Spring Is Here!!

Hello to All,

Spring has arrived in St. George with all the beautiful trees starting to bloom and the weather turning to the perfect temperature - - -78 degrees, along with all the tourists, French, German, Danish, Korean and Chinese.  And then there are all the families escaping for Spring Break.  I told you in an earlier post that St. George is the center of the Universe.  We are seeing more guests each day at the Historical Sites and Visitor Center.  Today at the VC we had 3 buses - 2 French and 1 German. One French group took 12 Books of Mormon and the German bus took 3. 

We are very busy at the sites and need to eat our Wheaties each day to climb those "Steep Historical Steps" over and over again. On Saturday at Brigham Young's in a four hour period we gave 20 tours, so I climbed those steps 20 times.  You would think I would have buns of steel, but no that hasn't happened, but I can climb them without feeling like I'm sucking air from a plugged straw. This is one memory of our mission I won't forget soon.

Along with all the visitors and beautiful blossoms that have arrived, our allergies are in full bloom as well. Usually, Bruce is the one suffering, but something in St. George isn't agreeing with me. We are sneezing, wheezing and wiping runny noses all day long.  We are not the only ones, about every Sr. Couple is carrying around a box of Kleenex and complaining about the pollen.  I guess beautiful green trees, bushes, grass and flowers come with a price.----ALLERGIES  (yuck)

The past two weeks have had there ups and downs.  Our wonderful friends, The Watts, lost their daughter to a battle of melanoma on Wednesday, March 11th.  We were able to attend the funeral on Friday.  The service was beautiful and the flowers were unbelievable.  Andi had her own flower and event business and just had the artist touch for beautiful arrangements and her employees did not disappoint her with their works of art for the service.  Andi and Kati were the same age and born 1 month apart in Logan. When Kati was 8 weeks old and Andi 4 weeks old they both contracted pneumonia.  They were in the same hospital room under oxygen tents.  For 10 days, Marilyn and I watched these little girls struggle to take a breath.  I cannot imagine how hard it was for Marilyn and Dave to again, watch their baby girl struggle for life.  We love the Watts family and pray they will find peace and comfort knowing their girl is in the arms of Heavenly Father. How grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation, God's plan of happiness for each of us.

Well---Bruce couldn't wait any longer for a toy he has wanted since we arrived in St. George. This past p-day he finally went and bought an ATV or 4-wheeler or UTV or whatever they call them.  His friend Roger had just bought a new Kawasaki thingy and told Bruce about it so Bruce got busy and went and picked one out and brought it home.  He's very excited to start riding the trails and spends hours on the computer looking at Google Earth for his new playground.  We are taking it for its maiden voyage tomorrow morning and then taking the Clark's on our p-day this Wednesday for our first day trip.  We are probably crazy, but he's as happy as a kid in a candy store.  Now I really do need to go out and buy camouflage and then we can go to Duck Days and fit right in. (Duck Creek here we come)

I had the best surprise on Friday.  I received a text from two wonderful friends from Mesa.  Leila Scurr and Bonny Drain stopped by for a quick hike in Snow Canyon.  I love it when friends stop by and I get to hear all about what is happening back home while hiking in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.  Oh What a Beautiful Morning!!

On that note, we miss you all.  We think of you each day and pray all is well.  Remember - be safe.

Love,

Bruce and Dawna

Elder and Sister

PS Happy Birthday to our spunky, adorable Lilly who turned 8. 

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.