Christmas in the Mission Field

Running shoes to keep up with Shellee & Aimee

Elders Wilson, Ball, Barton, Lindsay, Flickinger.

Silly Elder Wilson is wearing Elder Flickingers suit jacket, which is way too small.

We had a nice day, with a baptismal interview at 11:30, then Turkey dinner at 3:30, and the Elders over in the evening for games and chips & dip. The Elders challenged each other to a texting war, with the winner getting bragging rights.

Oh, and our tree is still so fresh, I think I will leave it up till January 12th, when we pack to head home. I just don't have the heart to take it down.

North Pole - Bellevue Branch

There must be 200+ letters in there....


Our office is FULL of Christmas boxes for the Missionaries! We have a little pathway to navigate through, and are contemplating a full-out nerf gun battle since we have 'forts' to hide behind. Elder Wilson is marking the Zone on the box so it can be delivered by Christmas Day.

Moses and the 10 Car-mandments

Every Zone Conference Elder Wilson tries to come up with an attention-getting teaching tool and this time (our last) was no exception. He came up with the clever Ten Carmandments and wrote them on a tablet made of slate tile. The Carmandments included: Thou shalt use a backer at all times and in all places; Thou shalt obey the 4-second rule; Thou shalt wax thy car every 3 months; Thou shalt wash thy car weekly; Thou shalt be careful turning left; Thou shalt obey the speed limit; and ended with "If thou shalt get in a wreck, thou shalt lose thy driving priveleges"

The missionaries loved it, and even applauded when he entered the room. President Moffat asked Elder Wilson and I to bear our Testimonies at the end of the segment. My eyes were leaking, as I expressed my gratitude for the wonderful opportunity and blessing it has been to be here with these Missionaries. It was great to have the chance to tell them I know the church is true, and am so proud of them for dedicating their time to give people the chance to hear about God and Jesus Christ. We have grown to love them all so much, and will miss them all terribly when we go home. This has been so much better than we ever imagined, and can't thank our family enough for taking over things at home so we could serve here. ♥

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Since we live in the place where Christmas trees grow, we decided to cut our own tree at a farm outside Issaquah. The trees were huge and beautiful, and expensive, but as we walked out behind the cabin/office, we found a cute little patch of $15 trees just the right size for our apartment. Larry did the cutting honors and I took the photo. You can't get a fresher tree than that, and we had a lot of fun at the tree farm to boot!

On a clear day...you can see ...well...Seattle...

The other day, Larry went to pick up a new convert for a lesson, and stumbled onto this viewpoint between Sommerset and Newcastle in South Bellevue. He came back to the office, and on our lunch break, we drove back out there and took photos. I also got my first up close and personal with real-live deer, who were eating the bushes in someone's perfectly manicured front yard. Sadly, when I moved to grab the camera, they darted into the perfectly manicured back yard and out of sight. Top photo: downtown Seattle with space needle to far right.#2 Lake Washington and Mercer Island I-90 bridge. #3 downtown Seattle to left, downtown Bellevue to right. #4 zoom of Downtown Seattle (foggy)

Bumper Cars....

After nearly a year of extensive teaching on safe driving habits, this last couple of weeks the missionaries have managed to total one car, and damage 3 others. We've been blessed that nobody was hurt in any of these accidents.

Some of the excuses are: "I only took my eyes off the road for a few seconds to look at my GPS, and I hit the concrete freeway wall!" " We didn't even notice the airbags went off" "My car started hydroplaning and I couldn't steer it." "I was making a left turn and the other car didn't stop in time and hit me" "I thought I was far enough away from the concrete pole when I turned" "I was only going 90 mph when the policeman pulled me over" "I didn't think the light was red"($125 photocop ticket) "32 mph in a school zone??" ($200 photocop ticket)

Good thing we love these Elders and Sister Missionaries so much. They reply "Well, it's covered by insurance, isn't it?" To which I reply: "well, who pays for the insurance?"

In the words of Trace Adkins : "we're gonna miss this" -- and we really are. -Elder Wilson

Happy Thanksgiving

It seems like I've spent a lot of time giving thanks this year, and rightfully so. Thankful to be in such a great place on a mission; thankful Aimee brought Kenzie and Sophie for a visit; thankful that our Shellee's healthy and was able to bring the boys for a visit. Thankful for daughters, sons and our son-in-law who know how to take charge and "git 'r' done". Thankful for the most wonderful grandchildren on the planet (right, Sharon?!!) Thankful for a gorgeous summer to rival any I've ever seen, thankful for the delicious ice-cold Root Beer in Issaquah on a hot day, thankful for car shows, waterfalls, tall pine trees, friendly squirrels and birds,and those crazy salmon at the Issaquah hatchery doing their darndest to go 'home' at all cost. Thankful for the people like Elder and Sister Elder who inspire us to work hard and do good with no thought of reward. Thankful for friends and family, the most important part of life's journey.

Zone Conference

Missionaries having birthdays in November, get called up front for the Seattle Birthday Song

me, Elders Rose, Young, Ball, Underwood, Pettijohn, and Wall.

The Kar King in action at Zone Conference teaching the importance of safe driving. to his left: Elder Wall, Elder Gemmell (AP's) Pres. Moffat, Sister Moffat.

Smashing Pumpkins

I hate it when I accidently load the same photo twice.

These gallant Elders volunteered to come over to our apartment and put several rotting pumpkins out of their misery, by whacking them to bits with the 'sword of laban'

It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it...

Missionary Meeting with L Tom Perry

We were thrilled to be invited to a Missionary Meeting on Friday with the young missionaries.

The speakers were Regional rep Bro. Walker, Area Rep. Bro. Clayton, and head of the Church Missionary Dept., Elder L. Tom Perry. They started the meeting off by having all the missionaries come up row by row to shake hands with the General Authorities, then use hand sanitizer after so as not to spread germs to each other. Elder Perry told us that this is the greatest time in the history of the world. It was wonderful meeting. It was also fun to see all of our missionaries in one location all at the same time. I got to meet many of the new Elders I have never seen before, and say "hi" to our favorites. (not that we have favorites). It was a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon, and one we won't soon forget. I am reminded of 2 Nephi 25:23, "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." (italics added) In a nutshell why I am here-to give others the opportunity to hear about and learn about Christ.

Giant Autumn Leaves Grow Here

This is by far one of the biggest leaves off of a regular tree we have ever seen. (not counting tropical leaves, which are another matter entirely)
It is well over 12 inches. (see photo with ruler). I am hoping to preserve it somehow, it is quite spectacular.

Pumpkin Carving 101

It's always fun to have our Office Elders over. Halloween Night they had to be "home" by 6pm, so we invited them over to carve pumpkins. We were a little concerned about whether it was a good idea to provide knives to young men, but they showed up with a wood block full of sharp ones.
Elders are L to R: Elder Young (Texas) Elder Barton (Utah) Elder Christensen (Utah)
We LOVE these guys.

Trick or Treat!!

Gary brought a friend Trick-or Treating.

Those silly squirrels will do anything for another peanut.

Snoqualmie Falls in the Fall

This is one of our favorite places to visit. The falls are slightly taller than Niagara, and the mist rising off the water the day we were there was beautiful.

A Fun Trip to Seattle

check out this guy's probiscus

It's been awhile since we've been to Pike's Market, so we made plans to go today. The day started with heavy rain, which kept the crowds down, and worked out great for us. We watched one of the vendors unload a container of live crabs. He told us he always tries to grab them from the back or they pinch. He also told us you never want to put a live crab into boiling water because their legs explode off. --Important Safety tip. He was putting them in a large tank of water. They didn't look or act like they were happy about it at all.

We explored parts of the Market we hadn't seen before, found some great fresh seafood across the street at Jack's. When we were done at the Market, we drove down to Pier 57 on Alaskan Way for Lunch at Fisherman's Restaurant with our 2 for 1 coupon. Larry had the best Clam Chowder we've had anywhere (except Mo's) and delicious grilled Salmon. The shrimp & crab salad was huge and loaded with fresh greens and seafood.

Next stop was the Seattle Aquarium and tanks and tanks of interesting/weird fish.

Lastly, we drove back past the Olympic Sculpture Garden so I could finally get a photo of the giant eraser. We love this town!

Arachnophobia

I'm not a big fan of spiders. Nope. Nada. Uh-uh.

These wolf spiders seem to be everywhere. They are usually about the size of a 50-cent piece, and are not afraid to stand their ground when approached. My invention for 'eliminating' them is to wrap the top of the broom handle with masking or duct tape sticky-side out, and quickly jab the intruder before it knows what hit it. I then dispose of the 'body' in the garbage can, neatly stuck to the tape, and mostly dead. My worst encounter so far?? In the ladies' room at the office building where we work. As the toilet tissue rolled around, a large spider rolled over the top with it. If I hadn't already used the facilities, I would have had an accident on the floor right then and there. Luckily, the lysol was close by, and I sprayed the darn thing till it fell on the floor and met its demise. Did I mention that I don't like spiders.....

Girls Just wanna Have Fu-un

We love what we do here in the Mission Office, but it occured to Sister Elder and I one day, that we really should take the time and go out to lunch together once in awhile, and since the new Neiman-Marcus has just opened, we thought, "hey, No time like the present to begin!" So here we are at our first, but not last, lunch together. We decided to go out to lunch every other week, and enjoy each other's company outside the office. It's been great so far, and today we're off to Nordstrom in Bellevue Square Mall for a quick 'power lunch', because as we all know, all work and no lunch, makes for a cranky office secretary.

Pay it Forward

Sometimes you do a little something for somebody and don't really expect anything in return. Sometimes you get more than you ever expected. Such is the case with this purse I gave to Elder Touli a couple of months ago. His artwork is legendary, back home, and here in the Mission. I asked him if he could draw a little design on my bag, nothing too big, I told him not to spend too much time on it, because I knew he had more important missionary work to do. He stopped by the office the other day with his companion--and my completed purse. It is spectacular. I will NEVER use it for a purse. It is too special to me. And the artwork is phenomenol. Little acts of service. The little things that add up to big things. A special thanks to our family back home who do these little acts of service each day, so we don't have to worry. We love you!

Issaquah Salmon Days

Talk about an amazing sight--hundreds and hundreds of huge Salmon 'running' upstream to the hatchery in Issaquah. So Amazing, they hold a yearly festival to celebrate the return. Vendor booths lined Front Street, but with prices in the stratosphere, I wasn't tempted to purchase. Even scones were $6 each. ouch. I settled for a $1 bag of kettlecorn, and strolled up Front street enjoying the mass of people, and people with dogs. Tons of artwork, which I would have liked to post some photos of, but they all had signs that said "No photography", so just imagine some really great artwork of pine trees, flowers, eagles, bears, and assorted fish and you get the idea.

I did end up buying a pair of $6 hand-knit slippers from a sweet little old gray-haired lady, who invited me to come to the Kiwanas bazaar next weekend. There were 5 stages with entertainment, including a band who did a decent job of covering the Eagles and America.

The best part? I went up there on my own while Larry went to the Priesthood Broadcast, and I managed not to get lost finding my way back home. Victory!!