Pre-Transfer Temple Trip

This month our trip to the temple with our Assistants was a little early. Next week we have Zone Leader Council and Leadership Meeting...hence, no time to have the meeting and trip.

It was a beautiful day to be at the Mesa Temple.  We were taught and we learned from each other as we shared what we felt in the House of the Lord.






We are so blessed to have temples where we can receive power from on high as we remember and help others make sacred covenants with God. The pattern of being blessed as we serve others is definitely apparent in temple service!
If you have not been to the temple, or not in a while...make plans to go soon!  Blessings await those who serve!

Farewell & Thank You to the Lyons

Tuesday Night we met to honor Drew and Janice Lyon who have worked in our office for 18 months now.  As you can see, they find joy in their service!  They are truly incredible people!

The Lyons have now served 4 missions.  One to Zimbabwe Africa...the next to South Africa...the third to the Family History Center in Salt Lake...and lastly to the ARIZONA PHOENIX MISSION!!    Their testimony, experience and wit will be missed in the office and they will always be a part of this great mission!

The Kings hosted the dinner at their lovely home...and it was a meal fit for a queen...that is what Becky King looks like!!!













Her husband on the other hand looks like a coal miner or caver with his BBQ light on!
No, he looks like a KING!!!

THANK YOU KINGS FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY!  

 We shared the evening with our office staff:
The Kiggins and Rodgers

 The Williams, Winchells and Lyons

(The Cherry's are out of town)

We truly are blessed to have these great couples serving with us here in the mission.  They are the life behind the scenes that make this mission run.

MAY THE LORD BLESS all of these faithful couples that have served and continue to serve so selflessly!

Temple Progress November 2012

 We realized that many of you would like to see how the Phoenix Temple is coming along.


Each Monday I run to the temple and Scott picks me up.  We decided to bring a camera along to show what is happening.

 The past few weeks they have been putting up the outside precast concrete walls.


I hope you can see the pretty Agave Flower pattern that is the theme of the temple.

The precast is up on the front and two sides.  This week they are also making the steel roof over the front patio area.  Then they will be able to put on the "Holiness To The Lord" piece and move on up.

The Winchells, our Temple Missionaries,  report that the basement is a flurry of work with walls going up all over the place as the baptistry is being worked on.
We just know there are a lot of worker vehicles there all the time, but not so many workers in sight.








It is fascinating to watch the progress of "our" temple here in Phoenix!  We have watched it from bare ground when we arrived 17 months ago, to almost looking complete.

Pray for the on-time completion of this beautiful temple so the people we are teaching can attend it as soon as possible!  We will try to update you on the progress in the future as well!

Help With Christmas Lights

You better be careful when you ask if you can come see us at the Mission Home...

We might put you to work!!

 

That is what happened when Karalee Glenn asked to come say hello on Saturday.

We had been waiting all day to borrow a ladder from the neighbor across the street and he brought it over just before Karalee and Aaron showed up.

So,  we immediately put them to work!

It was getting dark and there was no time to lose.

Last year Braden helped me put up the lights, so it was nice to have a higher ladder and more help.  It went pretty fast!

 Scott untangled lights and kept them all organized.

Karalee held the ladder and untangled clips for me to take up with me and Aaron moved the ladder each time as we worked out way down the front of the house.

 It was organized and so helpful having extra hands!

And look how pretty it all ended up!

WOW!  THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!  We think of you when we drive up and see our lights all pretty.

It was great to visit and work together!  Pretty much just like FAMILY!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Come see us!!  I am sure we can find another job that needs doing!

Welcome Sister Barnett

Wednesday we welcomed a new Temple Square Sister to our mission for a four month visit.
Sister Barnett has been serving in Salt Lake Visitor Center for about a year, and is excited to be here in Phoenix to teach the Gospel!



We met her at the airport and then drove her to the Mission Office to meet the office staff and then to the Phoenix Temple Site to see how our temple is coming along...LOOK HOW FAR IT IS COMING ALONG!



Sister Barnett is prepared and excited to serve here with us and we are delighted to have her in this great mission!  It is a winning combination!

She will serve for the time being with Sisters Fluckiger and Vallejo, so we know she will be REALLY HAPPY!  They are super happy Sisters!

We are blessed to have the testimony of Sister Barnett in our Mission.  She is eager and oh so ready to teach!

WELCOME SISTER BARNETT!

DUCKS & TURKEYS

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PICTURES OF THIS ACTIVITY!

Deer Valley/Glendale North Zone asked if we would join them for a Preparation Day Activity...




It involved feeding ducks, and geese.

 Perfect for us since we had our 2 little grandsons visiting!

(Elder Brothers above and Bolton to the right)


Of course, there were some silly antics involving geese!
They are VERY BOLD! (Both the geese and the elders!)

Sister Follett was like the Pied Piper with this flock that followed her all over the place!

 I was kept busy making sure the geese did not nibble on the grandbabies!  One did get a little nippy and that was traumatic!

 It was refreshing to see Elders and Sisters just enjoying the beautiful park and doing something as simple as feeding the ducks!
We have so much to be grateful for in this amazing world!

 We finished our time at the park with a race against our 3 year old grandson Carter and the missionaries...
They were really good sports...running really slow so he was always in the lead, and falling down occasionally so he would be impressed at what a good runner he was.  See Elder Kellett and Buechter falling in the photo to the left?  So funny!

 Back at the Mission Home, we all drew "hand turkeys" and wrote things that we are thankful for and shared them with the zone.  It was another simple, childlike, but very fulfilling activity.

Then we created TURKEY MASTERPIECES using a variety of cookies, cupcakes and candies.


Everyone was VERY CREATIVE!  Please check out the link at the top to see everyone that made an edible turkey!

Above:  Elders Brothers, H. Peterson and Skalka.
Right: Elder Morton



HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE FROM THE APM!!!
We have so much to be thankful for!

MISSION TOUR DAY#3- Phoenix/ Phoenix N./ Phoenix S./ Prescott Zones

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!  

 DAY #3 of our Mission Tour with Elder Koelliker and his wife was the culminating day of this week of instruction and growth.

Wonderful Zone leader councils before and after our general meeting will lead us to setting real goals for what to do with what we learned!

Yes, our Assistants also had my camera all during lunch this day as well, so there are many photos for you to look at!

 We do have great love for each other in this mission!

 And, we do have a lot of Sisters in our mission already...soon to be even MORE GOODNESS!

This area has a particularly large number of Sisters serving and that is always fun!

 After lunch, our singing of Armies of Helaman to thank the wonderful members that provide lunch for us!  We could not hold these meetings easily or participate fully if I had to be worrying about fixing meals!  THANK YOU SO MUCH all of you that serve missionaries in whatever area you live in!

 We gather to sing our Mission Fight Song, that we love so much!

 We celebrate NOVEMBER and a couple of DECEMBER DEPARTING BIRTHDAYS!

Elders Colovich, McCauley, Scott and Malmberg.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ALL!!!

 And we begged Elder Neves to favor us with the Birthday Song from Brazil!  SO FUN!











And then we begged Elder Moala to sing us a birthday song in Tongan!  He has a great voice!

MISSION TOUR DAY #3 2012: Phoenix/ Phonix N./ Phoenix S. / Prescott Zones

MISSION TOUR DAY #2- Peoria/Cottonwood/ Glendale N Deer Valley/ Glendale Zones

CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!  LOTS MORE!

 We had Day #2 for our Mission Tour with Deer Valley-Glendale N. / Cottonwood/ Peoria/ Glendale Zones.

We were taught all day by Elder and Sister Koelliker along with President and myself.

Zone Leader Council before and after the day of conference was wonderful!  We have amazing young men and women in this mission!

As usual, lunchtime is so fun.  During this conference, my camera was in the hands of our capable, but very young, Assistants while we were in another room with Elder and Sister Koelliker.  So, there are LOTS of candid shots!

 We get ready to sing the thank you songs for the wonderful women and men that prepare and serve us lunch.

And we sing with all our hearts!

 The Koellikers told us that the music at our Mission Conferences have been the best they have heard...and they go to many missions!

We have extremely talented missionaries! 

 We gather for our Mission Fight Song and sing it as well!











And we celebrate the November birthdays of Sister Groo, Elders Walpole, H. Beck, Wardle and Alice, who made the frybread for our lunch that day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

DAY #2 MISSION TOUR 2012

MISSION TOUR DAY #1: Surprise/W. Maricopa/ Buckeye Goodyear

CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!  LOTS OF INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS. 

 Once a year we have a general authority visit our mission specifically to see how we are doing as a mission and to teach, counsel and advise us.

This year we were blessed to have Elder Paul E Koelliker and his wife Ann, come spend the week with us.

They were wonderful!

 We started each day with a Zone Leader Council, then met in a general session with the 3 zones coming this day, and finished with a follow up Zone Leader Council to make plans on how to follow up with what we felt we needed to focus on in our mission.


Lunch time is always a blast for the missionaries to socialize and eat lots of good food provided by local wards.
Our Assistants had my camera while we ate with the Koellikers and office staff in another room...so there are lots of silly and wonderful photos by them for you!



We always thank the generous ward members that provide the lunch for us by singing to them.

 And we sing our mission fight song with gusto!

 We celebrate birthdays for the month.
HAPPY NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY to Elders Nieman, Castanos, Zeledon, Romrell, Finklea and Cabral along with one of our Sisters helping with lunch.

 Elder Cardoso sang the Portuguese Birthday song for us when we asked him to...it is super fun!

















We got to sing to Elder Foulk today as well.  He was serving with us for a couple weeks in preparation for putting in papers to serve a mission himself!  He will be wonderful! Thank you Elder Foulk!

Mission Photo of these three zones.  

GREAT DAY #1 OF MISSION TOUR WITH ELDER AND SISTER KOELLIKER!