Mission News 11/18

 It has been a busy week and we've learned so much and have so much more to learn. We started the week with a vague idea of what we are supposed to be doing and ended it able to actually do stuff by ourselves without our trainers having to coach us through every step. Progress!

Sunday we missed our assigned ward here to go to Tyler and Marie's ward for the Primary program which was delightful of course. We got pretty lucky because tomorrow is the Primary program in our ward here. They are the best Sacrament meetings of the year!

Monday morning we had a 7:00 am choir practice before our weekly devotional (who can sing at 7:00 in the morning?) and then a great meeting to start off the week. After the devotional we spent time in the BYU Pathway offices getting training from Elder and Sister Johnson. They continued with the training the next couple of days and then set us loose, doing our own interviews. It has been great getting to meet amazing people from countries in Africa, the Pacific Islands and even some in the US. All are excited to have the chance to take classes through Pathway and eager to do whatever it takes to get their education. We've heard wonderful testimonies of Christ from several of them. We get just 10 minutes or less with each of them but it is so great to get to know them a little bit and feel their spirit shine through in their smiles. 

View from the Pathway offices

Wednesday all the missionaries were invited to the Ensign College devotional where Elder Uchtdorf spoke. It was so good! He spoke about doing hard things to achieve our goals--like when he learned English to become a pilot. It was great to sit in the middle of a bunch of excited college students.

Waiting for Elder Uchtdorf

Friday we got to go to President Ballard's funeral and it was beautiful. We were early and got to hear the Tabernacle choir practice before the funeral and watch people (always fun to see who you recognize). The funeral itself was so good and I especially loved having Elder Holland (now President Holland) speak after so many weeks of being ill.  We ran into our friend President Larry Gibson (previous YM General Presidency) after the funeral and had a short chat with him and his new wife.  They are heading on a mission to England soon.  They asked about Dave and Sandy of course.  President Gibson came to our Wood Badge course those many years ago, and Dave and Gary worked with him to create our Genealogy and Family Life Merit Badges for the BSA National Jamboree in 2010.

It has been a long time since we've been in the Tabernacle and the feeling of so much history here is amazing.

We did our weekly shopping today at the Centerville Walmart and ran into a former Layton neighbor (Sue Wheeler), our zone leaders (Elder and Sister Lund) and a fellow new missionary who is very excited to be working in special projects in the Church History Library. It was a rather long shopping trip :)

Walmart with Sue (Goodwin) Wheeler who we knew in Layton

This week we'll hopefully get lots more interviews done, helping these students move on to the next phase in their education. And, of course there is Thanksgiving! We'll spend that in Logan with Blaine and Deanna which will be wonderful. We love seeing those grandkids!

Also, don't tell our children, but we have a Christmas tree and it may go up before Thanksgiving...