JANUARY VISITORS 2014

 It is not far into January yet, but we have had a few visitors in the Mission Home!

We were delighted to have Dax Gerber stop in again...this time with most of his family.  How fun to meet his Mom and three of his four brothers and his Sister.

They were excited that the oranges were ready to be picked.

We spent some time picking oranges and also seeing little sister perform some gymnastics on the lawn!

Next we had Kyle Bradfield stop in for a while.  He was joined by his buddies from back home, who hit the road with him to check out AZ in the wintertime...best time ever!!

 And yes, he found his name on the flag!

 It was a "prep day" for us, so we were in our workout clothes and comfy at home!

 The next day we were visited by two returned Sisters, Jennica Anderson and Maria Garcia, joined by one of their sweet converts, Kim.
Kim was sealed in the temple to her parents that day, so it was great to see her again after her baptism!
And...SO GOOD to see our sweet Jennica and Maria again!!!

One of the SWEETEST visits we have ever had here, was someone truly coming HOME to the Mission Home!
We were delighted to have Sister Debra Beck stop in for a visit while she and Paul were here on business.  They were the President and Wife who served here in the APM before we did and who were instrumental in creating the culture of obedience that is part of this great mission.
We talked about how hard it was/will be to leave this place.  How no one but another Mission President/Wife can really understand the journey that we have been on.  We thank the Becks for who they are, and how they blessed this mission.  They are part of our journey and we, like the Becks, are so grateful for every day we have served here!

We have had another visitor to the Mission Home this week...Jordan Freeman made the trip back to visit.  It was SO GOOD to see him.
He is doing wonderful!

 We finished the month with a couple more special visitors.
First we had Ben Burden and his Dad meet us to hike over at Thunderbird Conservation Area near the Phoenix Temple.  We met at the temple before our hike...the temple is really coming along with landscaping added every week.





We did our loop over around the hill north of the temple and enjoyed visiting with Ben and his Father.  They enjoy being out and about, so this was a good excuse to have some extra time with them.









We had them come back over to the house so we could meet Sister Burden as well.
We feel like we know the parents of our missionaries just from what great kids they have...and we just knew how great the Burden family was from our interactions with them and with Ben on his mission.  What a sweet experience to come back to visit your mission with your family!



Ben was not alone in that idea this weekend.
Austin Bartleson was also back with his Mom for the weekend so we had a double visit from him and his sweet Mom.  We had seen them for a bit at the mission office on Thursday, but they took time to come back to the Mission Home on Sunday as well!
How great to see how happy Austin is as well.  When you are living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and working hard, you will be happy.
THANK YOU FOR THE VISITS!
WE LOVE YOU!