27 April 2018 - Jared's 40th!

27 April 2018 - Friday

This was a full day of orientation by the mission presidency.  We heard from the mission president, President Pace, and his wife.  Then we heard from the 1st counselor, President Paul, and then the 2nd counselor, Elder Bowden and his wife.

The meetings began with a light breakfast at 9:00am and a tour of the mission grounds around the Martin's Cove Visitors' Center.  We had a shorter but similar tour on Thursday morning by our district leader so it was a welcomed refresher.  We heard quite a few things about the mission and the leaders and the challenges they have faced.  

We are especially amazed at the health challenges of the mission president who fought cancer this past winter and has dealt with that for the last four months.  At one point in his struggles and treatment he was told that his name was on the prayer rolls of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve in one of their weekly meetings.  Can you imagine how important these mission presidents are in the eyes of Heavenly Father?

We got back to the missionary village from our meetings in Martin's Cove at just a little past 3:15pm, and joined our district meeting in progress.  We have a great support group from our district.  There are 5 districts in the mission at Martin's Cove.  I think we have about 36 hours packed into each day!  Just learning the layout of the area and studying the pioneer stories offer a significant challenge to the mind of these two senior missionaries!

Also, this afternoon, we did a deep cleaning of the trailer and finally got a vacuum cleaner.  There is a practice that missionaries just walk into other missionaries residences so we have taken to locking doors.  I am not sure how that got started, but we will limit the access to our dedicated trailer.  And mom and I still take our shoes off and wear our slippers in the house!

Here is a quick picture I took this afternoon of our antelope friend.  We have a herd of several dozen that claim missionary village as their home, and there are several doe's expecting any time now... this is one of them;

You takin my picture?  Where is the food offering??

Home for the next six months is about 300 yards away

This promises to be a very busy six months for us.  We are being trained tomorrow in the visitors' center that was part of the old Sun Family ranch house.  They have placed the emphasis on teaching the Gospel to all who enter.  We can't wait to show you this area when come to see us!

And Josie, thank you so much for the CD "The Master".  We listen to it every day!  On Wednesday we dedicated this trailer as our living space for the next six months, and we love filling the air with this sacred music!!

We love our precious family and our precious friends!