The Wednesday before MTC!

We are at Amy and Josh's home in Utah are getting ready to enter the MTC this entire week.  Helen and I are here with the Jeppson family and Ali and Cody and Maddie and Landon and Kenzie. Amy went with us to the Bountiful Temple this morning and we all knew this was our last temple trip with family for the next two years. 

Although we are sad to part for a season, we are grateful for this opportunity to serve and consecrate our time and talents for the Lord's Kingdom.  We have the greatest family and we are so grateful for their love and support.  We all know that this time will go by quickly once we get started on Monday.  

Cody and Maddie and Landon and I took a little field trip this afternoon.  We had lunch and a playtime in the park and a scavenger hunt and we had a great time together!  Cody was such a big helper when we crossed the creek and he made sure Maddie and Landon got across safely.  We collected leaves and counted bugs and birds and listened for the sounds on the trail and even stopped to smell the air along the trail.  We had a great time together!

The week before the MTC

We are here with the Jeppson Family for our final family week.  Ali and Cody and Maddie and Mackenzie came with us and provided our transportation!  The Sathre's and the Lasher Jr's. along with Jared will join us Friday for an early Thanksgiving weekend.  Helen and I put our car up for sale on consignment at the Idaho Falls Subaru Dealer.  We are totally dependent on the Lord and have consecrated all that we have, materially, to serve this mission.  We love our precious family and we love the opportunity to serve this mission.  I know that we will all be strengthened and blessed for this effort.  We could not serve this mission without the love and support of this precious family.

Our agreement between Zac and me

Zac will be the first grandson to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to the office of a Deacon in 2015.  Granny and I will miss this sacred ordination.  I have a special Onyx rock that has the word "remember" painted on it.  I decided to give it to Zac as part of his preparation to receive the Aaronic Priesthood in June 2016.  I told him that the word remember would be a special word for him.  It would remind him to remember that he is loved by his earthly parents and his Heavenly Parents.  I told him that both sets of parents had a great deal of trust in him and that with this love and trust, he could be a great Priesthood holder as he prepares well over the next 19 months.  We spoke of ways to prepare and I suggested he carry the rock in his pants pocket to "remind" him of who he is and who he can become.  He then gave me a prized obsidian pointed rock that I could carry and be reminded of what great potential he has.  I know he will prepare well.

Next Stop - The Jeppsons!

Today we left Idaho for the last time over the next two years.  It was a difficult day to leave our precious children and grandchildren.  I had a wonderful experience with Zac, Hayley, Jackson and Mia last night.  We had an Idaho Family party and after the festivities, the kids and I went downstairs to give mom a break and clean up the living room and the toy room.  The kids were very receptive to helping and we quickly got the living room in great shape.  As we began the toy room, Hayley came over to me and started crying and said she did not want me to go on the mission.  It was a very tender moment and both Jack and Mia began crying as well.  We talked together for about an hour on how Heavenly Father needed us to help share the Gospel in the Philippines and how much we needed to be obedient in spite of how hard it was going to be for all of us.  We started making plans for what was to take place both in Rigby and in the Philippines and what we each could do to help us serve an honorable mission.  I was so very grateful for the sacred time with those precious grandchildren.

Faith Precedes the Mission Miracles!!!

"Does not each of us confront those moments in life when faith and the reason of the world are seemingly incompatible and we must choose between the two? We find ourselves at a spiritual crossroad—one path paved with the knowledge and reason of man, the other paved with faith in God. It may come when there is a lack of funds to pay our tithing. It may knock when the Lord calls us to a position far beyond our natural abilities. It may be when we are called to serve at a moment of inconvenience. It may come with the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or a sudden unexpected illness, but come it will. Do not all men, at some time in their lives, face that dilemma—the reason of the world versus faith in Jesus Christ? Moses experienced it. He had just freed the children of Israel. He now led them on a seemingly suicidal course direct for the Red Sea. The Egyptian armies were in hot pursuit. The powers of reason no doubt cried out: "Veer to the left or to the right. To proceed straight ahead is a death trap—pinned against the wall of the Red Sea on the one side, the fast-approaching Egyptian army on the other." But Moses was steadfast in his course. March they would, directly toward the Red Sea. The Israelites, seeing their fate, fearfully cried out, "It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14:12). Moses was alone. The power of reason and the power of the people combined against him with a raging fury. But deep within his soul was a power that far exceeded the powers known to man, a power that drove him on against the world, against all seeming odds, against all that was rational and reasonable in life. It was the power of faith. It proved to be his—and his people's—temporal and spiritual salvation."

— The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister

The extended Lasher Family!

This is our family as of September 2014.  Helen and I have been blessed with 17 grandchildren from our children and their spouses.  This was the reunion in Utah at Amy and Josh's home on our birthday weekend. From left to right are the Brown Family (Madeline, Mackenzie, Jared, Cody, Ali (Lasher), Landon, the Sathre Family,  Zac, Hayley, Tom, Emma, Jackson, Josie (Lasher), Mia, The Lasher Jr's, Jacob, Johnny, Mary, Bob III, Anna, and Bob Jr., Granny and Grandpa, and the Jeppson Family, Amy (Lasher), Josh, Cambry, Isaac, Courtney and Callie.  We love our family and we are so grateful for their love and their support for us!  To our grandchildren and their parents, we will pray for you everyday of our mission and will look forward to our sweet reunion in the fall of 2016 and seeing how this family will change in number and in stature and in testimony!

Eternal Friends!

Helen and I had a family party to celebrate our birthdays this year at Amy and Josh's home in Utah. My birthday was on the 28th of August and Helen's was on the 3rd of September.  This surprise reunion was on Saturday August 30th and our children invited very dear friends to come to Fruit Heights to celebrate with us before we received our mission call.  They are Jim and Mar jean Parker, (one of our Bishop's in the Fremont 6th Ward), Hank and Sherie Tillman, (Hank and I served together in an Elders Quorum Presidency in Fremont, and Sherie worked with me at Longs  Drugs), Ron and Carol Wakley, (Ron was our Home Teacher in Fremont), and Earle and Karen McEwen, (I served as Earle's counselor in the Creekside Ward Bishopric).  Also included in the reunion but not pictured was the missionary who taught me the discussions back in 1971 and his wife, Skip and Leona Chandler.  This was such a wonderful surprise and reunion of eternal friendships!