A BORCHERT FAMILY PROCLAMATION

[From my dad. I debated if it should go on the blog (its kinda personal and not to brag but its pretty great). Such a great example to remember our blessings and cherish our families. I think its a great reminder of Heavenly Father's plan and how important families are. Thank goodness they are forever.]

From his email:  "I'm still here in St. George with your Mom [where else would he be? I thought that was pretty funny].  This isn't as entertaining as Mom's stuff but hopefully will be something the family will get encouragement from and can cause reflection.   Encourage your sisters to make sure they read it to the grand kids." 

I am privileged to explain and testify concerning "The Family Proclamation" issued by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve most days while serving my mission.  It has been a  remarkable experience to see how people respond and I've certainly reflected on my family much more in the context of an eternal perspective as a result.  These reflections are now captured in a proclamation concerning my own family. 

I am so grateful that I was raised in a wonderful home by loving parents.  They were a great examples to me and much of what I am today was shaped by their encouragement, demands and approach to parenting.   I look forward to learning why I was blessed to grow up in such an amazing environment.  I never had the sadness of going without good food, warm clothing or a roof over my head that the majority of spirits that have come to this earth experience.  Perhaps the greatest lessons taught by my parents were how to work hard and the importance of education.  These lessons have allowed me to create a wonderful quality of life in which I can't think of anything I lack.  I really have had substantial advantages. 

At this stage of my life I realize that there are just a handful of decisions that a person makes that determine your overall happiness, success and ability to function as God intends.   First among those decisions is the degree to which you embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thankfully through family, friends, teachers and leaders I've been close to the Church my entire life. 

The person you marry is one of those decisions.  I have been blessed by having Dawna as my eternal companion.   I could not have made a better choice.  I married up;  way up.   Our marriage has reinforced and brought me closer to the Savior.  Dawna is a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and  friend.  She's mixed the right amount of encouragement, patience and forgiveness for my flaws that I can honestly say we've had love in our home our entire marriage.   We have lots of fun and enjoy being together.   Our mission has been validation of our marriage.  We are doing really well being together 24 x 7.

 

Parenting is a truly daunting experience.   Dawna and I had the additional challenge of spending most of our time raising our girls living away from home.   We missed the additional support of grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins because of employment decisions.   Much of the time Dawna was on her own as I was consumed in building a career and the results have been spectacular.   My Family Proclamation isn't complete without declaring how well she did raising four girls in Tucson, Vermont, Atlanta and Mesa.   Dawna is an amazing lady. 

 

Our four girls survived us as parents and now are remarkable adults.   We are so proud of them.  We look at each of their individual personalities and can see pieces of each of us in them.   Some of the traits we've given them are strengths and some are weaknesses.   The good news is that our daughters are better than we are and give us much joy.  We are so happy with the lives they are leading and the choices they are making.  Their living close to the Lord and being strong in the Church is such a comfort to us.   Families have so many challenges today and it isn't easy to create  wonderful homes but our daughters have accomplished this feat.   They are great examples to our grandchildren.

Our three sons have come to us through marriage.  We couldn't ask for better son-in-laws.   I'm pretty certain we couldn't have raised such good young men.  Much of the goodness in our kids homes is a credit to these good men.   They honor their Priesthood and love the Savior.   They are terrific fathers; mixing the right amount of love, discipline and teaching by example.   It is a great relief to Dawna and I that they are good providers.   They really know how to work hard.  I am so grateful that they want to be part of a close family.   We have so much fun together and the best time of our life is when we are doing anything with our entire family.  So my Family Proclamation contains a huge thank you to my son-in-laws.

 

I've saved the best for last in my Family Proclamation.  The grand kids.  The best part of getting old is that grand kids come into your life.  We have the best grand kids on the planet.   Each of them is unique and they are special because of this.   They make us better because we want them to be proud of us and love us even as we get older and  weird in some ways.   As the grand kids get older and become young adults we are seeing greatness in their lives.  They are doing better than their parents and far better than Papa and Nema.   I want the grand kids to know how happy they make us by living good lives and doing what their Father in Heaven wants them to do.   We love them more than anything I can think of and want them to know that there isn't anything in the world that we wouldn't do for them. 

 

Eternity with my family in Heaven is going to be wonderful because I've had a glimpse of that here on this earth. 

 Love Dad (Papa)

Happy Halloween

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Halloween, WHAT?  How did that happen?  I love Halloween and I'm starting a little withdrawal thinking I won't do a Halloween dinner for the grand kids or go to the ward Party or have spooky little goblins and witches at my front door.  Buttttttt - the Sr. Missionaries are getting together tomorrow night to put together goody bags for the Sisters so "all is not lost."  Just send all your wonderful pictures of the great costumes and fun ghoulish food.  I really want to see them, pleeeeeease.  "Happy Halloween" to everyone.

This week was exciting for the fact we have a new Art Exhibit.  I'm not sure I ever wrote about our last exhibit.  It was titled "Sacred Places" by Al Rounds.  So beautiful, Google it and enjoy a real treat.  He spent several hundred hours researching and visiting each site.  But our new exhibit is titled Hawn's Mill.  There are several contributing artists, Julie Rogers, David Bedard, Kirt Hamson and a couple of others, but Glenn Rawson put together these artists interpretations of Hawn's Mill and included them in a new book entitled "Hawn's Mill. (and yes it is spelled HAWN'S per Glenn Rawson)  We then had a Fireside last Friday night by Glenn and he told the whole story.  What a moving experience.  I have included Julie Roger's interpretation of Amanda Barnes Smith praying in the corn filed after the mob took possession of Hawn's mill and forbade the survivors to pray.  Amanda would sneak off to the corn field to pray.  She was a true hero and a woman of incredible courage and strength.  Enjoy the picture.

Well my adventure for the week was a hike with Sister Collins up Snow Canyon on the Hidden Pinyon trail.  It was fantastic.  We hiked through slots, down rocks, up creek beds and finally ended up on top of an out crop of sand stone and lava rock with beautiful views.  What a high.  I still can't get over all the wonderful hiking and biking trails.  If I hiked every day I don't think I would get to all the trails in St. George.  So fun.  If you ever visit, go hiking!

So another week begins.  Our time is flying by and we are so grateful for all the experiences we are having.  We love the Sr. Couples we work with and adore all the Sister's at the Visitor Center.  What good people.  

We are blessed.  Be healthy and safe.

Love, Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

My Oh My

Dear friends and family,

I'm not sure where to begin this week.  It has been crazy.  We get up at 6:30, leave the house around 8 and return after 9:00 pm.  Its all a little fuzzy, or I am just getting so old that I can't remember from one day to the next.  Between training meetings, Hi-Goodbye parties, collateral duties, and teaching a little family, we haven't had an extra minute to catch our breath.

The sites have been extremely busy.  It was Fall Break for Utah and I've decided that everyone in Utah has bought a home, condo or Park Model in St. George and then they all talk to each other and head for the historic sites.  On Saturday in our 3 1/2 hour shift at Brigham Young's we gave over 300 tours.  By the end of the day it was over 600.  It was a record for Brigham's.  The only negative, is if we have non-members, we don't have much of a chance for teaching or exposing them to the principles of the gospel.  We do good to give a short history and then lead them through the house.  Bruce had a group of over 50 and I had a family reunion who made a reservation for 20 and ended up with 35.  Our average group was 20 guests.  By the time we finished, Bruce was totally hoarse and I lost my voice all together.  Good Times.

But what truly amazes me are the strong, confident, devoted little families who want to teach their children about the history of the church, or about Brigham Young, Jacob Hamblin and most importantly about the Temple.  So they come to St. George and instead of going golfing, or hiking, biking or any of the other incredible activities that are available here, they come to the sites and want us to tell the stories, teach gospel principles, and help their children understand the importance of these Pioneers who sacrificed so much, to not only make St. George succeed, but to build the Kingdom of God on the earth.  Pretty impressive members.  I love their example and feel a little sheepish that we weren't that diligent in exposing our girls to these Pioneer's experiences.  Maybe they can move back in and I can have a do-over.  Or maybe I can do a better job with the grand kids.

P-day was fabulous.  We took the roof off the jeep and headed for Zion.  We headed up the trail to Emerald Pools, which is a 3 1/2-mile hike, that ends in the back of a canyon which has water falls and beautiful views across the park.  The weather was perfect and we are convinced we were the only ones on the trail who spoke English.  Again, it was very busy, to the point that you can't drive up to the Lodge, you have to take a shuttle with all the French, Germans & Italians, who end up at the Visitor Center in St. George.  Bus loads of them, but its great for missionary work.  They have to drive through St. George on their way to Las Vegas and we have the best potties.  Lots of French, German and Italian Books of Mormon are given to these visitors.  You never know who will read it, believe it and get baptized.  Bring on the Buses!!!!

 

One of the hard things to do on this mission is say goodbye to those Sr. Couples who we work with.  We become close very fast as we serve together at the sites.  We have two couples who finish their mission this month.  The Drolet's will be returning to Canada and the Collins to SLC.  The Drolet's were are French speaking couple who helped with all the French tours that come through the center.  They will be missed and remembered always.  The Collins have been our Party chairman's and have done a spectacular job.  We hope to see both of these wonderful couples in the future.  At our Hi-Goodbye party we were entertained with Native American Dancers.  What a wonderful evening. Good food, good friends and great entertainment.

We had surprise visitors this week.  Wonderful, dear friends keep stopping by to check and see how we are doing.  We love it.  We were able to have dinner with Cless and Shari Alvey on Wednesday night.  It was wonderful to catch up with these darling people.  I just have to apologize to them and you that I forgot to take a picture.  I have been trying to keep track of all our visitors by taking pictures of each and everyone.  But I totally forgot.  Shame on me.  Today, Bonnie and Alan Costley stopped by while we were working at Brigham's.  So fun to see familiar faces from home.  We can't thank all of those who have taken the time to come see us enough.  Our friends and family are our greatest treasures.  Thank You!!!

Well, its time that I stop and get to my weekly cleaning.  (My least favorite thing)  But if I want to play tomorrow (p-day again) I gotta do it.  We send our love and pray all is well with each of you.  Til next week.

Love, Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

PS  Happy Birthday to our fabulous Grandson, Caleb.  Sure wish we could be there to share soft-serve ice cream with sprinkles.  No cake for this boy.  Have a fun day at Disneyland.

100 Days

Dear Family and Friends,

We have now passed our first 100 days in the mission field.  It has been delightful, hard, spiritually uplifting,spiritually depressing, wonderful, exhausting and all together better than our expectations.  But it seems like we just arrived a week ago.  The time is flying by so quickly that we feel anxious to do better every day.  We still continue to study the church history of the St. George area, however, it is so intertwined with Kirkland, Nauvoo and Salt Lake City that sometimes it is overwhelming, but just convinces me more and more, that these men and women could not have accomplished the things they did without the help and guidance of Heavenly Father.  The more I learn, the more I realize that the church could not have survived if mere men were in charge.  

The church sites continue to draw hundreds of visitors and we continue to try and figure out to give tours to 30-50 tourists at a time.  There is a tour group by the the name of "Rhodes Scholars".  They advertise their tours to be educational and a chance to see behind the scenes.  They have tours all over the world, but one of the most popular tours, is here in Southern UT.  The visit all the National Parks, including the Grand Canyon, but they also want the tourists to learn the history of the area.  

We had a Rhodes Scholar tour come to the Tabernacle this week.  It included 2 Benedictine Nuns, teachers, all different religions including the Jewish Faith.  We actually were able to have great conversations with several of these people and gave several Books of Mormon to them. The two Nuns promised to read it.  Pretty exciting.  Bruce also had a conversation with a woman who came into the Tabernacle who told him she was a pilgrim.  She explained to him that she has no permanent home, she just travels around the world and finds people to pray with her.  She told Bruce that she had never in her travels met people who were so happy. She asked Bruce why we were so happy and peaceful.  Bruce told her, that if she knew where she came from, her purpose on earth, and where she was going, she could find peace too.  He pretty much gave all six discussions and sent her on her way with all the information we have.  Pretty great week.

Our entertainment for the week was attending Meet the Mormons with the Sr. Missionaries and going to The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  Oh my, both sooooooo amazing.  Meet the Mormons beat every expectation that I had.  If you have not seen it, go now.  And the Little Mermaid was a masterful piece of special effects on the live stage.  It rivaled anything we have seen on Broadway. Great entertainment.

P-day was today, Sunday, which is not supposed to happen.  How do we go grocery shopping, clean our condo, or more importantly travel to fabulous places and do fun things?  And to top it off, we were given an assignment to speak in a Branch this morning.  But we did go for a drive this afternoon and found a spot that we have heard about since coming to St. George.  The locals all talk about "Little Jamaica".  There is a spring that comes out of the mountain and flows into the Virgin river.  It is located right before you enter the gorge from the Vegas side.  The exit you take off the freeway is Dessert Springs.  It is a nasty hike down to water falls, pools and the river, however, its a favorite of the locals.  We hiked down to it today and took a few pictures.  I don't think we will be swimming or jumping into the pools.  It is for the young and agile, or monkeys who can hold onto slick rocks.  But a very fun unique place.  The pictures don't do it justice.

We hope all of you had a wonderful week.  We love hearing from you and your visits are priceless.  May this week find all of you happy, healthy and safe.  We love and miss you and think of you everyday.  "Keep the Faith"

Love, 

Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

No Longer the "Newbies"

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sure all of you are basking in the glow of conference weekend, as we are.  There is no way I can pick a favorite talk, all of them were so wonderful.  Now we have our spiritual power boost until next April.  We hope all of you enjoyed it as much as we did.  We did have to work both days, however, we were able to record all the sessions.  We actually listened to the Sunday afternoon session on the radio (that's a blast from the past) while we were working at the Tabernacle.  High Five to the men and women who gave such fabulous talks.

This week we have 3 new couples who are starting their missions.  We are no longer the "newbies". We are excited to get to know them and work with them in the Historic Sites, but it is hard to say goodbye to the couples we have worked with over the last 3 months.  The new "Newbies", have the "deer in the headlights look," that I am sure we walked around with for weeks.  There really is a lot of information that you have to learn in a very short time.  But I am sure they will do a great job and be a great asset to the mission.

In addition to our work at the Historical Sites, we also have collateral duties, i.e. I submit all the events that we do at the Tabernacle to the St. George Visitors Center Facebook page.  I coordinate with SLC any human interest stories that would be appropriate for the page as well.  Bruce was given the assignment of all the statistics for the sites.  He has to collect all the log sheets from the 4 sites and combine them into a report that is submitted to Elder Watkins, President Center and again SLC every week.  But this last week both of us received new assignments.  Bruce is the new assistant to Elder Watkins and I was assigned all the Christmas decorations for all the sites [lets hope they have a big budget], plus I'm helping Sister Watkins with the Missionary Christmas Fireside.  I'm getting a little nervous. (really a lot nervous)  but they tell us that Christmas is magic.  I hope I can find some magic to complete this assignment.  Its really hard without my peeps (my people).  Maybe it would be a good time for some of you to come visit and help me.

We had visitors this week, which always makes us happy.  Dave and Marilyn Watts came to enjoy conference weekend, along with Janet Hancey.  We always have such a fun time when they are here.  There were bike rides, hikes, movies, eating good food, and eating more good food.  How blessed we are to have such wonderful friends.  

Also, last week at Brigham Young's I walked out to take a tour and there were wonderful friends from American Fork.  Mike and Mary Jo Greenwood were visiting St. George and stopped by to see us.  What a joy to be able to visit with them.  Last but not least, today again at Brigham's, out on the porch was a darling family, the Christofferson's.  They were on their way back from conference in SLC to CA.  They are great friends with our daughter Kristi, and stopped by to say hi.  It made our day.  

 

Mike and Mary Jo Greenwood

The Christofferson kids

Well its time to forward this to Kati so I don't get scolded[she acts like I'm a tyrant] for not getting her our weeks adventures.  We love and miss all of you and hope all is well and good where ever you are.  Keep safe!

Love,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister Borchert