14 October 2018 - Sunday

14 October 2018 - Sunday

Exactly 6 months ago, today, mom and I left for the MTC.  What a six months we have had! And we are so excited to share these precious experiences with our family.  We hope you won't get tired of hearing our stories, because we have quite a few to share!

The morning temperatures were in the teens as we got up this morning.  Many of the senior missionaries, in the 5th wheel trailers, are starting to experience frozen pipes.  However, the pipes in our trailer are holding up well and we are keeping the inside temperatures at a minimum of 70 degrees.  There was a light snow that fell last night and this morning.

Our car was wondering where the garage is too spend the cold nights in?

With the very cold weather, we decided to head into our last Sunday meeting early to help shovel the sidewalks.  It was an inspired decision with all the walkways covered in snow and ice.  But with some extra efforts, we had the sidewalks cleared before 9:30am.  Elder Hansen was already shoveling when we got there at 8:30am, and the Criddles were at the Visitors' Center, and Sister Criddle  was shoveling as well.  Once we all got going, the sidewalks were cleared and the sun came out just enough to melt the residue of the snow by the end of our meetings.  

There is a lady who loves to shovel snow!

Look at those icicles on the Barn!  Temperature was about 28 degrees at 8:00am

Mom has been following the weather forecasts, and the temperatures will be on the rise Monday and Tuesday.  That is awesome for two senior missionaries heading for home on Tuesday!  We are considering going through DuBois and Jackson, Tuesday, unless anyone sees a better route.  Our plans are to leave Missionary Village on Tuesday morning by 6:00am, unless there is ice on the roads.  Pray for sun!  We will keep you posted on our text stream.

After six months in the mission field, and 25 Sunday pot luck dinners with the senior missionaries and family members, we had our last pot luck meal today.  And before anyone feels sorry for us experiencing our "last" pot luck in the mission field, let it be known that we are grateful for the experiences we have had, but we are so ready to be back with our family!  Oh how happy we are to come home to such precious family members in Rigby, Rexburg and Liberty Lake!  There is no place we would rather be!!!

We had 16 people today for dinner, down from an average of 50+ this summer!

We were seated with President Pace and his wife for our last dinner.  Mom and I both had a very nice visit with them and got to know them just a little better.  I mentioned, in an earlier blog, that they are building a new house in Lehi with one of their children, (their daughter and her family).  This family was able to have a daughter before being told they could not have more children.  They decided to adopt and had a very challenging experience going through the adoption process.

They had attempted to adopt on three separate occasions where, ultimately, the birth mom changed her mind about giving up her child.  The granddaughter of the Pace's was six years old when the fourth opportunity presented itself to adopt a black baby boy.  When the time came to go and pick up the new baby boy, this granddaughter became very quiet.  She wondered when the mother of the baby boy would change her mind again!  

The family got to the adoption reception room, and the Pace's daughter invited the granddaughter to hold the new baby boy for the first time.  The six year old refused to hold him.  That is when the daughter invited all the family members to leave the room because she needed to have a talk with her daughter.  After they all were invited to return, the six year old was hugging and rocking the little boy and would not give him up!  She confided to her mom, in the private meeting, that she did not want to be the one holding the baby when the birth mom changed her mind and came to take away the baby.

This little baby boy was the one that was baptized here during conference weekend.  He was the cutest black boy and was so friendly to all the senior missionaries.  But you could tell he was the apple of President Pace's eye!  He is in school and the teacher was having the kids wear different colors to school each day for two weeks.  On the day she told everyone to wear the color brown, he came home and said he would not do that.  The parents encouraged him to wear brown, but there was no way!  When he got to school, the next day, the teacher asked him why he wasn't wearing brown.  He told her that he was wearing brown on his skin everyday so he did not need to wear brown clothes!

This little boy was, on another occasion, waiting in his classroom to be picked up by his mother.  There was a substitute teacher working that day when his mom came to get him.  He told his substitute teacher that his mom was there and asked if he could go.  The teacher looked around and not seeing a black mother told him to wait until she came into the room.  He then looked at her and told her that he was adopted and his mother was white!

His sister is 13 years old and is five years older than him.  When she was first getting acquainted with him as her new brother, the parents were trying to explain the skin color difference.  The little girl made this astute observation when she said something to the effect that she understood.  He has black skin and I have blue eyes.  We are different, but he is my brother....

What a great example for the world to embrace and adopt!  Can you imagine the feeling of unity and appreciation for differences that would be established with this kind of attitude?  Mom and I were grateful for the sweet opportunity to share this last pot luck meal with the Pace's.

Oh, and by the way, we will be home in less than 48 hours!  Thank you for joining us tonight!  We love you!