last time with the Wilsons because he has been reassigned to the Pentagon. This about wraps up our October. Maybe this is too long so we will try to write more often and not so much at one time. We love you all and are loving our mission!! The blessings and tender mercies are abundant and we are so grateful to be members of the church. We keep you in our thoughts and prayers especially for our Trisha's husband Chris at the passing of his father Mike Lloyd. The gospel is true and we love our Heavenly Father and His Beloved son Jesus Christ. We pray we can be faithful and serve until the end of our lives.

NATO headquarters and Lisboa Temple announcement

2010-10-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday night here in Madrid on General Conference Sunday. We are so happy to have been able to see sessions of conference yesterday and today and will see the final session tomorrow morning. We have been watching the sessions upstairs with the missionaries. The messages have been powerful and very much what we need to know. We are so grateful to have our prophet and the others leaders to inspire and guide us. We are also grateful to each of you for your love and support. We could not be here doing what we are doing if we did not have your love and support. We love each of you more than ever and more than mere words can express. Thank you...thank you. Our week started off with the missionaries leaving for their areas. We have mentioned that the last few weeks have been different in that we have had all 5 languages in the MTC. We have included a picture of us with the missionaries taken by the temple. We look at these precious young people and appreciate so much their families who have prepared them to serve. We have received a few new elders so we still have some Italian, American and one from Spain and one from England. We were somewhat busy in the temple this week with some French and a few from Portugal. The one thing that happened this week was when we were asked to go to NATO Headquarters and help a fellow church member be promoted to LT.COL. in the USAF. Brother Wilson asked Dick to "PIN" his new rank on his uniform on one shoulder as his wife Karen did the other shoulder. It was a great experience for us and we have included a picture for you all to see. It has turned cool here in Madrid. The leaves are turning but the flowers on the temple plaza are blooming their heads off. We also have included a picture for you. We are doing well as we reach our one year mark. The next 6 months will go very quickly. We are looking forward to being home and spending time with our children and grandchildren. We have nothing that is more important to us than serving the Lord and our family. Please start making lists of the things we can do for and with all of you. We look forward to the opportunity to get better acquainted with our family. We felt that many of the speakers in conference were speaking directly to us concerning what we hope to do when we get home. We pray for you all and know that our greatest blessings come from keeping the commandments and by loving our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. One thing that thrilled us in conference was the announcement of the Lisboa Temple. Our friends in Portugal have sent us emails saying that the tears are flowing throughout Portugal in thanksgiving for this blessing of a temple in their country. We wept as well at the announcement.

Busy Busy

2010-09-03T09:16:00.001-07:00

It has been such a happy and busy time for us here in Madrid but our thoughts and prayers have been about all of you. We find ourselves thinking of things that are so meaningful and important in our lives. We feel that a prayer of gratitude is hardly adequate to express how much we love you all. Heavenly Father has a great plan for us all and it involves many tender moments and many challenges. We have experienced some tender moments lately that have helped us feel the spirit deeply and often. Our work together in the temple is sweet and at times very demanding. Dick is doing sealings in Spanish and also doing everything there is to do in the temple. He gets tired and needs to rest but recovers quickly which we are grateful for. He is constantly thinking of ways to improve his teaching in the MTC and tries so hard to relate to each missionary. They love him! As August draws to a close we have 120 people from Portugal here for the entire week. They are so happy to be here and come here to work so that means we will be working our heads off too. Our bed feels really good at nights. It is a blessing that some of them are workers themselves so we will have their help. This past Sunday Dick and I both taught our lessons in Spanish. It was quite stressful especially for me but we survived and were really glad when Sunday was over. We did okay and had help from the Lord and the missionaries themselves. They are kind and sweet and help us with the words that we don't know. It makes us stretch and that at times is painful. We will be getting missionaries from Italy and France and Portugal in the next few months so we are in for some stretching! Please keep us in your prayers. We need all the help we can get. It is great to know that we are all in this together. We need each other so badly! Keep close to the spirit and one another. Make phone calls, make visits, send emails and say prayers. We pray that the Lord is blessing you as you need and want. One thing we have learned through serving these missions if that the Lord has a time table that is different from ours. Patience is waiting on the Lord and his timetable.

Saying Goodbye

2010-08-23T12:33:00.001-07:00

We just got back from saying goodbye to our group of missionaries. We are all emotional wrecks! We have such mixed emotions. Our elder from Britain will be here for 3 more weeks with our 7 new Spanish missionaries. We have so much to be grateful for and we have so much to have hope in. These young people are preparing to be the leaders of the future church. We have great confidence in them and love them. We have had the chance to learn many things about the intelligences, light and truth and other deep subjects concerning the gospel. What a treat for us! We will be happy to share with you what we can of what we are learning. The spirit teaches and we listen and learn. We are not sure if the spirit will travel through an email so we will have to wait until we get home to discuss very much of what we are learning. Sorry! We do know that what the MTC president tells the missionaries is true that they need to serve their mission, go home, get married, have kids, and have a current temple recommend, and stay active. We share this with you all. It isn't so very hard. Most of us are doing alot of the right things for the right reasons and are receiving many blessings. It is the enduring to the end and knowing that if things are not great right now that they will get better in the future that is hard for most of us. Keep trying, don't get discouraged, things will work out is the counsel we heard from our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. We know this is true. We had the French in the temple last week and will have the Italians and Portuguese this week. Tomorrow morning we will have 10 new people for their endowments.....lots of work! Yea and more Yea! Here are a couple of pictures. Hope you like them. They grow like trees...tall and handsome. One is from Idaho and the other is from Sweden.

Tapas

2010-08-13T11:52:00.001-07:00

The time gets away from us so this is not exactely a weekly update this time. We have been working with our French, German, British and American missionaries and one from Tahiti for the last couple of weeks. It takes some time to get to know them but once we do we feel their goodness and faithfulness. They treat us so kindly and tell us that we are examples to them when in reality they inspire us daily. We have had a visiting area authority this week. He is from France. He served in Madrid as a Mission president back in the 80's. The Skousens realized that he was the mission president for their son-in-law Chris Jorgenson. The Skousens had a wonderful time visiting with Elder Paya and sharing things about Chris. We certainly live in a small world and a big church. The temple has been busy with many patrons from outside of Madrid because the Spanish people as a rule take their vacations very seriously so the Madrianos leave Madrid and the other . come to Madrid to be in the temple. We have had the people from Hospitalet and Barcelona. We had alot of work done this week. There is a custom in Spain of eating Tapas at about 5 or 6 in the evening. These are small treats but not sweet treats so for FHE last Monday we had everyone bring Tapas. What a grand time we had tasting all the different treats. I made sweet and sour meatballs and everyone of them was gone. Two things we want to share this week is a quote from our prophet and an experience we had. The quote is: " You can never be wrong when you do right and you can never be right when you do wrong." Our experience this time is when we finish our Sundays we look at each other and say, "It doesn't get any better than this." We love our Sundays and our days in the temple. What a fantastic time in our lives. Thank you all for your love and support. We couldn't be here doing what we are doing if we didn't have all of you in our lives. We love you all and pray that you are well and happy.

Segovia

2010-07-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our week started off with a trip to see the city of Segovia. This is where there is the Roman Aqueduct that dates back over 2000 years. It is really an interesting site. We climbed to the top and got a bird's eye view of it. It stretched from the mountains down through the town and onto the famous castle that Disney used as their pattern for the Disneyland Castle. In this castle is the stained glassed window of our relative King Alfonso. It is really something! He is on a beautiful white horse dressed in his armor and carrying his huge spear. We saw the Cathedral and walked around looking and doing a little shopping. On the Metro going out 3 South Americans were being really friendly and by the time we were getting off they were trying to get stuff out of my old Segovia bag that I carry all the time. It doesn't have a zipper or any snaps so the darn thieves think I am an easy target. I was onto to them so they moved onto some other easy target but it made me want another bag from Segovia so I got a great new bag with a ZIPPER. After our trip we had a wonderful FHE listening to a CD that the Skousens brought on the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was really great. There are 13 CDs is all so we will have a wonderful time listening to them. We were busy in the temple this week and the MTC. Our missionaries are all leaving tomorrow. They are ready! We will have a little time with them tonight for last minute advice and treats. We had a small 24th of July lunch and shared Pioneer stories that helped us all feel a little less homesick for all the celebrations back home. All our missionary apartments are full right now so the work in the temple is humming along beautifully. We are always grateful when the saints from out of Madrid show up to work. One other thing I wanted to mention about the MTC was that a group of the misssionaries wanted to sing so they practiced and practiced with Dick. Yesterday morning(Sunday) one of the Italian sisters who was our sololist woke up with a major problem of bleeding gums. It reminded us of when Leslie had her problem with her tonsils. Pres. Earl took her to the ER and got medicine and she was able to sing beautifully for the fireside last night. The Lord is ALWAYS in charge is He not? We love seeing His hand in the lives of our missionaries and others. One of our Elders reminded us of Jory and Jared with a terrible ingrown toenail. He too received medical help and is ready to hit the streets tomorrow. They are great and we have confidence in them. Just a thought for all our Junior High grand kids. Michael Wilcox on BYU yesterday said that Jr. High is a hell created by Satan and that in their family all the kids receive their Patriarchal Blessings at age 13 to fortify them for their Jr. High years. It seems a little young for blessings but the part about Jr. High being tough is sooooo true. We are busy with housekeeping chores this morning and baking cookies for the missionaries and later we are off to see the Palacio Real. Have a great day, week and month. We were so happy to receive the email about Jory's ordination. Vance sent us the picture of the "Power Group". It definitely made our day. Hope the pictures come through so you can get a feel for some of the things we are doing.

Sherbet and singing italians

2010-07-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

Our Luau turned out really well and was greatly enjoyed by everyone. We dressed in our matching Hawaiiian clothes and handed out leis to everyone yes we were part of the docorations. We had beautiful music from the islands playing in the background and lovely placemats decorated with flowers and beaches. We heard the Hawaiian Wedding Song sung by a sister missionary Sister Leonora Smith from Utah. Our president Moore gave a FHE lesson as well. The food was Kalua Pig(kindof) Sweet and sour Chicken over rice, Passion rice made with grape juice, lots of fresh fruit and Haupia which is a coconut dessert. We also had pineapple cake and sherbet and 7-Up. Great food and company. Our temple was busy all week and we experienced several "tender mercies". Our patrons come with such faith and desires to do as much as they can. Young couples with babies come and stay in the hostal. One comes to the temple in the morning and the other in the afternoon so that the baby is well cared for. Others come early in the morning at 8:00 and stay until 6 or 7:00. We enjoy trying to switch back and forth between the languages but we have difficulties doing this but they are very helpful because most of them know the temple work as well as we do. Our missionaries in the MTC go to the biggest park in Madrid every Saturday to practice contacting people. This last Saturday was very hard on them all. The people in the park were not friendly or willing to listen. We didn't know about their experiences in the park until after we gave our lessons in Relief Society and Priesthood on Discouragement. The Lord had directed us to choose to teach our lessons because that is what they needed to hear. We love the way the Lord works to accomplish His plans. We are just instruments in His hands if we pay attention and take the time to listen. Thank goodness we were listening because we choose our lesson topics ourselves. We had great music in the MTC on Sunday. Our two Italian Missionaries sang a beautiful duet of This is the Christ. Can all Italians sing?

Skousens in Sacrament and Luau

2010-07-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

We have had a terrific week with our members from Portugal. They touch our hearts everyday with their willingness to work! They really are hard workers. We have a huge group of elders and sisters in the MTC right now. We have a brother and sister from Milan, Italy who are from Peru but have lived for 9 years in Italy. They will be serving in Rome. They speak Italian and a little Spanish. We have another sister from Rome and another elder from Rome. Today in Relief Society we had our lesson in English which was translated into Spanish by our Portuguese instructor. The Spanish was then translated into Italian by our young bishop's wife who is originally from Argentina but who lived for 4 years in Italy. It was so interesting but we wondered if it was alittle like the "whisper game". Our speakers for Sacrament meeting were the Skousens from Mesa. They were wonderful and really had the missionaries in the palms of their hands. The air conditioning has broken and our building is hot! Madrid is having very unusual weather again. Hotter than normal. The elders were hot but didn't complain a bit. They are learning to roll with the punches. Our fireside tonight was a conversion story by a couple from Valladolid. The have been members since 1978 and are fantastic. They gave the missionaries some really good advice. We are having our luau tomorrow night for all the temple missionaires. There will be about 40 of us and we will have it downstairs in the hostal dining room. I'll let you know how it all turns out....music, table decorations and food. We will be on the afternoon shift this week in the temple and will be working upstairs too. We really don't have time to waste but do love being here. We had dinner today with a couple from Queen Creek. They said that they lived in the Pecansomething or other area. Their name is Everhard. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese and he speaks Spanish. What a blessing they are to us. We pray all is well and that the Lord's blessings are with each of you. We do have time to miss our family and friends. You are the dearest things to us. A spiritual thought for the week is, " When you can't stand it anymore, kneel!"

New Elders

2010-07-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

This has been a wonderful week for us here in Madrid. Our missionaries are about to leave for their areas of responsibility. We want to tell you some of the things that have happened and have touched our hearts. We have 2 elders from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. They arrived here with little carry on bags with all they had to serve their missions. They have been trying to fit in and because they speak Portuguese we have had a translator to help them. She has been great. They are small and very humble and have the greatest smiles. We really love them! We have a young man from Sweden who is 6ft 10in. He is very thin. He speaks English perfectly. We feel like he is a giant sent to Spain to share his strong testimony. Another of our elders is from Mountain Home, Idaho. At age 14 he became inactive in the church. When he was 25 he became active again and had the desire to serve a mission. He sent his papers in when he was 26. He was refused. He went on with his life but asked his bishop if it was time for him to go to the temple. His bishop said let's try again for a mission. They called Salt Lake and got permission for him to serve. He is now 27 and loving every minute of his time in the MTC. He is doing very well and we love him! As you can see we have all kinds of missionaries who have touched our lives in many ways. We continue to learn and grow and pray that we can become better everyday. President Monson tells us to "turn our backs on our problems and face our blessings." We try to do this everyday and want you to know that our family is the dearest thing to us! We love you all so very much! We thank Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity to be your parents and grandparents. We know that we will be together forever in the Celestial Kingdom with our Heavenly Parents and our beloved brother Jesus Christ. The gospel plan of happiness means so much more to us at our age. We pray that you are well and having all the blessings that you need and want in your lives. If we can help you in any way...please let us know. We hope that you have enjoyed the 4th of July and remember how much we have to be grateful for as citizens of the greatest country in the world. Remember, remember that as long as we keep the commandments we will prosper in the land. We know this is true doctrine.

Letter from President Monson

2010-07-12T09:46:00.001-07:00

Just in case you were considering coming to Spain to be sealed. Today I was given a letter from President Monson which authorized the Temple President to activate me as a sealer here in the Madrid Temple, which means I can seal any couple who comes here and requests me as their sealer.

4 Cities!!!

2010-07-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

We are back home after a delightful trip to 4 different cities in Spain during the temple close down for cleaning. We went to Zaragoza first. It is a medium sized city with beautiful cathedrals and historic sites. We enjoyed being with the three other missionary couples. We stayed 2 days in this city and saw an incredible castle and 2 beautiful cathedrals. We had good food to eat and a great hotel. We walked and walked and saw different people and different stores. I saw a beautiful statue in a store window that caught my attention. It was of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. At first I didn't understand what had caught my eye. As I looked at it I realized that this was the Holy Family with a different twist. Joseph was holding the baby! It was such a tender and sweet piece of porcelain. I did not buy it but I wish now that I had. We had ridden the Ave train from Madrid to Zaragoza which is the fast train that runs on a ribbon track so there are no clicking sounds...just smooth smooth! It went about 180-190 miles an hour. We next went to Barcelona on the fast train. We stayed 2 days here and were amazed at the number of people visiting this city. It was fun to see the sites and ride the skyride, the museums and the statues of Christopher Columbus were wonderful. We walked alot here as well in order to get a feel for the city. We rode the double decker tour bus for almost 5 hours. I took a little nap during the tour so I missed a few things. We visited a wonderful art museum. We next went to Valencia for 3 days and really enjoyed this city. We were there on Sunday and Bro. Skousen had his Garmin with him so we put the church address in and began walking. We arrived at church right on time after an hour walk. After church we were invited to a church member's home for dinner. She served us rabbit and chicken paella. It was delicious. She had salad, bread, drinks, nuts and fruit. She then brought out dessert. It was a dessert plate with one half peach, a piece of flan, an ice cream slice , a slice of fresh pineapple and a piece of pineapple cake. These were the same for each of us. We really needed our walk back to our hotel after this meal. She, Sis Plume, insisted that we all have a nap before we left to go back. It was a great time. We went to the Lladro factory and had a wonderful tour to see how they produce such beautiful pieces. We went on the train to Alicante and stayed right near the Mediterranean Sea. We had a great time here but didn't spend too much time at the beach because they have a few people who don't wear bathing suit tops. I did stick my toes in the Sea. We walked around and saw the parade for the Fallas which is a religious holiday. We were here 2 days then took the train home to Madrid. We had a wonderful 9 day trip. After arriving home we saw a few sites in the Madrid area such as: El Escorial..a palace, Segovia and La Granha..more castles and palaces. We saw a huge group of people making hand made lace at one location. It was fascinating. We have experienced some "tender mercies" of the Lord during the last few days but will save those for another email. We are anxious to have the temple open on Tuesday. We have 3 elders from Portugal who will receive their endowments then. We also have 12 elders and 2 sisters from the USA. We love them!!!

Charades and Popcorn Popping

2010-06-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday night here in Madrid. We have had a busy week in the temple with the wonderful saints from Portugal. They came on buses and cars and stayed the whole week going to sessions, doing baptisms and initiatories. It was a wonderful week! We are so grateful to be here and be around the great people from Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. We have scared and faith promoting experiences everyday. One Stake President and his wife and daughter came from Portugal. They are all trained temple workers and they speak English which helps us a lot. Language continues to be our biggest challenge. I can safely say that no one in our family can beat be at charades because I have to use hand motions and gestures all the time to communicate. It is an interesting thing that we are here doing what we are doing with our limited abilities but the Lord has qualified us for this scared work. We had to say goodbye to our group of missionaries tonight. We all shed tears and felt a little sad. They are ready to go and do a great work for the Lord. They sang tonight for the General Authority Elder Lopez and did an excellent job. He said it was easy to speak to them after such great music. We are so proud of them. 3 of the Spanish Elders came to our door with a tee shirt they had written on for us with their names and thanking us for helping them with music. It really is incredible how much we do with music training. The hymns of the restoration are powerful tools for sharing the gospel. I even played the m&m game with them naming the hymns like in the TV show, Name that Tune. They loved it! Popcorn Popping was a hit! We went to a concert last night in Alcala. It was really very good. We had choirs, violin, piano, vocal and instrumental which made a very nice time for a full crowd at the chapel. We had to ride a train and then the metro but we found our way just fine. The transportation in Spain is outstanding and because we are old we get discounts. We leave tomorrow for a 9 day trip with 3 other couples to see Zaragosa, Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante. We will travel by train. The hostel is pretty empty because the temple is closed for 2 weeks so all the missionaries for the temple have left on trips

First Send off

2010-05-25T20:48:00.001-07:00

We have just sent off our group of missionaries and are missing them already! We get very attached to them during their time here in the MTC. This group has inspired us with their testimonies and strengths. Our French elders were especially wonderful. When we don't understand their words we have to rely on the spirit to communicate and it is amazing how that works. One of the elders was from an island off Madagasgar. He is very tall and very thin and speaks quite alot of English. He bore his testimony yesterday in our farewell meeting with all of them and brought us all to tears as he tearfully said, "I want to be like Christ". We see changes in all the missionaries and love them so much. One sister from Utah is Jewish. Her parents joined the church and have sent 7 of their 9 children on missions. Another elder from California told us that he wants to remind the people here in Spain of what they knew before they came to earth. We teach the missionaries about the preexistence and help them see how important it is to remember that we are truly Heavenly Fathers beloved children. The elder who said this is a big strong athlete from California and doesn't say much but he thinks alot. They are all so different and wonderful. We had two sisters from Mesa!! We have speakers from Madrid who come to the MTC on Sundays for sacrament meetings and firesides. Our hearts are touched by the stories we hear of their conversions. The missionaries learn how important it is for them to be out there talking and smiling! This week our speakers told how the husband was looking for the truth and was easily taught but the wife was harder to teach because of her Catholic background. When she did say she would be baptized her family told her that she was now dead to them. She was baptized with her husband but admitted that she did not have a testimony. After a few months she decided to return to the Catholic church and asked the priest to visit her the next day at 2:00. At the time there was a knock at her door and when she opened it there stood 3 elders who said we don't know why we are here but something told us to stop by. They said we don't have a lesson but just wanted to pray with you. She knelt down with them and they asked her to pray. She just wanted to get rid of them so she started to pray and then the words just came out of her of wanting to know if this church is true. As she prayed the spirit testified to her and she knew that no matter what her family did she knew the church was true. From that day she has been totally faithful. And by the way the priest never came to her home that day or any other day after. She and her husband have been strong and faithful members for 20 years. Conversion stories are always so tender and meaningful. We are keeping a journal of all the MTC missionaries with their testimonies and personal information. We hope to keep in touch with them the best we can. We have had several special experiences in the temple as well. One family was sealed last week. There 9 year old son was great. He said after the sealing that he could see someone there but didn't know who it was. With tears streaming down his cheeks he thanked everyone for helping his family be sealed! It may seem that we spend alot of time crying but there are moments when we can't hold back our joy!

Visit from Elder and Sister Hinckley

2010-04-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

We have had a rather unusual day today. Elder Richard G. Hinckley and his wife are here to check out the MTC. He is over all the MTC's in the world. I, your mom, had the opportunity to go with a few other people to show Sister Hinckley a few of the Madrid sites and to go shopping. She is a delightful and happy person and we all enjoyed being with her. She told me that the jacket she had on had been her mother-law's (Marjorie Hinckley's). We had a group picture taken and I got to sit next to Elder Hinckley. The first time I met him and shook his hand all I could do was say my name and that "it is like looking at your father." He looks like a younger version of our beloved Pres. Hinckley!!We had all our meals with them today and listened to them when that talked to the elders and sisters. We then took them to the temple to talk with the temple president and his wife. We are so happy to have the chance to meet and listen and learn from our wonderful church leaders. We are all so blessed to belong to the true church of Jesus Christ!! Our blessings are huge!! We are tired tonight but looking forward to a beautiful day in the temple tomorrow. Elder Hinckley told your dad that he is caught between the land of the living and the land of the dead, Meaning the MTC and the temple. He also said that sometimes there are stories that go around about his dad that are"Faith promoting myths". We loved our day and hope you all are having wonderful days and are happy, well, successful and most of all faithful. Good night with all our love, Mom and Dad P.S. We helped the missionaries sing a special song for the Hinckleys. They did it perfectly. They sang "We Will Bring the World His Truth."

Studying and Music

2010-04-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

I want to write this update for you all so that you can have a feel for how things are for us. You should be so proud of your dad!! He is amazing!! He spends hours studying and preparing to teach the elders upstairs in the MTC. He goes the extra mile on every assignment. I am so proud of how he relates to all of them and reaches out to all of them to help and encourage. He is doing a fantastic work for the Lord and I have never seen him happier!! Our apartment is full of books and papers and he uses the internet all the time. We are involved alot with the missionaries and love it so much. The days fly by!! We are still busy in the temple and will always love the wonderful things we get to do and the great people we get to be around. Dad has used his music alot here. He plays for meetings and for people to perform and as extra bonus he gets the missionaries to sing with great gusto!! We love you all and miss you dreadfully!! We love our Heavenly Father and His Son with all our hearts and are so grateful for this opportunity to be here doing what we are doing. Our time away from you and family activities is difficult but we try to think that you are receiving blessings because of our service. This next week Pres. Hinckley's son will be here to check out the MTC. He is head of the Mission Department. I get to go with Sister Hinckley and a few other sisters to see the sights of Madrid. I am really looking forward to this. Please tell all the grandchildren that we are happy serving and look forward to when all of them are serving their missions. This work is the work of the Lord and it is the best thing for us all to do. Pray for a missionary experience in your lives! It will work! Tomorrow is Sunday and another great time for us!! Please keep us in your prayers. One of our new missionaries is from Italy so we are trying to speak what little Italian we have learned. She is from Milan and is a beautiful and bright young woman. We have 7 sisters from the US and 6 elders from the US and 1 elder from Spain who is a celebrity here because of a Reality TV show he was on so his mother said please take him early before it goes to his head. He is doing well and fitting in well with all the gringos.

MTC plus the Temple

2010-04-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Loved Ones,Here we are with our latest group of missionaries. We have 9 North American and 5 Portuguese missionaries. The ones from the USA come for 6 weeks and the others from any of the countries in Europe come for only 3 weeks because they will be speaking the language they already know . It is really a pleasure to get to know all of them and work with them to help them to be ready to serve their missions. Our President and his wife are wonderful, competent and capable people who are great teachers and examples of service. We are enjoying very much serving with them here. This MTC service coupled with our Temple service makes for a very interesting and rewarding experience for us. We are very busy and the time is going by as if we were in afterburners all the time. What a marvelous experience we are having, learning and sharing. We are expecting 11 more missionaries tomorrow. It is truly an emotional experience to get to know these faithful servants of our Heavenly Father and then to see them launch on their missions probably never to see them again. These are photos of the Presidency of 4 including wives with the current group altogether and then with the Americans and then the Portuguese. As you can see we are directly in front of the temple doors. We are finally going to get two more pairs of Senior temple missionaries in the next two weeks ( Skousens and Browns) and possibly 2 more by summer. This will alleviate the shortage in workers we have been experiencing in the temple the entire time that we have been here. It has been great to feel needed in a desperate sort of way. Hope this finds you all well.

Meeting the missionaries

2010-03-16T11:32:00.001-07:00

This was our first day to meet with the missionaries! We started off with District Meetings at 8:00. Then we had Relief Society and Priesthood Meetings and right after we had Sacrament meeting. After that we were set apart by the MTC Presidency as Counselor and Relief Society Counselor. In our blessings we both received promises that our family would be blessed for our service rendered here in Spain in both the temple and the MTC. We were promised other blessings associated with our duties. We truly felt the spirit of the Lord sink deep into our hearts. We were then invited to the MTC dining room to eat with the elders and sisters currently residing in the MTC. This group will be going to their missions a week from Tuesday. The food was chicken, french fries, salad, bread, spaghetti, fruit and ice cream and flan. Not too bad! There will be another group of missionaries the day after this group leaves. At 2:30 we went to see a devotional on DVD from the Provo MTC of David Bednar and his wife. What incredible talks they gave. What a treat it was for us to see and hear. His talk was how do I know if it's the Holy Ghost or just me thinking. His answer to that was quite worrying about it and get to work. You may never know for sure if you are getting impressions by the spirit or not. It doesn't really matter whether you know if the spirit is talking to you or not. If you are a good boy and a good girl and are keeping the commandments you will never be led astray and will be given guidance to do good and the right thing for the right reasons. He told stories where that had happened to him and he didn't realize until 20 years later that the thing he had been impressed to do had been from the Holy Ghost and had had such a positive influence on certain individuals. We go to dinner in a few minutes then to singing practice with the missionaries then down to sing with the missionaries on temple square then to a fireside with the elders and sisters. This will be our typical Sunday for the next year!! We will be teaching each Sunday in Relief Society and Priesthood from Preach My Gospel.

New Calling

2010-03-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a farewell dinner at our apartment with the two couples to our right . They are the Sprouls and the Fords. They leave for home at the end of this month. It was also Elder Ford's birthday on the left end. The Sprouls are returning to South Jordan where he was a school administrator for most of his career. The Ford's are going back to Bountiful. He was a farmer for many years. We will miss these good and faithful servants. The Ford's were temple workers and the Sprouls were in charge of the Institute program and were in the MTC Presidency. We were called to serve in the MTC presidency in addition to our serving as Temple missionaries. We were truly honored, humbled and a little overwhelmed at the new callings we received and accepted. We are also very excited about being able to work with the MTC President and Sister Earl and the new missionaries that will be coming through the MTC from all of the different countries including the USA. Needless to say our workload and service load has been increased significantly and some of our extra-curricular activities will have to go. The couple to our left is the McDougals from Pleasant Grove, UT. They arrived 2 months ago to serve in the temple. We have enjoyed getting to know them. We are expecting 5 more couples from the USA to serve in the temple around the beginning of May. This week two bus loads of dedicated people from Portugal arrived at the temple to work hard for the week. We enjoy the activity generated by these kind of groups. We almost always have others from France, Italy and Spain join in with these larger groups and the language fun begins. We truly feel the joy of serving the Lord and are grateful for our opportunities to do so in spite of our ancient ways. We are too busy and happy to grow any older. Our minds are stimulated beyond our wildest expectations and our memories seem better than ever. We are more in love than we have ever been. We are experiencing a little bit of heaven everyday as we serve in the House of the Lord. We ask the Lord daily to bless you all and his spirit to be with you in all of your activities. Have a wonderful week !!! We are almost down to one year left and it will go by very fast so we have to dig in and work as hard as we can so as to not have any regrets.

Epistle

2010-02-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the Valentine messages. We have 4 couples scheduled to come here but they, including our friends the Skousen's are hung up because of the new requirement to have an FBI clearance due to the terrorist event on Christmas Day on the aircraft that was inbound into Detroit from Amsterdam. So We will soon be hurting a lot for sufficient people to run the temple whereas the Picards from France and Guillens from Murcia have left and the Clementes from Alicante are soon to go and Perez keep saying that they will be going also. The dollar has gained some strength since we have been here and the 300 euros we usually get has gone down in price from $ 443 to $418. That has been a pleasant surprise.This winter is as cold as ever and we wimps from Arizona are getting tired of it. We have enjoyed knowing the Moores and other obreros who are here. Serving in the temple has been as wonderful as ever. We are scheduled today to speak in the CCM. We are excited about this opportunity. However we will be speaking to only 5 missionaries, 4 French and 1 Portuguese. Some of the other senior missionaries are going with us for moral support. We had a very busy day yesterday and it seems that the weekends right now are the best and busiest times. As Veil Directors last week Sandy & I had double sessions at 9:00 and 11:00 which as you know gave us some fun challenges , but it was a piece of cake. Brother Retuerto( Flt. Attendant with Iberian ) and Sister Zaldivar had their daughter sealed to a Swedish young man yesterday. We really feel needed and like we are doing a worthwhile thing in our lives right now. Where else except in the Church. We feel the tender mercies of the Lord every day. We are so blessed and try hard to have an attitude of gratitude.We appreciate you for what and who you are and love hearing from you. We went to the Cuatro Caminos Ward to do a Music and the Spoken Word program to help the missionaries there. We had fun working with Patricia Cerro who has a beautiful soprano voice and her friend who has been a member for only 9 months was our narrator. He seemed to get more out of the experience than anybody . He and I did some baptisms in the temple that morning. We have been talking to him about going to the temple for his own endowments 3 months from now. He is a great guy of 32 years age and his name is Hugo Morelli. I've got to run and play for our ward primary prior to going to the CCM sacrament meeting so better end this epistle. Have a great Sabbath !!!

Portugal and other Pics

2010-01-31T15:44:00.001-08:00

Happy 2010

2010-01-08T09:53:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!! Thanks for remembering my birthday! Can you believe you are the son of a 70 year old mom? I am so blessed and well cared for by my wonderful family. Thank you for all you do and the way you do it. The temple has been busy even to the point that we had to work a double shift. This week a group of adult singles from our area have been here all week doing temple work during the day and having activities at night. They have been so faithful and seemingly tireless. We enjoy being busy!! Just a thought for you....our President gave us a FHE lesson this week on the Plan of Salvation with how temple work fits into the plan. He had some really interesting points that were a bit new to me. I found out after the lesson that he had taken some of his lesson from the teachings of Brigham Young. If you have your manual on BY look up what he had to say about temples. It was very interesting. We have been pretty much homebound for the last week because I was suffering with a cold and the weather has been cold, rainy and snowing. It is so funny to me to see people walking down the street with an umbrella during a snowstrom. I just do not remember ever using an umbrella during a snowstrom. The temple will be closed for 2 weeks starting next week so we are going to Portugal to visit a friend and do some siteseeing.

12 days...

2010-01-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Wahoo!! Thank you, Thank you , Thank you for the wonderful packages containing the 12 days of Christmas. We will be opening one a day for the next 12 days. Wrong, we have opened it all and really enjoyed your efforts. We are so pleased and happy to receive the super surprises in each package for each of the 12 days. Mom picked up a bad cold yesterday and wasn't able to go to the temple with me today . That is the first time that has happened and it was very depressing for both of us. I have to say you really made our day . We are so grateful for your unselfish efforts. It looks like it took just a little over 10 days to get here. Granpa really likes the oatmeal packages which they don't have over here in Spain. Somebody had a great idea. Of couse you what Grandma likes the best. We both are impressed with the time you had to expend to make the 12 days possible. We also did the 12 days for some friends over here and they seemed to really thrive on this effort on their behalf. It makes you feel loved and cared for. We love you and appreciate all you are doing and have done. Here is or wish to you for a HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!

Missionary Christmas Party

2010-01-01T14:28:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve and FHE in the President's Apartment

2009-12-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-25T15:18:00.001-08:00

Here we are on a quiet Christmas Morning , thinking about our family at home and hoping all is well this morning as you wake up to celebrate the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Creator of the world the person who came to earth to redeem us from our sins and break the bands of death making it possible to live forever if we will simply try to live his gospel and reap the blessings that he promises us ultimately all that our Father in Heaven has with eternal life beside our Savior and loved ones. This keeps us trying as hard as we can to serve our Heavenly Father with all of our heart, might,mind and strength. We love Jesus Christ and know that he loves you for keeping on trying to do what's right. Reach out to others and feel the magic of Christmas love. Remember, don't give up, keep on trying and all things will work out for your good.
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!! We love you...Thanks for being you !!!!!

Choir and Snow

2009-12-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

We are continuing to be busy in this multi language temple. It can really be exciting at times.
We just returned from singing in a Choir sponsored by the East Madrid Stake which presented a very professionally done Christmas Concert. The Choir Director is a member of the Madrid National Choir and her husband is an accomplished and very creative pianist. It was a pleasure to sing for her but we held long practices each Sunday as she worked tirelessly to improve diction and quality of the people singing. Dick accompanied Sister Leonora Smith,who used to work in the Church temple dept. and help all of us seniors get processed for our temple missions. She has a trained soprano voice and she sang "Gesu Bambino". We came to Spain together in October. Dick also accompanied Sister Patricia Cerro who was here last time we were here and she sang " Oh Holy Night ". It was a delightful experience and we sang all the Christmas Carols. There were other duets and solos and groups, one of which Dick also accompanied on the song of " Estrella de Luz ". This was a group of young people about 10-12 in number. We woke up this Monday morning to a beautiful white covering of snow all over the ground and vehicles. The lights on the Temple Square are still on and it is quite beautiful. This is our second storm. We have a wonderful couple as our Temple President Garry and Lanelle Moore and they enjoy getting together with all of the Senior missionaries and we have several activities planned for the holidays to get through the season without too much heartache from not being near our families. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with 40 + people attending and it was like days of old . We miss you and love you and really appreciate your e-mails. We wish you a Merry Christmas and an even better New Year for 2010!!!

2009-12-13T07:38:00.001-08:00

Dear Loved ones,

We have had a pretty slow week in the temple. Last night all the temple workers met together after the temple was closed for a Temple Devotional. Our Temple President Moore and his wife spoke to all of us sharing some Christmas thoughts and moving stories. One of our single senior sister missionaries sang " Oh Holy Night " and we sang a couple of Christmas carols and ate a lot of food and enjoyed one another's company. This morning we went to hear our fellow temple missionary friends Rod & Marcia Ford speak to the new young missionaries in the MTC above. They did a great job and we were invited to go with them after church to the MTC cafeteria for dinner to dine with the MTC Pres. and his wife. It was a nice morning. The rest of the year is to be busy with a large group coming from Portugal. Every day is incredible because people often just arrive here to experience the temple work or accomplish the work of their ancestors and they don't always tell us of their coming. This temple is definitely a 5 language temple and quite often we will have people here in all the languages at the same time. This makes for some very interesting experiences in the different areas of the temple. We have learned a lot about the different languages and the differences between them. We became involved with a choir back in Ocotober. We found out that we were preparing for the Temple Lighting Ceremony and for a Christmas concert. We never knew how much of a commitment this would be. We practice every Sunday at 5:00 and don't finish until 8;30 or 9:00. Sometimes they take a break while the youth go to the fireside and then continue the choir practice. Your dad has been playing for the practices and the first time they took the break for the firerside we didn't understand and went home. When they started again the director asked."where is my nice piano player?" Our friend told her that we must not have understood. We got a laugh out of this because there are many times that we don't understand what is going on. We have started doing the 12 days of Christmas for the Institute couple. We chose them because they have been such troopers and of course they will understand what the 12 days is all about. We have discovered that this is an American tradition and it certainly is one of our personal favorite traditions. I've decided to start a new tradition this year. Today is my mother's birthday. She was born 104 years ago on St.Louis ave. in St. Louis, Mo. So each year on this date I am going to start my Christmas scent of an orange, a lemon, stick cinnamon and cloves. I believe Jared brought this recipe home one year from elementary school. I still have his handwritten note in my recipes. We are missing being home and are trying to think of things to do to keep busy and happy.

Thanksgiving moments

2009-11-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Loved ones!! As we approach Thanksgivings we wish to express our love and appreciation to each of you for your efforts to build our eternal family and to be the very best person you can be. We know you are all trying to be the kind of person your Heavenly Father wants you to be. This brings Him and us joy beyond words. We sincerely hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with an attitude of gratitude. We love each of you with all our hearts. Our Thanksgiving dinner here will be celebrated here on this coming Monday with 37 other people. Some of these are workers in the temple or missionaries in the Madrid Mission. We have been put in charge of this meal and have had fun preparing for it. We have ordered 3 turkeys and a ham and made food assignments to everyone coming and will serve the meal on the 6th floor of our building in the MTC cafeteria. The temple president and your dad will demonstrate the carving of the turkeys which will probably look more like ostriches but who cares!! We still remember the two we got the last time we were here that were given to us with the heads still on and legs 2 feet long. We asked the butcher to cut the heads on and then the legs also because our ovens are small. We spent most of this past week serving a good sized group of Italian members from the area around Rome. They spoke only Italian which was quite challenging at times. But. we were able to help them accomplish their work for their ancestors in all the various areas of the temple. It was a pleasure to work with these dedicated and pleasant people. They truly touched our hearts with their sweet spirits and dedication. They flew directly from Rome to Madrid. We also had a sizable group come from the east coast of Spain where the LLadro factory is..Valencia. Most of them travelled all night to get here then travelled all night to return. We have to run to a Christmas choir practice so we will close for now. Hugs and Kisses

2009-11-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the wonderful video Birthday Wish. it is so fun to see you for real. We love you so much and miss being able to hold you and kiss you. Please keep posting things for us to read. It makes our day!!We are doing well but need your prayers for us. We keep you in our thoughts and prayers each day by name.Keep taking good care of Lyla.

Lots of Love,
Granpa & Granma

Thanks

2009-11-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Family, Thanks, Chad, for encouraging us to use this blog again. You are soooo patient with us. We will use this means of keeping in touch. Love, Mom and Dad

Johnson Family Picture

2009-04-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

June 2008 Sunday 22

2008-06-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

My turn to blog a little. We just returned from our Ward meetings where we had ward conference. The stake presented the new Bishopric and pronounced us with a new Ward name. In turn they organized a new Branch which was divided off from the East area of our Ward and is called the Sacaba Branch with A new Branch Presidency. The Ward name was changed from Puntiti to Esmeralda. There were close to 300 people present filling the chapel completely up. Our Choir sang as the closing song, "This is the Christ - El Cristo Es " and they did a very nice job with this difficult number. Mom was excellent as the Director.It warmed up considerably today and the sun shown brightly on everything. A very beautiful day. We are headed to President and Sister Dalene's for dinner and it is ready so got to go.

We love you All,
Mom & Dad

update

2008-05-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! The days and weeks are flyingby. We had a full week in the temple . Daddy had 2 really special sealings on Sat. Both couples were very attentive and prepared for the experience. We got to help with all of the ordinances so we felt very blessed and grateful to be here. We are having really cool weather right now so we are wearing our sweaters and jackets. The changes here have been interesting but we are adjusting really well. We hope that all is well with you and yours. Love, Mom and Dad

update

2008-05-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, This has been an interesting week. The country of Bolivia has been in turmoil and because of this our temple president put us on lock down which is that we cannot leave the temple block. We were instructed to have at least 10 days of food and supplies on hand plus water. We complied with all of these things. Today, Sunday, we had our church meetings in the president's home. It was very nice! We are about to have our break the fast dinner with the other gringos. Tomorrow we are in charge of the early morning devotional for the temple employees. Skousens will help us with this. We are so grateful for the chance to do many different kinds of things. Last week one of the stakes here in Cochabamba came in force to do baptisms, sealings, initiatory and sessions. It was outstanding!! The president of the stake is about 30 and one of the greatest leaders we have ever seen. They are blessed to have him. Pres. Hinkley promised the church members that if they would e faithful in their temple attendance their country would be blessed. We saw this blessing realized this week when Bolivia's President did not send his troops the Pancho Rojas into Cochabamba as he had threadened. We continue to love our mission and all that we are doing. Please continue to pray for us and we will continue to pray for all of you. The gospel is true!!Con much amor, Mom and Dad Grampa and Gramma

2008-04-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Here it is Sunday again. Hope you all have had a nice day. Our ward choir sand the Battle Hymn of the Republic today and really got into it. It was fantastic!! We are so proud of these young people. Our new bishop is 27, newly married and an engineering student. He conducted today for the first time and did an excellent job.
We are having cooler weather now while you all are starting to melt. This week in the temple a little Cholita walked a long way to the temple and sat down to rest in the dressing room. After a few minutes she asked if she could do inititory. She cannot read or write so we all helped her with the names. She stayed for several hours. She does not have money to rent clothes for a session so she comes for inititory severalo times a month. Can you imagine the missionaries who took the time to teach her and help her gain her tiestimony? I am so touched by the faith and strength of these people. We love them with alll our hearts. Tomorrow is our preparation day so we will be busy getting ready for another wonderful week in the temple. Be faithful to your covenants and go to the temple. Love and Kisses, Mom and Dad

2008-04-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

2008-04-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

This could be fun!! I can't believe we can eally do this. Thanks for your comments. We had another early day in the temple so this afternoon we did some laundry, entertained a young ward member and worked on some genealogy. Tommorw is our Break the Fast dinner here with the other gringos. We are having a Mexican Fiesta. Hooray!! Have a wonderful Sabbath. We love you all and are grateful to be your parents. Love, Mom

2008-04-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

2008-04-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

2008-04-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

What a week with several days of early morning activities due to the employees of the temple having their own session once a month and all the young missionaries , Eldres-70 and Sisters-10 every six weeks coming due in the same week. The Merrills have been given the responsibility for all early activities prior to the normal temple opening times. It is quite challenging to accomlish all necessary to acommodate especially the missionary sessions because they are limited to what they can do while they are missionaries. I'm sure you can imagine what this means. We had a great time this weekend watching conference in English at the Mission Home where President Dalene made arrangement for a satelite dish to be set up in his back yard. We sat in their comfortable living room and the sisters brought crock pots with different kinds of soup and dessert for the time between sessions when we watched the LDS World Report and enjoyed each other's company. We are only 4 gringo couples now plus the Dalenes. Sister Joyce Dalene is a relative to the Merrills and Ruthie Skousen thru our common great great Grandpa John Griggs White who lived in Nauvoo with the Prophet Joseph Smith. His descendant in our line was Elizabeth White wife of Orin Jackson Merrill. This became a little longer than we planned but maybe we can get better at this as time goes on. We want to make the Blog work and we are grateful to Chad and Linda for helping us get set up.
We Love you Alll ! Hope this photo comes through. Pres. Dalene took this photo last Sunday.

Introductio to our blog

2008-04-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

We just started our blog site and we welcome you to make comments and help us use this.