March Temple Trip

 Before each transfer, we go with our Assistants to serve at the Mesa Temple.
This transfer our Assistants are Elders Griffin and Campbell.  They are amazing young men!

The Lord directs the transfer process as President Taylor decides where each missionary should be serving and who they should be serving with.
It is an inspired process.

We love going to take these decisions to the Lord.

We were really excited to take Braden with us this time.  He went to do baptisms while we did Initiatory work.

He looks like a missionary already!

We love the temple.  There is great power in worthily serving.

THE WAITING GAME

The Arizona Phoenix Mission is playing the Waiting Game...waiting for our son Braden's mission call to come!

We put up two large maps in the hallway which are now being filled with the guesses of former and current missionaries and family and friends.

Braden just finished High School up in Provo and is down here with us for a month before he goes back up to BYU for Spring term!

Braden really wants to serve here in the Arizona Phoenix Mission...he thinks it is the #1 Mission in the world!  Well...it pretty much is :)  It is the #1 Mission for each of us serving here!  We know that Braden will serve in the #1 Mission for him!

Guesses anyone?

Sister Specialized Training 3/13

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR OVER 100 PHOTOS OF THIS DAY!!
Who would ever have thought we could make this big a group at the Mesa Temple with just our Sisters and office couples???  We have 34 young Sisters at this point...with 10 more coming in a couple weeks.


They are beautiful in every way!

 We all went to a "chapel session" before our regular temple session.  Doing this allowed President Taylor and I to talk with our Sisters in the temple.  It was very sweet.

We LOVED being in the temple together.  It was JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!

For many of our newer Sisters it was their first visit to the Mesa Temple.  We took lots of photos afterwards. Check out the link above to see them all!

After our temple session, we went to the park north of the temple for a wonderful picnic lunch and then some instruction.

We talked about the purpose of "Coordinating Sisters" and how we use "Exchanges" to learn and teach.





Exchanges are when two companionships split and switch companions for a day.  They learn from each other in a wonderful way!










We took a little time for the Sisters to all introduce themselves.  They love getting together and getting to visit!
We are spoiled...we get to know all of them!

And who would not want to know them...look at them!  They are incredible!

 These are our Coordinating Sisters.  They go on exchanges with each companionship in their respective language.

They have to be super organized, which they are...and they love unconditionally.

 Sister King was an amazing photographer all afternoon!  She took all these photos and caught these great shots of our past and present Office Couples/Missionaries.


The Williams came back to help out.

 This is President Morris and Katie.  He is first counselor in the Mission Presidency.

 This is Sister Lyon, who used to work in the office with her hubby, who was there but not in this photo.

 This is the Cherry's who have worked in our office twice now!!!  You can't get enough of the APM!

 This is the Elcock's who also work in the office.  Oh are they busy with the front desk and housing needs!!

 President Taylor did a great object lesson about gossip...not that we have a huge problem with it in our mission...but it only takes a little bit to dirty up a mission as you will see in the photos that follow.

 Everyone reached into a bucket of dirt looking for something in the bottom.  They were told not to show anyone what they found.

 This is how their hands looked when they came out.

 Then he passed around his white dress shirt and had them grab it with their dirty hand.  This is like spreading gossip.

 When all had passed it around, he put the shirt back on.  It did not look very good.  And all each of them got in return was a rock.  It was just a little, common thing...like gossip is usually something really common and not often true.

It leaves the hand of the gossiper dirty and dirties everyone who comes in contact with it.


Message Received.

 We challenged the Sisters to answer a question.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR?"

It really makes you think.  Do you want to be remembered for being whiney, negative or lazy?

Do you want to be remembered for being positive, cheerful or firm in your beliefs?

 We finished the day with a talk about adversity and how it makes us stronger and more beautiful...just like the diamond is created from stress and heat, just like the pearl is formed around an irritant and coated layer on beautiful layer to make something beautiful and lasting.

Each Sister got a pearl bracelet that we made for them to remind them of this day and to remind them of the Temple.

We are striving to build a FIRM FOUNDATION in our testimonies, in our works, in our conversion.  We know that following the example of Jesus Christ and presenting his Gospel to others will solidify our own foundation that will be strong for the eternity as we continue to live the Doctrine of Christ.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful daughters with us!  They and growing and changing and their level of conversion is growing.

They are here for a purpose and we are grateful for their loving service and that we can adopt them into our Mission Family!

Sister Barnett heads back to Temple Square!

 One of the hardest things about having a Sister Missionary come work with us in the Arizona Phoenix Mission from the Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake City is...


They have to go home!

Sweet Sister Barnett has been with us since December and we consider her "ours" as well!

 She has been in a "tripanionship" with Sisters Garcia and Robinson so that when she goes back to the COLD of Salt Lake, she will leave a companionship ready and working in the area she has been in.

 We just had to take this shot by our beautiful flowering orange tree.  It is covered with blossoms and smells so good!  This tree did not have a single blossom or orange this past season...so we had them come give it some TLC and now look at it!  Can't wait for next spring!  OK, really, we CAN wait for next spring.  Time goes way too fast on a mission in the first place!

 We got some photos of Sister Barnett picking some of the lingering grapefruit.

 We had a traditional Cafe Rio knockoff dinner to celebrate the service of Sister Barnett.

And we finished the night with ice cream sundaes!

 The next morning we were all off to the airport to see Sister Barnett off on her way back to Salt Lake.  She will serve there until May when she completes her mission.  We look forward to seeing her again someday!  She is part of the APM forever!

And away she goes through security...we wait and watch so she knows she is not alone until she is through and on her way to the gate.

Thanks to Sister Barnett for her loving service here.  We know she was here to bless our lives with her testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  She is strong and pure.  I hope to be like her a bit more each day!

Out With Sisters March 2013

 If you have looked at this blog much, you know that one of the things I have grown to love even more, is going out with the Sisters of this mission.

I try to get to a variety of missionary activities and this time I spent the evening with Sisters Zidek and Greenwood.  We had two INCREDIBLE lessons because of who they are, how they teach and how they LOVE!  My Spanish is far from perfect, but I love the challenge of understanding and expressing myself and try really hard not to mess anything up in their lessons :)
They are wonderful teachers because the Spirit is their third companion!!

When I finally got them back home to their place, I got to see the other companionship in their apartment, Sisters...Carter and Carter?  Well, that is what their nametags said!  Oh yes, sometimes they either grab the wrong tag or forget one and use the other Sisters extra.  Pretty funny!  I had to get a photo of them (Scott and Carter for real)

This week I was really busy and out a lot with Sisters.

Wednesday night I went out with Sister Parks and Vallejo to teach a pre-baptism lesson.

What fun personalities and love these two have for all that they come in contact with.  We had a blast!

The next night I got to go over to Surprise to go with Sisters Chord and Muhlestein.  They are adorable and we taught the most fun Mom and Daughter with her two little ones Mia and Kai.  It was an animated discussion that they managed to get back on track.  The Spirit was brought into this home and truths were taught!

 Friday was a "Two-fer" starting up in Prescott with comp study with Sisters Groo and Jensen...then going with them to their District meeting which was really good!

And ending the day up with Sisters Larson and Culler up in Sedona in beautiful redrock country.

We knocked doors of less active members and did not find any home, but met some fun and interesting people...we will just leave it at that:)

March Visitors 2013

We love having visitors at the Mission Home!  This month we have had a bunch that were delightful! First we had a visit from Scott Bartlett and his Father.  Yes, we only saw Scott a couple weeks ago when he went home, but Dad had business in the area so they are back for a quick visit.  And it was great to have that ready laugh and smile in our home again! He is doing GREAT and we know he has a solid foundation for life!  He will be happy and successful!  Can't wait to see him again one of these days!

Next we had a visit from one of our newer missionaries family, Elder Parry.  They were down for some of the Spring Training games that are in the area and stopped by to meet us.  We got to meet Dad, Mom, Isaac and Sam.  What a great support Elder Parry has from home!  (As well as another brother on a mission!)  We hope they will stop and see us next year when they come down.  

We were glad to report that they have an incredible son and that we had just seen him at a recent conference.                                                              Sunday night we had a visit from Tayler Briggs, who went home about a year ago!  Oh, it was so good to see her and she is still BEAUTIFUL!  So fun to meet her Mom as well.  We can see why she has so much energy and love!  Takes after Mom. 

We had a visit from Elder Harlines Mom, brother Sam and Uncle.  Mom is in town to help out her sister so it was great to meet one of our current missionary's families!  We look forward to seeing them this summer, with Alex, after his mission!







This week we had a couple more great visits from returned missionaries and family.
Sean Catlett and his folks stopped by for a while and it was so wonderful to see him again and to meet his great parents.  Life is good when you live what you taught on your mission!







And then Taylor Bird and his Uncle Todd stopped by for lunch today and we talked for a long time about all the good things in our lives that we are so grateful for!
One of them for us is the blessing of the
ARIZONA PHOENIX MISSION and what it means to us to serve our Savior.





When we meet these families, we know why we have the best missionaries in the world!

THANKS FOR THE VISITS!!

A Special Visitor

 We have many special visitors in the Mission Home.  Today we had the privilege of hosting Elder Walker from the Seventy in our home after spending the weekend with him in conferences in Prescott Valley.


He is just delightful to visit with and we found we had lots in common with our love for both missionary work and temples.

 Elder Walker was gracious enough to sign our mission flag, which is filling up so rapidly that it is really hard to believe how many signatures are on it!


Elder Walker served his mission in Japan and then  went back there to serve as Mission President when he still had 3 children at home.  They had a great mission experience!

The Assistants were excited to stop by and say hello while he was here with us and of course, have the photo op!

Elder Walker is a wonderful person and we admire his hard work and dedication to his calling.  He is on the road all the time and still so connected to his home and family.
We look forward to our interactions with Elder Walker if he is still the GA over temples when our temple here in Phoenix is done next year.

Leadership March 2013

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


This week we had our quarterly LEADERSHIP MEETING for all Zone and District Leaders and Coordinating Sisters.

It was a full day of wonderful instruction on a very personal level with this great group!

 We met in the Surprise North Stake Center so this stake could feed us lunch and it was GREAT!


We love getting to socialize with friends from the mission.







In the afternoon we had an activity helping us practice asking for referrals.

We had the whole chapel abuzz with ASKING!










We find that as we EXPLAIN
DEMONSTRATE
PRACTICE
EVALUATE
RE-PRACTICE








This is the work of the Lord.  It is His work and we work alongside Him.
Oh how we admire and love these servants who share their love by working diligently to share the happiness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to all our brothers and sisters here in this mission area.




We appreciate the great teaching of our Assistants.  They are capable and motivated purely by love.  It was an incredible day together.

The APM is in good hands with this crew of leaders!

Front:  Elder and Sister King, Sisters Hawkins, Fluckiger, Baumgartner and Folsom.  Elders Hilton, Harline, and A. Jensen.  Sister and President Taylor, Sister Rodgers, Elders Burrows,  Brothers, Peterson, & Campbell.
In front of Stage: Elders E Jones, Miller, Denny, Barlow, Nield, Lynn, Tucker, Shute, Gorham, Wardle, Bangerter, W. Larsen, Wheelwright, Barber, Shelton, Kane, Westlund, Marble, Neves, Hamblin, Weiler, Robinson and President Morris.
Seated on Stage: Elders Castanos, Arias, S. Larsen, P. Wilson, Mack, Davies, Dunn, Whipple, Cardoso, Hernandez, Hall, Knabbe.
Back Row: Elders O'Neal, Knobbe, Wade, Burden, Bartleson, Vaoga, C. Anderson, Bruegger, Fagersten, Barley, Heiner, Gerritsen, B Jones, Absher, Doolhoff, D. Gerber, Hughes, Griffin and Cassiano.