We are still here!!

Greetings AGAIN from Washington!!  We will have many more pictures to share with you!  Gil and I are having a fantastic time.  We are truly seeing miracles in the lives of our missionaries.  Watching them grown "into themselves" is like, literally, watching grass grow.  The Missionary Program is truly the most amazing preparation for life and leadership.  These young missionaries are amazing in their commitment and desire to serve their Savior and those around them.  The are constantly finding opportunities to serve the communities around them as well as sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those seeking happiness in their lives.  Along with our exploration of the local area, we ventured off to Utah in March to attend the marriage of our oldest grandson, Taylor, and his sweetheart, Rachel, in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on a beautiful spring day.  I will label the individual photos.  We are truly in the right mission for us.....miles of beautiful trees, green grass all year and clear air.  The local residents are complaining re: the number of rainy days, and we are loving it.  The rain here is not the gully washers of Tennessee - just gentle rain, sometimes more of a mist and very rare thunder/lightning.  I think we have seen lightning once since we arrived.  President and Sister McAteer are so loving and kind.  The love in this mission is almost palpable.  What a joy!  The chronological order of the photos is all out of whack, but enjoy!!

Hermanas Spencer/Mangum - Great Spanish-speaking Sisters

Zone Leaders - Petitta/Trotter

Easter Finery!!

Elder Ramirez/Watson at Peruvian Restaurant

Sister McPhie Birthday at Stuffy's/Longview WA

Barbeque Pork/Brisket for Lunch

And they THINK they are so TOUGH!

The Softer Side!

Long Beach , WA Baptism with Elders Mangum/Burciaga

View of the Pacific Ocean for Look-out

Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

Cannon Beach, OR

Vancouver WA - Where snow and grass/flowers can co-exist!

Long Beach, WA

Oyster Shells

TE Undersea Cable Systems - docked in Astoria, OR

A few more photos.....

Always serving!!

Wonder how they put the top on him...

Total Mission Christmas Party 2016 - Senior Missionaries opted out of the photo....

We Survived the Washington Snow!

We are still here having a great time and finally most (not all) of the snow has melted.  Church was cancelled for January 8th and 15th.  Our apartment is locate in northern Vancouver (where I 5 and 205 intersect if you have map) and we had more than a foot of snow practically over night.  This is unheard of in this area.  As a result, there are no snow plows.  Once we got out of our parking place with the help of three neighbors, Gil had to park by the office until we were blessed with rain and above freezing temperatures last Tuesday.  We had a bit of cabin fever when we couldn't get out, but the beauty was spectacular.  Local parking lots were resembled tobaggan runs and many trees were down with the weight of the snow.

Gil and I continue to love our mission and those amazing people we serve with and for.  Such a blessing to try to lighten the load of our valiant young missionaries as they serve tirelessly through snow, illness and minor injuries.  They were amazing with the service they provided shoveling sidewalks and pushing stranded motorists.

We are blessed to serve with a totally committed inspiring Mission Presidency/Wives as well:  Pres/Sister McAteer, Pres/Sister Christianson, Pres/Sister Stone and Elder/Sister Anderson.  They are wonderfully involved with the Mission and Missionaries and it is a joy to know them.

As missionaries come and go, we attend and participate in Trainer/Trainee, Mission Leadership Council and weekly office meetings as well as Zone Conferences.  While I am involved with Missionary Health, I, also, keep the Mission History and take minutes of most meetings.  I appreciate the extra duties to keep busy.  In addition to entering baptism records and temple recommends into the computer, Gil also processes referrals and assists Elders Lowder and Turner with furniture and cars.  Oop!  Almost forgot - he, also, forwards all mail that comes by USPS and notifies each missionary if he or she receives a package.  He is quite the popular guy!

Occasionally, we have the opportunity to treat missionaries to lunch - probably more fun for us than them!

Last, but not least - we had a great Christmas!  The entire mission gathered together at a local Stake Center.  We enjoyed a talent show starring our talented and sometimes hilarious missionaries as well as President and Sister McAteer.  The Stake provided a delicious turkey dinner for the entire mission. We attended Church on Christmas Day and then came home for a quiet ham dinner.  We have enjoyed the leftover ham in many dishes and soups since.

Photos to follow!!

Lunch/Meeting with New Missionaries and Trainers 1/3/17

Three of the new Elders are awaiting visas for Trinidad

Night of the white-out Snowstorm

View from our bedroom window - Hospital in the background

Missionary Work is tiring!

Happily Serving and Getting Settled!

As promised, I am finally getting to the blog. ( I will add photos at the end of this entry) .We have had such an amazing experience since our last post.  We left our home on 26 Oct and visited kids and grandkids in Texas and Arizona as well as the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park enroute to Provo, UT.  Before entering the Missionary Training Center, we were able to visit with Carlee, Taylor and Rachel as well as the Richards and Autumn (Dawid) and Scotty Crepeau.  Brother Richards had served as a missionary in Parsons, TN soon after Gil and his family joined the LDS Church.  We loved visiting with Ruth and Lanny Porter in Orem.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Porter's home on the night we arrived and they graciously hosted an open house so we could spend time with some of the young missionaries I served with in Puerto Rico as well as Elder Lee and the Burton family.   I had a wonderful time introducing them to Gil and he immediately loved them as I do.

Following a week of training in Provo, we drove to Salt Lake City where we stayed at the Hyatt House for Medical Training.  The training included presentations from many clinicians as well as Missionary Medical staff.  Even though I had completed the training previously, the content was much improved and beneficial.  While in SLC, we enjoyed visiting with our niece, Heidi Frank, and enjoyed dinner with the Richards at The Roof Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Building. We, also, were blessed to enjoy dessert with Elder and Sister Zwick at their home and visited briefly with Elder Cornish at Church on Sunday.  Elders Zwick and Cornish had both served as interim mission presidents in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission and it was wonderful to see them again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
With training completed, we left SLC November 17th, spent the night near Boise, ID and arrived in Vancouver, WA on the 18th having logged 3500+ miles since we left Parsons.  Upon our arrival, we enjoyed dinner at the Mission Home with President/Sister McAteer and the Bundersons who we will be replacing in the Mission Office.  Sister Bunderson has been the nurse and Elder Bunderson has been the Recorder along with other duties as assigned.  I learned that, in addition to Medical, I will be responsible for minutes of meetings and the Mission History.  We received the keys to our apartment and headed "home".  We will be moving to the "nurse" apartment by 12/10.

Since arriving, we have been out and about and getting the lay of the land.  We are amazed at the green grass at this time of the year.  We have had some rainy, drizzly days, but the sun usually breaks through sometime during the day.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving at the Bunderson's so were able to see our "new" apartment - it is beautiful and we are anxious to get permanently settled.

We love our mission and everyone we have met.  The Mission Presidency is awesome and a lot of fun along with their wives.  Our President and his wife are from Canada and he loves to sing accompanied by his guitar.  The Senior and Young missionaries are amazing as well with their commitment to serve Our Savior in any way required.  Some of the Senior couples live in this area and serve in various missionary assignments.

Granddaughter - Carlee

Grandson - Taylor with Fiancee, Rachel Wright

The Richards

Autumn Dawid Crepeau with Hubby, Scotty

View from The Roof Restaurant/SLC with the Richards

Gil with Elder and Sister Zwick at their home in SLC

Connie with the Zwicks - fun reunion!

Columbia River from the Oregon Side

This and remaining photos are the Columbia River from the Washington Side

Crab Baskets

Gil and I have been called to serve in the Washington Vancouver Mission reporting to the  MTC in Provo, Utah on November 7, 2016 for a period of 18 months.  Since we received our call in the mail on October 5th, we had to hit the road running to get ready.  We were set apart by President Bill Grayson, Franklin TN Stake on October 25th and are now enroute - left our home on October 26th.  We are stopping to visit children and grandchildren in Allen, TX and Gilbert, AZ on our way.  We are beyond excited and humbled to be Called to Serve - Connie as the Mission Nurse and Gil as a Member and Leader Support Missionary.  We have 5 days of Preach My Gospel training in Provo followed by 4 additional days of Medical training in Salt Lake City......then we will continue our journey to the beautiful Washington State.