Off on a Great Adventure

Mission Application Picture

March 6, 2013

The wind literally blew us out of Pahrump, Nevada today. Thank goodness it was blowing north to Utah!

One of our rest stops today was at Cove Fort--this was actually the place that really got us to thinking about wanting to serve a mission at an historic church site. So as we walked to the restroom we met the senior missionary couple there and they asked us where we were headed. We were able to reply, "To the MTC for our mission to Nauvoo!" Awesome!

It was hard to leave our sweet little family--daughter Lacey, her hubby and three children. They have sheltered, fed, and generally put up with us since November. Driving off was hard--and I wish I had not looked back to see Holly watching us as we drove off.

Our two granddaughters were great fun. We loved to walk with them as they rode their bicycles or chased our shadows as we looked for bunnies and quail along the streets of Pahrump or gathered rocks in the desert for Lacey's rock garden.. Georgia Lynn is well known for her skills at finding the "prettiest rock, Grandma". I think she may be a geologist some day. Hailey Ruth has become quite the reader and you can see that she loves to read to her little brother, Weston. She is quite a helper for her Mom as she scoops him up (all 25 pounds of him) and hauls him to someone who is near. Weston Lee will be 11 months old on March 19th--he finally decided to crawl this last Sunday, whew! We miss their giggles and smiles. Tickle Monster will be back to see them in about a year and a half!!


We had many fun adventures during the warm Southwest winter months. We made several trips up to St. George to scout the area for a possible new home site after our mission. And low and behold, to make a very long story short, we ended up buying a one-half acre lot in the Rio de Sion development along the Virgin River in Virgin, Utah. We are going to build a new home which will be ready for us in September of 2014. Yahoo!


We visited Hoover Dam and marveleld at what man can do when the government gets out of the way. We went to the Grand Canyon and wished we had the wings of an eagle to soar down into the depths of that amazing canyon. We visited Ash Meadows on the edge of Death Valley with our grandchildren and Lacey. They wanted to scoop up the indigenous Pup fish and take them home for their dad's fish tank. We made a trip to the China Ranch Date Farm in Tecopa, CA, where we hiked and came away with pounds of luscious dates. Just for fun we went to Arizona to visit old friends, the O'Farrell's and the King's. We hiked, relaxed, and almost drowned in the best citrus drink called "Papa's Juice".




Marvin, Kenon, and Big Friends

Patti O'Farrell

We were able to make frequent temple trips with our old friends from Yakima, Bob and Elaine Erath. They spent their winter in Las Vegas and it was great fun to renew that friendship and spend time hiking together and exploring Red Rock Canyon and other places.

We truly loved the beautiful sunsets and deep blue skies of Pahrump with the imposing view of Mt. Charleston to the east. We will miss the place and most of all our family.

In preparation for our mission, I began sewing the dresses I would have to wear while working in the sites in Nauvoo. It did challenge me a bit, but I enjoyed the outcome. We have been assigned by our mission president to be Facilities Management Missionaries during the summer months--we get to water the beautiful flower pots in Nauvoo and take care of gardens. Doesn't that sound like fun for a Master Gardener and a willing husband? LeRoy at first thought that would get him out of "singing and dancing", but President Gilliland assured him that it would not. Ha!

We have been studying "Preach My Gospel" at nights and while traveling to Utah we were singing one of the many songs we need to learn, "Welcome to Nauvoo". LeRoy is working on his lip-sinc skills.

Monday, March 11th, we enter the MTC for in depth missionary training. We will keep you posted!