Our last days at the MTC

Well we are on our last hours at the MTC. We are going to miss all the wonderful people we have met and the spirit we feel 24-7. I have included pictures of our computer class and the beautiful trees and flowers around the MTC. The blossoms are from a tree called a tulip tree. They look exactly like tulips. Hope to get one of those when we get home. Saturday Gene and I took a shuttle to the Orem Mall and I picked up some new shoes. EARTH shoes that is. I found out I can't wear thrift store shoes all the time. My feet were killing me.

I checked the weather report for Frankfurt and it said it is 67 degrees and will be raining when we get there on Tuesday morning their time. I need to figure the time out because we have to decided the best time to call and use the computer. Dad says Germany is 9 hours ahead of us. Someone with some brains please figure out when we could talk?

We will be signing out of the MTC at 5:00 AM and on our way by 8:15. I thought it would be wise to let you all know the details of our flight in case anything goes wrong. You know me.

Flying at 8:15 to Dallas Texas on American Airlines flight 1986 and will arrive there at 1155AM. We have a layover for 2 1/2 hours. We fly on American Airlines to Frankfurt at 2:40 on flight 70. We are to arrive in Frankfurt at 720 AM Tuesday. Our flight from Dallas to Frankfurt is almost 10 hours. We don't have very good seats. We are in the middle and people are on either side of us. They will be feeding us breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also for our enjoyment a movie or4.

Can't wait to get to Germany. We were told we could go to the Oberammgua Passion Play but tickets would be hard to get. You have to stay in their hotel for two nights and they pay for the meals plus the play which is 6 hours long. It has been presented every ten years since 1600. And this is the year it is on. Well the price is 1,100 per person. It is worth it but guess what you can't find tickets. People have reserved them since the last play. The whole town participates in the production. This is the story of why they stated the play.

When the black death(plague) hit Europe in 1633, killing 1/3 of the population of Europe, the people of Oberammgua prayed and promised that if God preserved the town from the plague they would do a play about Christ's life, crucifiction and ressurection. The plagued passed them by and they are still putting the play on.

When we get to Germany they will set us up with a land line and we will immediately get high speed internet service. We bought a device called Magic Jack. We are suppose to be able to plug it into our Internet service and call anybody for free. Hope it works. So hold on tell we get things set up. Need to go to bed now, have to get up by 3:30. Enjoy the pictures.

Done with Computer classes

Big surprise, we woke up this morning to snow. It was really coming down. The temperature dropped from 78 to 32 degrees. I can't believe this weather.

This was our last day in the computer classes. We had a huge test with no one to help us. You won't believe Dad he's doing the paper work for opening a new apartment, Taking receipts from Missionaries and putting them into the right account and starting a new vendor. He said he felt like leaving because he couldn't do everything. I just kept praying for him. He said something just told him not to leave. I didn't do everything that was asked of me either. It was hard. I think the hardest thing for me to do was to create a news letter. I wish my daughter Dawn was here to do it for me. We just need some practice.

Yesterday one of the sisters in our computer group brought in some cupcakes for my birthday and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. It was so nice. The best present I had was to be in this wonderful place. I know how it feels to wear yourself out in the service of the Lord. I have included a few pictures of all of us in the computer lab. We all bore our testimonies and cried like babies. The spirit is very strong here. Brother and sister Tippetts are going to Belgium and the Rapier's are going to the Mesa, AZ Mission home office. I'll miss those girls, they were lots of fun. The Rapier's have only been married 5 yrs and they are already on a mission.

Tonight we had lots of fun in our German tutoring. Gene and I and the Ybarra's had to do some role playing. We were two sisters introducing ourselves in Relief Society. We learned allot. Tomorrow since we have no more classes to go to, we are concentrating more on our German. I hope we get allot better before we go to Germany.

04-20.2010 Found Elder Facuri

As you can see we found Elder Facuri or rather he found us in the cafeteria. What a sweetheart he is he actually came over to our table and talked with us for a long time. After eating one day we saw him and his two companions outside the building and they let us take a couple of pictures. He seems very happy and loving the MTC. If anyone sees this blog be sure and tell his mother and dad that they can be extremely proud that they raised such a wonderful young man.

The next two pictures you will see are of Gene and I and our German Tutor, Craig Meister (unser leherer). They say he's the best in the MTC. He grew up speaking German in Indiana then went on his mission to Greece (so he speaks Greek) and he is now studying Latin and Greek at the Y. He graduates in April and then goes to the Universitat in Leipzig, Germany this summer. He has a gift for languages. We only have a few more days with him until we are on our own. Our lesson today was: Pretend the Mission President asks you to find an apartment in Frankfurt for the Missionaries. We had 3 minutes to find the words we needed and he was the rental manager. That was a hard one, but we had to ask him how much the security deposit was?, how much it cost per month? How many bedrooms? Do we sign a contract and for how long could we rent it? He spoke German so fast. I seem to be able to understand alot but Gene recalls words better than I so we figured it all out.

Tell Mazzy to look up these words we had to use: schlafzimmer, vertrag, versicherung unterlag, verfugbar, wohnung. You better e-mail me back and tell me what they say. I really do love the language.

we also had our second computer class. The computers went down so we sat through 9 hours of lectures on how to run the outlook program, how to transfer missionaries, pay mission bills, make calendars and a whole lot more. Gene almost fell asleep but he stuck it out. He said he hope when we get to the mission home, the Mission President asks him to do something outside. Me, I prefer to run the place. They said Frankfurt is the hub for Europe. Everything runs out of Frankfurt. They said when the General Authorites fly to Europe they always come by way of Frankfurt and come into the office. They also said we would get to know all the Missionaries by name. Can't wait. Going to bed, thanks for listening.

Computer classes

Oh my what a day we had. Our computer classes started. We had to learn 4 computer programs in 6 hours. The Microsoft Excell, IMOS which is the church program to run the mission(finances, rentals, transfers, letters), how to make a Newsletter and Microsoft 2007. Dad was overwhelmed to say the least. He stuck in there however, and I think he learned al ot. I was in heaven. You know how I like organizing people and things. Not sure exactly what we will be doing at the Mission home but we will do what the Lord asks us.

Today someone told us they had a couple who was called to the Germany mission and when they got there the Mission President asked them if they would go to Poland and find the members of the church there. He gave them a car, gas card and a map. Are you kidding me! Then someone else said are you the couple going to Germany who will be over the CES program. I said I had no idea what we will be doing. I did mention however in our Mission papers that Gene was a Seminary teacher. That would be a fun one.

Dad wanted me to tell you all that the first night we were here it snowed and then rained the next day. So we are now officially into spring with 78 degree weather. All the couples we knew have gone onto their mission assignments. They say you really don't know what you will be doing until you get to your mission. We are very busy all the time but we love it. Our spirituality level has gone way up. I don't even care about going to the movies or watching TV any more. I guess it is true when you spend 24-7 thinking about Christ and loving others, you don't have time to do nonsensical things.

We went to a great devotional last night. The speaker was Steven Allen from the church Communications. He is in charge of producing and directing all the info commercials. He showed us clips from 10 of them.

Church Tidbits

Well a week has already passed and we had some great Sunday meeting talks. We were able to watch the spoken word over a broadcast and it was beautiful. Check on the BYU channel and watch it on Sunday mornings. The choir sings about 5 songs with beautiful pictures of nature to look at. The campus is so beautiful. Spring is finally here. The pink blossoms on the trees are grand and all around the grounds are tulips, lilacs(smells so good), pansies, and lilies. We went to the Temple yesterday and the Provo temple is the busiest temple in the US. More endowments are done there. They have a session every 20 min. The grounds have water features and beautiful gardens. We had dinner with the group and dad and I waited almost 2 hours for a bus to go to Orem. Guess what, no one told us the bus only comes twice a day on Saturday.

We took some pictures and I will be adding those onto my blog. Dad said the Priesthood meeting had some really good speakers. One speaker gave the following thoughts. "If you young men do not feel worthy to fill a mission and you are only here because your parents expect you to go and you don't want to disappoint them. When you are here at the MTC and you think while you are here you will keep that transgression to yourself, the following will happen to you. When you get here and see the righteous young men and women who study, pray, and work together to prepare for a mission, the feelings of guilt will be overwhelming". So remember that when your time comes to go on a mission. Keep yourself worthy.

04-2010 Talk From Glen L. Pace

What a day today. This is the last day we will see all the other couple missionaries. They are all leaving on Sunday. As you know we will be staying here for another week to learn about computers and to continue on with our German lessons. We had a big surprise from Craig Meister our Lerer (teacher) he told us we were going to bear our testimonies in Deutsch, in front of all the other couples who are learning a foreign language. We heard testimonies in Russian, Tagalog from the Philippines, French, Bulgarian and German. Even though we didn't understand much, we sure felt the spirit. Our teacher said he didn't want us taking any notes up with us so we didn't. The Lord blessed us I know. I was scared to death. Now that is over we just have to be able to do it in Germany.

I'm getting excited but oh how tired I am. Gene is still nursing his blisters on his feet. walking 10 miles in regular shoes was not a good idea. Dad is having a caffeine melt down. He's done really good without it but he still has the desire. Tomorrow he wants us to take a bus to the mall and get a Pepsi and a hamburger. I need a pedicure. All this walking has made my feet bigger. It's amazing. I think we are walking about 2 miles a day and my back hardly hurts. What hurts are my feet. I left my new brown shoes at home so all I have are worn out black shoes from the thrift store. I will wait until I get to Germany and get some authentic German ones.

I wanted to tell you about the talk we heard from Glen L. Pace. The subject matter was interesting and amazing. He said he and his wife had been on two missions as a couple. During the first one his father died of a heart attack. After his first mission he had bypass surgery and he died for 4 minutes. After he was brought back to life and given a blessing (Which said that his work was not yet finished), he remembered something that he saw. He was at the door of the spirit world. He was surrounded by darkness and he was searching for someone. He cried out for his father but he could not see him. Then he felt his presence behind him. His father told him he could not go with him and they both cried. On his second second mission his mother was dying. He got home just days before she did die. He went to the hospital and was talking to her and he asked her, "Have you seen Dad?" she said "Yes, he's here all the time, except when he's at choir practice. He said that was not an unusual thing for her to say because when his dad was a Bishop he was gone all the time but his mother insisted he was home with the family for dinner on Sundays. One Sunday he was late and she asked him, "Where have you been?" he said "I've been to choir practice." She didn't like that one bit. He asked her what she could see, and she said the flowers are indescribable. Another point he made was that as we become more righteous the vale between here and the spirit world becomes thinner and thinner. It is wonderous to know that we have the spiritual DNA of our Heavenly Father.

I know those who have passed on can see us and they long to be with us. They are there to help us, to support us in our sorrows. I hope that our children are comforted by that fact. Dad and I know the Church is true, please read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. It will bring a lot of joy in your life. We are here because we love you all. We want you to be happy families. We pray for all of you. Signing off for now.

04-2010 Talk on Missions in Tahiti & New Zeland

Today dad walked to Orem to see an opthomologist about his eye. It was 10 miles round trip and by the time he got back, he had 2 inch blisters on the bottoms of both of his feet. He is not a happy camper. The doctor said he scratched his eye and it is now infected so he has drops to put in 3 times a day.

We had a wonderful talk today from a couple who have been on 4 missions . Three of them have been to Tahiti and one to New Zeland. He told us a very interesting story. He said the people in the islands don't wear any clothes when it gets really hot but they stay near their homes. If you approach a home you are to holler out. If they want you to come in they will holler back. He said when they got there they went to visit every one on the island asking if they knew anyone who was Mormon. They said they visited with a little old woman who said I am a member but I want you to visit my granddaughter who lives on the other side of the island. They found the granddaughter who said she wanted her husband and her 19 children to be baptized. She said to them. "How did you know we needed the missionaries here? and the couple said, "Your grandma asked us to come visit with you." She answered, "My grandma has been dead 10 years." They went back to where they saw the little old lady and no one knew who they were talking about. That is proof that our loved ones look after us even after death.

Gene and I are into our German heavily now. Dad studies constantly. I can put sentences together but he knows all the words so I think we will make out alright. Our German tutor had another Elder with him tonight. He said he was there to witness for himself how well we were doing. They are amazed. We don't think we are doing that great but I guess someone does. We do love the language. It's great to remember that the original bible was first translated by the German people. We are both proud of our heritage.

04-2010 Learning the Decussions

Another eventful day. We have been busy learning the first dicussion which is all about the Restoration of the Gospel. Today we learned to give the second dicussion about the Plan of Salvation. In German that would be Der Erlosergsplan. We had to give it to another pretend investigator who actually turned out to be an ex Mission President. He was a hard cookie to crack but he said we did great.

Tonight we went to our first devotional. Our guest speaker was Glen L. Pace who is a 70. He is a special witness for Christ. He requested that it not be televised because he had something very sacred to tell us. We will record it and let you know all about it when we get back from our mission.
Tomorrow is another busy day, we will meet with our German tutor. We met him in the cafeteria for the first time. He is such a good teacher. He told us we were going to be speaking German in no time. signing off for now. The gospel is true. Read your scriptures and say your prayers every day and night your life will go a lot smoother.

04-2010 Missionary Training Center

We are busy and happy at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. We have met some wonderful couples here. Our first day they asked if anyone could play the piano, only one sister raised her hand. I was not about to show how well I could play. Then they asked if anyone could lead the music. I was the only one that raised their hand, so guess who is now the permanent chorister? I can't believe that out of 60 couples only one person could play the Piano or lead the music. I thought these were Mormon women? I really enjoyed it. Everyone already knows I am crazy. I make them laugh all the time.

Dad says hes so emotional. All the talks, videos and music are so inspiring. He said he might even join the choir. He loved looking at all the beautiful paintings hanging in the foyer. They are all of different people being baptized in different parts of the world. One especially was awe inspiring. Cutting the ice to baptize someone in Russia. The Church is true we are sure of that.

They keep us so busy here we only had time to drop our bags off and go to class. We study all day long. We didn't get to put our clothes away until 10:00 PM. By then we were both ready to drop. But guess what the Lord gives you strength for another day of the same. The food here is endless. Dad finds the chocolate chip cookies irresistible. We are both going to have to be rolled on the plane to Germany.

By the way we are staying at the MTC for an additional week for computer training. Since we will be working in the Mission home we have to know the latest computer programs dealing with transfers of Missionaries, Finances and maintaining the missionary cars and apartments. I think we will both be busy. Some of the couples who have been on missions before and have worked in the Mission offices say we are going to be doing everything the Mission President does not have time to do. I guess there's no rest for the wicked.

Our second day was just as full. We gave our first discussion to a little old couple who dropped by our apartment pretending to be investigators. I gave part of the discussion and dad gave the rest on the apostacy and restoration. We were only suppose to spend 5 min. finding out about them personally, but it turned out to be a 25 min. discussion. I can't tell you what a delight it was, it went something like this.

First of all they were a married couple. She was 87 yrs old and he was 79. They met after she served a mission in her homeland of Leeds, England which is about 30 miles from Preston, England, which is the birth place of Peter Maughan who was converted to the gospel by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimbal in 1860. This is where an entire church of England congregation was converted to the gospel. She said that when Brigham Young wrote to Joseph Smith about feeling like he was walking on sacred ground when they arrived in Preston, Eng. to preach the gospel, Joseph Smith wrote back that indeed it was hallowed ground. that after the crucifiction of Christ some of his apostles actually walked that ground and dedicated it to the preaching of the gospel.

That was just the beginning of her life. Her name was Nancy Tenney and she lived in England during WWII. She said there was only 15 or so members. In her town of Leeds, there was a POW camp for captured German soldiers. In that group was a member of the church who wrote to the Mission President and asked if members of the church could visit him and preach the gospel to three other German soldiers. Permission was granted and after the War ended all three were baptized. During the time they were incarcerated. The ladies in the Relief Society would share their sugar, butter, mayonaise and flour with the Germans prisoners. It is true, the church is the same no matter where you go.

We enjoyed their visit and she said to me, I can tell you are English. You have that look about you. Funny, someone else told me today I looked like I was German. I like that. I will tell you another wonderful story tomorrow so stay tuned.

03.10.2010 Preparing tp Leave

These have been progressing around the Walters compound. Gene has finally finished what he wanted to do. It has always wanted to have a concrete driveway on the property and he was able to pour three sections with help from Josh and his friend Adam. Landscaping the property has been another priority. Trees and shrubs and flowers have been planted between the houses .
We have had plenty of rain this season and hope to have more which has been a great blesing to the plants around here.

On March 28th we had our farewell talks in Sacrament meeting. Gene spoke on Temples and I spoke on Family History work. Later that day we got together with the entire family. It was wonderful to see everyone there. We missed having Adam there as he is in Texas getting ready to go to Chili to help rebuilt bridges that were destroyed by the big earthquake.

The time is fast approaching that we will bid our family adieu and go to Germany to serve the Lord. Kim will be taking care of the property and Josh and Brad will be overseeing the Guest house. I really am going to miss this house but not as much as I am the family. I was just thinking. I will be missing Court's graduation from USC. Dawn and Sam being sealed in the Temple. Jake going on his Mission, Rachel's graduation from Woodbury,and a new great grandchild being born .

We leave for the MTC on Monday the 12th at 4:30 AM. I know this is going to be a busy day. We will be there for 2 weeks to study missionary lessons and to improve on our German. We can actually speak a little German now, thanks to our tutor Elder Meister. We hope to be working more with the German people and helping them learn about the gospel. I'll write more when we get to the MTC,

Laying the Concrete Driveway

Things have really been moving forward in preparation for our Mission.




















Gene has completed most of the projects he wanted to get done before he left. Most of the landscaping has been done and a partial concrete drive-way was installed. Josh and Adam helped out alot. See photos.

We had a wonderful farewell program at church. Gene spoke on Temples and I spoke on Family history work, my favorite subject. NEWS FLASH. Our Mission was changed from the Family History Library to the Mission Home. We can't imagine what that would be, but we will still have time to do some searching for our ancestors who lived in Germany. I think the Lord has a hand in our being assigned to the Mission Home.