Pinatas and Promises

See that cute little bear pinata?  It changed my whole life.  This was about 1977.  We had been married about 4 years and still did not have kids.  It was a very difficult time.  I know you won't believe this, but I was actually quite shy during this time.  I felt alone.  All of our friends had kids or a job and I had neither.  I don't remember if I even had a church calling.  I was kind of on "hold".

One day, a member of the Relief Society presidency called and asked me if I would make a pinata for an activity.  I remember giving her every excuse I could think of to not do it.  At one point, I remember "listening" to myself.  What a whiner I was! I didn't like that about me so I said yes.  Not only that, I promised myself that I would say yes whenever I was asked to do something.  I have tried to do that for these past 40 years.  It has made me a better person.  I have served in callings that were way above me.  I was a ward YW president at 24 and Stake YW president at 25; Ward Primary President twice and Stake Primary President; Relief Society President and in many other presidencies.  I don't say that to brag, but in thankfulness for that one tiny decision to say yes.  Every calling I have had has had difficult aspects to it.  But once the decision is made to just do it, every thing else falls in to place.  I have had the honor of working with some amazing people!  Women and men.  I am so grateful for that small decision so many years ago.  Just say yes.

Christmas 2014

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t73SNi94I2Tga_y2mZ1O5p-82qS3Nvfa/view?usp=sharing

Trying to figure out how to get a PDF of our past Christmas letters on here.  Can you see it?

Choose Love

A few weeks ago we went to church in Steve and Heidi's ward.  A woman spoke and her words have left a lasting impression on me.  She told a little about herself.  She was a single mom with one child when she met her now husband.  She told the story of how they got together.  They now have 6 more children.  (And she's one of those women who looks like a teenager herself!)  She talked about some of the trials they have had.  She told about the theme they had as a family.  It was simply "Choose Love".  That really hit home to me.

I don't know if you know this about me, but every year I try to choose a word that symbolizes what I want for the coming year.  Most of the time the word is "Less".  Less stuff, less stress, less negativity.  Once it was "Idaho" because I really want to move there!  This year I decided to use two words: "Choose Love".  It packs a wallop!  When someone has really annoyed me, choose love.  When someone has let me down, choose love.  When I am asked for the 12th time in a day where his car keys are, choose love.

The picture above mostly relates to parents dealing with children.  But choosing love is also important at work, in our church callings and with family and friends.

So those are my words for this year.  I will choose love.  And I hope you all feel it!

43 Years Together!

Today is our 43rd anniversary.  We celebrated it in a special way.  We worked in the temple!  Our shift coordinators were very kind to us.  First, Reed and I got to do sealings.  It was awesome to kneel across the alter from each other and try to remember what it was like 43 years ago. It felt so "right" to be there doing that.

Then we got to take a couple going through the temple for the first  time through initiatory.  Turns out it was John Clark and his wife!  That was so awesome!  I guess it's not very often that we get "live" patrons on our shift.  Because it's a Wednesday morning.  Many people who have worked there for years have not had that opportunity.  And then to have it be someone we know made it extra special!

After that, Reed and I got to have lunch together and then we were both #3 in the session.  That was cool, too.  It was a great day!  

Reed got to ride in the back of a police car!

This is a journal entry from a year ago, but I like what it says so I am sharing here:

OK, OK.  No big deal.  We had to run some errands this morning and he dropped me off so I could go inside an office.  When he turned around, he backed into a car.  It made a little dent.  He didn't want to leave his number in the windshield so he took the license plate number down and thought he would just go to the police station and report it.  So then we went to the police station.

I was waiting in the car.  It took a long time!  I was getting very concerned.  Then I see him come out with two police officers!  He walks over to me and tells me he has to go with the officers!  They wanted to see where the "accident" took place.  (!)  They told him that they would bring him back to the office and I could drive the truck myself.  (!!!!!!!!)  This was the first time I had driven the truck and I was on my own!  I watched as they took my husband away in the back of a police car!  (I wish I had taken a picture!)  Then I had to back out of a very tight spot and drive across traffic on a blind corner to get to the side of the road I needed to be on.  Stress!

They finally brought him back to the office safe and sound.  A funny thing is that the police ran the license plate number through the system to see if they could come up with a name.  It said it was registered to a white, 4 door car.  He hit a car that was a blue hatchback.  Hmmmm.....  The policeman said the person whose car was hit would probably not be reporting it to the police.

Anyway, that stressed us both out so we went home and had lunch.  Reed got on his swim suit and took a dip in the pool and then laid on a lawn chair for an hour reading his conference talk notes.  I rested on the bed, but I kept getting phone calls so I didn't get a lot of rest.
We came back to the office and will work late to make up for lost time.

In other news, I had strange dreams last night.  One was that I was mad at Doug for using all of my mascara.  I needed it to last until the end of my mission.  I found him touching up his beard and hair with it;  covering up the gray.  Weird!

The other dream wasn't weird at all.  It was wonderful.  I dreamed I saw the Savior.  He was a baby.  Just lying there with a beautiful glow about him.  I wanted it to last forever.  I have been reading a book called the infinite atonement and it is really impacting me.  I love it.  I am learning lots about the atonement.

And it still other news, we went shopping at Cost U Less and I found a bag of potatoes from Aberdeen, Idaho!  So cool!  I posted it on Facebook and someone commented that it was a little hug from my Mom.  I had not thought of that but it certainly could be!  Today is two weeks to the day of her birthday and her first funeral.  I sure miss her.

It's been a pretty good day.

True Love

Beware!  This is going to be mushy!

The other day, we went to the airport to pick up a Sr Sister who had gone to California for two weeks to help her daughter.  Her flight arrived and we waited over an hour and a half but she never came through the gate.

I knew something was wrong, so I called airport immigration.  Sure enough, they had her in the "blue chairs".  You don't ever want to have to go to the blue chairs.  That means they are detaining you and can even deny you entry.  I asked what the problem was and they said that she didn't have a return ticket back to the US so they were going to make her stay overnight in the airport and send her back in the morning!  I told them that I could help her buy a ticket back to the US if that would satisfy them and then would they let her in?  They said, yes, they would allow that.  They had to send a guard out front to get me.  I had to go through security and sign my life away.  I had to promise that I would not try to talk them out of buying a ticket.  I was only allowed to buy the ticket, show them and then (maybe) we could all leave.

I went back there and saw Sister Goddard.  She had been awake for 36 hours.  She is the kindest, most non threatening person you could ever meet.  And yet there she was, sitting on the blue chairs.  We chatted for a moment and then they led us to a computer where I could purchase a ticket.

I quickly bought the cheapest ticket I could find and showed the officer.  He kept asking me if I really paid for it.  I kept pointing to the place that said it was confirmed, so, yes, I had.  He finally wrote all the information down and let us go.

Since it was the Sr Confernece the next day, her husband was flying in from St Vincent in an hour so we just waited outside the airport for him to come.  Sister Goddard had told the Airport immigration about this and they told her he would also have to have a ticket to the US.  That worried us but we decided to just wait and see what would happen.

After a while, we see Elder Goddard walking through the gate!  Happy Day!  Sister Goddard jumped up and ran to him.  It was the sweetest thing!

I thought of how I would react if put in the same situation and I would have done the same thing.  I thought I knew what love was when I got married.  I was not even close.  Love grows and grows and grows as you share years and years and years.  As you have hopes and dreams and even nightmares together.  As you work together to raise a family, to stay faithful in the gospel, to grow old together.  Love grows deep and strong.

I have been thinking about how lucky Reed and I are to have each other.  The past 6 months have been especially difficult, but it has drawn the two of us together so much!  At the end of a long day, we can still laugh and talk and enjoy each other's company.  I am so grateful, not only for the love that Reed and I share, but the example of countless others who have stayed together through the good times and the bad.

Some days are hard.  Some weeks and months are hard!  But keeping the committment of being together forever is such a blessing and a joy.  We pray that each of our family will be able to feel that same joy.

We love YOU!

I didn't know I was tall until...

I didn't know I was tall until one day I was in the little department store in Aberdeen with Mom.  I was about 16.  We were just looking around and a sales lady, Mrs. Satterfield, came up and started chatting with Mom.  I was just kind of standing there.  At one point, Mrs. Satterfield looked at me and then asked my Mom, "Does it bother her that she is so tall?"  Two thoughts came to my mind.  One was, am I really that tall?!!  And the other was, does she think I am deaf as well as too tall?!!

I went home that day wondering if it was a bad thing that I was tall.  I had never looked at it in a bad way, but the way she said it made me have to stop and think about it.

Since we have been on our mission, I have noticed similar things happening to people who are being taught.  They go along with their lives thinking that everything they do is OK.  They don't know that it's wrong to smoke or drink or any number of other sins.  They don't know until someone points it out to them.  Then they have to analyze it and figure out if what they were told is true.

In my case of being too tall, I had to decide if that was a good or a bad thing.  There was a period of time after that that I was very self concious.  I even considered a surgery that you could have that would cut bone out of your legs and make you shorter.  After a while, I realized that God made me this tall and I really didn't want to be any other way!  There have been moments when I wished I was just a tad shorter, but then I wouldn't be me.  I am happy with how God made me.

As for those who have things pointed out to them about things that are possible to change, they, too, must decide if this is what they need to do.  We see this all the time as missionaries.  Some will say that they want to join the church, but they don't want the "surgery".  They don't want to change, so they won't.  Others try to change.  It is a very slow, painful process.  Some make it.  Some don't.  We have been working with Michael for quite some time.  He comes to church more often than many members!  But, he has been a Rastifarian for many years and smokes both cigarettes and marijuana.  He is having a very difficult time stopping.  He is trying, so hard!  We pray he will continue to try.

The other day, Reed showed me a tie.  It had ink marks all over it.  He didn't know how they got there but he couldn't wear it the way it was.  We had two choices.  We could just throw it away, or try to clean it.  We decided to try and clean it because even if the cleaning didn't work, we would have lost nothing.

I got some hand sanitizer and worked it into the ink spots.  In a matter of seconds, the ink was gone!  I then rinsed it in water and let it dry.

It worked!  That which we thought was lost, was saved.  It was sanitized and cleansed.  The same happens all the time in our lives and in those around us.  The cleansing power of the Atonement works every time.  It's worth the effort.  And we have nothing to lose.

We love YOU!

Sea Roaches!

Who knew they existed?  Certainly not I!!!  As we were walking along the beach the other day, we saw a man who was doing something we had never seen before.  We walked over to him and asked what he was doing.  He had two sardines staked out like this:

The waves would come up and wash over the fish and then he would dig in the sand under the fish and pull out these little white bugs...sea roaches!  He showed us how he caught them.  He used the fish as bait.  When the water receded from the fish, you could actually see the fish moving!  It was dead but it was moving because the sea roaches were just below the fish, eating it!  He would reach under the fish and pull up a handful.

They did look a lot like roaches.  We asked him what he used them for.  He said that he uses them for bait.  It's interesting that he had to use a fish as bait to get more bait to get fish!

Even though I am not a fan of fish or sea roaches, I have to admit that there is a lesson in his process. As a fisherman, he takes something that he values and uses it to bring him something that will allow him to get more of what he values.

This is a parallel to the way the Lord works with us, the weak things of the earth. We are not much like him, far from perfect, and not always even wanting to serve him, but He works with us as we are, bringing us in and using us in whatever ways He can to further his work, to spread his gospel and bring people to him.

We may even look like sea roaches to him, but we are so grateful he loves us just the way we are.

And we love YOU!

Happy Birthday!

Grandpa had a birthday!  He got a little misty eyed reading your letters before we went to the office.  He (WE!) sure love you all and are so grateful for your love and support!

In the afternoon, we took a few hours off and drove up the west coast of Barbados.  We stopped for lunch at a place called the Beach House.  It had a Bajan buffet.  Grandpa really liked it.  Gremma, not so much.  They like different spices than I do!  The dessert was fabulous and free!  The words and designs are written in chocolate!  Mmmmmm....

 I loved watching the little bird enjoying the fruit on someone's glass.  I hope they were finished with it!

We went and had a little swim and then we drove a little further north and Grandpa found an old light house to climb.

Here are two things that I love about Grandpa.  He is curious and he loves life!  I am so grateful that he is not the kind of man who sits around watching TV.  He is a man of action.  We hope that you, too, will be people of action.  Pursue your dreams and interests.  There are so many exciting things out there waiting to be discovered and appreciated!  

We are so grateful that we took the opportunity of going on a mission.  It's one of the best things we have ever done in our lives.  Thank you for your love and support.

We love YOU!

She's Gone

 This is very difficult to write.  Two weeks ago today my beautiful mother passed away.  Several months ago when I told her we were extending our mission she gasped and said, "I don't think I can live that long!"  She was right.   We flew home the day after our original release date and she died two days later.  I miss her so much.  I love this picture because it shows Mom with her perpetual smile.  It also shows what a great family I have.  When we got to the hospital on Friday night, they were having a party!  There was so much love shared between us all.  That is pretty amazing considering that we are steps, and halfs and halfs again.  We all worked together very well when it was time to make arrangements.

I love you Mom.  I am so grateful for the woman you were and are.  You taught me well and left a wonderful posterity.  I look forward to seeing you again.

African?

I had a funny thing happen in Primary today.  Kalaya is 4 years old and very smart.  She likes to comb my hair and "plait" it.  (Braid).  She was pulling my hair up and kind of gasped!  She said that my hair was turning black!  Then she said maybe I was turning in to an African!  I thought it was so cute!  

Endings...

We had to go to Martinique because our visa in Barbados was expiring. We were glad that we got to spend some time with some of the people that we love so much.  The members are amazing!  And we got to know the missionaries who are serving there now a little bit better.  One of our favorite things to do is to walk behind our apartment at sunset.  Such a beautiful view.  

We love how the clouds drifted over the tops of the pitons.  We have loved our time in Martinique and may not ever be able to come back.  We have our memories tho and we feel like we made a little difference.  There have been several baptisms while we were gone these past 3 months.  We didn't think we had any part in them but we learned that a member credits us with encouraging him to share the gospel with family and friends.  We don't even remember it but he took the encouragement to heart and there have been at least 4 baptisms of his family and friends since then!  That really warmed our hearts.

That was a lesson to us.  You never know which words you say will be acted on by someone else.  It is always better to use words of encouragement and love than words of anger and hate.

It won't be long at all until we are home and our West Indies experience will be behind us.  As we look at the sun setting on this experience, we look forward to the sun rising on so many new experiences.  We can't wait to see you all!

Remember that we love YOU!

How will you react?

We are back in Martinique!  It is nice to be here and renew old friendships!  We visited two special sisters today.  One is Sister Pedale.  She is an older lady who has a hard time getting around.  She used to have us come over for lunch about twice a month.  She loves to sing and she loves us for some reason!  She speaks a little english and always tells us she loves us and that we make her happy.  She was our first stop.  We had the Sister missionaries arrive before us.  They were all singing a song when we walked in.  It was so priceless to see Sister Pedale's face!  She smiled broadly and welcomed us with open arms!  She cried!  She kissed me!  She hugged us!  It was pure love and happiness!

Then we went to visit Sister Martial.  We just love her!  She is a stalwart of the branch.  As we drove in to her yard, we could see her on her patio straining to see who was driving in.  Then suddenly she was gone!  We talked to the daughter for a while and waited about 5 minutes for Sister Martial to return.  We had a wonderful visit.  She is from St Lucia so she speaks very good English.

After we left, I got to thinking about the two very different reactions to our surprise visit.  One just welcomed us as she was.  She was in a house dress and not expecting company, but she just let herself fully enjoy the moment.  The other was more concerned about her apperance.  She ran inside to change because she didn't want us to think less of her I guess.  We didn't care.  We love her anyway.

It made me think of the Savior and made me wonder what my reaction will be when he comes again.  I'm pretty sure it will be a surprise!  Will my reaction be to accept him with open heart and arms?  Or will I be concerned about how I look or what I am doing?  I hope I will be like the first sister.  I hope I will know that I am loved just the way I am.  And that I will feel at complete ease in his presence.

We love you just the way you are, too!  We miss you.  We are grateful for you.   And we will see some of you in 89 days!

It's the Little Things that Count

I just found some more notes from the District Conference that Elder Cornish spoke at.  He asked us, how many of you know what happened 100 years ago?  We all knew that it would have been 1915 but no one knew the significance.  Turnrs out it was the end of World War I.  The war to end all wars.  It was a big deal 100 years ago, but now no one even thinks of it.

He then went on to do a little math.  He said that if he had 5 children, and each of them had 5 children, and each of them had 5 children, etc for just half of the millenium (500 years).  How many descendants would that be.  93 trillion!  How many of those will care about the little things that you did?  Like keeping the commandments, being faithful to your spouse, being sealed in the temple, etc.  Those little things WILL matter a lot to all of those descendants!

The little things are the big things.  We need to wear our Christianity with our sleeves rolled up and our work clothes on.  We need to let others know that we miss them, we love them, we need them.  We need to love like Christ loves.

1 Nephi 16:29-small things can bring about great things.

Your obedience shows that He can trust you.

We miss you.  We love you.  We need YOU!

Choices

Some choices are easy to make, others are more difficult.  Grandpa has figured out a way to make some choices very easy.  He has two hangers.  Each day, he takes a tie off of one hanger, wears it and at night he puts it on the other hanger.  After a while, all the ties have been moved to the second hanger and the first hanger is empty.  Now he starts over and just grabs a tie, wears it and puts it on the other hanger.  This way he doesn't have to think and he doesn't get caught wearing the same tie two days in a row!

Other choices can be just that simple.  If we just decide to make good choices every day, life is simple!  Choose to read your scriptures.  Every day.  Choose to say your prayers.  Every day.  Choose to not lie.  Or steal.  Or break any commandment.  Every day.  Life will be so much easier and you will always be happy!

We love YOU!  Be happy!

The Sabbath

Today is a perfect day to write a post about something I have wanted to since August 9, 2015 (Kristi and Max's birthday's!)

We were privileged to be in a District Conference with Elder J Devn Cornish.  He is a member of the 70 and the Area President.  He was visiting Barbados.  What a wonderful talk he gave.  Here are the highlights:

The church is a hospital.  We are all sick.  We come to be healed.  Be more patient and forgiving to others than they deserve.  We need the same from God.

This is a new day in Barbados.  The spirit is rising.  Angels have been sent to help.  Follow the council of President Herrington.  He holds the keys to this area.

(Elder Cornish was a neo-natal Dr and saw lots of babies born.)  Babies come to earth with complete personalities.  We lived before we were born with someone who created all and knows us.

We can receive revelation.  Take a blank piece of paper and a pen.  Pray like you really mean it.  Ask, what do you want me to do differently today?  What to fix, change or help?  Then listen and write it down.  It may scare you, but he will reaveal to you as long as you are willing to write.

Being happy is not easy.  Sin is the only thing that can take our happiness away.  Follow Jesus.  Sometimes we don't know where to start.  Here is one way:

He was in a General Authority training meeting after conference last April.  This is a common occurance and usually there are several topics brought up that the Brethren want taught to the members.  The Presidency and the 12 fasted and prayed for months in preparation of this meeting.  Their question was, How do we strengthen our members?  The only answer that came was, "Keep the Sabbath day Holy."

This commandment is as old as creation.  Even God took a day of rest.  Elder Nelson talked about the Sabbath day in the April Conference.  He speaks Spanish, Portugese, Russain, and Chinese.  He was one of the inventers of the heart/lung machine.  He would not study on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is not about lists of what to do or not to do.  It's about loving God more than loving yourself. 

We must show God how we put him first and ourselves second.  It will be different for each person.  Ask Him how you are going to do that.  He suggests that if we are quieter, respectful and worshipful, we will have reverance.  Until you know reverance, you will not get revelation.  Decide what you can do to make a sign between you and Him.  It might be giving up something.  It might be adding something.  Make the decision today.  We were then promised that He will change and bless everything in our lives.

It was a pretty powerful sermon!  I knew that the emphasis was on keeping the Sabbath day holy, but the reasoning here makes a lot of sense to me.

I just thought I would share.

We love YOU!

I saved a life today

Well, each of us did!  And it was really a blessing when we really needed one.  We have been going through some hard things.  Really hard.  And it has been constant for over three months.  It gets to be a little wearing.  Today, for me (Gremma), I just had to leave the office.  I could not do one.more.thing.  Grandpa came home for a little while and we decided to go for a walk along the beach.  It was almost sunset and there are some nice places to sit and think and enjoy the beauties that God put here for us.  We sat there for a while and then started walking back.  We came across a lady with a baby turtle in her hand!  Just to give you a little background, turtles come up on shore between May and October to lay eggs.  These are pretty good sized turtles.  I have not seen a mama turtle yet, but we see their tracks quite often and I would guess that they are about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide.  Anyway, they try to find a place to lay their eggs and then swim back to sea.  Several weeks later the eggs hatch and the babies must find their way back to sea.

Tonight, there were a bunch of little turtles who were on the wrong side of the boardwalk.  I don't know how the mother would have been able to cross over the rocks and the boardwalk and dig a hole in the very hard ground there.  But she must have!  Because there were a dozen or more trying to find their way to safety.  There was a young woman there who was searching for them.  She found one and gave it to Grandpa and we hurried to the ocean to let it live.  It seemed pretty grateful!

Grandpa had to go back to the office but I stayed.  And looked.  And looked.  And looked.  Finally the lady found another one and handed it to me!  What a wonderful feeling to be given a chance to help something so helpless!  That would surely die if someone did not reach out a hand to save it!

I hurried to the ocean and set it on the sand.  It scurried to the water and swam easily out to sea.  Hopefully it will grow up to be a good turtle.

This experience didn't really change my day, but it did change my attitude.  I went from feeling like a failure, to feeling like I had done something very worthwhile.

Now please don't think that I am unhappy.  We still know we are supposed to be doing this.  But it is hard.  Very hard.  I am just grateful that the Lord allows these little moments of brightness to carry us through.

The church is true and the book is blue.  I know that.  I am grateful for it.

Please always remember that we love YOU and are so grateful for your faithfulness!

 Just look at that cute baby turtle!

 OK, here you go, now find the water!

 You are almost there!

Swim, buddy, swim!

 This is what they would have had to climb over, then cross, and then get over a lot of big rocks before getting to the ocean.

I tried to take a picture while I was carrying him to safety.

Hugs

This was a hard week.  We had twenty new missionaries come in and 21 go out.  That meant a LOT of work!  We fed, we transported, we taught, we laughed, we cried and we hugged!  I really needed this hug. Max was baptised on Sunday and "He who has no name" was born on Tuesday.  We got the call at 6:00 am.  We were so happy!  We had to leave at 8:00 am and did not get home until 11:15 pm that night.  We got to Skype with Heidi and the "new baby" for a while.  It was so wonderful!  And so hard!  I want so desperately to hold him myself!

The next day was when the returning missionaries were here.  They were all at the Mission Home when we brought some food in.  These two Sisters (Riley and Tenney) came running up and gave me a huge hug!  I did not want to let go of them.  It was the hug I wanted to give the new baby and Max (and all of my grandchildren!) but couldn't.

It made me realize how full circle life is.  I was here helping and hugging someoene else's grandaughters.  It made me grateful that in 6-18 years, some other Sr Couple will (hopefully) be able to help and hug, not only "He who has no name", but any and all of our grandchildren who serve missions.  It's very possible that we will be dead and gone when that happens, but I know that they will be watched over, just like we watch over these wonderful missionaries.

We are so grateful for the plan our Father has for us.  We know that we were led here to do this work at this time.  Even tho it is hard and we are missing things like baptisms, births, and Priesthood ordinations, we know we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.

And we know that you are too.  We love you all so much.  We can't wait to wrap our arms around you!  But until then, we will be doing what the Lord has asked us to do.

Always remember that we love YOU!

Work!

Work, work, work!  That is all we have been doing lately.  (It seems).  There is so much work to be done in the new Mission Office!  And we are all the Lord has to work with right now.  We are doing our best, but sometimes we feel inadadequate and over whelmed.  Each day when we go in to the office, we have a little devotional.  We sing, we pray, we have a little thought or scripture that we talk about.  Most of the time they are on patience, or endurance.  We know that we really don't have the skills we need to do this job, but we also know that the Lord has blessed us with abilities beyond our own.  While things have been hard, we have seen his hand helping us.  It is wonderful to know that he knows us and loves us.  We love him too,  and will continue to do all we can to further this great work.

Judging by the amount of papers on the desk, who is the hardest worker?!!

We love YOU!

Miracle Part 2

Have you ever wondered why things seem to be so hard sometimes?  I have been thinking about that a lot lately because things are REALLY hard!  Some days it seems like we haven't made any progress at all.  Actually, it's most days!

A few weeks ago I wrote about some missing files.  A box came in and there were lots of files in them and they were definately needed, but we later discovered that there were about 25 files still missing.  We called Trinidad and had them look everywhere.  We looked everywhere.  We had the AP's look everywhere.  We searched every apartment connected with the AP's.  I called both airports (which is not a fun thing to do) and they had seen nothing.  We were resigned to the fact that they were gone.

President Herrington called his In Field Rep almost a week ago and we didn't get a reply.  I wrote to the person in the MTC who handles that kind of thing and she didn't reply.  I kept thinking, don't they know how serious this is!?  This is an identify thiefs dream!  Copies of passports, driviers licence, original birth certificates, police clearance letters, FBI reports.  All just sitting there for 25 people!

Yesterday we had a long talk with the AP's again.  Elder T quizzed them at length about what they remembered.  I asked them if they looked inside shirts and clothes to make sure they weren't wrapped up in something.  They assured us that they had searched everywhere.

We got an email from the In Field Rep that day that said this could cause the delay of all of those missionaries coming in to the field!  What a mess.  We took comfort in the fact that Sister Miller, (Mary Rose's sister)  put our names and the names of the Missions on the prayer roll in the Cardston Temple.

Last night I was quite discouraged.  Again, why do things have to be so hard?  We went to bed early just to end the day early!  About 9:30 we got a phone call from the AP's.

THEY FOUND THEM!  We could not believe it!  They hadn't told us this before but they had actually brought about 5 suitcases with them!  There were personal suitcases that needed to end up in our mission after the split.  As they were unloading their suitcases at the airport, and Elder thought one suitcase was too heavy so he took the files out and put them in another suitcase.

The AP's forgot this because they had to move the next day and then left for a 10 day mission tour.  Apparently something Elder T said yesterday sparked some kind of thought to look in those other suitcases.  And there they were!

We are soooooooo very, very grateful!

After the trial come the blessings and it is so much sweeter than if it was easy!  I know some of you are having a trial or two.  Just hang in there!  Things will all work out!

And remember that we love YOU!