It's Official

We went to the MTC today, got our name badges and are busy learning "Preach My Gospel."  It was overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.  I tend to get over-stimulated and when I do, I zone out sometimes until I have assimilated everything.  I did that a couple of times today.  I will try and process quicker and be rejuvenated tonight.

A Very Fun Weekend

On Friday, Clyde and I went down to Ephraim for a Vocal Exchange 30 year reunion.  It was so much fun to be with such great friends again and make beautiful music together.  We sang several of our standbys and sounded just a good as ever.  We blended and fell into our old parts like we had never been apart.  Such fun!  Time just flew by.  Before anyone knew it, we had been together for 3 1/2 hours.  I have never had time go by so unnoticed before.

Saturday morning, we went to the Manti Tempel and saw Jay and Tawny Olsen and family.  Thomas was getting married.  John and Christian are already married!  We saw Darrel and Corinne, Chuck and Eileen Jeffs too.  We visited while Thomas and his wife were having pictures taken.  It was so much fun!

Today we went back to Manti to go to church with Popi and Doreen.  While I was in Relief Society, I was sitting by Doreen and Mary Wintch.  About halfway through RS, we realized were super close friends when I was at Manti High.  We had a blast visiting with each other and catching up.  I can't wait to see her next Sunday too.

I can't remember if told about our drive home from Manti, last week.  In the valley leading to Indianola, we saw a MOOSE!  It was a juvenile and seemed quite lost but it was funny to see all of the cars stopping to take pictures. 

Tomorrow we finally enter the MTC.  I am scared and excited.  Our next adventure begins NOW!

Better information.

I apparently gave some wrong information so I will try again.

We go into the MTC on Monday for a week of Preach My Gospel immersion.  The weekend after that we go to the Church Office building to learn how to use the digital photography equipment.  We have reservations with British Airways for NOVEMBER 12 and will arrive in Denmark on November 13.  We have to be at the airport around 6:30 am for our departure at 8:30 am.  We are very ready for this to happen. 

Tomorrow night we are going to a Vocal Exchange reunion.  Should be a blast.

Last night we went with Marianne Dittmar, Sara Walker, Popi and Doreen to go and see Die Fledermaus at BYU.  It was one of the best productions I have ever seen of this opera plus the company was wonderful.  We all had a great time and heard some fabulous music.

Happy Birthday, Carianne!

 Carianne is going to kill me for these pictures!  Today is the anniversary of a day I had dreamed of all of my life.  I had a baby girl to dress up and cuddle.  I loved having all of my daughters but Carianne is special because she is the first.  Coincidentally - this marks the week that Marianne went into the MTC!  How funny that 36 years later - almost to the day - Clyde and I are entering. 

You would think that after 10 days of visiting, I would have a better picture of Carianne.  Carianne, happy birthday and have a wonderful year!

An October Update

I keep thinking I will download pictures and just don't get to it.  I decided I had better let people know that it looks like we are going into the MTC on 28 October.  We do not have a visa yet but it should be coming around the 30th or 31st of October.  We have another plane ticket and if all goes as planned, we will be leaving on October 12 and arrive in Denmark the morning of October 13.  We are going through Dallas instead of Chicago and have a 4 hour layover there. 

We just got back from spending the weekend with Doreen and Popi.  We went to church with them this morning and Doreen even had us practice for the choir last night so we could sing with them today.  It was a beautiful arrangement of 'Come Follow Me'.  I am still humming the 2nd soprano part.  We are going to go again next week because we need to get to know this ward.  After all it will be our ward in 18 months.

Danish Immersion went really well this week.  I am starting to think more and more in Danish first and English second.  This will work well in Denmark but not so well in the US.  We have been culling our luggage again.  We will be able to easily get our things in our suitcases now.  After living out of a suitcase for 2 almost 3 months, we are seeing what it essential and what is fluff.

This week is shaping up to be busy.  Tomorrow is Carianne's birthday.  Tuesday we have Danish tutoring in Provo.  Wednesday we will go to the Draper Temple and then to Provo in the evening to see Der Fledermaus.  We will spend the night in Provo and then go to the Provo temple with Marianne on Thursday morning.  Friday evening is a Vocal Exchange 30th anniversary party - along with Carolyn Wallingford's birthday  in Ephraim.  Sometime during the week we need to move our essential stuff to the Dittmar's so we can go into the MTC on Monday. 

I have been fighting a migraine and I am exhausted.  I hope you have a great week.

Optimism

Late last week, one of the women in my sister's ward passed away.  Marianne, Sara and Dallin went to the funeral, yesterday.  This morning as I was eating breakfast, I found the program with a sweet poem written by the woman who passed.  I was so impressed that I wanted to share it.  It is called Optimism.

Optimism

by Ruth Harmon

 

Make optimism your own thing.

Sunny of cloudy, you still can sing.

You lose some races; some you win.

Showers or flowers can bring a grin.

Losing a coat may make you colder.

Losing your teeth means you're growing older.

Losing a dollar is not all bad.

When someone finds it, their really glad.

 

Some call a glass half empty.

While some would say half full.

It's the way you look at things

That makes days bright or dull.

Always look on the happy side.

Change a frown into a smile.

Life won't seem quite so hard

Whenever you face a trial.

 



Happy Birthday Noah!

Noah turned 9 on Sunday!  I have been so busy getting ready and then studying for Danish Immersion, I forgot to post anything about or to him.

Noah, we love you and are very proud of you.  We will see you in 19 months!  Keep being the wonderful person you are.  Have a great year.

An Update

We are doing another week of immersion.  It looks like we will be entering the MTC on the 28th of October.  We filled out our survey, so hopefully everything will fall into place for us to enter then.  Our visas will probably be here the 30th of October.  It seems like it is taking 5 months for them to be processed and that will be 5 months to the day.  Because we are in immersion, we are staying at my sisters home this week.

Marianne lives on the mountain just above the law school at BYU.  Her view from her front window is beautiful.  You look onto the mountain and see the peaks.  This morning when we got up, it was very overcast.  The peaks were covered with thick clouds all day.  As we were coming home from immersion, I noticed that the clouds had blown away and there is even more snow on the mountaintops than yesterday.  It was like they were behind a curtain, preparing for a new show.  I love the mountains.

Wonderful Weekend

We spent the weekend watching General Conference.  It was a wonderful experience.  I love Conference because it puts us back on track.  The downer of this weekend was that Clyde, Pam, Dane and Dutch all have colds and are feeling crummy.  Clyde's has been going on for over a month now. 

We spent Saturday with the Davis family watching conference and Sunday at the Dittmar home with the Bahlmann family too.  It was a fun weekend to be with special family member and to have the joy of listening to great speakers.  I will get pictures posted soon.

Snow! Noooo!

This morning I went out to throw some garbage away at Pam's house.  I looked out back and SNOW was covering the back of her yard.  I am not ready for snow.  The mountains are snow capped.  It is too early.  Let us enjoy the fall colors for a bit first.

Temples

We had a day of Danish again today.  We traveled down to Provo to do Technology Assisted Language Learning and then meet with our tutor at 3:30.  This was our last day with Andreas Birk.  It will be sad to let him go but the Church has lined us up with a new tutor, Brother Wooten.  Life moves on as we prepare for our mission.

We were driving back to the Davis home from Provo and I was watching for the temples.  I realized that I had not done that for a while.  Is the sight of seeing three temples at glance becoming mundane?  I was kind of startled to even think that.  The temple to me is the most glorious place to be.  We  have tried to go every week we have been near one.  I hope that site never becomes mundane and I will always be thrilled to see a temple.