Our District at the MTC

These are the people we spent the most time with at the MTC. A variety of people going to a variety of places.

The Whittakers (top picture) going to Nauvoo.

The Merkleys, going to Alaska. They served in Jordon on their last mission and it was so warm they asked for somewhere not so warm! They got their wish!!

Mo'unga's going to the Phillipines.

Thomas's leave tomorrow for Singapore.

Ted with one of our instructors, Elder Beal. Elder Beal served in Italy with AJ Woolstenhulme. It was fun listening to him talk about his mission as we could imagine AJ there experiencing the same things he did.

MTC MAIL

We've figured out that MTC mail is a wonderful thing! Erik and Kristina sent us a fun package as you see that we picked up today. We went there expecting to pick up our extra name tags. (Magnetic nametags!!!) Much to our surprise was our airline tickets and a BIG box! Ted was afraid I had ordered something and forgot about it.......but when we opened it there was a nice little note and many goodies! We will probably drink the little bottle but we will save the candy for the Senior Missionaries and Elders of India. Thanks Erik and Kristina!!

We love the MTC and are learning tons.

We are studying the discussions today. We have to present the 1st one this afternoon.

We get the rest of our shots today and we get to sing in the choir for the general authority fireside tonight. I'm excited about that. Ted also has his first assignment. He is a district leader and watches out for our group.

Arriving at the MTC

We got to the MTC on Sunday about noon. Just in time for lunch. As you see Tia, Porter and Selah were our chauffers!! After saying our goodbyes Ted & I made our way to the cafateria and had lunch with a zillion young Elders. While eating, Elder Jason Thompson made his way to our table to say hello. He fits in quite nicely here! We probably wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't come to us as he looks like a zillion other elders all dressed in dark pants and white shirts!
We thoroughly enjoyed our 1st day here. We attended two meetings that spiritually uplifted us. We had several opportunitites to meet and mingle with other senior missionaries. All of which are going to various places. At one of the meetings we attended they said 305 missionaries will be leaving the MTC this week. 50 to Argentina and 35 to Japan. None to India and for Kurt and Linda's information...2 to Nigeria. (serving at the temple...not your mission) (sorry)'
In closing I just want to quote one of the messages we heard last night!
From Brother Pinegar: "The Lord won't make you Obey, but he will make you wish you had."
Isn't that the truth.

OFFICIAL MISSIONARIES

We are official missionaries as of last night. Kent & JaNell, Patricia, Tia, Matt, Kirk and Lynn joined us as Pres Price set us apart. We appreciated the words of encouragement from both President Price and President Kunz. We felt so blessed to have Kent, Kirk and Matt stand in to help set us apart. It was especially nice to have our son participate in setting us apart. The blessing we were given covered every aspect of concern we had. We both went in with butterflies in our tummies, but came out feeling calm, cool and collected.
We left home today and will spend a couple of days in SLC with Tia, Porter and Selah!

One Last Fishing Trip before we head to the MTC

Ted was up at the crack of dawn. It's April 10th and it's snowing outside and the ground is white. He made his way to the Snake River for one more fishing excursion! This was his reward. A great day and big fish for the last trip. NO BIG FISH STORY.....It's the real thing. We ate the little one for dinner and he was to BIG for the 2 of us to consume!! The perfect way to leave Idaho is to catch "The Big Fish."

Farewell to Idaho begins March 23rd, Easter Sunday

We will be speaking in the Victor 2nd Ward at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 23rd. That's Easter Sunday. We want to invite all of ourfamily (those who haven't already moved away before us!!) and friends to come over about 3 p.m. for a luncheon.

We feel like we've been saying goodbye since Thanksgiving. We are definately happy to say there are only 4 weeks before we are really gone. People are starting to say, "Are you still here? I thought you left already!" 13 weeks to wait has been a real long time in someways and a real short time in other ways!

Just one little note about Ted loosing the Mustache after all these years! Tia, Porter, and Selah were visiting us for breakfast the morning he cut the mustache off. We were eating breakfast and Porter kept looking at his grandpa. Very nonchalantly he stated to his mother, "Mom....Somethings wrong with grandpa's lip."

Tia said, "Why do you say that Porter? What do you think is wrong?"

Porter replied, "Cause his lip is swollen or something."

We were laughing and Selah cut in saying, "There's nothing wrong with grandpa's lip. He just shaved his mustache."

The unveiling of Ted's upper lip surprised and astonished most of the kids. I suppose it's because we didn't know what was hiding underneath all these years! I just think he's darn cute without it!

Idaho...a Great Place to Live

It has been a great winter with lots of snow for skiing. This was a beautiful day in March 2008. Tia and I went to the top Pine Creek Pass. We had steep mountains to climb and the reward was long slopes to ski down. I'm trying to soak in lots of outdoor skiing while Ted spends his time on the river catching fish. (No camera of course)

Looking at Victor