Guess what?!! More new experiences today. We were at the office at 7am and walked down to the stake center about 7:30. A big bus, and lots of cars and Men in Black!
Hugging and laughing and a few sad faces. And the wind was blowing and it was cold and some without coats on.

The missionary on the left is Elder Williams. He is the big guy who helped to subdue the out of control kid we took home. On the right is Elder Ale (ALL-E). He is one of the AP and is an outstanding missionary. Loves everyone, knows the gospel, good looking, I didn't pick the best pic of him, just what you want your daughter to bring home to introduce you too.




This is Sister Higbee. She is squatted down writing in someone's journal and is freezing to death. Her coat is at the dry cleaners. She came up to me early and asked if I would be her companion for the day. She had talked to the pres. and since she is the only sister going home tomorrow, she had no companion. So she was within sight or ear shot of me all day. She helped me get out my reports and some other things in the office and then we went to her apartment and she taped her two big boxes and we took them to Fed Ex to send home and I brought her over and fixed lunch for her. She is a sweetie. Headed to Alamo, Nevada tomorrow night. I already love her.

The elder on the right is Elder Nam from Korea. Also speaks Japanese and English very well and is now a Spanish speaking Elder. The others loved him right off.

The three new sisters that arrived yesterday. Sisters Howe, Young and Powers. They are so excited to begin their work.

This was the Haka. Elder Ale, from Samoa had all the departing missionaries together and then stood in front of them and they all did the Haka. I don't know if that is how you spell it. You have probably seen it before. Lots of football teams do it, like BYU I think, and it is in that movie Forever Strong. It is quite impressive. The leader is yelling out the commands or whatever he does. Pretty intense. Ale leaves next month and I hope that that is not the end of the dance.

After the Elders did their thing, the Sisters had prepared something. Their first time. It was a hand slapping, arm moving, circles, lines. It was cute.

Lots of hugs and goodbyes as missionaries got on the bus. Their luggage was loaded and off they went. Dropping people off all the way and picking others up. It is so organized. They were out of there at 8:30 and back by 5 at night. Quite a trip. So that meant that several of the elders did not have a companion. They were being picked up and brought back to the stake center. So all day they were out proselyting. It is amazing. These kids never sit around. Even Sister Higbee today being in the office, if we didn't have something for her to do, her scriptures were on her lap and she was reading.

There was Sister Jacobs in the office for awhile today and the two of them came out with the packing pieces from a computer on their heads. They sang some songs for us. Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree and two others. Sister Jacobs was sort of talking the song and Sister Higbee was making sounds. Then we had them do some more cat pantomine. It was so fun. Dad and I nearly died laughing. Sister Williams, the office secretary, is very down the line and I don't know if she enjoyed all the laughter and fun that was going on. We think it is cool to see these kids let their hair down a little and have fun and laugh.

OK, get ready. This weekend we are inviting you to our new home. Just a preview. This is our building. And Dad is standing out in front.

More later. It is late and I am tired. Loves to all.

Our Halloween party after our wonderful, spiritual at Liberty, Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. Just so you know that it not serious around here all the time!

These are the Miners. They live upstairs in our building and we were with them all day. He used to be part of a Jazz band. Both are converts to the church and she joined when she was 18 and her parents kicked her out and in the last 42 years she has seen them 3 times. They have 5 sons and none of them even knew their grandparents. Sad, huh. But we had fun at the party. We had chili dogs and sugar cookies, etc.




This is Sister Sasaki from Japan. We were doing scary things and she got on the floor and crawled along with a horrible look on her face.

Sister Moody on the left and a senior, Sister Fuller on the right. That was her scary face!

This is Sister Higbee, and her scary face. She is a real cut up. We laughed all night at she and Sister Moody.>

Don't know what happened to the pic of Sister Higbee. It is gone.

This is Sister ?. She had her feet pointing straight to each side and walked across the room.

Sisters Moody and Higbee. They did their cat act. You all would have loved it. They started by saying they were cat haters and this was how they handled cats. At first they would just tap them with their foot and move them aside. Then they had to be a little more aggressive. Then it really started. They did pantomine of all the things they did or would like to do to cats. Put them in a blender and pour them into a glass, play ninja and swing them up and around and in back, we were laughing so hard. They must have had 10-15 little acts about how to treat cats with no words spoken. Sister Sasaki took them serious the first time she saw them do this and asked if they really did that to cats. Oh it was cute. Especially if you didn't like cats.

Today we are in the office doing our thing, when Elder Ale, one of the AP's, and asked if we could go to the airport to pick up missionaries. Sure. We drove to the mission home to meet the van and trailer and pres and his wife. Told to follow them. We tried but they got away from us and we took a wrong turn out of the neighborhood and had to stop and ask which way to the freeway, then got on the freeway going the wrong direction. Elder Ale called us soon to see where we were. We had never been to the airport. Found our way and had three Elders fresh from the MTC in our car. One from American Fork, another from Pleasant Grove and one from Korea. He is the only member in his family and his parents think he is just living in Missouri. He said they have no concept about the church so he doesn't really tell them what he is doing. They would not understand. Oh, the faith out there. It is amazing in these young kids. So today we got 11 new Elders and 3 new Sisters. It is fun. They are newer than us. The first. Another new experience for us. And tomorrow is transfers. Have to be there about 7 and by 8:30 the bus and van and trailer will be on their way out with everyone and their changes. It is great.

Darn, I was doing so good and then hit a wrong button and it was posted.

The next pic is of the Sisters, old and young, on our anventure.

The sign, saying Spring Hill. Yes, this is the place of the Garden of Eden, now called Adam-ondi-Ahman. And it is being kept as lovely as possible in preparation for the second coming. Yes, you may be alive when the Lord comes back to this place. It is amazing to think about.

Just an panoramic view of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

One of the osage orange trees and then the next pic is the osage's on the ground. Like a huge grapefruit but heavy. If it fell on your head, you would be hurt.

This last pic is Dad and I with the view behind us. It is a very sacred and special place.

Our last stop of the day was at Adam-ondi-Ahman. The feeling there is very peaceful and reverent. It is basically just a huge (3,500 acres) of meadows, trees, topsoil that is 15 feet deep, beautiful land. You have to know how to get here. It is not on a map. There are twelve couples who live nearby who maintain the area. They mow the fields, repair and paint fences, and generally keep it looking beautiful. The First Presidency visit here at least twice a year, but no one knows when they are coming. There are no tours or visitors centers. The property is kept in the best condition at all times.




The man on the left is Wayne Brickey. You can read his column every Thursday night in Mormon Times. He is a faithful saint. His wife is very ill and he is not able to serve a mission and so he asked the mission department what he could do. They told him to move here and do what he could do. On this Saturday he was helping raise a barn. He came over in his work clothes to give us a talk about the area. Oh, the things that that man has in his head. He knows and understands all about the area and went on and on. It was cold and windy but not any complaints. We were all just happy to stand there and listen to him.

The sisters, young and old, on our adventure.

Yes, this is the place of the Garden of Eden, now called Adam-ondi-Ahmen. And it is being kept as lovely as possible in preperation for the second coming. Yes, you may be alive when the Lord comes back to this place. It is amazing to think about.

A panoramic view of Adam-ondi-Ohman

One of the osage orange trees.

Oranges on the ground. Like a huge grapefruit but heavy.

If it fell on your head, you would be hurt.

This last picture is Dad & I with the view behind us.

It is a very sacred and special place.

After we left Liberty,(and Liberty is about 13 miles from us, not 1), we drove to Far West. It was a community of about 5,000 people. This was where Joseph left to go back to Liberty Jail and also where General Lucas wanted to kill the prophet. And guess what, General George Lucas is buried in the cemetary that is across the street from us. The church owns several acres at Far West. Right now it is a fenced in area with a monument at one end of it. These are the sweet Sisters that we went with on this day. It is sacred ground. So quiet and peaceful.



Just a close up shot of part of the monument.

There are actually four cornerstones that were laid by the early saints and they are still there now with enclosures over them. Someday there will be a temple built right on this spot

I was busy collecting beautiful pine cones at Far West. I have a basket of them. They are quite different and very beautiful. I will get a picture.

I am at the office on company time I guess you would say. But I have to tell you about my dream early this morning. I was up at 3 am and then woke at 5:20am having had one of my regular nightmares. Early this AM

I LOST IZAAK

Before I went to bed last night I found a little thought that was attributed to his namesake. Izaak Walton.
And I don't know if that was what precipitated this dream or not.

I was in Provo and in missionary attire. I had my name tag on. Izaak was dropped off after school wherever I was and we were going to go on a train ride. I remember changing my clothes and putting on levis and tennis shoes for our adventure. We were on a train and it was just old boxcars with benches in it. We were kind of riding up a mountain. Suddenly I realized that I had forgotten my bag. I had left it sitting on a picnic table. I told Izaak that we had to get off the train and go find the bag. Somehow we were in different boxcars and I told him I would hit the side of the car and they would slow down a little and that is when we would jump off. Can you believe this! When I got off the train I could not find Izaak. First of all I went to the picnic table looking for my bag and saw a girl with it. I had to chase her, but got my bag back. In my dream I was crying and went into a building and there ran into two random people. Steve Bergstedt, a kid I grew up with and Christian Kasteller, (Rachel Washburns's husband). I asked if either of them had a mountain bike or motorcycle that they could take me on to hunt for Izaak. Neither did and so I went to another place and there was another random person, Ruth Curtis. A girl I also knew in my youth. So I gave Ruth and her roommate a description of Izaak and to watch out for him and call me if he showed up.

That is when I headed out and started running back to that mountain in pursuit of Izaak. Thank goodness for my new knees! I was running fast and hard and could actually do it. This is when I woke up. I did not find him in my dream. I just lay in my bed and worried and wondered why I had such a dream. So now I need to call Adrian and make sure that he got home last night.

This was our Halloween day, October 31, 2009

We left with another senior couple in our building to go to Liberty which is about 1 miles away. There we met up with about 8 young Sisters and the Nelsons, who are in charge of the jail.




What you see is actually a re-creation of the Liberty Jail standing exactly where it was when it was in use. The walls were about four feet thick. First the huge timbers and then just rocks that were dumped in between the timbers and the stone walls on the outside.

This is a picture of one of the two windows in the dungeon. That is where the Prophet and 5 other men were for four months. It was the coldest winter on record and there was no heat, a cement floor with old straw scattered around, very low ceilings, some of the men could not even stand up straight. They huddled together for warmth. The two windows were very low, you have to stoop over to see in. Remember that the walls are four feet thick and these windows are also on the north and south sides of the building. That means probably no direct sunlight and very little light at all because the windows were so low and the walls were so thick. The opening is probably 8-10 inches high and 2 feet across or less.

Go to Doctrine and Covenants 121-123 to read the revelations given while the Prophet was in Liberty. Especially D&C 122:7 and the very last of that verse. And this was received on the 110 day of their 127 day confinement. It brings tears to my eyes each time I see it.

This is Dad and I sitting on the stones in front of the dungeon. Joseph is sitting at a small table with a candle on the left side. You can see the re-creations of other of the men on the right side.

This last picture is Elder and Sister Miner who were with us. Can you believe that while we were at the MTC I had the _____, guts I guess, to ask if we really had to call everyone Elder and Sister. It just seems kind of impersonal to me and I am having a hard time doing it all the time. It is easier because I don't really know anyones first name, so I am falling somewhat in line.

And I think for the very first time I have done this the way I wanted it to be. My pics are in the right order and I have learned how to get them here and how to post inbetween them. Thanks for your patience Adrian. We will continue Halloween tomorrow.