Sunday, 18 March 2018

We’ve been on our mission for three months today!

Dear Family,

     This week we enjoyed having Haleigh and the Walker family spend part of their Spring Break with us. We loved having a house full of family!

     Haleigh arrived Tuesday night and on Wednesday, after the Zone Leader conference call we drove the entire length of the Monument road and had a great time at the Visitor’s Center. That night she went to three appointments with the Spanish-speaking sister missionaries while Josh and I made some visits. We’re learning the power of the simple question: “Tell me your story.” People want to talk. They just need a caring listener. Thursday  the Walkers arrived in the afternoon. We had a birthday party for Papa—complete with the Holt tradition of German Chocolate cake. He loves his book of family testimonies, which is a special gift for a 65^th birthday. Love our kids and grandkids! 

     Friday morning Addi made us breakfast then we went to Mesa Mall (the largest retail outlet between SLC and Denver), and Papa drove them to the Monument (while Haleigh and I tended Ivory). Saturday they explored part of downtown Grand Junction with its sidewalks full of art—so much to see they covered less than half. Of course we nibbled on toffee samples and ate ice cream at Enstrom’s, a local favorite. After Jake posted pictures of their family at the Colorado Monument his cousin posted similar pictures and they discovered she lives just minutes from our house and our wards meet in the same building. The Colorado cousins arrived early for their meetings in order to see the Walkers before they headed back to St. George. Another of the Lord’s tender mercies. We also enjoyed Addi singing for us the song she sang in Sacrament Meeting earlier this month—such a sweet voice. J Stepping over girls on the floor in the hallway, using the outlets for hair dryers and straighteners, and smiling at all the teenage talk about music and clothes, brought back fond memories of raising our family. 

     Our side of the mission—the Western Slope—had 9 baptisms this weekend! The work is on fire! Saturday (in between shopping trips) we saw a mother and two daughters baptized, another baptism in the YSA Ward (the sister Josh interviewed), and a sister in the Spanish Branch (Haleigh translated for her dad). The radiant smiles on the missionaries' faces were beyond beaming--and the joy in the countenances of those being baptized brings a warmth to your heart. Cute baptism idea—who doesn’t love a KitKat bar? Here is your ‘kit’ to remember ‘KAT’: Keep his commandments, Always remember Him, Take upon us His name.

     Because the Church is moving resources to Africa, our complement of missionaries has been lowered. The most we’ll have in the future is 130 and a senior couple that goes home in April won’t be replaced—there were 150 when the Giffords arrived in 2016. That means many missionaries will cover two wards and members will need to step up in finding investigators for the elders and sisters to teach. A friend from BYU-I is the mission president in Sydney. He has 30 senior missionaries—seniors want to speak English but go foreign so Australia is a popular choice. When the senior couple leaves in April the CDSM will only have the Holts and one other couple. The rest of the office staff are locals who work just part-time who work mostly from home and phone. 

     My favorite thought this week was shared by the high councilman today. He reminded us of President Nelson’s talk in April Conference 2017, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives.” After President Nelson recounts the story of the woman who touched the hem of the Savior’s clothes, he said: “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. . . . When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you.” Wow! What a powerful promise from a prophet of God: "His power will flow into you"! I’d read and marked this talk in my tablet, but I’d missed this passage.

     This is our week to head to Denver for mission presidency meetings. We’ll stay two nights so we’ll be able to attend the temple. Stay well and healthy and have a wonderful week. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Monday, 12 March 2018

Dear Family,

Papa Josh enjoyed all the messages and phone calls for his birthday. Thanks to all who sent happy wishes. He loved all the FaceTime singing, chats, and grandchildren making silly faces. It was a busy Sunday, so we’re looking forward to really celebrating when the Walkers and Haleigh arrive to spend some of Spring Break in Grand Junction. 

Our mission runs on 6-week cycles. President Gifford counts the time by how many Zone Conferences we have—we have two down and ten to go! Last week was Zone Conference for the Western Slope so we put 600 miles on the JEEP, stayed in hotels in Craig and Rifle, and spent our days in training and working with missionaries. One fun feature, after lunch, is singing to all those who have birthdays that month, which means that five times Josh enjoyed the birthday song, along with the Giffords (their birthdays are the 15^th and the 17^th). 

If you’re interested, here’s the schedule for Zone Conference:

 8:30 am Arrive and quiet preparation

 9:00 am Greeting, prayer, song, recitations (Our Purpose and D&C 4), Mission Business

 9:30 am APs: Preach My Gospel Training (the Restoration)

10:15 am Pres. Gifford: Scripture Training (“A Perfect Brightness of Hope”)

10:45 am Holts: Preach My Gospel Training (working with ward and stake leaders)

11:30 am Sister Gifford: Book of Mormon Training

12:00 pm Prayer, lunch, zone photo, birthdays

12:50 pm Musical Number

 1:00 pm Sister Training Leaders: Handbook training (Focusing on Our Purpose)

 1:30 pm Sister Gifford: Technology Safeguards Review

 2:30 pm Zone Leaders: Preach My Gospel Training (companionship study)

 3:15 pm Zone Leaders: Invitation to Act (review all the day’s lessons)

 3:30 pm Closing song, prayer

The topics change from ZC to ZC but the schedule stays the same. We all work together to plan a variety of activities in each lesson so the missionaries stay engaged and excited. We’re trying to follow the advice of Elder Nattress that, “The best ideas are caught not taught.”

This week a delightful disruption changed the schedule a bit (that’s why we had one ZC last Friday instead of five conferences in five days). On Wednesday we picked up four Temple Square sisters. We took them to a church building for lunch and then and spent the afternoon in training and orienting them to the CDSM. They'll be a strong addition to our mission for the three months they are in Colorado.

Saturday we took a P-Day and went to Men’s Wearhouse. For his birthday Josh picked out two custom suits. That night we went to the baptism for a mother and two daughters. Such a powerful Spirit! 

Since it was Daylight Savings we got less than 5 hours of sleep before we had to leave at 5:20 am for our 6:45 am meeting in Montrose. After we met with the Montrose Stake President and high councilman over missionary work, we drove to Gunnison and attended meetings 10 am-1 pm, and then the Ward Mission Council, and Josh interviewed a disobedient but repentant elder. We stopped in the Curecanti National Recreation Area for lunch and then detoured to Ouray (100 miles from Grand Junction) so we could see the San Juan Mountains—also called the American Alps. We laughed at the Ouray Hot Springs, where the lifeguards were wearing long pants and ski parkas (it was only 38 degrees). On our drive back to GJ we enjoyed a delightful conversation with Robyn and Scott Bergstrom. They are getting ready to retire and had loads of questions. We went straight to the Institute Building so Josh could do a baptismal interview. She’ll get baptized on Saturday!

In Relief Society the lesson was on President Nelson’s talk on the Book of Mormon. A seminary teacher shared that each morning the students report their scripture reading with “I D.I.D. it (“Do It Daily”). The teenagers also like to say: “I ‘feasted’ on the scriptures. I didn’t just ‘lick’ them.” 

Thought for the week: Your patriarchal blessing is like having your own section of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Enjoy a wonderful week. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Sunday, 4 March 2018

Happy 35^th birthday to Hiram on the 7^th! Papa Josh turns 65 on the 11^th!

Dear Family and Friends,

One of the delightful blessings of the mission president’s wife having been a 2^nd grade teacher is she got all the missionaries up and singing “I Want to be Happy.” Zone Conference this week was great fun! Just watch the first three minutes of the video—you’ll love it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poL1R3aRVSM Before I tell about our week, there’s one more link I want to share. I enjoy reading the weekly articles from The Interpreter Journal, written by Mormon scholars. This one, called “Unveiling Women’s Veils of Authority,” is one of my favorites—it clarifies that today’s western culture sees a woman covering her head as subjugation whereas the early church saw the veil as a sign of power and authority. Here’s just a bit from the Abstract: The Apostle Paul’s theological explanation for female veil wearing (1 Corinthians 11:2–13) highlights the woman’s head covering as an expression of female empowerment or “authority/exousia.”  . . .Paul described this empowering veil as a sign of unique female authority to pray and prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5). By covering her head, female saints received “power on her head” and could interact with angels (1 Corinthians 11:10). http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/unveiling-womens-veils-of-authority/

We spent Monday and Wednesday traveling to and from Birmingham, but spent all of Tuesday with Hiram and his family. He took a vacation day and we dropped the kids at school, visited Heavenly Donuts, spent time with the kids after school (including Joe and Lindsay dancing in the garage), finished the sheetrock in their new room, and enjoyed dinner at Shrimp Basket. The ordination and then setting apart was a special occasion for us all, and we were truly blessed to be there. After Josh ordained his son a high priest, the member of the stake presidency quietly said, “We just heard Lehi blessing Nephi.” In the setting apart as second counselor in the bishopric I was reminded that high priests are teachers, just as the Savior was a teacher. Their little family will continue to receive blessings because of their faithful service.

During bedtime scriptures with Hiram’s family, their scripture reader provides definitions for tough words. When he came to “large in stature,” James read the definition not as “physically large” but as “prehistorical big as a dinosaur,” which made us all laugh. Before they crawled in bed James said he wanted to give Grandma a “prehistorical hug.” Biggest hug I’ve ever had!

Thursday was Zone Conference and then Saturday was a baptism, Josh interviewed a sister for baptism, and then we drove to Craig (2.5 hours away). From west to east it takes five hours to travel the width of the Craig Stake, so going to stake conference becomes quite an event and a commitment—many families stay the night. The stake was just formed in October 2017 so this was their first conference as a stake. Josh trained the ward mission leaders from 4-5 pm and then we spoke at the evening meeting from 6-8 pm. The Stake Clerk is a Crookston from Pocatello—his grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. 

Family news: Jess sent us a Marco Polo video showing Rexburg’s weekend snowfall! Matt’s team had a heartbreaking loss in the state basketball semifinals. We saw a cute video from Kai’s ball game. Ivory is sitting up but Livi has been sick and out of school. Kufelds are planning the reunion to Steamboat Springs. Haleigh had to visit the chiropractor four times this week but she’s now in Cancun enjoying Spring Break. Hiram did his first setting aparts today. James and Suzanne are going to Manchester England! 

We heard many powerful stories this weekend, but I’ll just share one. A man almost bounded up to the podium after stake conference ended and said, “I just want to thank you for the good job the sisters are doing. They are just what my wife needed and she was baptized 6 months ago. And today I was rebaptized after 15 years!” He radiated happiness and his eyes glistened with tears. He also told us about a tender mercy for one of the young sisters. Bro. R. and Sister H. are both from Longmont, California. When they called Brother R.’s elderly father after the baptism and told him the names of the sisters who had taught his son, and mentioned that one of them was from their hometown, the father recognized the name. Many years ago three children went into a nearby river. Sister H.’s grandmother went into the river after them and she and one child didn’t come out. Bro. R.’s elderly father was one of the men who searched the river for a week to recover the bodies. Sister H.’s grandmother died before she was born, but today a struggling sister missionary learned why she was transferred to Craig and that the grandmother she never met is watching over her.

“Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.” Jeffrey R. Holland

Have a wonderful week! Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Sunday, 25 February 2018

Happy 16th birthday to Emma Walker in St. George!

Dean Family and Friends,

Our week started with a blizzard in Denver and Vail so we had Train the Trainer on Tuesday in GJ—only two new missionaries but they are on fire! We had dinner with President Kennedy in Rifle on Tuesday and then had Stake Mission Council with the Zone Leaders. In Rifle we got word that the missionaries leaving Train the Trainer had been in an accident. The car (just out of the body shop on Friday) was totaled but the missionaries alright--the other driver was cited. The Lord sends guardian angels to watch over his missionaries. MLC (Mission Leadership Council) was in Avon on Wednesday.

The rest of the week we bought two new mattresses and frames, picked up a repaired car from the shop, and went to ward Mission Council. We delivered the replacement car in Montrose, sat in on weekly planning, took the elders to lunch, bought and delivered a table and chairs, met a landlord and turned in keys for a vacated apartment, and spent an hour at a bank to reestablish a hacked account. 

Saturday morning we went to a baptism for a wonderful little boy, sat in on a lesson with the sisters, delivered the new mattresses, sprayed for bugs, took the sisters to lunch, checked the Sheriff’s Office FaceBook page for a wanted poster for their 6 pm appointment, went to the park when the homeless are fed, and then another baptism! 

Sunday we went to Steve's confirmation in our own ward. There we learned that Dean and Kathleen Dalling's daughter lives in our ward and was blessing her baby. Another daughter is married to John Taylor, our Rexburg stake president's executive secretary, and most of the Dalling family was at sacrament meeting. A happy surprise for us! Baby Lily is a celestial baby—she was born without brain tissue (a stroke in utero), and won’t progress physically in this life. At the Pear Park ward we gave our talks on missionary work, attended Gospel Essentials, and then went to the American Lutheran church for an interfaith discussion. Present were two Buddhists, a Hindu, a home church minister, the Lutheran pastor, a religious scientist minister, a retired pastor from the Vineyard, a Jewish atheist, and three Mormons. For over two hours we shared beliefs and enjoyed a respectful, cordial conversation. We focused on listening and understanding. When we left, the Lutheran host told the Area Public Affairs Director, who invited us, “I didn’t think Mormons would be open to an interfaith discussion.” Sadly, often what we know or think about other faiths doesn't come from personal interaction but from inaccurate information from the uninformed. The Buddhist brother said his sister had converted and was serving a mission at the bishop's storehouse (and they know Matt's aunt and uncle). We stay busy but we have enjoyed watching some of the Olympics at night, so we do get to catch our breath occasionally. Smile. 

Our first call this morning was from Hiram with the happy news he had been called as second counselor in the bishopric. Josh spent an hour looking for flights and talking to a Delta agent. We leave tomorrow so Josh can ordain Hiram a high priest. Their family will enjoy blessings as their parents serve--Alanna is still YW president. We’ll be back on Wednesday. 

We were saddened this week to learn of the passing of Iris Hoaglund. She was a grand lady. Thanks, Leon, for letting us know. Another sorrow was learning that Porters in Rexburg is closing. Can’t imagine Rexburg without the Ben Franklin store. 

This is one of my favorite thoughts from all the reading and studying we did to prepare our talks for today. It is from President Oaks (October 2016): “Sharing the gospel is not a burden but a joy. What we call ‘member missionary work’ is not a program but an attitude of love and outreach to help those around us. . . evidence of our conversion and of how we feel about the gospel in our own lives is our willingness to share it with others.” 

We’re looking forward to our unexpected trip to Birmingham. Have a wonderful week. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Sunday, 18 February 2018

Happy birthday tomorrow to sweet Aunt Diane tomorrow! (It is also Grandpa Merv’s birthday—he would have been 106)

Dear Family,

We enjoyed your fun messages and pictures celebrating Valentine’s Day. I surprised Josh with his own hydroflask—I think he’s the last one in the family to have his own. Even Ivory loves to sip from her mom’s. We love you all! And enjoying the love from our family made the news of the latest school shooting even more shattering. Oh. No. Not. Again. Our hearts are broken. When I was a little girl at Redwood Elementary we practiced hiding under our desks for earthquake drills. Today our babies practice drills for gunfire. Why, oh why does any gun owner need an assault rifle?! Alanna told us tonight her school has had two lock downs for fun incidents.

Monday we drove to Montrose so Josh could interview a mother and daughter for baptism. Both soooo excited! (We didn’t go to their baptism on Saturday because of a visit from Elder Nattress).

Tuesday we went to a district meeting, then I made SWIG sugar cookies for the neighbors and we delivered them that night. Wednesday, while he was on the weekly ZL conference call, the Monument sisters and Redland elders were in our dining space to share area books as the sisters transfer out this week. We fed lunch to two more sisters who came to use a phone for a job interview. At 7 pm we went to a Pear Park fundraiser dinner for the 15 YM in the ward. I didn’t have high expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the preparations and their earnestness—all dressed in shirts and ties, towel draped over their arms, doing their best to act polished and professional. 

Thursday we left early for another drive to Montrose to clean out an apartment. The day included a trip to the landfill, a wait at the dentist, elders buying cleaning supplies (they had managed to ‘lose’ their toilet brush), getting a prescription filled, and then another 45 minute drive to inspect another apartment. Back to Clifton in time for the monthly missionary social where we met Sister Brouchard. Her husband died unexpectedly on January 4^th and her youngest son is only 8. We hadn’t met her yet but she said, “I didn’t want to come but the Holy Ghost kept bugging me.” We talked with her about the temple and Josh was able to get her connected to the stake executive secretary so she could get a recommend to do temple baptisms. She said, "I knew there was a reason I needed to come." She shared with us some of the trials and miracles of the past few weeks.

Friday was transfers. Even though the transfer train from Denver was delayed almost an hour, the meeting went smoothly. Except for one set of elders who had lost their phone so they couldn’t pass it on to the trainer and his new greenie. Then their car started rattling and smoking on their way to Montrose so they had to call us from a borrowed phone. We already had two elders in the car and had to drop them off before we could meet the stranded elders. Gave them my phone and told them to drive carefully to the repair shop. Josh took me back to our apartment so I could fix dinner for a new mother. He met the elders at the repair shop and drove them to Montrose (75 minutes) while I delivered the meal (a blessing we have two cars). After a late dinner we went back to Orchard Mesa to move the rest of the belongings from the old apartment to the new. And throw out more junk and trash. What a day! 

Saturday we had lunch with Elder Nattress at noon, and then a mini-MLC with him for almost three hours, which was a spiritual feast. He's an Idaho boy and quite a good storyteller. That night we went to a Vocal Point concert, which was our first foray to downtown GJ and all the cute shops and sidewalk art. We left home this morning at 5:40 am for a stake mission council in Montrose, then went to church at Pear Park. It is a holiday weekend, so the Giffords had company--their son and daughter-in-law, and two of their friends--and they all came for dinner, which was fun. Fun to visit with all of them.

When we take missionaries out to lunch I enjoy taking their picture and then sending it to their mothers. I love getting back excited thanks for the picture. At one lunch I took their picture, sent it, then opened my fortune cookie: Angels are among us; when you find them, cherish their presence every day. :) 

Family news: Jim and Lucy went to the Senior Center for the Valentine luncheon and Mom especially enjoyed getting picked up by the free shuttle. The Kufeld family spent a Valentine weekend in Jackson and took the sleigh ride through the Elk Refuge. Haleigh went to St. George to spend the weekend with the Sadlers and Walkers at soccer games for Addi and Will. Addi played in four games and made it to the quarterfinals but lost in double overtime sudden death. Will’s team plays tomorrow for the championship. A little irony is that Ivory is getting her two bottom teeth and Ella and Joey both showed us they’d lost their two front teeth. Laney went to the temple to do some baptisms. Thanks for sharing your family activities with us. 

While driving this week I selected a new album and accidentally touched the last song of the group’s Christmas album instead of the first song of the hymn album. I just let it play and received a sweet insight. What if we sang, “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” in our hearts while partaking of the sacrament? Such a joyful message should be something we feel each week, not just sing in December: “Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.” At one of the baptisms we attended last week a speaker said that when he reported his mission the stake president asked: “Did you hear the Savior’s voice on your mission?” The question has nudged me to think about recent moments when I have heard the Savior’s voice. It's a good question: When and how have you heard the Savior? 

Tomorrow we drive to Rifle and will have dinner with a stake president. Tuesday is MLC in Vail and then back to GJ for Train the Trainer. Another busy week. We’re enjoying our mission! Have a great week. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Monday, 12 February 2018

Happy 19^th anniversary to the Matt & Amy Sadler and happy Valentine’s Day to all our sweethearts!

Dear Family,

We don’t really have a set schedule, though we do try to exercise and do personal study each morning. Every day is different. Tuesday a sister with the Norovirus spent the day throwing up in our bathroom and sleeping in our extra bedroom so her companion could work with other sisters. Josh went to a District meeting so I had a quiet day to read, study, and write letters. That night, on splits with the elders, Josh met the Nye family--Mel Sadler’s sister and brother-in-law. Almost daily we receive little affirmations that we’re in the right place at the right time. Wednesday was a visiting teaching luncheon with 8 other women and then we drove to Denver for presidency meeting and we planned Zone Conference, MLC (mission leadership conference), and a visit from Elder Nattress. Thursday we enjoyed a trip to the Fort Collins Temple and did initiatory and a session, visited with Cynthia Crookston (who loves her job as assistant recorder) and chatted with the recorder as he raved about how indispensable our sweet niece is to running the temple. We had just a few minutes to visit with Myra in Loveland on our way back to Denver, and made it through the traffic to arrive right on time for a dinner with all the office missionaries. President Gifford served his mission in Italy and loves good Italian food so we ate at Maggiore’s Little Italy. I have to admit—almost better than Carmine’s in NYC--they had Nutella cheesecake! 

Friday we drove to from Denver to Granby so visit with the elders and during a snowstorm Josh navigated Berthoud Pass. Check out some images. On our way back to I-70 we went through Silverthorne, home of the first gold medal winner for the US in the Olympics, arriving in Fruita just in time for Joan’s baptism. 

Saturday we went to a baptism at 11 in Montrose, took the elders to a buffet lunch at Guru’s Indian and Nepalese, then drove to a 2 pm baptism in Land’s End, and later a baptism for the Spanish Branch at 6 pm. Four baptisms in two days—and those were the ones close enough to attend. A weekend of spiritual feasting. The elders and sisters are on fire for missionary work! So wonderful to see a son baptize his father. But sad for the 20-something whose family is Catholic and none would attend his baptism. In Land’s End, the counselor conducting shared his own conversion at age 35, about the same age as the brother getting baptized. He said, “Changing was hard. I even went to a bar and had a drink and snuck a smoke the morning I was baptized. But the Holy Ghost is real. When I was confirmed I was promised that I would no longer desire cigarettes and alcohol and I haven’t. It has been 40 years and I’ve never once had a desire for cigarettes or alcohol.”

Josh turns 65 in March and has spent hours negotiating with Social Security, Medicare, his insurance supplement, and my health insurance. Arrgh! Keep working is my advice. Don’t retire. It’s too much paperwork to quit your job. :)

Missionary moments: At a ward social we met Mike and Natasha who have been baptized 2.5 years. Josh asked them why they hadn’t gone to the temple. “Don’t have the priesthood.” “Why?” “The day before I was supposed to get it the bishop caught me smoking, so I figured that was a sign I wasn’t ready.” Josh encouraged Mike to talk to the bishop. He did, and was ordained the next Sunday. Now they’re preparing for the temple! We didn’t meet Joan until her baptism, but when the sisters told us she’d been taking the lessons for 3.5 years and went to church every Sunday President Holt said, “Give her a baptism date.” "Oh, no. The ward says not to push her." "It's time sisters. Give her a date." They gave her three dates, Joan prayed about it, and then on Fast Sunday bore her testimony and announced to her ward she was getting baptized on Friday! Three of the previous sister missionaries who had taught her drove from Provo so it was quite a reunion of happy sister missionaries. 

The need for the youth to develop musical skills is more apparent each week. The elders and sisters lead the music, play the piano, and perform musical numbers. Some play with one hand. Some can’t carry a tune. But all give talks and bear testimony and all are willing. Their faces shine with the light of the Gospel and their hearts are happy in the service of their Savior. One of the missionaries shared in his testimony that as a child he was angry and rebellious. He learned about God at Catholic preschool. When he went with LDS friends he felt love for the first time in his life. The Gospel changes lives. These young missionaries inspire me! This is transfer week so we have apartments to inspect and furniture to move. When you have 15 departing missionaries and only two arrivals, some areas will combine and apartments remain empty until we receive more missionaries in March. 

The wards in Colorado love and accept without hesitation; they truly mean it when they say, “Come as you are.” Women and children wear pants more often than not. Tattoes and blue jeans abound. A Sunday School president is 4’ 8’, bald, wears black jeans and black sneakers, and hangs a big chain from his belt to his pocket. Members talk about songs like Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” in testimony meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awzNHuGqoMc

Family News: James and Sue have submitted their papers for another humanitarian mission in Europe. They are hoping for Romania. This week Facetime gave us a chance to see the Badillos making sugar cookies and catch up on all their news. We also saw 5-month-old Ivory cooing and laughing. We loved the videos of Kai’s basketball game and singing in the car. Haleigh had an Olympic-themed party with friends. Wish we could nibble on some of Addi’s red velvet Valentine cupcakes. Becca has been busy with pageants for Miss Elko and outstanding teens. Congrats to Jace for an outstanding performance with his second grade class as Stormy, the Singing Snowman!

Thought on personal revelation: “You’ll know it is direction from God when the next second another voice tells you that you cannot do it.”

Have a wonderful week! Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Saturday, 3 February 2018

Dear Family,

I’m sending the weekly letter tonight because we have a busy Sunday schedule. I have a 7 am Bi-Stake Public Affairs meeting. Josh has Western Slope Coordinating Council (five stakes) with Elder Priday from 9 am-2 pm.

Last Sunday evening we drove to Montrose and spent 90 minutes with the stake president and the high councilman.  They are on fire for missionary work and love their missionaries! Monday we had our first P-Day activity and drove two sisters to the Monument for a 2-hour drive. We’re falling in love with Colorado. For a gallery of beautiful photos, check out photos by John Fielder: https://www.johnfielder.com/gallery/wr/ Another great site that spotlights Colorado is a geography professor at Colorado Mountain College who has skied all 53 of the 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado: http://www.jonkedrowski.com/

Tuesday morning we went to the Fruita District Meeting and that night Josh taught Mission Prep at the Institute, and then we went to another stake’s mission council. 

Tuesday evening the full moon lit the night sky with a brilliant halo, so we were excited to go walking at 6:30 am to see the 'Blue Blood Moon.' Sadly, low clouds obscured the view, though we did see the moon’s red glow over the golf course for just a moment and still got in a chilly 45-minute walk—it was only 30 degrees! After the weekly ZL conference call we checked out new apartments for the Housing Coordinator. Our truck has been put to good use as we moved one elder to join his new companions and bring a returning missionary to stay the night with us. Thursday morning we drove Elder S. to the airport. He'd only been out four months but needs counseling. Airport runs are a sad part of our mission duties. 

Thursday night was a ward mission council. Friday morning we went to the first hour of weekly planning with two elders, then spent the last half with two other elders. Then we spent about three hours with a list of member names and knocked on doors. Then we took two more elders to dinner. I love taking their pictures and texting them to their moms! We finally made it to Greatest Showman and enjoyed a  Friday night date!

Today we drove two hours to Naturita, through the canyon beside Uncompaghre (oon-come-pawg-ray) National Forest. Breathtaking views for which I was unprepared. Colorado continues to surprise me with its geologic magnificence. At the chapel I saw my first trap door baptismal font and we observed the baptism of a sweet 12-year-old. She had many young friends there to support her. 

Preach My Gospel includes the program for a baptism, but the wards are in charge, so they are all a bit different. One of my favorite songs sung recently was “Mary, Did You Know?” The Ward Music Chair arranged it like a hymn at the request of the sister getting baptized. What a special song to sing: “Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation? . . .would one day rule all nations? . . .is heaven’s perfect Lamb? . . .The sleeping Child you’re holding is the great “I AM’?”

Family news: Amy and Ella skied at Brighton on Friday and Haleigh spent that night at the cabin with friends. Knowing our children love and enjoy the cabin warms our hearts! Had fun chats with the Walkers and Becca had another cheer competition. 

We had a sweet experience this week. The elders in Fruita called and needed a ride to the UPS store. On his way, Josh saw the sisters walking and gave them a ride. When we fed them dinner later that day Sister L. told us she’d been praying for a ride because they were going to be late to their appointment. And President Holt pulled up right then.

This week we head to Denver for Mission Presidency Meeting and we hope to get in a session at the Fort Collins Temple.

Thought from a talk at church: “If the focus of our worship at Sacrament Meeting is the sacrament, we’ll never go home disappointed.” 

Pray for gospel conversations! Sure do love ya,

Sunday, 28 January 2018

Happy birthday to Alyssa Kufeld on the 31^st—she’ll be 17!

Dear Family,

We’ve now experienced five straight days of zone conferences. President Gifford meets with each zone, rather than combining them into larger groups, so the instruction feels more like a classroom than stake conference. The APs, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders all give instruction; Josh and I taught “Teaching By The Spirit.” Having been taught the Learning Model by Elder Bednar when he was our college president, we teach through modeling, role playing, and interactive discussions with limited lecturing. Our smallest zone was 11 missionaries in Craig and the largest was 24 in Montrose. Two of the stake presidents joined us for part of the day, which was impressive. We stayed overnight in Craig and Rifle and drove close to 400 miles. We’re loving it! Each day the Relief Society provided yummy lunches, and one of my favorite parts was singing “Helaman’s Army” to those sweet sisters and ending with an additional line: “And tha-ank you for the food!” We smile and clap and they cry—every time.

I marvel at the miracle of missionary work. Even though these missionaries are young (Sister Gifford says, “they’re just six years out of Primary”), and sometimes act their age, when the Spirit speaks miracles happen. They have to be out of their apartments at 10 am and work until 9 pm, mostly riding bikes and walking, even in winter. For every 100 doors they knock only 1 person will get baptized (Josh says it used to be 1,000 doors). Today as we were almost home we met two of the missionaries walking to the church. We gave them a ride and asked how long it would have taken them to walk: “About an hour and a half.” At least it was about 40 degrees (the high temp for the day).

Saturday we went to two baptisms. At the second one Josh met two of his former students; one of them went with Business Club to Florida in 1996 and remembered Amy. We seem to find Ricks College/BYU-I alum everywhere we go. Today we went to the confirmation for Jessica Martinez. Her mother is Catholic but came to the baptism and confirmation and stayed for Gospel Essentials class. 

Surprising week for the family. Rexburg had a power outage one evening and the Badillos were out of power and Richmond had a 15-second earthquake. We understand a earthquake is why the Richmond Tabernacle had to be torn down. 

Sweet thought from President Monson: “Love is the very essence of the gospel and Jesus Christ is our exemplar.” Bulletin board in Primary Room: “Exaltation is our goal; discipleship our journey.” President Uchtdorf

Have a wonderful week. You are in our hearts and in our prayers. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM

Sunday, 21 January 2018

Dear Family,

We’ve had a busy week. Here’s a quick tally:

• Four baptisms, including Joey’s in Indianapolis (another baptism was nearly three hours away but heavy snowfall kept us in Grand Junction).
• Two meetings with JustServe and Public Affairs Directors, one in Littleton and one in Cherry Hills.
• One stake mission council in Rifle (70 minutes).
• One broadcast announcing the new First Presidency.
• One missionary apartment inspection in Paonia (80 minutes).
• Four lunches with missionaries, two in Fruita (about 20 minutes), one in Cedaredge (60 minutes), and one in Montrose (90 minutes).
• Sixteen people at the new member/investigator/new-to-the-ward social.
• Two observations, one of weekly planning and one of companionship inventory.
• Five pictures of grandchildren printed to update my wall of photos (trying not to miss you all too much).
• Two sacrament meetings.
• Five inches of snow!

I’m getting to know more of the missionaries and learning the wards in the five stakes (each stake is a zone), and the mission districts. This week we have one zone conference for five days in a row, so we’ll spend two nights in motels.

Another cute story about Lindsay: Last Sunday, when we were in Indianapolis, she was counting the birthstone figures dangling from my necklace. We named each one: Amy, Jessi, Rachel, Becca, Hiram, Haleigh. I told her, “These are my babies.” Her question: “Where’s Grandpa?”

Attending baptisms is one of the great blessings of serving here. Saturday morning as the sister walked to the font, her eyes glistened with tears and she seemed so happy! More baptisms are scheduled for this weekend.

Some quick family news: after being gone only a month, the well at our home in Rexburg went out. Boo. Poor Francie. Last we talked the water was working but the pressure was poor. Becca’s dancers had a big competition. Jessi is Makai’s basketball coach. Addi sang with a special show choir, which included all the grades in high school. High five to Addilyn! Haleigh is the Ward Music Chair and subbed today for the choir director. With a new semester the choir was small, so she invited the members to join the choir  to sing “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.” The volunteer choir filled the stage and sounded like they’d rehearsed for weeks. Miracles happen when you sing your testimony!

Today at ward conference we sustained the church and ward leaders. What a thrill to raise my arm to the square and sustain President Nelson and the rest of the apostles. His message from October resonates with even more power each time I read it: “I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, that you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life.”

You are in our prayers. Sure do love ya! Karen/MOM

Sunday, 7 January 2018

Happy birthday to Uncle Dan (61) tomorrow and to Ella Sadler on the 13^th (6)

Dear Family,

First off, I sent you the wrong zip code. We are at 81507 (not 503). Sorry.

Our first full week in Colorado has affirmed our faith that the Lord guides and directs the work. The senior couple we’ve replaced, the Halls, left in October. For two months our mission president prayed that no crisis would occur on the Western Slope, and it didn’t. But once we arrived we’ve been called on to help several missionaries. We’ve taken one disobedient elder to the airport, arranged for an ill sister to return to her family, and driven a feverish greenie—just arrived on Friday—to emergency care. We’re learning we need to keep our phones on at night and a pencil/paper by our beds so we can take notes on emergency phone calls.

We’re still discovering how far the Gospel net reaches. On the drive to the airport we learned that the elder going home is from Texas and that Ray set him apart for his mission. So President Holt in Grand Junction called President Holt in Friendswood and invited him to visit the returning missionary and extend Heavenly Father’s love to him. An unexpected excuse to have a nice chat with the Texas cousins on New Year’s Day.

Tuesday we accompanied some stake building specialists on their inspection of 8 missionary apartments, which was illuminating. Most of the apartments are nice, especially those for the sisters, but there was one in a sketchy area that I didn’t feel good about. The mission housing specialist will probably close it when a number of missionaries depart in February. Thursday we attended a District Meeting and were impressed by the preparation and maturity of the missionaries and their desire to work hard. Most of them are on bikes—even in winter!—but are cheerful and positive and work hard. Friday was our first transfer meeting. The “Transfer Train” starts in Denver at 6:45 am, stops in Rifle to drop off and pick up missionaries, arrives in Grand Junction at noon, drops off and picks up, returns to Rifle, and ends back in Denver. The APs drive the van and luggage trailer so it is a long day for them. We kept one sister with us; after all the elders and sisters departed we brought her to our house, fed her lunch, and waited for her family. She had hidden an eating disorder for seven years but the mission field revealed she needed treatment. A sad situation but she seemed positive and her family was loving and supportive. When her family arrived from Nevada President Holt gave her a blessing, which was a sweet and tender experience. That night we fed the sister missionaries again, which is fun for us. I’m learning I need to keep supplies on hand for quick meals to feed a crowd at a moment’s notice. Saturday we took some elders to lunch and went to another baptism for a 9-year-old whose father joined last fall. She was so excited and happy she bounced and her father just beamed. 

This morning's early call was about a sick elder, so we spent almost four hours with him at the community care and pharmacy. President Holt tried not to alarm the elder's mother too much when he had to call (the insurance card wasn’t working) but she still admits to a heart-dropping moment when she heard her son was sick just three days after arriving in the mission field, and quarantined for at least 24 hours. Hopefully no more emergency calls tonight! 

The Sunday before we entered the MTC, in Amy’s ward, a departing missionary spoke. Part of her message was that her Visiting Teacher brought her a message that helped her face her anxiety and depression so she was able to recognize the prompting that she should go on a mission. I love that! The direction of her life was changed by a diligent VT. In telling her story about dealing with depression she said she would fall asleep saying her prayers because she didn’t want to be alone. Once you know you are never alone you can do all things. This missionary also said, “My dad believed in me when I couldn’t. My parents are my true strength.” Her counsel for other youth, preparing to serve, was: “Be who you are called to be. Not who you think you are supposed to be.” This coming year, as parents and youth review the new interview questions, her counsel, to be honest and forthcoming, is counsel that will help the missionary department find the best opportunity for all those desiring to serve. Hiding emotional and physical issues, because the youth or their parents think it will limit their options, only results in sorrow and heartache when they can’t handle the physical and emotional rigor and pressure of some locations and assignments.

We are coming to love the people in Colorado. Some of the wards have strong, committed members, others struggle with permanency. All filled with good people who live the Gospel in their own way. I love the cowboy boots and handlebar mustaches, and the Primary girls in pink boots with rhinestones. We’ve met an Elder’s Quorum President who hasn’t cut his hair while his little brother was on his mission--two years of growth makes quite a bun. An elder in white shirt and tie and ear expanders said the closing prayer at a baptism. All warm, generous people who love the Gospel.

Busy back-to-school week for the family. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Lucy spent early New Year's Day at the emergency room. Grandpa had a blood vessel burst and his eardrum rupture. Dan took him to the ENT on Tuesday and he is recovering well. Laney starts at BYU-I tomorrow and Haleigh returns for her final semester to complete her MBA (and battling a terrible cold at the same time). Addi has a soccer tournament in Las Vegas next weekend. Will sent a sweet text asking about our mission. So happy to hear Stacy is moved into her new house and getting settled! Joe is excited for his baptism next week on his birthday, the 15^th, and we are thrilled we’ll be able to attend. Our mission president said, “Of course you should go to your grandson’s baptism.”

We were saddened to hear of President Monson’s passing this week. He will be missed. I love belonging to a church where succession is orderly and we sustain all the apostles as prophets and seers. This is a sweet thought from President Monson, from a 1998 talk called “Look to God and Live”: “When the pathway of life takes a cruel turn, there is the temptation to ask the question “Why me?” . . .A t times there appears to be no light at the tunnel’s end, no dawn to break the night’s darkness. We feel surrounded by the pain of broken hearts, the disappointment of shattered dreams, and the despair of vanished hopes. . . .We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. To all who so despair, may I offer the assurance . . .Whenever we are inclined to feel burdened down with the blows of life, let us remember that others have passed the same way, have endured, and then have overcome.”

Enjoy a wonderful week! Keep the missionaries in your prayers—they need all you can send their way. Sure do love ya, Karen/MOM