The Real End to our Mission

That says it all.

The End....Until We Meet Again

Tonight was our last day spent at the Temple Visitor Center. I gave 3 Books of Mormon today. The first was to a lady from LA who was really interested in our Church and learning more about it. Then came the last 15 minutes of our mission. Into the Annex comes a couple from Georgia and their daughter. They are not members of the Church. They became very interested in  the temple and why do we have temples, we spent the last minutes of our mission together. They wanted a Book of Mormon both the couple and their daughter. They also took the testimony of Joseph Smith. Then the Kaonas came in to help us close up and they had all the sister missionaries sing three hymns to  us. God Be With You Till We Meet Again. I Need Thee Every Hour. and another hymn slips my mind. Then we knelt around the Christus and they asked me to say the prayer. Very touching moment to end our mission...A great ending.

Alma Chapter 26

As I close out my mission I turn to Alma Chapter 26. Ammon is so thankful unto his God for being able to go amongst their enemies the Lamanites and change their hearts. he and his brothers Himni, Aaron and Omni have spent 17 years in the mission field with the Lamanites. Ammon does not boast in their conversions of the Lamanites but he glories in the Lord who was with them every step of the way as they were imprisoned and other harsh treatment but were highly successful in serving the Lord. Darolyne and I have served 18 months and almost every day we were able to teach someone that did not know about our Church. Today I taught two ladies from New Brunswick, Canada. a couple of days ago they just decided to go to Utah because they have heard about the beauties there. Then they happen to somehow get to Jacobs' house and here the story of this great indian missionary. When they left they

took with them a Book of Mormon. Also I taught a non member from Ohio who just moved here to live. He had a Book o Mormon but wants to learn all he can about the Mormon Church. He said he would probably join but he can't go on a mission. I told him he didn't have to go on a mission. That was a good moment. Who knows if we had any influence on all these guests or some of them, but I know that in many cases the Holy Ghost bore record of the truth because the Holy Ghost can only bare record of the truth. Yesterday at the Visitor Center I met a young couple from Germany after talking to them for a short time i took them and introduced them to Sister Gruenfeld a missionary from Germany. She taught them well and they left with a Book of Mormon in German and a referral card. These sites are truly places where people come off the street from all over the world and for the first time are taught the truths of the Church. Goodbye Jacobs

As Sadness Sets In

Great day at Brighams' house. It is the St.George Marathon today and there are 8000 participants. One of the best in the United States. At our tour today us and the Dabbs gave 7 Books of Mormon. Darolyne gave 3 and I 1 to a kid from Utah who speaks German. My very last tour at Brighams' was to a young man and his sister from Idaho Falls, Idaho. They were in their 20s and had come down to the marathon. They were great great great grandchildren of Brigham Young. What a way to leave my service at his winter home. On my way to my house We stopped at Smiths', a grocery store, as i was walking down an isle a young man came up to me gave me a good look and ask me if I could tell him where the Trail Mix was.. The missionary tag. We had a guest today from Boise idaho who brought his 2014 Corvette with him so I took a picture of Darolyne Sister Dabb and Sister Watkins. It was also Joeys' 43rd birthday and they were down here to their home coming back from Disneyland. They will be taking my truck home tomorrow. Here he is with his beautiful wife Jamie. We only have 3 more days and we are feeling kind of sad. Today is General Conference, we have only seen parts because we are at the sites.

Friberg Germany Temple President and Matron, Newly Called

Today a Brighams' house I gave a tour to a couple from Friberg Germany, formerly East Germany, He was just called as the new Friberg Temple President by President Uchdorf. This was a great visit, I took them over to see Bedard Studio  where they could see his painting of the signers that appeared to Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple. I also gave 2 Books of Mormon to 2 ladies from L.A., they were very interested.

Our Last Transfer Meeting Starring Us

This morning we met in a transfer meeting and since we are going home we had to give a little talk and bare our testimonies. Darolyne did a great job. It should be written that she has been an excellent missionary always being obedient and diligent, more so than me. This is a picture of the Clarks' who bought our home here in St. George while we have been on our mission. Sister Montoya from Payson Utah Sister Fontaine from Montreal Sister Lubbert from Iowa. All these sisters are also going home.

Three Men Dressed in White

Today was a fun day at Jacobs. It was slow, not to many visitors then I looked out the window and up the walk came 3 men dressed in white. One of them had a long white beard. I thought The Three Nephites? No just  3 painters from Ogden working here in St. George.

Happenings at the Visitor Center

9 days left. Today at the Visitors Center I met people from Mainland China, Germany, France, and non members from Seattle, Tri Cities Washington and Ontario Canada. The girl from Seattle was here at a  wedding for a friend. She came in I talked to her for awhile. Then she met with the sister missionaries and they brought the spirit to her and she received the Book of Mormon and gave a referral to meet the missionaries in Seattle. She was touched by the Christus etc. because she had tears in her eyes. This girl  was in her 20s and had a few tatoos but was dressed very nice. An old man came in he talked to me for ever her was 80 years old and looking for a woman to marry because he wants to go on a mission. I guess with now success though. He gave me 4 scriptures from the bible that prove the mission of the Book of Mormon. These are pictured here, also a picture of Darolyne and I leaving the Brigham Young

house.

The Addios Trail

A little over a week left and Darolyne and I share some see you later photos from the sites.

Flood the Earth With Book of Mormons

Ezra Taft Benson when he was the Prophet challenged

 us to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. That has been part of my mission. As my grandson wrote me from Japan we flood the earth with his gospel by one drop at a time. Yesterday at Brighams' I gave a Book to a couple from Syracuse, New York only 60 miles from Palmyra and Mendon where Brigham grew up. They hadn't heard upper New York was the beginning of our Church and Joseph Smith. Darolyne gave a Book to a couple from Indiana. Then yesterday we went to a broadcast of the dedication of the Ogden Utah Temple. Today at the Visitor Center I gave 15 Books to the people from France. Darolyne gave a Book to a couple of which one was Chinese and from Beaverton, Oregon. The great thing today happened when a couple, Mother and her 20ish year old son came in, they were from Germany so I took them inot the Center to see Sister Lipke from Germany. She spent a couple of hours with them and found out the mother had just lost her husband to death. She was on a trip and took her son. They ended up here where she heard about how her and her husband can be together forever by her joining the Church and having her husband sealed to her by the power of the everlasting priesthood. This is why they showed up today. These two wanted all the literature that we had and gave their information to  Sister Lipke who will contact them and continue to teach them and send the missionaries to their home in Germany. The pictures are from the party the other night at the Bowcutts. Picture of Elder Clark, who has been an assistant with me and Elder Watkins. A picture of a Rainbow from our back yard.

Give Away at the Tabernacle

We servered at the Tabernacle and I gave 3 Books to 3 different couples.Two from Texas and a couple from New Jersey. Darolyne did not have any tours with non members. Then we stayed and did the prayers at the Devotional..The Devotional was Dr. Anderson of St.George that went to the Phillipines three weeks after Typhoon Yolanda that destroyed one whole Island and was the strongest Typhoon ever recorded on Earth. He went over for several weeks to help out. A great story by a very charitable man. Today was our P day, we went Garage Saleing together for the first time in a long time. It was a good day. Tonight we are going to Bowcutts in Entrada, they served here with us for a year and are just down at their house and invited all the Missionaries over for a barbecue.  It started to rain which is very infrequent.

Guests of Honor...sort of

Last Hi Bye Party, starring us and the DeWitts. We had our party at Borcherts' condo. We had a pie party with meat and sweet pies. Then Elder Watkins read about us and the DeWitts and then gave 'us a p

icture of the temple visitor center, a photo actually framed, really pretty. Then we had t bear our testimonies. Darolyne just about broke out in tears but held on, she did such a good job, I see a lot of spiritual growth in her on this mission if that is possible.Then we did Karaoke. Our group did Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday at Brighams' house I gave a Book to a couple from Columbus, Ohio. Darolyne gave a Book to a couple from upper New York.

Ho Hum

Not a lot going on at the sites, I haven't seen it this slow for a long time. Only 4 tours yesterday at Jacobs and only 5 today at the Visitor Center. We did have 5 Busses today  from France though. Last Saturday they had 25 busses from France Germany Poland and Italy. The Sister Missionaries gave out 110 Book of Mormons. At the Tabernace Sunday I gave a Book to a couple from Spokane, Washington. We took Sister Hee and Sister Lipke out to Chuck A Rama yesterday and today we had Sister Archanbeau from Manitoba and Sister Martin from St.  Louis over for dinner tonight. It has been close to 100 degrees each day this week, very hot for September.

Visitors

This week the Boyacks from Oak City came to visit us. They are full time missionaries up in Delta, Utah. They stayed a couple of days and Al and I and Jim McCoy went golfing on our P day. It was a great visit, they are great friends. Then yesterday Ryan came to St.George with Rebecca Moulton his latest girl friend, she lives in Orem has two kids and is a Corporate Lawyer for a software firm. She served a mission in Brazil. She went through a tough divorce. Oh Dougie came along, they stayed in Joeys house. We took them up Snow Canyon today hence the photos. We have 3 weeks and 2 days left and are feeling ambivalent about the situation, happy and sad. Last blog I said there was 2 inches of rain in Winchester Hills which is true. But Ivins had 3.8 inches of rain in 90 minutes, what was called a 1000 year storm. Alot for a Desert.

Wheres Noah when you need Him

Today was quite the rainstorm,  the weatherman said it was a 1000 year storm for some places, just 6 miles north of us, Winchester Hills there was 2 and a half inches of rain in two hours, here where we live maybe an inch and a half. Any way there were many flash floods, the Santa Clara River that usually runs as a trickle was at flood stage or over, see photos. It again about washed out part of Southgate Golf Course. We went to the Tabernacle today and had a busy day with over 100 visitors. Darolyne taught a couple from Illinois he was a Mason and finding out that Brigham Young was a Mason then he wanted to know more about our religion, he and his wife took a Book of Mormon. I taught a couple from Kansas, he said they were Lutherans but it was evident that he didn't go to Church very often.  He had many questions about our religion. He seemed to be very interested in our Church and they too took a Book of Mormon and the testimony of Joseph Smith. At the end of the day the storm passed on to the east and things started to clear up. The freeway I 15 between here and Las Vegas washed out and will be closed for 3 or 4 days. In the mean time the traffic has to divert some 90 miles more to make it to St. George. This is a major truck route.

Brigham would have been Happy

Today at Brighams' we had a lot of people come through on busses I gave out 11 Books and Darolyne gave 1 Book of Mormon out. Two of my Books went to couples that were interested in the Church they were from Maryland and California. It rained hard again today and there were many flash floods between here and Las Vegas, it wiped out I15 between us and them and will need a lot of repair. Tonight we had the Collins and the Sutherlands over for games and laughs, a lot of fun.

The Lost Manuscript

Funny thing happened for some reason I have been Blogging on Carol Vincents' blog for the last three posts and then I deleted them. I will try to recount some of the activities of the last week. Monday morning I met at Dedes' for breakfast with Elder Watkins and Elder Clark, we are the leadership for the Sites. We had our meeting there. I will miss meeting with these brethren I have grown to love and respect them very much. I can remember that this week we served at Jacobs' three times which is  unusual. We were saying this week how much we love Jacob Hamblins' house, probably our favorite and we are starting to get meloncholy about leaving this mission. We love it because we truly feel like we are in the arms of the Lord. I know this week we have give out several Books of Mormon. I gave one to a man from Washington DC and a family from Los Angeles, Darolyne gave some to a couple from Florida. Wednesday we went to a fireside on Hail to the Prophet. It was part original music and part story and testimony from Gracia Jones. Gracia was the first of Joseph Smiths family to join the LDS Church. She is Josephs' great granddaughter and the grand daughter of Joseph Smith the third, who was the founder of the Reorganized LDS Church, now known as the community of Christ. Anyway when she was a teenager and living in Conrad, Montana she was contacted by our missionaries and joined. She had a great story and testimony. On Thursday was our P Day. We went to Kolob Reservoir with the Collins. We had a great day being away from St.George for the first time in many months. Friday we went to a Fireside put on by Rand Packer. Rands' grand father was a middleweight boxing champion and Willard Bean. Rand wrote a book about his grand father and grandmother called the Lion and the Lamb. Willard and his wife were sent to Palmyra, New York on a mission to live in Joseph Smiths' Sr. house. This was in the early 1920s. 25 years later willard and his wife had bought a lot of the lands the Church owns now in the Palmyra area including the Hill Cummorah. Great story.

The German Invasion

Quite the day. We were at the Visitor Center today. Darolyne is feeling better and we had a good day. First Darolyne gave a Book of Mormon to a couple of  from Florida. I met a young man from Washington DC. I taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon. He took one. Then I gave a Book in German to a young couple from Germany. Then Rima Avenesjan, Sister Avenesjan from Germany, showed up to say hello. She came all the way from Germany  to go through the temple with her investigator who she converted, The Picture, it was so great to see her, we are great friends. She wants to go to BYU but needs some help to get in and maybe some financial help. Ah, I had her meet with Elder Clark former pr guy from BYU. He told her he will have her get a hold of the person at BYU who can

get her admitted. You see she is from Germany but she is Armenian., and Elder Clark knows Jon Huntsman Sr. who is a Billionare, and wants to help people from Armenian. Coincidence, no Tender Mercy yes. The Lord takes care of his missionaries...FOREVER!

The Good the Bad and the Wonderful

Yesterday at Brighams' house Darolyne taught two ladies from Las Vegas they were very receptive to the things being taught and left with a Book of Mormon and a commitment to read it. Then last night the heavens finally opened here in the desert and it rained buckets with thunder and lightning. There was quite a bit of flooding around town, we were spared. They say it rained an inch and a half in just a couple of hours. Then today Darolyne woke up with vertigo. She did go to work and threw up twice, so I took her home and went back to the Visitor Center for the rest of our shift. She took an anti dizzy pill and has rested all day. I gave her a blessing and pray she gets better. Tomorrow is our prep day and I hope we don't spend it at home. We have less than 6 weeks to go on our mission. Tonight Collette brought Darolyne some cookies and then the Clarks' brought over home made pie. So we are sure blessed with great friends. Jim and Collette also gave us two dinners at Chuck a Rama....Yum When we bought this home the people before us were rock hounds. They had petrified wood all over the yard, which is a quarter of and acre. They are legal pieces they got with permits up at the Hurricane fault. Anyway all this time I have been trying to organize them. Also I have added 7 plants consisting of 3 trees and four bushes which are all desert flowering. This is a very lovely home we are truly blessed in our old age to have such a nice place. Soon though we will go home and have to work hard to get our Orem home back in shape. I do appreciate KC for helping to keep it up.

Golden

Today Darolyne and I was at the Tabernacle. It was a slow day then people started to come. at the end of the day I had three non member tours. Each tour I was able to teach about the Book of Mormon and our Church and place a Book of Mormon in each case. The first case was a mother and daughter, 60 and 30   years of age from California. They were very receptive and took a Book of Mormon. Then a man from Texas who just thought he would fly to St. George and see Zions Canyon came in because he had time and was interested to see the Tabernacle. He spent a lot of time there and wanted to know all about our Church, he left with the Book and all the other literature that we had. He could be Golden. Then 3 people from the Netherlands came and spoke some English. They were also interested in the Church and our beliefs. I introduced them to the Book of Mormon and they wanted one in German. This was a good day. Darolyne and I have so many experiences with people it just doesn't seem like it is real. We have met and taught thousands of people each while we have been on this mission. Un real and many of them have been Golden. Tonight we did our month end dinner with the Sr. Missionaries, it was Kaonas' turn to choose a place to eat. So we went to the Honolulu Grill. All Hawaiin food. Yum