We learned this week that whenever we are with family it feels like heaven…at least we think that’s what heaven will feel like.
We started the week with a great mission devotional where Matt Grow, the Managing Director of the Church History Department, spoke to us about
Focusing on Christ. We learned from him how every project they are doing has been tweaked to more fully focus on Christ. At Nauvoo they are building a new visitor’s center and they are going to have these windows that focus your view on the temple instead of a view of all the buildings and homes down closer to the river that have previously been the focal point. The temple is all about Christ. We learned that they found a stained glass window of Christ being sold at an auction and how the Church was able to purchase
it even though they had a budget limit. They originally thought that it would be the main focal point and they would have historic pictures of Nauvoo on the walls, but instead they were prompted to have this theme,
Temples are Central to the Ministry of Jesus Christ, and all of the pictures will be of Christ at the temple…being presented as a baby, teaching as a 12 year old, teaching at the temple, healing at the temple. They found an artist who has done all of the pictures they were looking for. Very cool theme. He also spoke about the great things he has learned from the
Joseph Smith Papers project and how it has strengthened his testimony of Joseph Smith. It was a great way to start our day.
We then headed into the library where I was able to
shadow one of our missionaries helping a guest with French research. (This isn’t the actual person I was shadowing, but this is what it is like). I just asked to watch and looked over the shoulder of the person that was helping the guests. As she was explaining to them where they could look and how to search. I noticed that the wife was having difficulty understanding our missionary from France. So I started to interpret a bit. Then they started asking me more questions and it felt a bit awkward because I wasn’t the missionary assigned to help, I was just supposed to be a
shadow and observe. It turned out
we were not able to find any verifying records that they were looking for for his grandmother, but I was able to show them how to get into the department archives and sort through the many records there. I then went to work trying to ensure that the activities for the new missionary training that I had helped to revise would not require missionaries to find books on the top or bottom shelves of the library. We have learned that there are many missionaries that have
health limitations that make it very difficult for them to get down on the floor to search for a book, or that can’t reach the ones on the top shelf. I spent a few hours walking the anisles and finding different books to replace the ones we had previously asked them to find.
After our shift was over we went out to Trader Joe’s to get some more dark chocolate peanut butter cups for Mom and some peppermint Jo Jo’s. We may have also grabbed a Danish Kringle. Then we had learned there was a burger joint near there called Tony’s Burgers and they gave a 50% discount to missionaries. So we decided to try it out. It was great! As you can see in the picture they give you a humongous pile of fries and the burger was very good. We got a half pound Smoove Garlic burger and split it between the two of us and topped it all off with an eggnog shake. We will definitely go there again! Yummm. We ended the night sharing Christmas stories at our apartment FHE.
Tuesday morning we went and worked out at the gym. Then we ran over to the Church History Museum auditorium to practice for my French Carol musical number that a group of us were singing for the social that night. Then it was home to get packed for our trip to Bellingham, because we didn’t want to be packing late that night after the social since we had to get up early to make our 6am flight. We then headed into the library where I was able to pass off my
French Beginner training. Wahoo!
Then we headed home to change and go to the COB to set up for our Christmas Social. Mom had thought of everything, but when we go there we learned that they had not set up the cordless microphones for us. I found them in an audio closet, but couldn’t figure out how to get the system to recognize them. The only mic that worked was the one on the moveable podium. Oh well. Everything else went off without a hitch. It was a great night. We had chicken cordon bleu or roast pork with orange glaze sauce and yummy beans and potatoes and lots of great cakes to choose from for dessert. It was a very nice dinner. Here are a bunch of photos. The program went great.
We learned that we have a lot of talented people in our zone. There were lots of great musical and funny and entertaining and spirit filled presentations. We ended the night with President Holmes speaking to us and then getting a photo of all of the missionaries from our zone that were able to make it to the social. One of our missionaries has a husband who is into photography so he brought his camera to take our group photo. I teased him a bit because he has a Nikon, and I am a Canon man, but he admitted that he only got the Nikon because the package he wanted was $200 less than the Canon one when he went to buy it. Canon vs Nikon. IFKYK.
So we got home at about 9:30 and did some last minute stuff and headed to bed for our early flight in the morning.
Max and Lisa Decker got up early…4:00am…to take us to the airport Wednesday morning. What wonderful friends! We had told them that it was way too early and they didn’t need to get up that early, but they insisted. I am learning a new
Golden Rule. “Let others do unto you as you would be willing to do for them.” We had no hitches in our giddyups and were able to board our flight on time and even got an exit row seat. Wahoo, I love legroom! I also got to watch a movie as we flew…I chose
Gran Turismo. It is a pretty cool movie based on a true story about a kid from England who became a race car driver after winning a contest from Nissan that chose a bunch of the best
Gran Turismo video game players and taught them how to drive real race cars. Amazing story!
We flew first to Oakland and had a layover there. Our flight was delayed for some reason…fog or rain or ???…but we were finally able to get in the air, after some last minute baggage loading, and arrived in Bellingham around 2pm.
Burley picked us up at the airport and we were able to have dinner with them and Tori and Zoë and Aaron and Franklin and finally Melissa after her plane arrived. Fun times hanging with everyone.
Thursday morning Mom made
Swedish pancakes and we played around with the grandkids. Then we learned that Tori created a scavenger hunt game for the grandkids out on the property and so we all went out following the
treasure map to find all of the little bags filled with tokens for each kid. They had a great time. I helped Paige, who really didn’t need much help at all. We then chatted and watched kids play video games and just relaxed. We learned that the friend of Chris who is a property attorney talked to a guy in the planning commission and when he got off of the phone he was pretty much bummed that they weren’t going to change their mind on what they want us to do before we can build on our lot. But about an hour later he got a call from the guy he had been talking to and he said that he had gone and pulled up a map of our area and saw where everything is located and thinks that all they would really need would be a 30 foot variance in case they needed to improve the road in the future. He said that he would recommend that to the permit people, so now we hope they
will accept his recommendation. That would be an awesome Christmas present!
We went for a walk later in the afternoon and then we ate snacks…peanut butter balls, and homemade Oreos, and fudge, and peanut butter balls, and muddy buddies, and peanut balls…and I think I got heartburn from too many sweets. After dinner…orange chicken and potstickers and rice…we played some Christmas games on YouTube. We learned they have these games on YouTube where you have to guess the song or movie based on the emojis they show you. It was fun, but some of those emojis were pretty difficult to figure out, and I learned that some emojis mean different things at different times based on what they are connected to. Mom then headed over to Zoë and Aaron’s to play mahjong and I stayed at the Burleys and watched tv and read and headed to bed around 10:30. Mom got home sometime after that and I was so tired I didn’t even wake up when she came to bed.
Friday we played with grandkids and chatted and read and watched some video gaming and then in the afternoon we went to the church and played pickleball. I mostly watched, because my right knee has been a bit swollen and sore. Not sure why. Sadness. But then I decided I wanted to see if I could do it, so I played a game with Mom as my teammate and our opponents were Aaron and Paige. I did just fine until the last play when I went for a low and away running backhand and my knee said
ouch! so I quit. That night we had pork roast that Chris smoked in his smoker and also some burnt ends and brisket from a place here in Bellingham, Big Stick BBQ.
Saturday the Burleys had plans with the Burley clan, so Mom let Zoë open her Christmas present early, which was a Dutch oven pot to make sourdough bread in. It also came with sourdough starter, which Mom and I brought in our luggage in less than 4 ounce baggies in order to ensure they would make it through the TSA screening. So Mom and Zoë started working on that and I played with Franklin and chatted with Aaron. We then headed over to Zoë and Aaron’s so that Franklin could take a nap and we played some games of
mahjong, which of course I did not win, and then when Franklin woke up we went to Fairhaven Harbor to get fish ‘n’ chips. It was pretty good. I still love 4th and Sea fish ‘n’ chips that we discovered in Petaluma. Do you remember that place? Yummy peppermint milkshakes too. But these were very tasty as well. After dinner we went and walked the boardwalk. It was pretty chilly since I
didn’t wear a very warm coat. Brrrrrr. There was this guy there by the boardwalk with a couple telescopes and he was looking at Jupiter and Saturn. He was letting people come take a peek and so most of us did.
We stopped at Woods Coffee and got some hot chocolate to warm us up and then walked back to the cars. It was less cold walking back because we learned that there was a breeze blowing that direction which we had been walking into on the way out. We then headed back to the Burleys and I watched the
end of the Utah vs Northwestern bowl game. Utah lost.
This morning we got up and went to church. They had a very nice program with lots of musical numbers. The kids sang a new primary song, Born to Bring Us Joy, which was very nice. Shaunna sang in a women’s quartet. They sang O Come, All You Unfaithful. She did great of course. Then Chris was the last speaker and shared a great testimony of the Savior and of His reality and love. It was a wonderful meeting. We then came home and had some lunch and I started on this post. We were invited to have dinner and do the nativity with the Burley clan and it was wonderful. Kaylin, Brianne (Chris’s sister) and Eric’s (her husband) oldest daughter organized the kids and found an online version of the nativity story to read. She was great. They also decided that we ought to incorporate our Swedish rice pudding and rhyme tradition which was very kind of them. Here is my rhyme this year…
Christmas this year we thought would be
Far far away from our family
Our mission call was a surprise for sure
Heading to Africa we thought we were
But serving in the Library
Helps us learn what we should be
Missionaries with a softened heart
Willing to do what 'ere our part
Plus a bonus gift is here
Leave of Absence with family dear
Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas too
We haven't missed much time with you
So now we share these poems sweet
And then our pudding we shall eat
We'll hope to find a nut in there
And get a wish of blessings fair
Now Ho, Ho, Ho is what Santa says
"Think Celestial" says our Prophet- Pres.
Peace on Earth sang the angels clear
So we hope you all had a marvelous Christmas Eve.
Mele Kalikimaka tomorrow.
BE GOOD (so Santa will come)
Love you all!
Mom and Dad
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