APRIL - A MONTH OF MANY MISSION LASTS BUT ALSO SOME JOYOUS FIRSTS

We had to take off our badges
on April 23rd after the
Stake President came to our
home and released us.

Our mission came to an end this month so we experienced many things for the last time. We attended our last Senior Missionary Leadership Council where we received lots of good ideas for the last zone meeting we would conduct. The zone meeting happened on the second Friday of April and was a bitter sweet experience. We have so enjoyed the association of the wonderful couples in our zone and on that Friday we had to say good bye to them. They were very complimentary about our service as zone leaders and we left knowing we would be missed. We will miss their incredible example of dedicated service to the Lord.





The next week, we experienced our last district meeting, also a bittersweet experience. We had everyone come to our home for lunch after the meeting and it was great to extend our time together for a couple of hours. We served chicken teriyaki sandwiches. Each couple brought something to supplement the sandwiches and Sister Gordon brought a cake to celebrate my birthday. It has been such a wonderful experience to serve beside these four couples - again an example of dedicated service to the Lord.

Elder and Sister Gordon

Elder and Sister Ward

Elder and Sister Thurber

Elder and Sister Black

Love these Elders

Other lasts included our last lunch with our Elders, our last stake missionary coordination meeting, our last ward council meeting, the last time we would bear our testimonies in a ward a missionaries, and our last visits with the people we have been teaching. 

Randy, Andy and Sandra

One of the last times we met with Sandra and the Stocks was at the Jordan River Temple open house. We picked up Sandra, and Andy and Randy Stocks met us there. It was an incredible experience, especially when we got to the large sealing room. We had Randy picture himself kneeling at the altar being sealed to his deceased wife. We then had him look into the reflecting mirrors where his image went on forever. We told him that was what temples were all about - forever families. Hopefully, he will keep that image in his mind as he continues to gain strength in the gospel. Afterwards, we took them out to lunch at the Black Bear Diner in Sandy. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with these wonderful friends who have become such an important part of our life. 







Our very last visit with Sandra was on the Tuesday we were released. We had her and Misty to dinner and then watched The Greatest Showman in our movie theater. Dinner was taco soup which Sandra helped me make. She loves to learn how to prepare new dishes. A couple of week before this she came over and we made white chili together. She had expressed a desire to learn how to make a white chili so I researched a recipe for us to try that night. We invited our replacement couple, Elder and Sister Ricks, to come eat white chili with us so Sandra could get to know them. 

Carly playing Jenga. This game was to
introduce the importance of
the choices we make - right or wrong.

Our last visit with the Parcell family was a bit disappointing. We prepared a family home evening lesson on Choosing the Right. When we got there, Mack was asleep on the couch so we taught the lesson to Carly only. We started out with the game of Jenga which was a big hit but afterwards that's all Carly wanted to do was play with the blocks. Shane was on the phone most of the time so we felt like the time spent was not productive. We left the kids with CTR rings and the invitation to always choose the right. When we told Shane that this would be our last visit, we asked him if he would like our replacement couple or a couple from his ward to continue teaching family home evenings to his family. He said he would have to think about it which probably means he doesn't want any one else to come. We had hoped to make some progress in getting him and his family to church but we were not successful. It'll be up to the Bishop and the Elder's Quorum President to reach out to this darling family.

Welcome to our
family, Avery

Now for the joyous firsts -

Our new granddaughter took her first breath on April 29. She decided to come into the world two weeks early and we were thrilled as her exact due date was when we would be on a cruise. With her coming early, we were able to see her and snuggle her before we left. She is adorable. We are so grateful for this new addition to our family. She makes 19 precious grandchildren. 

Such a beautiful picture of mother and baby

Before we were even released from our mission, Paul and I were asked to meet with the Stake President. He had a new and rather daunting calling for Paul. He was asked to be the first Elder's Quorum President under the new combined Elders and High Priests quorum. This is a major responsibility for Paul. The Stake President even apologized about issuing the call after our being so busy for 18 months on this mission but he assured us, with tear in his eyes, that this call was from the Lord. He said that he could not deny the inspiration that had come to the whole stake presidency about Paul being the right person for this calling. Paul is a little nervous but will be a fantastic leader in this capacity.


Another big first is that Charlotte finally spent her first night in the mission field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She flew out to her mission on the 25th, the day after we were released from our mission. It was an ordeal getting her there, though. She arrived at the Eugene airport at 3:30 am, an hour and a half before her 5:00 flight. When she arrived, there were a hundred foreign exchange students checking in for her same flight and only 2 attendants facilitating them. It took an hour for her to get checked in but, then, when she went to go through security the line was incredibly long there, too. One of the scanners was not working so it took another half hour to get through security. When she finally got to the gate, she was told the airplane had closed its doors and she could no longer board. The plane had not waited for the 15 passengers still trying to get through security even though it was the airline's fault they were late getting to the gate. Pretty sad. Way to go United Airlines. She was booked on another flight to leave at 9:30 but was later told that flight had been canceled due to mechanical issues. By this time, it was impossible for her to make her connection in Denver where she was to meet other missionaries, from the MTC, going to her mission. After calls to the travel department in SLC, Charlotte was finally booked on a Delta flight to San Francisco, then to Minneapolis, and then to Pittsburgh. She didn't arrive until 11:30 at night but at least she arrived there safely. Her mission president and his wife met her and took her to their home for the night. Not the best way to start a mission experience.

Now for the other things that happened during the month of April.....



Easter Sunday happened during General Conference so we had the privilege of taking Sandra and Misty to the Sunday morning session of conference on Easter Sunday. We went early to be in our seats for the Spoken Word broadcast with the tabernacle choir which was special. Our new prophet, Russell M. Nelson, was in attendance and gave the closing talk on revelation for the church and ourselves. A very powerful message for all of us. We were glad we could take Sandra and Misty to the conference center one last time before our mission came to an end.


Later that day, Todd and Kailee and Aira came up for dinner. Jake and Nicole and their family joined us, too. Of course, we had the typical Easter egg hunt in our backyard and the children were excited about that. This was the first year Aria really understood what it was all about and loved finding the plastic eggs and opening the them to find her treats inside. 

The typical ham and potatoes au gratin for Easter dinner

Aria and her cousin, Saddie

The week following Easter, we got a call from Janet Rands from Spokane. She and Bob were in town and wanted to get together with us and Janet Harmon. We met for lunch at Rumbi Island and had a fun visit. We were glad to be able to catch up on what was happening in their lives as well as that of our dear friends from Spokane. We have such special memories of our time living there.

We returned home that night in time for a baptism. We didn't have anything to do with teaching Beth but were very much aware of her progress in accepting the gospel. What made this baptism special was that Bret Tandy, a brother whom we taught as he was coming back into activity, baptized Beth. It was a special occasion for all of us.

Elder Geddes, Beth, Bret, and Elder Finch

Our beloved
President and Sister Borders

The night of April 13, we hosted another Russia Moscow Mission reunion at our home. As in the past, we all met at the Cobblestone building for a devotional. President Borders had prepared a video of pictures which the missionaries had sent to him. Everyone loved the memories those pictures inspired of our incredible experiences in Russia. He then called on a few missionaries to share a spiritual experience from their mission. Sister Borders and President Borders shared some thoughts, also. After a very special meeting, everyone came to our home for food and to visit. There were over a hundred people who attended and most everyone of them came over to our home. We were a little squished but happy to be together. We loved seeing 'our' missionaries and to hear about their plans for the future. Most of the missionaries we served with will be graduating this year and so they will be moving on to new adventures. 

Elder Melchor and his beautiful new wife

The former Elder Beales

Sister Simmons, now Brown and her husband on the right

Sisters Peterson and Hunter

Elder Braun and his wife

Elder Caulderwood and his wife,
Sister Haycock

Elder Christensen and his wife

Elder Faulkman and his girl friend

When the weather finally cooperated, we went down to Jon and MIndy's home to do some spring clean up in their yard. They are wanting to put their home on the market in the month of May and their yard needed some major weeding and clean up. Along with Todd and Jon and MIndi's family, we worked most of the day chopping down or pulling weeds, cutting out dead limbs, and edging the lawn. We made a big dent in the project but there is still more work to do. It did look a lot better, though, as we left. We dropped by a week later and Jon and Mindi had finished the weeding and the yard looked great. Hopefully the house will sell easily so they can move into another home and settle down a bit.

Clever way to haul the weeds to the dumpster

Chopping out weeds

April is a month of many birthdays - with the birth of Avery, we now have 6 birthdays in the month. We were successful in meeting Jon and Mindy the afternoon of Jon's birthday for lunch but have yet to find a time to take Clark, Gavin and Braydon out to dinner, as we usually do. We did drop their cards and money off to them so they would, at least, know we hadn't forgotten them. Dinner will have to wait now until after we return from a cruise we are going in May.

For my birthday, we went with our friends, the Rusts, to the Hale Centre theater to see the show, Music Man. It was very enjoyable and, as always, very well done. Afterwards, we went to P.F. Changs for an early dinner. We always love seeing shows and doing dinner so this was a great way to spend my birthday. Of course, the best thing about birthdays is that we hear from each of our children....well, almost all of them. 

Marv and Kay Rust

Now for a miracle.... for about two weeks I had been struggling with a sore Achilles tendon making it very hard to walk. I was wrapping it, icing it, heating it and exercising it but nothing seemed to make it get any better. I even went to the doctor hoping he could do something to help the pain go away. He only told me it was Achilles Tendonopathy which is a fancy word for tendinitis. He didn't give me anything more to do than I was already doing. By Friday night, just before my birthday, I could hardy walk on it. When I said my prayers, I asked the Lord to heal my foot or to help me know what I could do to make it easier to walk. During the night, I felt no throbbing as I had the night before. When I got up in the middle of the night, I noticed there was less pain then when I went to bed. When I arose in the morning, I had no pain....and it hasn't come back since. A coincidence? N0....A MIRACLE, for sure.

And then there was Aria........ tulips to tumbleweeds!!!!

Todd and Kailee went to the tulip festival at 

Thanksgiving point to take 

these pictures of Aria

So

precious

And then there were

the tumbleweeds!