MISSION AND FAMILY MAKE FOR A WONDERFUL MONTH OF MARCH

A family highlight of this month was when Ryan and Katie and their family came to stay with us for the week prior to General Conference. Now that all three of their girls are 8 and above, they wanted to give them a conference experience. Katie had secured tickets for the Saturday afternoon session so that was the purpose of their trip. 
They came in the Saturday before so they could spend time with us and do the Utah thing. That night, we quickly ate dinner and then drove to BYU to watch the BYU men's volleyball team play their last game. It was fun to watch even though they lost all three matches.

Sunday, we had everyone up to dinner (17 in all), including Jon and Mindi and Todd and Kailee and families. We were glad for the chance to be together. 

  Aria was, of course, the big hit with the girls.

It was crazy hair day at school the next day for Jon and MIndi's girls so they were coloring their hair with markers


On Monday, we took Ryan and Katie and family to dinner at Cafe Rio before they rode the Heber Creeper. 





Grace and Nathan were fascinated with the train at Dairy Keen.  

Grace became a young Sister Millar by sporting my missionary tag.

Tuesday, being our day to feed the missionaries, we decided to make individual pizzas together. It was a great idea as everyone could put on their pizza exactly what they wanted. As they cooked we had a chance to visit around the table, eating some fruits and vegetables. Afterwards, the elders gave a message as we all gathered around in the living room. 

Listening intently to the video message presented by the elders.

Enough snow to build a snowman -
Typical Spring break in Utah

Each day Ryan would go to McDonald's to work. it was the only place in town where the internet was fast enough to let him access his work computer in Oregon. The rest of the family would play around at the house until after lunch when they would take off for Provo to do something fun. (Because we had teaching appointments each night, we stayed in Heber to do our missionary work.) They visited with Todd and Kailee on one day, and Jon and Mindi on another day, as well as visiting the Bean museum and the art displays at the MOA on BYU campus. Of course, the weather wasn't the greatest - quite cold and even snowing one afternoon.  It didn't seem to bother the kids too much.

Dressed in their new dresses 

On Saturday, the girls got all dressed up in their new dresses, purchased at a little boutique here in Heber City.  They left around 11 for the 2 o'clock session while Ryan and Nathan stayed here with us. Nathan played while Ryan finished cleaning up the downstairs. We all watched a little of the afternoon conference session until it was time to go to Salt Lake to meet Katie and the girls. We decided to meet them at the food court at City Creek Mall, right across the street from temple square. It was a good thing we got there early enough to find us a place to sit as the whole place was a zoo as soon as conference let out. It seems everyone had the same idea of grabbing a bite to eat before going home. It took a while to get food for everyone but we were in no big hurry. We were sad when the time came to have to say good bye to Ryan and Katie and family. They were leaving directly from there to travel to Winnemucca where they would spend the night before heading home to Medford the next day.

A monumental event in the lives of my family took place at the end of the month - my Dad turned 100. He was born March 29,1917. We were so afraid a year and a half ago that we would lose him so this birthday was a great blessing for all of us. It is amazing how alert and sharp he still is and how determined he is to walk on his own again. He is up to date on the latest technology so we face timed him on his birthday and had a wonderful conversation. We are so blessed by Dad and his great example to all of us.

The shirt says, 'This guy is 100 years old.'

One weekend in the middle of the month, we went down to Highland and took Jon and MIndi and family out to dinner. They are still in the middle of remodeling the home they are living in so they are without a kitchen. Mindi is bringing in fast foods or cooking in a crock pot. We thought the best thing we could do for them is treat them to a dinner. We went to the Texas Roadhouse and everyone seemed to enjoy their meals and we enjoyed being with them. We followed dinner up with a trip to a great yogurt place nearby. Lots of good flavors. We love spending time with family.

The rest of the month involved some wonderful missionary experiences. The greatest was the baptism of Rick Kinsie. He is an older gentleman who was excommunicated 40 years ago. He had been in prison and on drugs during that time and finally realized he needed the gospel in his life. Both he and his wife would attend our discussions and seemed to love having us come. As he gave up chewing tobacco, we began to see the light of Christ enter his eyes and his whole countenance seemed to change. He was finally able to be baptized on Thursday, March 30th. It was an incredible affair. He had bought a new suit and looked amazing as did Carolyn, his wife. The spirit was so strong, especially as he bore his testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ and of the gospel. The Chapels, the couple who were teaching him before us, came and said they hardly recognized them because they looked so different. That's what living the gospel of Jesus Christ can do for people. He and Carolyn were able to go the the Saturday morning session of conference with the Roneys, a ward member and friend. We hope all will continue to progress with them. 

We found two new investigators this month, Jessie and Jimmy. The 15th ward mission leader, Taylor Woodruff, introduced us to these two and they immediately accepted our invitation to teach them the gospel. Jimmy just got out of prison and Jessie is a non member. Jessie is the girl friend of Jimmy's brother. We started out teaching them together but found it much better to teach them separate as Jessie had so many questions and we had to teach in a more elementary way then Jimmy needed. We have developed an incredible relationship with both of them and we feel the spirit very strongly when we teach. Jessie knows that what we are teaching her is true and feels that she was brought to Utah for the purpose of hearing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She hasn't committed to baptism yet as she has many things in her life that need to be taken care of but we feel certain that it will happen eventually.

We have been working with a Sister Hoopes and have spent several hours in her home helping her organize her things. This month she, again, solicited our help with a yard sale. She asked us to come help her put things out on the lawn of a home she owns on Main Street. She needed to sell what she could before declaring bankruptcy due to a foreclosure of her funeral home business. We got there about 10:30, along with our young elders, and began setting things out on the lawn. It wasn't long before people started stopping and buying things. We gave out several pass-a-long cards and the elders even got a referral for the missionaries in Park City. It was a long day but Teri, Sister Hoopes, made a lot of money and was grateful for our help. Just before dark, we returned to help her put the unsold items back into the house. Since then, the elders and ourselves have had a couple of discussions with her and her daughter, Aubrey. It always good to be of service. Service opens door to the missionary work.

We were even a delivery service.  A lady bought this
rocking chair but had no way to get it home.  We volunteered
to take it to her home and when we did we had a most interesting
discussion with her husband as he made his homemade beer.

In the last couple of weeks of March, I received gifts from two people we visited. On one of our visits with the Lake Creek 2nd ward mission leader, we went to an older couple's home up in Timberlakes, the Denners. They were very friendly and we had a wonderful visit. They are wood workers and make some beautiful things out of wood - bowls, vases, jewelry, and even an earring holder.  As we were leaving, the gentleman presented me with one of his earring holders.

The next week we went to our regular appointment with Sandra Verbino, a non member sister who knows the church is true, attends sacrament meeting often, has had all the discussions several time, but won't commit to being baptized. On one occasion this month, we challenged her again to set a date to be baptized. She said that she would be baptized in December. We questioned her on that as she had previously said she would consider June. Her response was that if she was baptized in June we would quit coming to see her and she didn't want that. We assured her we would continue to visit her.  She obviously likes us coming by weekly. On one of our visits, she brought out a box with jewelry that she had made. She had me go through it and pick out some earrings and then insisted I take a necklace set too.  So sweet.  

On one Friday this month, we were invited out to dinner by Brother and Sister Myres of the Wild Mare ward. He said he was going to invite other people from his ward and wanted us to come. We all met at a local Italian restaurant, Vito's, and had a wonderful meal. There were 13 of us there and Brother Myres treated us all. We wondered what the missionary purpose would be of such a gathering. We found out at the end of the evening when the sister sitting next to Paul leaned over and asked if we would visit her and her inactive husband. Of course, we said we would. We also met several single sisters. We have visited most of them, now, in their homes to get to know them and see if there was anything ourselves or the young elders could do for them. A very worthwhile dinner engagement - and delicious to boot.

This mission is turning out to be a wonderful experience. Now that we have settled in on a routine and don't feel guilty if we are not out visiting every hour of every day, it's quite enjoyable and very rewarding as we see people's lives change.  

At the end of the month, we held another Russia Moscow Mission reunion. We were delighted to host it again this time here in Heber. We met at the ward building for a wonderful meeting where we heard about the success of missionary work in Russia despite the law prohibiting proselyting. Sister Porter, the former area president's wife, came to speak about her late husband the the miracle of his life and death...a very uplifting and inspiring example of continued service despite major health issues. We then came to our home for eating and visiting.  We estimated we had about 120 in attendance. Luckily, this time, some of them went downstairs so it didn't seem as crowded as when we did this in October. Such a blessing to have developed so many wonderful relationships during our time in Russia.  

Sister Simmons recently engaged

Elder Hoffman soon to be married

Sister Shepherd, and Sister Taylor, also recently engaged

Some of our other favorite missionaries - Elders Knight, Braun, Bradford (Left) and Sisters Simmons, Johnson, and King (Right)

And then there is Aria - always growing and changing....and so darling!

TRIP TO OREGON FOR GRACE'S BAPTISM HIGHLIGHTS FEBRUARY

This month we took a quick trip to Oregon for Grace's baptism. We arrived on a Friday afternoon just in time for the last minute preparations for the baptism at 4:00. Paul and Ryan went to fill the font while the rest of us stayed home to get things ready there for a buffet dinner afterwards. Ryan performed the baptism. Aubrey gave the talk on baptism and Julia gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Both were amazing talks and it was easy to tell they had prepared them right from the heart. Afterward, we all gathered back at Ryan's for a light buffet dinner. We are so glad we are on the type of mission that allows us to travel for family events such as this. While in Russia we witnessed Julia's baptism via SKYPE.  This is much better to actually be present.

It was also Nathan's birthday so we took him to In and Out for lunch right after we arrived and then on Saturday we took both him and Grace to toys r us so they could spend their birthday money from us. Grace bought some miniature food models called Shopkins which are all the rage for her age group right now. She only spent half of her money but Nathan spend over and above his $50 to buy a transforming Lego Batman car. We spent the afternoon putting the Lego car together. 

Earlier that morning we had witnessed Julia play a basketball game and after toy r us we met Katie's sister and her family for lunch at a unique pizza place. Each of us ordered what we wanted on our individual pizzas as we passed down the counter of many condiments. The pizza was then baked and brought out to us. It was very good pizza to boot.




Part of our tradition with grandchildren being baptized is that we take them out to dinner alone with us. Grace chose Hometown Buffet, as have all her sisters, so that is where we took her for dinner on Saturday night. All too soon it was time to fly home.  We did have a nice time to visit with Ryan and Katie on Saturday evening and then were able to go to Sacrament meeting in the morning  before Katie took us to the airport. A quick trip but very much worth the time.

Grace is obsessed with Grandpa's waddle 

At the BYU game

We needed to get home as Deon and Gary were staying at our home while we were gone. They had a wedding they wanted to attend on Friday so they came in on the Wednesday before we left. On Thursday, we attended the Provo City Center temple and then went to a BYU basket ball game to root on the Cougars. We gave them our tickets to the BYU game on Saturday so they got to go to two games while they were here. We were thrilled to come home on Sunday to a meal all prepared by Deon. We spent Monday just hanging out together, going out to lunch in Park City and then home to watch a couple of movies.  We always love being with them.

Another fun thing that happened this month was taking one of our special young single adults for Russia out to lunch. Sasha Liesivich is in America and while he was in Provo we arranged to meet him at the Provo temple after we did a session. We took him to Zuppa'a for lunch and had an incredible visit. He had to try BYU ice cream so went to the creamery. It was then to the BYU book store where he was going to meet a friend who would take him to Salt Lake where he was staying.  He is living in Los Angeles, California, right now, trying to secure work. He eventually wants to earn enough money to go to BYU. We hope all works out for him.


A treat for us this month was babysitting Aria for a week while Todd and Kailee took her parents and sister, Kara, to Hawaii.  We set up a crib in our bedroom, brought up the highchair, blocked off the stairs with gates, and moved the coffee from the living room so she would have lot of room to play.  Todd and Kailee had brought up several of her favorite toys and downloaded her favorite children's music onto my phone. We were set. We were busy continually but loving every minute of the time we were able to spend with her. Paul took care of most of the missionary work except for Tuesday night when we got a babysitter (Kayla Baird and her husband) so I could accompany him on a home teaching visit to the Buehlers and a teaching appointment to Sandra Verbina, a single sister. 

Our favorite thing to do with Aria was to take her to Dairy Keen for an ice cream. She was so cute. After taking a bite of her ice cream she would pick up the napkin and wipe her face. She loved the ice cream, for sure. Aria is so darling that anywhere we took her people would rave about her and how cute she is. We think they are right. We were sad when it came time for Todd to pick her up. He got an early flight in so he could pick her up, take her things to Lehi and then pick up the rest of the family at the airport.  He was battling a blizzard the whole way so we were glad when everyone was safely home in Lehi.






We went to a BYU luncheon where the football coaches announced the players who had committed to come play for BYU. We met Jan Holiday there and had a nice visit with her.  Other BYU happenings was the big win over the number 1 team in the nation, Gonzaga.  When we played them in our gym we lost in a very close game. When they played in Spokane our team won in a big upset.

As for our mission....we are teaching a lot of people and are usually gone to appointment of some kind Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 6 to 9. We love being busy but finding a time to eat dinner is always a challenge with that kind of schedule. Each week we send in a mission miracle. One of those miracle came while we were teaching the family mission plan to a family in the 15th ward. Paul just happened to mention our need for a tutor for a refugee 7th grade student living in Heber with a foster parent. We had been calling around to see if we could arrange a tutor to help out one of our former sister missionaries, Sister Hawkins.  We had never brought this up before in any of our family mission plan discussions but Paul felt inspired to mention it on this night. It just so happens that this family runs a tutoring company in Park City so the father volunteered to tutor on his own time. A miracle indeed. The other thing we reported was our gratitude for an inspired stake president who decided that the stake missionary committee needed to go out on splits with us and the elders twice a month. On the 1st and 3rd Wednesday we are assigned to go out with a mission leader to less active members in his ward. So far it seems to be working quite well. Once everyone gets on board, it will be a fantastic plan. President Blickenstaff of the mission presidency even responded to this. He said, "This is a terrific report about a terrific stake president who really has the vision of missionaries and members working together. Thank for your efforts to love the people you are serving. What a great time and place to serve a mission. When you two stood together at the pulpit in the Lake Creek 2nd Ward to bear your testimonies earlier this month, we felt your love and the power that accompanies righteous efforts."




Other mission events included us speaking in church in the new Old Mill 2nd Ward. This ward had just been divided from the Old Mill Ward so there were lots of sustainings to do to staff the ward. As a result we had to shorten our talks but felt they were still effective. We probably will be assigned to speak every month with the high counselors.




We also attended a Zone Conference where all the senior couples were in attendance, even though a major snow storm hit during the night before the conference. Many had to come from as far away as Roosevelt and Vernal on not so good roads. We were glad we only had to travel down the canyon. The meeting was most inspiring and informative as to our responsibilities. We especially loved the opening remarks about family coming first on this mission. That is one of the blessings of serving from home - we can be with and attend to the needs of family members without feeling guilty. We learned that there are more senior missionaries than there are younger missionaries in the Utah Provo Mission. We must be making a difference.

Other happenings this month included a night out with our friends, the Rusts, to dinner and to the Hale Theater.  We had dinner at La Jolla Groves in Provo and then watched the hilarious musical, Peter and the Star Catchers. A most enjoyable evening after spending the afternoon in the temple.  

And then there us Aria - lots of pictures this month as we had to send pictures and videos everyday to Todd and Kailee in Hawaii.  

It took a while but Aria finally warmed up to Grandpa

 Aria loved to get into the pantry especially for cereal.  One morning we caught her with her hand in the cereal box carrying it around the house. 

 Another day she decided to make a mess of the pantry by taking out all the paper products.

Taken after she woke up from her nap.
We have no idea how she got her arm out of her shirt.

Aria's favorite book

Looking too grown up