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. 

Glorious

Dear Family and Friends,

This is very dangerous to write this tonight.  It is very late and I am very tired, however if I don't get this done another week may fly by and I run the risk of not remembering what happened yesterday, let alone 14 days ago.  But as my really close friends know, when I am tired I have a tendency of saying very inappropriate things. But here goes.  Close your eyes if you see anything sketchy.

This has been a crazy two weeks.  It started out with a snow storm on Monday, February the 23rd. Bruce got up and ready for his early morning meeting with Elder Cleverly and opened the door to the white stuff.  He called to me to come see and as soon as I saw it I threw some clothes on and grabbed my camera.  By the time I got out the door, Bruce was picking himself up off the pavement. He was moving very slowly and was soaked.  The snow was wet and slushy, the kind that makes it impossible to walk on.  Well long story short, he cracked a few ribs, plus was badly bruised.  Lots of pulled muscles as well.  After X-rays he's now on pain pills and not laughing, coughing or blowing his nose.  Hopefully this will be a better week for him.  The weird thing is, his counter-part, Elder Clark, fell about 1 month ago while hiking and broke 4 ribs, pulled muscles and hurt his hip.  I guess Bruce didn't want Elder Clark to feel lonely.  Elder Cleverly better be very careful with both of his Assistants on pain pills, who knows what they will do or say.

But my snow storm was glorious.  I drove to the Visitor Center and there encountered the Sisters who were in heaven.  Several of them had never seen snow before and couldn't believe their eyes. Sister Clark from South Africa ran out in her pj's and made snow angels.  She came to the center soaking wet, but didn't care.  I lined them up out in front of the Temple and took pictures. I had the Sisters who have never seen snow raise their hands.  I posted this pic on Instagramand they loved every minute.  I then drove to the Tabernacle to get some snowy pic's and there met a reporter for Fox news.  He interviewed me and said it would be on TV that day.  It aired at 12:00 pm, 4:00 pm, and 5:00 pm.  He said it would be on at 9:00 pm but all they showed at 9:00 was me taking pictures of the Tabernacle and not from my best side. (yes it was my behind)  My 3 minutes of fame not so famous.  But I did have a wonderful morning taking pictures of red rocks with white snow.  It was Glorious.  

 We took the Clarks' to Kanab to Julie Roger's art studio on Friday, February the 27th.  If you haven't seen any of her art work, I strongly suggest you go to her web page and take a look.  It is glorious.  It is very different for an artist who paints religious figures.  Her paintings are very impressionistic with bright colors.  I am totally in love.  I purchased two of her paintings and I could have purchased a lot more.  I just may have to buy a few more before I leave.  We had a wonderful day with Julie and her husband. She is a remarkable person who is so talented and so willing to share her talent with all.  Plus we loved being with the Clark's on this field trip.  I'm not sure if I have written and told everyone that Elder Clark was in the mission field with Bruce way back in the 60's. Who has served two missions with the same missionary?  Bruce and Ron, that's who.  "Small World!!"

Both Bruce and I had great missionary moments this week.  We are both working with people who are investigating the church.  Bruce received a referral and has been working to get the missionaries who live by him to visit.  I gave a tour to a gentleman by the name of Mark along with his two children.  I showed them "Gods Plan For His Family" and he wept through the whole thing.  He has been baptized but didn't realize what was still available for him.  He didn't realize he could have the Priesthood or go to the Temple.  I am in contact with him and arranging for the missionaries to re-establish contact to teach about the Priesthood and Temple ordinances, plus teach his 12 year old son.  He just kept saying, I want this, I want all of it.  So excited for him and his little family.  Glorious experience

And then there is P-Day.  After meeting my sister, Julie and her husband Ken for lunch on Thursday, we took off for Arches National Monument.  Very last minute, but what a day. On Friday morning we started out at Arches and hiked to Landscape Arch, then to Delicate Arch, and onto Double Window Arch.  There are over 2000 arches in this park and I want to see all of them. We then headed to Dead Horse Point.  This is the park with the big Horse Shoe bend in the Colorado River that has been in every National Geographic picture of the Grand Canyon.  It is simply Glorious.

Then Saturday, the sun came out and the snow melted and I looked out the window and what did I see, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"  Couldn't resist taking pictures of the beautiful blossoms that are appearing all around town, but these of the Temple are truly Glorious.  (shamelessly pitching David Archaletta's beautiful song)  

So this is the end of my Glorious two weeks. (except for Bruce's ribs)  My hope for all of you is that you have a Glorious day, week and month.

Sending Love to all,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS Happy Birthday this week to our handsome, funny, strong grandson, Oliver.  We so miss our grand kids and want all of them to know how much we love them and pray they will be safe.  

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Dear Friends and Family,

I bet you were wondering if I was ever going to post again.  Not that it's a big deal, or that you are waiting with baited breath for my next epistle, but I really do need to do better.  This is a wonderful way to journal our experience and if I wait too long between posts, I forget.  Number 1, I'm old and my brain doesn't retain details, names or numbers like it used too.  And number 2, I'm blonde.

The past two weeks have been filled with exactly what my subject line says.  "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  I am sure every missionary goes through these experiences, but I was hoping to avoid the bad and the ugly.  The good I'm OK with.  (I know, I'm a coward)  It started out with the wonderful visit of Bruce's brother and his wife Sue.  They walked into the VC on Friday night, Feb 6. It was such a wonderful surprise.  We did not know they were in St. George. I took them back to see Bruce in the Annex who was in a very interesting conversation with a gentleman.  It was only Bruce, the gentleman, Ken, Sue and myself.  As we stood there listening, it became very clear that this dude was very anti-Mormon and also Atheist.  He was raised as a Mormon, but left the church when he was 19-20 years of age.  He attended Cal-Berkeley and believes himself to be the foremost authority and historian on Mormon history.  I have dealt with other guests that have been rude, confrontational and down right ornery, but this one takes the cake.  He mocked the Prophets, ridiculed the Book of Mormon and basically laughed in our faces.  But what I still can't figure out is, he told us he has visited every Visitor Center from Palmyra to LA.  Bruce asked him why and he says he is doing research for a book he's writing on "What People Believe The After-Life Will Be." By this time I'm totally confused. He doesn't believe in an After-Life, or God, but he spends his time traveling from Visitor Center to Visitor Center, asking people what they think will happen to them when they die.  Go Figure!!!!! Finally, I told him it was closing time and Security would be coming to lock the doors. Wish I had thought of this about 1 hour earlier, but I guess it goes back to the beginning of this post. #1. I'm old and #2. I'm blonde.  But if any of you are interested in corresponding with him he gave us his email address and wants us to write to him and let him know what we think will happen to us.  Let me know if your interested. 

The ugly-----Now this is rather misleading.  Its not a bad thing but it was ugly.  On Sunday, the 15th, we gave over 590 tours at the Brigham Young Home.  We were the mid-shift, in other words we over lapped the morning shift by 2 hours and the afternoon shift by 2 hours. We finished our shift at 3 and I looked at the front porch to see at least 40 people waiting.  Both Brother and Sister Kaona had groups of 20-30 and I couldn't find Bruce.  I went around the house and Bruce had another group of 40-50.  I looked at Bruce and told him we had to get organized or we were going to have Mutiny on the Brigham Young grounds.  We lined up Bruce's group at the front door and gave them all the History then told them to line up and we would take them through the house in groups of 10.  One "Old" man ( I can say that, because I'm old---remember) came up to Bruce and said his group was there first and what was he going to do about it.  Bruce explained that he had just come around the house to find this group waiting and he would do the best he could. "Old Man" was not satisfied, he got in Bruce's face and challenged him again as to what he was going to do about it.  Now you all know the Holy Ghost works in mysterious ways and I have to say, this is one of my favorites.  Bruce did not loose his cool.  He simply told the "Old Man" that he would be happy to give him a full refund.  "Old Man" was not impressed but was flustered enough to turn around and walk away.  We then lined them up, and I took 10 at a time through the house.  We got Bruce's group through, then did the same thing to the next group of 40.  After we finished up these two groups, I walked out the back door and Sister Kaona had 70-90 out under the tree in the back yard.  I told her to give the history then line them up and Bruce would stay downstairs and move them through, then send them to me upstairs..  It was UGLY!!! By The Way, Elder Kaona had another group of 20-30 in the office.  Needless to say, Bruce and I did not leave.  We did a double shift and by the time we got home, we just sat and looked at the wall.  We were so tired we couldn't take our clothes off.  We had both lost our voices and after ascending "Step Historic Steps" 20 times we hurt every where.  OK enough of the UGLY.

Now the Good, and there was soooooo much good.  You already know Ken and Sue, Bruce's brother and his wife, visited.  The first night was rough, but we got together with them again on Saturday night and had a wonderful visit with them and Sue's brother Brent and his wife Ellen. We are so blessed with wonderful extended family, and love visits from them.  Then the next weekend, Valentines Day/President's Day weekend, the Phantoms gathered for their annual V-Day, Parade of Homes, Hiking and Biking weekend.  We had dinner on Friday night, the 13th and their were 18 of us.  Richard and Dana Christensen, and Steve and Joan Burke joined us for the first time. Richard and Dana were leaving on Monday for Bulgaria.  They are serving an 18 month CES mission.  They have been working very hard with the MTC learning Bulgarian for the past 6 months, and Dana was able to give her testimony in Bulgarian.  I was impressed, since I took 3 years of Spanish in High School and can count to 20 and ask where the bathroom is.  I think they are very brave and can't wait to hear how things are going.  Steve and Joan Burke have moved to St. George so now we can visit with them all the time.  This was the first time we had seen Richard and Dana in over 30 years.  It was such a wonderful weekend.  I know laughter is the best medicine and all my aliments are cured for a few months. Then last but not least both my sisters and my mother were here for the weekend.  Julie and her husband, stayed with their son Brett and attended about 6 soccer games, a couple of cheer leading competitions and a few other events.  Linda, my mom and my niece went and  scoured all the garage sales,then went to the Parade of Homes.  (The Parade of Homes brings in 30,000 visitors each year) 

Both of us had wonderful teaching moments with visitors from all over the country.  Bruce had a couple from England who could not get enough.  They just wanted more and more and more. They kept asking him," why haven't we heard of this doctrine before". " It just makes sense".   These moments make all the BAD experiences disappear.

Last but not least, we had our Hi-Bye Party for the Leishmans who are leaving and the Burts, the Fullers and the Cleverlys who have just arrived.  We had a wonderful night getting to know them and you can see by the pictures that we had a carnival.  Foot-long hot dogs, coleslaw, chocolate fountain, caramel popcorn, lemonade etc.  What a wonderful group of people we love 'em all.

Well its time to close.  We survived "The Good", "The Bad" and "The Ugly".  We are sure we will have all of the above again, but hope we have learned something to turn it all GOOD!  We send love to all.  Please be safe.

Love, Bruce and Dawna

(Elder and Sister)

Happy Birthday to our beautiful, talented, pregnant daughter, Jodi.  We hope your day was filled with all your favorite things. 

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