Changing of the Guard

We spent about three hours with President and Sora Ashby as we learned about the mission and the mission home. We then ate dinner together and the Ashbys left. With that, our mission began.

Overseas Flight

Joshua could not sleep for many hours and became restless. Finally, he climbed up on his Dad's lap and within moments fell fast asleep.

Mission Presidents Week at the MTC

We just returned home this evening from the MTC after being there for 5 days. It was a great experience and we loved meeting all the new presidents and their wives. Each one has a story of the preparations they made to get to this point. We loved hearing from the prophet, President Monson, on Sunday in sacrament meeting. We were blessed to hear from and interact with many of the General Authorities throughout the week. We learned a lot from them and were reassured that we could do this new assignment.

Monday night we were able to meet 6 of the elders that will be coming to our mission in July. They are great young men and we are anxious to meet all the other elders and sisters we will be working with.

We are working on packing up our bags tonight and trying to finish the last few loads of laundry before we head out to the airport tomorrow. Hopefully we can fit everything in and get a few hours of sleep for our last night in the nursery.

Thanks for all your love and support. My next entry will be from the other side of the world!

Scott and I at the MTC

My early morning walking partner, President and Sister Clark

4 of our Elders

Setting Apart

Elder Gavarett, Presedinte & Sora Lundberg, Elder Perry, & Joshua

This afternoon, Scott and I were set apart for our mission. Scott was set apart as the President of the Romania Bucharest Mission, and I was set apart as a missionary in the same mission and as a companion to the president. Elder L. Tom Perry set Scott apart, while a new general authority, Elder Gavarett from Uraguay, set me apart. It was a wonderful experience and there was a sweet spirit in the room. The blessings were beautiful and brought comfort and excitement to us as we embark on this new journey. Elder Perry visited with each of our family members that were with us. He was also very cute with Joshua and gave Joshua the assignment to learn every missionary's name and to help his dad to learn them. Joshua promised to fulfill the assignment.

We all went out to dinner afterwards, for a final meal together. Scott's mom, his brother, David, and my parents were able to join us. We also had our Utah children and grandchildren with us, as well as Derek who came from Kansas. We missed the other out-of-state children and grandchildren who weren't able to be with us. Leaving our loved ones is the hard part of this otherwise exciting experience. In the blessing I was given this afternoon, I was told not to worry about those I leave behind in the United States. I was told that the Lord would care for them. That was a great comfort to me.

Scott and I leave tomorrow for the MTC. We will be there until Wednesday, return home to sleep that night, and fly out Thursday morning for Germany. We will have meetings there on Saturday, then fly to Bucharest on Sunday.

Final Days Before Mission

We have two days left before we head to the MTC. While we are very excited for the mission, it is difficult to think about our loved ones at home. We have so much to do before we get out the door, but we are trying to sqeeze in time with each other whenever possible!

Father's Day

Luke, Joshua, and Laurel watching Scott open Father's Day presents!

Last Sunday was Father's Day and we had my parents and the kids that live in Salt Lake over for our last Sunday dinner. Later in the evening, President (to be) opened some presents from the kids and my brothers, their wives and children came for dessert. It was good to be with them.
We only have a week until we enter the MTC. There is always so much to do, but we are very excited to begin this new journey.

Opening Our Call

In December 2007, we met with President Eyring where we received a call to serve as a Mission President over a non-English speaking mission, beginning July 2008. We were very anxious to find out where we would be serving and were thrilled when we received the call in February 2008. Our youngest son, Joshua, will be serving with us and when he heard the news, he jumped up and down and said "Awesome!" That is how we feel about serving in Romania. We are thrilled to be in a country that we love and know the Lord will bless His work here and "...that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."