The Countdown Begins

Hi Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Where have the past 9 1/2 months gone?  We have 11 1/2 weeks left before we return home.  Its almost as if the time has flown on wings of lightening. (Improve The Shinning Moments)  We have enjoyed each and every day, and pray we have made a difference. (just a little)  When we return it will be to a new baby grand daughter and a grandson who will be leaving on his mission.  Yes, "Time Does Fly on Wings of Lightening."

The past two weeks have been so full and busy.  We are seeing about 15% more visitors this year than last year, so our shifts are crazy.  We rarely sit down between tours and most tours have between 8-25 people.  These past two weeks, we have had guests from Columbia, Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Ukraine, Canada and Uruguay.  (Ola', Gutentag, Hey Mate, Bonjour, Aye)  These are the countries I remember plus guests from New Jersey, North Carolina, Missouri, New York and Texas.  

We tried to prepare for Spring Break, Conference and Easter, but there is no preparing for the numbers who flock to St. George.  The words to describe the mayhem, is organized chaos.  But I'm amazed that as crazy as it gets, if someone has come to the sites or Visitor Center with questions, its like the water parts and we find a quiet moment to answer or teach.  It is so fabulous, no-its a miracle.

Even with all the guests, we found time to add two events to our already packed schedule.  We organized a lecture with Sister Durrant on Saturday night during the Priesthood Session of Conference.  She spoke on "The 100 Most Famous Women in the Church".  It was wonderful and we had over 400 women attend.  My sister, Julie, was here with her family and my dear friend Marilyn Watts was here.  They both came with me and it was such a treat to share this lecture with them.  Then we organized a "Night of Music" at the Visitor Center on Easter night.  We had the Missionaries along with talent from the community perform out on the patio at the Visitor Center. This was a program for the Missionaries to bring their investigators to the Center.  It was an experiment to see if we would have the community participate and the ward members bring their friends and neighbors.  We had around 200-250 come and we are going to do it again.  The Visitor Center is such a wonderful place to feel the spirit.  Hopefully this will turn into a monthly program.  (Cross Your Fingers)

We had a Bye-Bye-Bye party on March 26th.  The Clark's, Millers and Durant's are all returning home.  The Clark's left this last Wednesday, the Millers leave this Wednesday and the Durant's go the following Wednesday.  We will miss these Sr. Couples so much.  It is hard to see good friends leave not knowing when we will meet again. We had a wonderful "Meet The Mormons" party.  We served all the good ole' Mormon food.  Green jello with carrots, casseroles and whole made bread.  We played Meet The Mormon match game. 

If you ask George Durrant how he is doing, he answers, "It's My Best Day Ever." So it caught on and all the Sr.s started answering when asked how they were, "It's My Best Day Ever."  So T-shirts were made with the saying and we all wore them at the party.  Fun times with these good people.  Elder Durrant is a painter.  A water-color painter to be exact.  He painted all the sites and gave each couple a print.  What a treasure to take home with us and a generous gesture from a good man.

  

And then their was P-day.  We took the "Orange Thang" up to Kannaraville and tried to go to Kolob Reservoir.  The start was fantastic and beautiful but the higher we got the colder it got and the more snow we found.  We kept going through several drifts.  We were with the Watkins and the Clarks. The Watkins got stuck first, but made it out, but then we got stuck.  Robert pulled us out and we decided to head back.  (Boo Hoo)  But all was not lost.  We loaded up the machines and went to Cafe Rio for lunch.  We intend to try it again in a few weeks.  We hope the snow melts soon, but we need to let it dry out as well.  Getting stuck in snow is one thing, getting stuck in mud is another.  Bruce is loving his "Orange Thang".

  

Conference/Easter weekend was soooooo much fun.  Kati, Kristi, Dave and the boys came for the weekend.  Bruce and I didn't get to spend too much time with them, but even a few minutes here and a few minutes there was great.  Our 2nd p-day fell on the Monday after Easter and they stayed until late in the afternoon.  We went to a place called "Babylon" north of  St. George. The boys drove the "Orange Thang" to the beach.  A place along the Virgin River with a big sandy shore and high cliffs.  It was beautiful.  We hiked on the Babylon trail and thought we were headed to Dinosaur Tracks, but we never found them.  But a beautiful day spent with family is always fantastic whether or not we found what we were looking for.  We ended our visit with the boys picking our place to eat-------Chuck-a-Rama.  They love the Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Mac and Cheese so our day was a success.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday.  We are assigned to our local ward, Green Valley 1st but because of the schedule of opening the sites or closing the sites, we have only been able to attend this ward 3 or 4 times. It starts at 1:00 pm.  We have to attend the 9:00 am ward (Green Valley 9th) most of the time.  Usually we can stay only long enough to take the sacrament because the sites open at 10:00 am.  This was one of the surprises we had upon arrival.  The sites are open 365 days a year so we work 7 days a week.  

I'm yawning and I'm stuffed up. (Allergies still giving me fits)  So its time to stop.  We are excited to return to AZ for one day to see Lilly baptized.  It will be a whirlwind weekend, but can't wait to see all our family and may be if we are lucky run into our wonderful dear friends.  We send love to all and pray all is well with each of you.  Remember - Be Safe

Always,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS.  Happy Birthday to our smart, good looking, cool, funny grandson - Luke.  We love him and we are so sad we couldn't make his Ordination.  But know we were thinking of him on his special day.  We will go to CA to see him pass the Sacrament when we return home. 

PSS.  We went to visit Ricky and Lucy and we think there maybe a little Ricky on the way.  We watched as Lucy moved off an egg.  Not sure, but wouldn't that be fantastic.  We went to visit them today, but no luck.  They were not home.  Sooooooo Sad for us. 

Best Christmas Ever

Dear Family and Friends,

I hate that I haven't written on the blog since December 11th.  So much has happened in the last 3 weeks that this post maybe a novel.  But I will try and only hit the highlights.  Its been a whirlwind or maybe a hurricane, no----a tsunami is the right description.

But first, I must thank everyone who sent us a Christmas Card.  Thank you for taking the time to think about and remember us.  Bruce was the first to the mail box every day and we enjoyed each and every note and picture.  I must have looked at them at least daily and loved remembering moments with each of you.  Thank You!

Along with our regular shifts at the sites and VC, we had events at the Tabernacle every night starting December 1st.  We couldn't make all of them, but were expected to attend at least 3-4 a week.  They ranged from High School Choirs, too individuals who played, violin, flute, guitar or other instruments and professional musicians from around the country.  Most of them were fabulous.  We enjoyed the music and couldn't believe, that for such a small town, what marvelous talent is here.  One of my favorite things about Christmas is the beautiful music and the spirit it brings.  For me, it makes Christmas.  Just ask Bruce, I start playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, which drives him crazy.  Can't help it, its a trait passed down from our mom.  Mom loves beautiful music and filled our house with tunes all the time, but at Christmas, it was constant.  I love the memories and the traditions it brings.

The Saturday before Christmas, December 19th, all our kids arrived.  We couldn't have asked for a better gift.  They came late Saturday night and we didn't get to see them, but arriving at Church Sunday morning there they were in all their glory, saving a seat for us.  I have to admit it brought tears to see all our kids and grand kids together at Church.  We had to leave right after the sacrament to go and open Jacob Hamblin's home, but after Church they all came to for a tour.  

Then Sunday night, December 21st, we had our Missionary Musical Fireside.  Again, there they were out in the audience.  The Fireside was wonderful.  There were 72 missionaries who participated.  We had three practices, and to be frank, I was worried that it wasn't going to be very good.  But the music director, Kris Barber, pulled a rabbit out of her hat.  Even my kids were impressed.  They are our worst critics.  Bruce gave the story of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote the words of the song, first in a poem in 1864.  The choir sounded fantastic and the Instrumental numbers were beautiful. Just ask Kati about the bassoon.  They even compared President Center to Carlos Santana on the guitar.  Pretty good for a mission president.  It was so much fun to be a part of this event and will be one of the highlights of our mission.

Monday I was able to take the kids on a couple of hikes, actually one, but I had them go on the Temple Quarry hike and then took them up the Anasazi trail.  We put Ben in the stroller and pushed, pulled and carried him over the bumps, rocks, ruts and mud.  The kids had a wonderful time crawling all over the rocks finding the petroglyphs.  Becky felt the spirit of the Anasazi and practiced her yoga along with Rubie on the rocks.  It was a very very good day.  

                           

That night we worked at the VC and the Kids came down for family night.  They looked at the nativities from around the world, watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas, He is the Gift and other Mormon Ads.  We then went back to their Condo to visit.  On Tuesday, Bruce and I opened BY's again and worked until 2:00 pm.  Then we really started the party.  Because of our limited cooking facilities we decided to have a Mexican Fiesta instead of our traditional Prime Rib Dinner.  But what a fiesta it was.  We invited the Watkins over and held our dinner at the Club House at our Condo.  The food was wonderful and the kids were flying high waiting to open their gifts.  Buttttttt...we had another event at the Tabernacle.  So after dinner we packed everyone up and headed to the Tabernacle for the Community Sing-a-Long.  Bruce was asked to give the Christmas Message and you would think that would be the highlight of the night, but nooooooooo. 

It was almost the last number when a man walked up the stairs of the balcony and went right to the front.  He sat down and then started putting up pamphlets all along the balcony railing.  I was watching him and I looked at Bruce, who was on the stand, and his eyes were glued to the guy.  At the same time, I have Becky in back of me asking me "what is the dude doing?"  I didn't know, but it looked like he was barricading himself in.  I then told our son-in-law, Dave, to go up in the balcony and keep an eye on him.  Becky was watching Bruce and starting to freak out, because Bruce was zeroed in on the dude.  She got up and ushered her kids out.  We are now at the closing prayer.  During the prayer, the dude put ear plugs in and Dave immediately started heading towards him.  Amen, was said and Bruce started up the stairs to the balcony.  He was ready to take him down.  By this time one of our security guards at the Temple came up to me to see if I recognized him.  I stood up and walked a little closer and in fact I did know who he was.  He had been in the VC a couple of times before Christmas wanting our Pass-along-cards.  As it turned out, this poor soul was off his medication and had been down at the Temple wandering around and gathering up all our information that we give to guests.  He was going to baptize 1000 people.  Love his enthusiasm, but he pretty much cleaned us out of cards at the Tabernacle, then Elder Watkins caught him, (BTW, Elder Watkins is X-FBI) and made him empty his back pack.  No bomb or gun but lots of excitement and pass-along-cards.  We pray someone helps get him back of his meds.

After the sing-a-long we headed back to the Club House.  We dressed the kids in the nativity costumes and read the Christmas Story.  What a beautiful message of peace, hope and love that story brings.  We especially love that our teenage grand kids are willing to participate.  We loved Logan as our donkey and Noah as our lamb.  What good boys----you make me proud.  Now its finally time for opening gifts.  They were so pumped up, it was mayhem with ten grand kids opening presents from Papa and Nema.  We hope they enjoyed what they received, but how do you go wrong with marshmallow bow and arrows.  We had marshmallows flying everywhere.  Great Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, we joined the kids at their condo and opened presents with therm until 8:30. Then we headed down to the VC to have breakfast with the Sister missionaries and Sr. missionaries.  I had my girls make 400 crepes, and Sister Sutherland, another Sr. missionary, brought a chocolate fountain.  Sugar high, but what a fun breakfast.  We had gathered scarves for the Sisters and ties for the Elders.  They loved picking out their favorite, in fact we had such a good response from the wards in donating scarves and ties, that each Sister got two or three scarves and the Elders that many ties.  People are so kind, "just ask and it shall be given."  We then had a White Elephant exchange.  If laughter is the best medicine, we cured everything that morning.  After breakfast we brought Sister Nicholls (from England) and Sister Lipke (from Germany) back with us to spend the afternoon with our family.  We were so excited that these two sweeties, were able to SKYPE their families at our Condo.  I cried the whole time they were talking.  There was laughter, singing and prayers.  After their calls, they both laid down in front of the fire and fell asleep.  I think the anticipation exhausted them.  We had a wonderful Christmas buffet and then played reverse charades.  They had to be back to the center by 3:00 pm for a get together with their Zone, but we loved having them with us.  We hope it helped a little with the home sickness they must feel during the Holidays.

The next two days were spent with the kids, playing tennis, bowling, golfing, hot tubing and movie watching, eating and more eating while Bruce and I kept on working.  Then, Saturday the 28th came too soon.  But the last gift was given when all the kids, again, came to Jacob's in their St. George Mission t-shirts for a final picture with us.  They even kept their t-shirts on when we went to Chuck-a-Rama and the movie, Into the Woods.  They kept telling me I had hit the tri-fecta.  Family picture, buffet and a movie all with matching t-shirts.  Not something my family does or will probably ever do again.  What a treat for us.  After dinner back to the club house for more games with my sister and her husband Ken and their son and daughter-in-law, Brett, Sue and family.  A perfect ending to a perfect week.  Thanks to our kids and grand kids for giving us a Christmas to remember.  They dubbed it their "Mission Christmas".  We pray the grand kids will remember how they felt as they get older and begin their mission journeys.

 

Well, its now New Years Eve and I am sitting here with wonderful memories of the past 3 weeks of our mission.  We loved the church's new video "He is the Gift".  We used it at the Center and at the sites to invite people to share this gift or to discover the gift and apply it in their lives.  We had over 40,000 visitors at the VC in the month of December.  It was amazing to see how this 3 minute video affected people.  They felt the love the Savior has for them and so many wanted to share it with friends and family.  Today we received the movie "Meet The Mormons".  We haven't advertised we have it, and yet this afternoon our theaters were full.  We are hoping this brings the same results as He Is The Gift.

I want to end with another big thank you to our kids for coming and making Christmas wonderful.  Another big thank you to all of you who sent cards and messages and remembered us.  And one last thank you to our Savior for his love and sacrifice for all of us and for the message of peace and hope that this season brings.  We send our wishes for a Happy New Year to all.

With All Our Love,

Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister Borchert)

Bathroom Friends

Dear Friends and Family,

Where to begin?  In the movies they always say "the beginning", but I'm not sure the bathroom at Costco is appropriate for a mission story, however, it is where my story starts this week.

 

While at Costco on Wednesday, I ran into the cutest lady in the Ladies room.  We were giggling over a very disgusting potty which we both avoided.  We then went our separate ways only to meet up again at the check out stand.  By then she had met up with her two sisters and two nieces, one who was in a wheelchair.  We started giggling again and she asked where we were serving and where were we from.  She wanted to know where we would be in the morning so I told her Brigham Young's.  She told me her two nieces had contracted Polio when they were tiny and that her sister (BTW, the sister is 88 yrs old) still took her daughters everywhere and wanted to know if Brigham Young's was wheelchair accessible.  It's not, but they still wanted to come and see it.  I said I would be happy to give them a tour if they made it.  Sure enough the next morning I rounded a corner of the house, finishing up a tour, to see the 5 darling women I had talked to at Costco.  We did the tour and finished outside on the back porch and then they told me the story of their sweet sister who had cared for her two daughters with polio and a son who had passed away from cancer.  The sacrifice of this sweet mother and the thousands of hours of care that was necessary to take care of these children was remarkable.  They told me nothing ever stopped her, she just kept going, never feeling sorry for herself and not letting polio stop her girls.  Then they bore testimonies of how much Heavenly Father loved them and how grateful they were for his love and each other. 

Now I know you are asking yourselves, isn't Dawna supposed to be teaching the tourists?  The answer is a resounding yes, however, it was my turn to be taught.  I pray that I will remember these sweet ladies and the example of faith, enduring, and the love that they share with everyone.

On Wednesday morning we decided to take the city tour "Saint George Live".  What a fun morning.  They have volunteers who portray Jacob Hamblin, Orson Pratt, Judge McFarland, Erastus Snow, Brigham Young and Margaret Harrison Parker. (she was a pioneer woman in the Martin/Willie Handcart Company)  They did a wonderful job telling stories and experiences that took place in the early settling of Saint George with no religious overtones.  It was fun to hear different stories that we don't get to tell.  Especially, Judge McFarland.  He did a mock trail of two neighbors who were disputing water rights.  Sister Jones was accused of putting a rock under her water gate, letting a little water into her garden all the time.  Her neighbor had witnessed her doing this 3 times and he was flaming mad.  Sister Jones was found guilty but was given community service because she had eleven children to feed.  Judge McFarland told her if she did it again, she would be put in jail. Don't make Judge McFarland mad.  Here comes da Judge, Here comes da Judge.

Thursday night we had a "Hi Goodbye" party for the Young's who left today.  As you can see by the pictures, old people can have a bunch of fun if you give them hula hoops, bubble gum and jump ropes.  It was a fifties theme and we had it catered by Iceburg.  Hamburgers, fries, root beer floats,what more can you ask for.  What a great group of Sr. Missionaries that we have the opportunity to associate with.  Hope we can keep up with them. 

Also, we were so excited that Kristi, Dave and family stopped by on their way to Lake Powell and on their way home to CA.  They showed us lots of pictures of 45 people, two house boats, four ski boats, 6 jet skies, 5 paddle boards, 1 kayak, a zip line from one house boat to the other and 1 slip and slide down the hill of the shore, cliff jumping, tubing and wake boarding.  Bruce and I were just grateful there were no disasters or injuries.  The best part of a Lake Powell trip is returning home with smiles on faces and great memories. 

We were also fortunate my sister Julie & her husband Ken stopped by to attend their grandson's ordination to a priest. We had a wonderful visit but I'm so sad I forgot to take a picture. This journaling thing is really hard. Trying to remember what happened during the week & taking pictures is a new for me & frankly maybe teaching new tricks to an old dog is true.

Last but not least, we again had friends come visit.  We hiked, laughed, ate, went to Tuachan, gave them tours of the historical sites, ate some more and laughed a lot more.  We love our friends the Watts and Hanceys.  

We love all of you and pray all is well. We continue to love what we are doing and just hope we are doing it right.  Have a wonderful week.

Love Bruce and Dawna       

Beautiful Week in Dixie...and some visitors!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Another week has flown by and if they keep going as fast as the first 4+, it is like we are being twinkled from one week to the next. It has been more than a month since we left Mesa and started this journey, "May the Force continue to be with Us."  (Love a good Star Wars line)

Since it was the week of the 24th of July, we had an army of visitors through the Historical Sites.  Yesterday from 10 am to 2 pm we took 175 people through the Brigham Young home.  Its not a record, but pretty awesome.  Bruce had a young man who was baptized a member but had fallen away and had a lived a pretty hard life.  He was recently released from prison, is currently homeless and was very depressed to the point of taking his own life.  He told Bruce that he hit bottom and now is trying to make things right.  He was walking by the BY home and felt a desire to come take a tour.  He wanted a Book of Mormon to carry in his pack, and when he left he told Bruce the spirit have given him answers to what he needed to do next.  Bruce gave him the phone number to the transient Bishop and pointed him in the right direction.  We pray for this young man to be able to make changes so that he can find the happiness his Father has in store for him.

I gave a tour at Jacob Hamblin's home earlier in the week to a father and son who were Jewish.  They were from California and the father had been to the historical sites several times and wanted his son to hear about these Mormon Pioneers.  I began telling Jacob's story and Frank, the son, kept asking, how did Jacob know these things?  Part of Jacob's conversion is after hearing Lyman Stoddard preach the gospel, Jacob walks up to Bro. Stoddard and asks for the book that he was preaching from.  Bro. Stoddard handed Jacob a Bible and Jacob responds, "No not that book, the other book".  Bro. Stoddard then handed a Book of Mormon to Jacob.  After explaining this to Frank, he wanted a Book of Mormon.  He tried to pay me for it and I told him the only payment I could take was his promise to read the book.  His father kept saying these Mormons have more truth than other religions.  I offered him a Book of Mormon as well, but he already had one.  He then explained that he loved the Mormon's and more people should try and be like them, but he didn't believe in organized religion and most didn't have all the truth.  I promised him if he would read his copy of the Book of Mormon he would find all the truth that God had given man.  He thanked me for my sincerity, but I didn't get the feeling I had changed his mind.  "We'll see."

So as you can see from the pictures, we again had a wonderful surprise visit from Dave, Logan, Noah and the rest of Dave's Venture Scout Troop.  Dave secured a reservation at Zion's Canyon for the boys to hike three different trails.  One was Angels Landing, which I think is 9+ miles.  Oh to be young.  On the way back they stopped at the VC for a short tour.  It was our "P" day so Elder and Sister Watkins gave the tour.  Their son-in-law and grandson were also there.  They are in Dave and Kristi's ward.  What a great bunch of boys.  They were so respectful and listened to everything that was said, even though I'm sure they were ready for junk food and pop.  (Three days in the woods will do that to you)

My mom, sister, niece and her son also came to visit.  What a fun experience to give a tour to family members.  We were able to go to Tuacahn to watch the Wizard of OZ performance, which was very good and then we drove up to Duck Creek to "Duck Days".  I think Duck Dynasty was conceived here.  I have never seen so much camouflage and four wheeler's in my life.  They have a parade and decorate their 4 wheeler's with lights, banners, streamers etc.  (We didn't make the parade, our niece has a cabin here and described in detail)  Yes, I was out of place but whats new.  I still had my badge on and had just pulled jeans on with the same shirt I had worn earlier at work.  What a hoot!  People were looking at me like I was from another planet and no one asked me any questions.  Of course Bruce had taken his badge off---yup didn't notice that. The people were a "hootin and a hollerin" and having a great time.

Well, the Jacob Hamblin home awaits.  We are schedule this afternoon from 2 to 7.  We pray all is well with you and yours and will continue to keep you up to date with what's happening in Beautiful Dixie.

Love Bruce & Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS  Happy Birthday to our other beautiful, smart, charming daughter Becky. Please go to Tia Rosa's for me.  Haven't found a good Mexican restaurant yet.