The Time Has Finally Come....

25 May 2015

25 May 1982 We were all saying, "the time has finally come" meaning the birth of the twins, Vaughn and Brant .....

Brant and Vaughn

and here we are 33 years later on the same day saying the same thing only this time meaning that Brian and I are finally entering the MTC.

First thing we received were our name tags and ministerial certificates.  It is all written in Khmer. We cant read a thing it says!   

We were pleasantly surprized to find that even though it was Memorial Day we had plenty to do and the MTC functioned as normal.   It was total missionary immersion!  Still no visas and still no travel itinerary!   We just dropped off our passports to the Church Travel Dept. in Salt Lake.

It is beautiful here.   No wonder the spirit is so strong here.... EVERY hallway, EVERY corridor, EVERY classroom is flooded with pictures of the Savior.   

I think they should rename this to the Missionary Training CITY.   It seems like it is a city unto itself.   You forget where you are as if there is nothing outside of its walls.   This is where we study and learn to "Preach My Gospel by the spirit" (Doc & Cov 50:14). 

After being lead around by the nose for an hour or so picking up papers, paying for our stay in the MTC, getting a small tour, finding the mail room, going to the Travel Dept. (only to find they still didn't have visas or travel itinerary) then we got to our room  

  

 We found our room quite nice and cozy. 

This is our study area.   I'm talking to Tasha, Elina, Meagan wishing Vaughn a happy birthday.  Brant and his family dropped us off at the MTC.   That was pretty special. 

Family please note that I only brought 4 pairs of shoes for this first week! Dad has his 2 pair neatly in the corner.  In all reality we got the BEST room which is conveniently located to the 

Candy, pop, and ice machine right outside our door to the left and to the right....

the emergency heart defibrillator (they gave all the Sr.s a map of all the locations!).  So I think we are set for our first day!

The Journey Begins...

17 May 2015

     It seems that once we received our second missionary assignment that time just flew.    Before we knew it Adrianne, Dan, and the girls were in Cardston for our last night (15 May 2015) at home and for our setting apart as full-time missionaries.    

Of course not before a lot of fun was had.

The next day a lot of final cleaning (Thanks Adrianne and girls)(well, most of the girls!!!) then off to Calgary.    A few "musts" took place before we left, such as....

 Hotdogs at Costco with Austin and Sloan....

Just hanging out at Sloan's house with all the family....

 of which we realized that Edmond has too many girl cousins!

Even though it did snow a bit Eve and others had to go outside and play.  
The next day we all went to Church at 2nd Ward.  While Austin was still in his church clothes, he and Grandpa and Sloan had to do a "selfie".  

Those big long "monkey" arms of Sloan's do come in handy!!!  Then off to Vaughn and Tasha's house for some more family gathering.   

There was lot of horsing around (poor Austin and Van).  

And angel granchildren.....

And some pretty great children too...

It was a great last day with the family and a great first day of our journey....

For Better Or For Worse?

For better or for worse, either way, Brian and I have already said "I do" to the idea of us committing to this eighteen month mission.  The hymn "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go, Dear Lord" keeps ringing in my ears.  It rang true the first time I heard that hymn and it still rings true today.

The FedEx truck finally pulled up to our driveway!   The speculation game was over.  Although, I must say that the "Speculation Game" seems to be every Latter Day Saints' favorite game!   We try to guess about everything.... new Bishops, new Stake Presidents, ward boundaries, new callings, deaths, births, basically who's doing what,when, and where!  It seems to be connected to our religiously inherent need to know truth.... FIRST!   I don't know.  I can't explain it!

But we played the game.... where would be re-assigned?   What countries were giving visas readily and quickly?   We knew the missionary department was working on some sort of visa, therefore, we were not being sent to somewhere in Canada.   In the past it has proven to take many months for Canadians to get visas into the United States.  I wasn't sure that my US citizenship would trump that process for Brian who would need a visa into any state.  Australia and New Zealand is equally as hard to get a visa, as well as, a 30-day waiting period for any visa to Brazil, so we had been told.   English speaking?  Non-English speaking?  Would we still be assigned as "office specialists" again? And so the game went on and on....  Until the envelope arrived!

 CAMBODIA!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Is this better or worse?   So THIS is the where the visas are readily available?   I am stunned, yet excited and ready to go.   I just need to breathe!

The mission boundaries even further shocked me.

CAMBODIA AND ALL OF VIETNAM!  My mind immediately took me back to 2 Feb. 1972 when several of my friends and I gathered around the television watching the US Draft lottery take place.   This was not the lottery that anyone wanted to win.   Getting a free ticket to Vietnam was not golden!  But here I am 43 years later and can hardly believe that this is my assignment.   I think I have found one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets!

I think this is certainly "for the better".  And this is why we just throw our hat into the ring.   India was WAY at the bottom of my list of countries to serve in but soon felt that I could, would, and was looking forward to serving there.  Cambodia never made the list!  I didn't even know that Cambodia could even BE ON the list!   It never crossed my mind and that is why you put it in the hands of the Lord.   Look what I would have missed out on if I had tried to control this call with the arm of flesh.

I have come to believe in a very short time about mission calls.... there is no "worse".    

"Say 'uncle' !"

24 April 2015

Nancy Sloan, John Green, Sarah Sloan, Susan Green

"Just say 'uncle' and then I'll let you up"!!!  These were familiar words I heard often as a child.   My cousin, John Green, and I would wrestle and tussle about until one would have the upper hand and be able to imperatively demand submission.  John being 2 years older than me usually had the advantage and I was the one reluctantly submitting!   Although, I do believe that this is where my high threshold of pain began!   I hated giving in and sometimes I would take all the pain he dished out until he just plainly had mercy on a stubborn little girl. 

Well today we had to give in to India and say 'uncle'.    Our Stake President, Brian Low, called to say that the Church informed him that we would NOT be getting any visas to India.   India is not issuing visas to anyone at this time.  

We were both very sad at this news.   Part of me felt like I could hold on just a little longer and take the pain but certainly the Church officials know when it's time to give up.   So now we wait AGAIN for a new mission assignment which will be coming via courier within the next day or so. 

We have had a great time learning so much about India in our anticipation of living there.   We have read, watched and Googled everything about India and felt we were somewhat prepared for that great adventure.  Maybe next time???

The excitement begins again.... we are anxiously anticipating our new call.  I'm not stalking the post office this time but I have found myself all but pressing my nose to the window watching the traffic go by on my street waiting for the courier to pull into my driveway.

Our next date for us to enter the Missionary Training Center is 25 May,  Brant and Vaughn's birthday.

Of All the Places....

From the very first time that the concept of a mission enters your mind, to planning and preparing to serve,  to the time that you actually submit those papers to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, dreams of where you will be sent dance in your mind.  

I first thought of places where family are living.   Our dear daughter-in-law, Fiona, is originally from Taiwan.   Her mother, brother, and sister live in Taipei City.  
  

What a privilege it would be to meet Fiona's family.   Of course, I would have to learn Chinese to communicate with them.   I never felt confident that I could do that.   Nonetheless, it was a great dream.   

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was also a delightful thought since Mike and Gabi Loose, our nephew and his wife, just moved there this year.  

Again, another language was at hand.   Gabi and I talked about how fun it would be that we could talk "the talk" with one another.  Mike and Gabi have been "super" cousins to our boys in Calgary and we all miss them greatly.  So being assigned to Rio was a dreamy possibility.   

There were many genealogy connections such as, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Virginia, New York, Ontario, or Quebec.

 If it was going to be in the United States or Canada,  I was just hoping for something east of the Mississippi where my missionary efforts could take in the living and the dead.

Europe was always in my thoughts.  Going back to the country of some genealogy roots was thrilling.  Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland?   Brian's grandfather, Fred Walburger, was born in Germany in 1879.  It has been 132 years since Fred left his homeland and his native tongue to live in "Zion".   

Only 1 cousin of Brian's family, Mark Walburger, was ever assigned to a German mission. I thought Brain may be the second. 

There was another of Brian's ancestors that I had thought of but pushed it aside quite quickly, thinking there was nothing going on there with the Church. Samuel Amos Woolley was Brian's great-great grandfather.

                                            Samuel Amos Woolley

In August 1852, Samuel attended a special conference in Salt Lake City where President Brigham Young would issue mission calls to men who were attending that meeting. Samuel was a 26 year old husband and father of three children.   I wonder what Samuel and his wife, Catherine, talked about when he came home to report that he and 8 others were asked to go to Calcutta East INDIA Mission.  He had no one to talk to who had been there before because those 8 were some of the first missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in India. He didn't even have time (nor took the time) to go to a library (that is an 1850's equivalent to Google!) to learn what was ahead of him. 
 

  
Samuel arrived, in April 1853, in Calcutta.  Visas were not an issue then but he had traveled first by wagon train to get to San Fransisco.  They waited and worked there til everyone arrived and they boarded a ship January 1853.   I'm sure the populace of 400,000 people in Calcutta was a bit over whelming for this small town Salt Laker. 

Now that we know that our assignment is also India, I wonder, will we see the same things that Samuel saw?   Will its antiquity be as charming as its newness was when Samuel saw it for the first time?  

New Delhi had only 600,000 people in 1853 when Samuel walked its streets but today its the same streets just more people.  I look forward to seeing what Samuel saw.....feeling what Samuel felt.....and continuing the work Samuel started. 
Of all the places.... I would have never guessed......
 

You Tube, Google, Skype....an Overload of Information!

From the very moment that we read India New Delhi Mission the boys went internet crazy.  Within seconds we were hearing East Indian music.   They were playing it loud and proud.   "This is gonna be your life Mom... get used to it!"  
They quickly ushered in the world of You Tube images of India.       
                                        

They began with transportation.   (you know, if it came off the internet it MUST be true!)    
                                         

Just jump aboard and hang on.... 
                                

Or you could try a bus....
                          

Or you could travel by boat....
    

But really, why not just travel as the natives do?   We have never heard of any fatal elephant crashes!   

Another child got on Google which has more bytes of information than India has people!   We learned that New Delhi has 11 MILLION people in its boundaries, but within the metropolitan area of New Delhi there are 23 MILLION people!  
There was much more information to be learned about India, 

You know Mom, you'll arrive in India around May.   Did you know that May and June are the Monsoon months of India?   You might want to pack some gum boots.   

As well meaning as they were, we got our best information from the mission president and his wife, Peter and Kelly Sackley,  via Skype on Sunday 8 Feb. 
We now realize that India is exactly 12 hours plus 30 minutes away (I can't help but believe that extra 30 minutes has something to do with New Foundland!).  So we called via Skype at 8:30 pm (Alberta time) and talked to them where it was 9:00 Monday morning.   Understanding the time change seems to be quite easy and convenient.   

Even though the traffic is like this.....

 We will ride around the city in little taxis called, autos, like this.   This will cost 50 rupees which equals $1 Canadian.  Now that's a bargin.  

We will live in the mission home/office compound.   Our main assignment will be in the office.  We will be assigned to a Branch and will have to find other projects like humanitarian or PEF (Perpetual Education Fund) projects.   I can hardly wait to get started BUT Pres. Sackley told us that the first hurdle will be to get our visas in order.   So we pray for the visas to come through.   

Now we are waiting again.....

HOLY COW (literally)!!!

 Friday 6 February 2015

The envelope arrived on Wednesday 4 February 2015!   But there it sat on my counter top!  We had decided that we would open it with the kids in Calgary.  That would not happen until Friday.   Brian was in Medicine Hat doing some contract work for the Co-op. (Although, it didn't really bother him at all like it did me because he had received an email on Monday from an anxious mission President welcoming us to the mission!)  We felt it would be important for the grandchildren to have that special missionary experience of opening the letter and reading the destination.   We felt like they would better understand why Grandpa and Nana were leaving.  

As that envelope sat on the counter and taunted me,  I questioned my whole theory on the missionary experience. I picked it up, I put it down a thousand times in those 2 days.   I held it to the light then I checked all seams.  I arbitrarily ran my finger nail under the flap hoping that an office worker had ignored the water levels of the mailing machine or just plainly had poor quality spit.  No such luck!    That envelope was like Fort Knox! I then came to the conclusion that the Church really needs to lower the quality of their envelopes.   

Brian and I drove up to Calgary on Friday 6 February 2015.   I'm dying because he knows and I don't!   To Brian's credit he gave no hints (at least none that I picked up on).   

Finally the time arrived....6pm.   All the families were there (Joel/Fiona, Taylor/Natalie, Vaughn/Tasha, and Sloan/Naomi and 11 children).   Adrianne and Brant were hooked up via cell phones (Face Time).   I opened the envelope and I couldn't believe my eyes.   I couldn't believe what I was reading. 

                                     
                                      INDIA NEW DELHI MISSION 

 Vaughn immediately found some East Indian music on his phone and played it very loudly.   They were all finding things on the internet about India.   It was all fun.   All the phone calls began.   We called family members and friends but especially Tami who served her mission in Sri Lanka which has given her a special love for the people of India.  And the people of Sri Lanka loved Miss Tami back (but then again, who doesn't?) 

The most tender moment was when little Lily came to Brian and I (mostly Brian) with big sad tears saying, "Just how many years are you gonna be gone?"  She was so distraught.  We assured her that we would be able to stay in contact with her via email, Skype, and letters.  

All in all, it was a very special evening.   We are very excited and privileged to be assigned to this mission.   I keep thinking about all the places that we could have specifically requested because we knew a mission president (Brian Leavitt, Pres. of the Nova Scotia Mission--he contacted us last October; Jim Toone from the Arizona Tempe Mission; or Brent Thomas from an African mission; and the Temple President of the Kona Hawaii Temple who gave us his card hoping we would request his temple).  If I had not left it in the brethern's hands look what I would have missed.