Week 78 Back Home

McKenna and Rachel Lee



Sarah Robins



Joshua Petersen



Claire and Kate Judy

Sam Judy

 

BACK HOME!

 

Don't cry when it's over--

Smile because it happened! 

 



     I am so disgusted with myself!  We took hardly any pictures of our homecoming.  We didn't even take pictures of all the grandkids! For this I am forever sorry. By the time I thought about it, many had returned home.

     We arrived home Saturday evening March 9.  Lori and Sarah had a welcome home sign with balloons on the garage door and homemade bread and homemade jam on the counter.  That was a welcome surprise.  Home never looked so good.

     It was so good to be in the Twin Falls 3rd Ward again.  There were many new families but most of the people we knew when we left were still there.  We appreciated our ward even more on our return. It was such a happy occasion to greet and hug our dear friends.  President Harris made  an appointment with us later that afternoon and we were released.  That was a bittersweet feeling.  We were "lost" for many days.  Even now, 4 months later, we sometimes miss the mission field and wonder about all the dear people we loved and sometimes life seems somewhat empty, not working full time in the service of our Lord.

     While traveling home Dale came down with walking pneumonia and was quite sick for the next few weeks.  The next few weeks I was frantically unpacking, organizing, and cleaning--we still weren't completely unpacked for our home coming. We also attended a baby blessing, visited family, and attended some of the activities our grandkids were in.

     With the influx of new missionaries entering the field, our ward has had almost every Sunday filled with missionaries leaving and coming home.  We reported our mission on Easter, March 31.  The first presidency had asked the speakers on that Sunday to talk about the atonement and resurrection so we tied that in with our mission report.  Following church we had dinner at the senior citizens center  and had an Easter Egg hunt.  Following our homecoming we could truly smile because it happened.







Weeks 76-77 February 25-March 10, 2013

Daniel Seminario, along with his dad and mom,
was very devoted to the church.  They spoke English very well
and could have moved to a more expensive place but chose to
build up the church with the Latino people.



Eric was very devoted to the church.  He was always the first
person at the church to unlock the doors and he was the last to leave.
He always made sure the church was locked and taken care of.

Elder Winterrose, Nathaly, Elder Filianga, Evelyn, Elder Carver & Harriet
The elders taught the Ramirez's for many months and we were in attendance
at most of the lessons.  We felt we should have encouraged them to have members
be with them instead of us but we were new and didn't realize that would have been better.

The Garnica Family-Patty, Cassandra, Marco & Edwin, Miriam, Karla, Marcos
They had some devastating trials.  We were close to them and we still think of them.

Brenda and Adrian Genis
They are getting ready to go to the temple.  We watched him progress.
This was the first Sunday he wore a white shirt and tie.  He was a
weight lifter.  She had a daughter Tanya that was very pretty and
she was also devoted to the church. They had us over for dinner several times
and she interpreted for me many times.  We still text once in a while.

Cruz familias--Veronica, Brandon, (can't remember the little girl's name),
Adriana, Jaime & Matthew, Ciro. We tried to get Jaime ready to baptize his
son but he didn't feel ready so  Ciro baptized Brandon.

Maria Garcia with her daughter and grandson.  Maria taught early morning seminary.
It was held at 5 a.m.!  She made me many flowers to wear.

The Moran Familia-Marta, Freddy, Allison, Freddy--We worked with them
quite a bit with Family Home Evenings and helping to get them ready to
go to the temple.  They are still working towards that goal.

Estephany and Sandra Garcia--They were so happy to be members
and they were always at all the meetings and activities.  We worried about
them.  The dad worked in San Francisco and came home once a month.  They
lived in a very bad neighborhood.  They lived in a small bedroom and shared a kitchen
and bathroom with several other people.  Sandra was thrilled when she was called
to be the Beehive Leader.

The Sossa Family--Hno. Sossa was the High Priests Group Leader.  He
was the only one in the ward that was finally getting the vision of home
teaching.  We did get him to assign home teachers before someone was
baptized so they could attend the baptism.  Home teaching and visiting
teaching was almost non existant in the two wards.

Veronica and Ciro Cruz were stalwarts in third ward.  He was the elders quorum
president and she was the young womens president.  They were very devoted to the
church.  They had a son who was serving a mission and a daughter who married in the
temple.

Jose and Maria Guzman and son, Jose--They both want to go to the temple
but he has a beer problem.  We worked and encouraged him but  he
never did overcome the drinking problem.  Hopefully someday he will.
She was very solid in the church and a very dear friend.

 

A friend, Jazmin, & Jeannette Guzman--Thanksgiving 2011

 

Beatrice de la Pena and children.  We visited Beatrice often.  She was a single mother
and had serious health problems.  With help from the church she got through the ordeal and
now is doing well.

Jenny, Gabriel, and Jenny Ordonez--(their is a son, Gabriel not pictured)
They had their feelings hurt and had gone inactive.  We encouraged
 them to come back.  They are very devoted to the church now.



Jose and Ana Tejada--He was the elders quorum president and is now
in the bishopric.  They had never seen senior missionaries and wanted
to go on a mission.  They are preparing to go when they retire. He is from
El Salvador and she is from Honduras.
 

Us and Victoria Olasava--Connie was privileged to escort her
through the temple. This was one of the highlights of our mission!  She is
a remarkable woman.

Jose and Sylvia Campos--she is in her native dress with family members.  Jose
joined the church.  Sylvia hasn't yet.  We worked with her a long time.  We feel she
will eventurally join.  She is fun to be around.

Sylvia and Jose Campos

 

Arzu Familia-Elder Olsen, Connie, Dale, Jorge, Lesly, Marisol, Jorge Jr.,
Elder Miller, Elder Mitchell--This was the biggest disappointment of our mission.
We met with Jorge Sr. every week for 10 months.  We prayed and taught him so many
things.  He was baptized but was never confirmed.   He and his son moved to Boston
just before we came home.

Sedonio and Abel Vasquez--we helped Sedonio get ready to
baptize his son.

Dale, Connie, Elena, Sedonio,
Leticia, Abel Vasquez

 

Ana and Carlos Alvarado--they were very humble devoted members.  He was the
Young Mens President and she was the primary president.  They had 3 outstanding sons.

Carlos and Laura Escalante--She was a member and he was not.
We worked with them and encouraged them.  Hopefully the elders
will continue to work with them.

Jose and Maria Cartegena--She and the children were members.  We
taught him from the Book of Mormon.  He would be baptized if he could
attend church.  He works on Sunday.  They have a very outstanding family. 
We pray he will someday be able to join.

The Cartegenas

 

Our last Valentines Day in the mission field.

The Olasava Familia-Dale, Jaime, Nancy, Victoria, Elder Quo, Elder Moore,
Miguel, Kevin.  This was the highlight of our mission!   If we had not influenced
any other family, it would have been worth it!

Reyna and Celso's wedding!  They were so happy.
President Bragg flew back from New York to marry them.
He did a  beautiful ceremony.  He is a very special Stake President.
Celso was baptized the next week.

 

Elder Concepcion, Celso Castillo, Elder
We helped teach Celso.

Evelyn and Eva Vega--very dear friends,  Eva was
the relief society president and Evelyn was the primary president.

 

Irma Xiocaparic and daughter--we and the elders taught her.  She has  a
testimony but her husband does not want her to go to church.

 

Bishop Mauricio and Celia Segovia--They were a wonderful couple. 
He was an excellent bishop and he tried to do what was right.  They
became United States citizens the week he was made bishop.  They
are both from El Salvador.

 

Tomas and Connie
All of Tomas's children joined the church many years ago.
She was too busy working to learn about it.  When she finally retired,
she took the lessons from the elders.  She is a humble, loving lady.

 



The Gonzales--this is Tomas's daughter.  We were teaching her husband
when we left.  He is such a good man.  Hopefully the elders are teaching him.

Luciano and Maria Mendoza--They were very devoted to the church and
so good to everyone.  They helped the missionaries, were temple workers and
you could always depend on them.

The Pioquintos--he was an excellent mission leader.  They loved
and supported the misssionaries.  No one worked harder than they
did to support the church.

Dale and Pedro Portillo--He was the sweetest man.  He had the
kindest eyes.  He joined the church about a year ago.  He wanted
so badly for his wife to join but she loved the Catholic Church.  She
did let us teach her out of the Bible.  Just before we left he developed some
serious health problems and went home to El Salvador to die.

 

Sophia, Mirna, & Carlos Galdamez--Sophia was a great help to the
missionaries and her mom was a huge asset to the ward.

Just before we left, I had to take one more picture of the
flowers growing outside our apartment complex.



The Los Angels temple at Christmas 2011--all missionaires
hope their newly baptized members will eventually go to the temple.

 

 

Departing missionary fireside--Sylvia Campos, Victoria & Jaime Olasava, Dale, Connie,
newly baptized member, Elder Ogden, Elder Quo
in back--Elder Junot, Elder Gonzales,
in front Elder

“Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.”

          Since this is our last blog entry we want to express how thankful we are that we were able to serve a mission.  It is certainly one of the highlights of our lives.  We loved the people we worked with including ward leaders, elders, sisters, senior missionaries, and investigators.  Our testimonies of the Book of Mormon grew.  We are so thankful for the prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith.  We are very thankful for our living prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  We are thankful for the scriptures.  We are thankful for being able to serve in the California Los Angeles Mission with President and Sister Baker.

          The last week and a half of our mission was like a whirlwind.  We were very busy with numerous things.  We met with many of the people that we had worked closely with and told them goodbye.  Their pictures and explanations were shown above.  We will always remember them and treasure their friendships.  We will love visiting with them in heaven.  We taught some of the people we have been working with for the last time.  We pray the senior missionaries that replace us will continue on with them.  We inspected apartments for the last time. 

          On Saturday, March 2 we had our final interview with President Baker.  We have loved him and Sister Baker.  They have been great as they have presided over the California Los Angeles Mission.  That evening we met at Olive Garden with the Shakespears, Grovers,  and Sanfts to eat prior to attending the Loyola Maramount/BYU basketball game.  During dinner I got really sick with a bladder infection and we ended up not going to the game but calling a doctor to get some antibiotics.  That was disappointing but couldn’t be helped.  On Sunday we spoke at the departing missionary fireside and said our good byes to many members, investigators, and missionaries.  It was another memorable evening.

          On Monday, March 4 we packed and cleaned the apartment.  That evening Bishop and Sister Segovia took us to a different Olive Garden to eat. He drove us there taking over half of an hour. We enjoyed talking to them both going and coming.  It was such a wonderful evening to be with this wonderful faithful couple who truly have the pure blood of Israel running in their veins.  We have loved them and feel blessed to have known them. 

          Tuesday we packed and that evening we had dinner with the Bakers.  We had pork roast, baked potatoes, asparagus, spinach strawberry salad, rolls, and cheesecake.  Following dinner we arranged the chairs in a circle and shared one of our favorite missionary moments and our one of our favorite scriptures along with the reason that we had selected that particular one.  We shared our whole experience with the Olazavas. My scripture was D&C 6:22-23 and Dale’s was 2Nephi 31:13.  The Bakers brought out their special copy of the scriptures and had each us write our first and last names in the margin beside the scripture we had chosen. It was a night to always be remembered.  

          On Wednesday we finished up a few things that needed to be done.  That afternoon we drove the Newport Beach Temple.  It is a smaller temple but very beautiful.  The grounds were huge and beautiful.  It was a wonderful way to spend our last day in Los Angeles.

          On Thursday we asked the 3^rd ward missionaries to help carry our boxes down to the car.  We then gave them everything left in our cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer.  They were thrilled to have it and we so appreciated their help.  Dale is an excellent packer and got everything in the car.  We were loaded completely.  We then drove to Las Vegas, ate, and went to our room and collapsed.

          Thursday we drove out to Hoover Dam and saw the new 4 lane bridge that spans the Black Canyon of the Colorado River downstream from the dam.  It was spectacular.  That evening we watched BYU lose to San Diego State.  It was very disappointing. 

          Friday we drove up Highway 93 to Twin Falls and HOME AT LAST!!!  Sunday it was so good to be back in our home ward.  And now we can truly “smile because it happened!”  Like the old song said we are thankful for the “Dear Hearts and Gentle People who live and love in our home town.”  How blessed we are to have been born in southern Idaho at “such a time as this.”



Weeks 74-75- February 11-24, 2013

Gourleys and us at LA Stake Center

Zach, Jacob & Victoria, Benjamin, Trisha at
Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center.

Victoria in Plan of Salvation Room

Zach of LA Temple Visitors Center

Benjamin at LA Temple Visitors Center

 

Trisha and Jacob at LA Temple

Victoria at LA Science Center

Dale, Zach, Victoria in Hurricane Tube
 

 

Gourleys at the Endeavor

Jacob, Victoria,, and Zach at Santa Monica Beach

Zach building his castle with moat



Victoria & Zach at Disneyland Entrance

 

Jacob eating a turkey drum stick

Victoria with Rapunzel

Jacob and Zach with his wizard hat.

Gourleys and us at Bubba Gump's on Santa Monica Pier.
Victoria fell asleep.



 

          During the last few weeks we have been busy doing a myriad of things.  Many of them will be documented through pictures.  We tried to get as much “mapping” as possible finished up.  We inspected 11 apartments and we have been saying “good by” to those people with whom we worked closely.  I also helped with one weekly Relief Society Meeting finishing up the quilts we started previously for the humanitarian center.

          We also attended a zone conference which was excellent as always.  I have packed my notes from it so I can’t share what was said as I did in the past.  They did discuss using media in teaching investigators.  They also discussed how President Monson is “hastening” the work of spreading the gospel and “rescuing” those who want to come back.  Because of the changes in age for young missionaries to serve, all the missions are getting large numbers of new missionaries.  President Baker discussed how they are getting ready for 35 new missionaries this next transfer—half of them will be sisters.  He also sent us an announcement saying who our new mission president and his wife will be.  The Bakers are going home in July.  The church also announced the creation of 58 new missions divided from existing missions.  Three new missions will be formed in California but our mission hasn’t been changed.  Of great interest to us is the formation of the Twin Falls, Idaho mission and the Nampa, Idaho mission.  We substituted in the mission office so the mission office staff could attend zone conference on Tuesday.  We attended zone conference on Thursday.

          Saturday, February 16, Trisha and her family came to see us for a week.  Most of what we did with them was done through pictures.  We had a great time with the grandkids and Trisha and Jacob.  They took as many things of ours back with them that they could get in their car.  We really appreciated that.  Hopefully we will be able to get the rest of it in our car.

          Sunday, February 24, we spoke in the 6^th ward.  They had an interpreter for me, which was very nice.  Dale spoke on the importance of loving those we teach and I spoke on what senior missionaries do.  It all went very well. Following Sacrament Meeting so many came up and hugged us good bye and thanked us.  It was truly heartwarming.  There were a few tears shed.  It is much harder to leave these wonderful people than I had anticipated.  I like the saying that Eileen Petersen put in her blog.  “Don’t cry because it is over.  Smile because it happened!”