Thursday, May 3, 2012

Well, we had our second vacation. We get our new batches of missionaries on a Saturday. 19 days later, on a Thursday, they leave. The next new batch comes in 1.5 days later, on the Saturday. This schedule keeps up all year (except for one three week stretch of down time a year where we don't get a batch). So...the vacations have to be short and (to keep our sanity) away from the MTC. This time the Taylors took us and the Area Medical Adviser and his wife to Laguna. I don't know if Elder Armstrong wrote our friends in Provo yet, but I'm pretty sure the Boehme's were serving their last mission in Nauvoo at the same time that Barry and Vira Johnson were. It's really quite a small world. Here's some pics of Hidden Valley Springs Resort:









This is Elder Armstrong trying to get a group picture and not quite making it back in time!



This is all of us against a tree root!:




This is Abraham, an 81 year old retired army man. We met him and his family at dinner one night. While you eat lunch & dinner there is a group of four people who play and sing old pop hits...they were very good!...and Abraham was up dancing while they were singing. Quite an interesting fellow to talk to. We are going to go visit him and his daughter-in-law on our next vacation if we can.

I know you're probably feeling sorry for us by now, but what the heck. SOMEONE has to sacrifice themselves to go on a mission!!

On the way home we saw a funeral procession:

 and a fire:
 Which clogged up the traffic even more than usual:
Oh well. Vacation over!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

VACATION ALREADY

After being here less than two weeks, we had three weeks without missionaries because of a big open house that was planned for the MTC in the second week. This left the week before and the week after as a sort of vacation time. President and SIster Taylor took us to a wonderful place called Sonya's Garden down south about 40 miles to a city called Tagaytay, which is off a lake created by the volcano Taal. (no view of the lake or anything, but it's much cooler down there)

It was a wonderful place. We stayed two days and had massages and good meals and lots of rest. Sonya is a wonderful older woman who always had the dream to build the place and have people come and enjoy it. It's a large complex with many cottages, greenhouses, a restaurant, and a spa area.

The food was great, all organic and grown right on the premises, mostly vegetarian, although they cooked chicken for us at Sister Taylor's request. They pamper you horribly. It was like an English resort in the early 1900's. We took lots of pics.

Elder Armstrong right outside our cottage, some of the gardens behind him.
The main room in our cabin. Up the stairs were two more bedrooms and another bath with a shower.
The showers were all open areas in the bathrooms that were lined with smooth pebbles. Above is a bowl of fresh flowers in the shower.
This is the smaller bath room, the shower head is on the right.
Humongous staghorn fern by the outdoor dining area. Mom would have loved this!
Lunch table: delicious mangoes, tomato filled with caribou cheese, olive oil, and fresh basil, hot dog (!?), fresh herb teas.
Another staghorn fern.
Sister Armstrong relaxing with some tarragon tea in the restaurant area.
The following pics are the results from a flower arranging class I went to there. The woman who did the class was a master of simplicity.




 Above:  Jack fruit hanging on a tree. YUMMMM!!! They grow all over here.
Another strange looking...fruit? I don't think this one is eaten. A lot of the plants all around outside are all the plants I used to grow indoors in California...coleus, arrowheads, wandering jews, etc.
Passageways through the gardens are full of overhead arches like above.
Blew this pic up a little so you can get some perspective. These are spiders on the roof of one of the greenhouses. The 'small' one on the right (or even the smaller ones above) are much closer to the size we are used to seeing spiders.

Some flowers:

 Two of the greenhouses:
 Sonya's water supply above.
Here's a good example of electric wiring practices in the Philippines:
A better picture of the 'bidet':
Sonya, President and Sister Taylor, and us:
 Above is Elder Armstrong with some garlic chips. They taste great chopped up in rice!

Wow, that took a lot of time! Signing off for now. Next time I'll post pics of the missionaries...they're the best part!
We miss all of you but we're so glad to be here! In the temple the other day I realized that I finally feel that we've given everything we have to building up the kingdom of God on earth. That feels good!



Saturday, April 14, 2012

Well, things can get interesting here. The biggest group this MTC has ever had is here now. So far, we've had at least one (& possibly three) impacted wisdom teeth, bloody stool, bloody emesis, allergic rashes, plantar warts, visual disturbances, anxiety disorder, and probably some others I can remember right now. The fun one was the bloody stool. The missionary doesn't speak English much at all, but with his companion's help they managed to get the bloody stool idea across. I was having very little luck trying to clarify some details so I could figure out why he was having them. I suspected hemorrhoids, and asked him several times, but he said no. I took him to Arman, who happened to be handy then, and he tried to help. He conferred with the missionary to clarify some things for me, then tried to translate. He couldn't think of the word he was thinking of and finally came up with "gonorrhea". I kept my face expressionless & explained that was a sexual transmitted disease. The missionary understood that and backed into the wall saying "no, no, no!!!" and laughing. Finally we determined that he did have hemorrhoids. I'm working hard on Tagalog skills and making progress, but I have a LOT to learn!!
I'll try to add a bunch of pictures this afternoon. After about 6-7 weeks I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. I'm finally beginning to feel good and I think Elder Armstrong is also. We work really hard here. I don't think we ever had more busy days when we owned the business, but I like this better!

The First Week

February 11, 2012 Amazingly, we manage to get up Saturday evening in time for dinner and get our first taste of Filipino food . . . and we like it! I don't last much longer than dinner, but Elder Armstrong gets a quick tour around the facilities with President Taylor. Sunday morning we find that we, along with Br. & Sis. Riddle, are scheduled to give our testimonies in church that day. All these missionaries make the Spirit very strong. Here is the membership list of our branch: President and Sister Taylor The President's 1st & 2nd counselors: Brother Martinez and Brother Barramedes, and their wives. The Nurse Specialist and spouse, who is also the President's executive secretary (that's us). Elder Boehme (the Area Medical Advisor—read 'missionary doctor') and his wife. Whatever missionaries are in the MTC at the time (along with the translators that come with them). Of course, the missionaries change every 19 days, but the three senior missionary couples and the two counselors and their wives remain the same. It is difficult for the counselors because they have a home ward where their children attend church, but they come here every Sunday (and other days as well). Our missionaries come from Austrailia, East Asia (India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, etc.), and the Philippines. This is not a complete list, but that's all I can think of right now! They are mostly sent back to their own countries to serve their missions, but not always. One missionary is here now is headed for Salt Lake City. Sunday afternoon after church we get 'trained' for our new jobs. Elder and Sister Riddle have about 2 hours before dinner, and then their drivers will come to take them away. They aren't looking forward to the trip home. Sister Riddle is very concerned about how her husband will tolerate the trip and they upgrade their ticket to first class. We find out later that Br. Riddle had a blood clot when he got home anyway. (He's now out of the hospital, though). Sunday evening Elder Boehme gives a fireside about Family Home Evenings. He holds a mock FHE where some missionaries play the roles of a family and he asks Elder Armstrong and I to play his dead grandparents, who sit and look on. After that, one group of Filipino missionaries begin calling us grandfather and grandmother, touching the back of our hand to their foreheads in the way they show respect to elderly people. They are very fun. This MTC is currently undergoing construction and reconstruction. There was previously a building here that housed all the missionaries. According to those who lived there, it was awful. It was filled with black mold (from the moist weather) and then there was a sewage backup (on the carpets)! I don't know how long they had to live there like that, but President and Sister Taylor are still a little traumatized, I think. Two new buildings have been built, one for housing and offices and the other for a huge (HUGE) gym with wood floor for the missionaries to exercise in (they're currently meeting out in the parking lot at six am, rain or shine.) This picture is the new gym building. It's HUGE. Bottom level is where the temporary cafeteria is. The gym area is 60 x 90 feet that give the missionaries the ability to play two cross court games at a time. (great...more injuries)
In the foreground is the old building that's being renovated. That's where our apartment will be when it's done. The two new pods that house missionaries (and us temporarily), the receptionist desk, and many class rooms are in the background.
This is the area office building, which is right next to the MTC...same parking lot.
This is pod one, where President and Sister Taylor live, and the breezeway between that & pod two, where we live. When the first building was ready, everyone moved over here. We're currently staying in temporary housing (2 missionary rooms joined together). It is very nice and clean, with shiny tiles on the floor that you can almost use as mirrors. We have an apartment stove and a sink in the kitchen, plus a microwave and a bookcase. There's a strip about 1.5 feet of floor space and a counter about 2 feet long. (not conducive to large prepared meals!) There's a refrigerator just outside the kitchen, a small dining table, a TV, some chairs and a leather couch in the rest of that side. Then there's a door into the bedroom area, which has some large, portable wardrobes and there's a bathroom area with door to toilet on one side and a door to the shower on the other, sink in the middle. Brother Dobson, a construction engineer on site here till the building is complete, came in to inventory all the things in our apartment the other day. He looked in the kitchen for the stove and said, “Oh. You don't even have a stove in here!” I was relieved and very happy to hear him say that. I certainly wouldn't want to complain (this is a VERY comfortable place to be...I keep thinking of the first vision I had of the Philippines where were hacking through the jungle with machetes to go give village children immunizations!) but it would be nice to have a real stove and a little counter space! Apparently, we'll have much more than that: a bathtub, an island with chairs, a real dining table (we could even have company over!), a bathtub, and a walk-in closet!
Here's a picture of the Manila temple, it's across the street from the MTC. Thankfully, there's a tunnel that goes under the street for pedestrians! As you can see, it's undergoing a complete renovation and so isn't currently open. We hear it will be a few more weeks until it opens again.
The food in the cafeteria is generally excellent, although fairly predictable: the menus is usually white rice, stewed meat, and cooked vegetable. We get green salads occasionally and fresh fruit every day. Sometimes it can get interesting, though. Here's a pic of our snack one day. If you don't recognize it, it's a Filipino hotdog with banana ketchup:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

THE PLANE TRIP FROM...(well, you know where)


Thursday, February 9th
Very soon after we disembark in San Francisco Scot and Kara pick us up and we go to Burlingame to walk around and get some dinner. Their two little girls, Lyla and Leah, are doing marvelously. Kara and Scot are such good parents, actively teaching accountability, respect, and many other values. It's a joy to watch the family together, and especially to be a part of it! We couldn't ask for more beautiful or wonderful grandkids and we're very excited to welcome their next baby into the world in June sometime.
We go into a restaurant that serves quiche and get a wonderful meal. The cashier remarks on our nametags, responding the the name of Jesus Christ on them. She gratefully accepts a pass along card, which is almost the last one we have left. Elder Armstrong has been handing them out right and left since we left the MTC.
We walk around and just enjoy the company, stopping for dessert in an exceptional bakery. So much for the “no more sugar for a while” thing! We get back to the airport in plenty of time and a minimal amount of hassle. TSA is scanning everyone there, no exceptions. I refuse because I consider my body more private than TSA does. They are very nice and a woman agent explains to me that no one ever sees the pictures anymore. I ask her to promise me, and she did, so I went through. She showed me on the other side exactly what they see, not the full body scan anymore, just the machine's pronouncement that the scan is 'OK'. The woman does not see why I object to the picture being taken. She informs me that they all did it themselves and they thought it was very funny.
We have several hours to wait for boarding, and we're not in a hurry in any case. I cannot imagine how we're going to survive for 14.5 hours on an airplane, no matter how big it is! Johnny gives out our last pass along card while we wait. We wait in the Cathay Pacific boarding area and we're no longer surrounded by tall, English speaking people. Around 12:40, we start boarding and don't take off till about 1:30 am. It was supposed to be a 12 midnight flight.
One the plane we are sandwiched in the middle row of seats like sardines, one person on either side of us. Before we left, President Stanfil and his wife told us about their transocean flight that was very cold and there were not enough blankets to go around. We took our jackets and I took a sweater and when we get into our seats we're crammed in like sardines. Elder Armstrong is seated next to an exceptionally large Chinese man and next to me is a very slight Philipino who is not having the slightest problem with cramped space. The first three hours of the flight are a nightmare. It is so hot we both think we're going to throw up and our jackets are packed as far away from us as we can get them and still keep them in our own space. We are unable to get comfortable, unable to sleep, and every time we want to get up we have to wake our neighbor to do it. I wonder how I can possibly do this for another 11 hours.
At one point I think we both just got numb and finally slept a little. After that Elder Armstrong decided to get up and walk around a bit, then stand in the back of the plane with several others. He spends a very large portion of the trip this way. After what seems an eternity, we finally see some light in the sky and we're informed we're coming into Hong Kong. I'm a little nervous because I don't know how the Chinese government treats foreigners, but they're quite friendly. Though we just disembark one plane to go to another, we still have to go through security. It is MUCH simpler than in the US, however. You don't have to take off your shoes, take your computers out of the bags, worry about liquids or anything like that. They just scan your stuff and off you go. We get a personal, hurried escort to the Philippines airline since we're late and they're ready to go. We are the last to board the plane and we think they waited for us. Unfortunately, Hong Kong is socked in with low clouds and we can't see ANYTHING out the windows of the plane except the tarmack and airport terminals.
When we get to the Philippine airport, we are barely out of the plane when we see a nice young woman holding a sign that said “Armstrongs”She leads us through the crowds to the immigration counter. For some reason, we are escorted right past huge lines of people who are waiting their turn. They stare at us and I feel uncomfortable and wonder why we rate this treatment. With hardly a glance, the agent stamps our visas and then wonders good naturedly if we're related to Neil Armstrong. We're then escorted past many people to the baggage claim area. When our bags come out, the nice young airport employee directs us to the customs area. We're a little worried about this. We read the forms on the way in from Hong Kong and we are not supposed to be bringing in CD's. We mark the form to acknowledge that we do, indeed, have illegal contraband and wonder if they shoot people for it here. They take our papers at the counter and never even look at our luggage, let alone ask to look inside. They go right over our full confession, stamp our papers and out we go. It seems wise not to comment on it. President and Sister Taylor are waiting for us on the other side of the rope barrier. They are smiling and happy looking, we shake hands all around and then Sister Taylor gives me a big hug.
They have come with Br. Villanueva and Br. Pachano and his son, driving the white MTC van. We feel very welcomed. The weather is about like we expected, only not unbearably hot yet. The ride home is hair raising. It's hard to describe driving in Manila. There are very few traffic lights or even signs. No one would obey them, anyway. There is a horrendous amount of traffic, but we're told it's actually pretty light today and they made good time to the airport. Br. Pachano is driving and he doesn't stay in his lane very well. No one minds much. He does not use his turn signals, no one else does either. When he wants to change lanes, he just starts drifting over and people sort of squeeze by with one or two inches to spare until we're finally in the other lane. When he wants to turn across lanes of traffic, he starts inching forward into oncoming traffic and eventually we somehow get across. It seems like utter chaos, but no one is getting upset. There is much beeping, but it's not people blowing their horns in anger, just little beeps to say 'I'm here! Don't hit me!'. Added to this, there are multiple motor scooters bipping in and out among the cars like they're just as big and totally comfortable in this mess. I have to avert my eyes many times on the way to the MTC, sure that one of them will be squished before we get there, but no one is. We didn't see one accident, not even a little fender bender.
We get to the facility and it's very nice. We're shown to a missionary room with two bunk beds and given blankets and sheets. I guess they use blankets here, but I don't know why. Even in the air conditioning, it's about 73 or 74 degrees. True to their promise, the Taylors show us around a little, tell us dinner is at six, and leave us alone in our room. They make it clear that they'll expect to see us when we're ready to be seen. They've stocked the apartment with a small refrigerator with milk and fruits. There are cookies and chips, cereal, cans of tuna, and a loaf of whole wheat bread. There's also some eggs, but I don't know what to do with them because they're not cooked and and we have no stove or pan. The thought is so appreciated, though. We already feel loved and cared for.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

LEAVING


Saturday, January 28, 2012
Judy and Ed take us to the airport in Kalispell. Though we are several hours early, Judy doesn't want to leave us until the plane takes off. She's had experience with Delta (Doesn't Ever Leave the Airport). I don't really want them to leave either, but it's one more milestone down. We've said our goodbyes, handed over our home to the full time missionaries (eek!), and now we've made it to the airport.
  When we land in SLC, Johnny's longtime friend picks us up and takes us to his home in Orem. He and his wife take us to a wonderful Chinese dinner at P.F. Chang's. I could live on lettuce wraps! The next morning we go to church with them and then they invite us to a special fireside later that will be given for temple workers at the Oequirrh Mountain temple. Elder Kristoferson will be speaking. We accept the invitiation.
  The minute we walk into the chapel a good friend from Kalispell sees us and runs to greet us. What a wonderful surprise! We haven't seen Debi Myers for years. She just happens to work at the temple. Elder Kristoferson gives a wonderful talk (of course) on staying clean. We go up to meet him and shake hands. What a burden is on these General Authorities! Each person who wants to meet him is greeted kindly and sincerely. He gives of himself liberally to all who wait.
  Monday morning our good friends Barry and Vira take us to the Provo MTC and drop us off, leaving us in the kind and helpful hands of four missionaries who take our luggage and show us to our room. Unfortunately, the room is occupied: luggage and personal items are scattered inside. I cringe when I see the size of the room. We have four large suitcases and two carry on's. Once we get the luggage inside there will not be enough room to walk around the bed!
  The missionaries are kind and patient. They promise not to desert us and they split up, some staying with the luggage and some guiding us back to the beginning. We are given another key to another room. This one is on the third floor and is much larger. Unfortunately, it is also currently occupied and we return again to get another one. We get another key, go to another room, and guess what? It is occupied also. The fourth room we try is a winner. It is one of the big rooms, much like a very nice hotel room. It is right across from both the fitness room and the ice machine. Jackpot!
  We have no time to unpack before we attend our first meeting and divide into groups of four couples. There are 30 or 35 senior couples in our group. Six of them, including us, are going to the Philippines. We attend meetings until the evening meal, which is served in a cafeteria much like the one at BYU. This one, however, is filled with wall to wall missionaries. We are in very good company. Once dinner is over, we get to go to our rooms and unpack. Our schedule looks very full for the week!
  The next day we start Preach My Gospel classes and training. Our teachers are young returned missionaries. They're excellent teachers and very fun. Tuesday night we attend a special fireside celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Provo MTC. Elder Holland gives an opening talk and Elder Nelson gives the keynote talk detailing the history of the Missionary training program. Several other general authorities are also in attendance. There are close to 2,000 missionaries in the room and the spirit is very strong.
  The next night, during our 'free' time after dinner we start Tagalog tutoring with the tutor we worked with on Skype before we left. Brian is a wonderful teacher. There's one other couple in the class with us and the time flies by. Brian makes a comment that really strikes me. He said that if we made it a goal and were determined to become fluent in Tagalog, we would. So I made the commitment. It's a little hard, though. We literally do not have time to study it at all when we are not in our 2 hour tutoring sessions at night. We go from one class to another, hit the cafeteria 3 times a day, and sleep like the dead at night. I wake up early every morning and walk the treadmill for 25 minutes most every am.
  The week passes quickly, but it seems like we've been here forever. We go to our departure fireside the Sunday before we leave. There are 400 missionaries going out this week. Many of them are going to Mexico, many to the Philippines, and the rest are going virtually to every corner of the earth. One senior couple is going to Thailand to a rural area for member support. Our friend's daughter went there on her mission and we heard stories of spiders literally as big as dinner plates. We do not pass these stories on. Others are going to Russia, the West Indies, various states in the US, Korea, East Africa, Indonesia, and Figi, to name some.
  Monday we are back at it. This week is specific training for our calling as nurse specialist and nurse specialist assistant. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what Johnny would be doing, but we go to SLC at the church office buildings and we find out. I discover that he is very well suited to medical work. I'd forgotten he'd started med school before he went into the army. We get some specific information about our calls.
  The Preach My Gospel training is going well, but I am very worried about my rusty nursing skills. The first day is mostly medical people talking about the history of the medical program in the mission field and the various problems they've have had getting it going. I don't feel the spirit at all in the meetings and I wonder what we're really doing. Is the Lord working with us? How in the world am I going to measure up to this? Everyone around us is hugely qualified in medicine: life-long professionals dedicated to their careers and to church service. They are inventors and movers and shakers.
We are in the church office building and members are working all around us, managing the affairs of the kingdom, but many do not seem very happy. I expected to find much more joy in the service of the Lord. We rush back to Provo just in time to grab a quick dinner before going to our Tagalog tutoring.
  Tuesday we're back in Provo for nurse's training, thank heavens! We've found we've been seriously over-scheduled for this week. We will have to skip the training on Thursday altogether because we're flying out Thursday afternoon. We will miss our last Tagalog tutoring also: there's no other time to finish packing! The nurse training is very good. The doctor who presented a lot of it is also the Patriarch for his stake and is a very spiritual man. He keeps the medical work and the gospel integrated and I am very inspired again. We will be supporting our young missionaries from the other side of the world who are leaving their homes to go preach the gospel (for the most part) to their native peoples. They come from assorted backgrounds with various challenges and hardships. I feel deeply honored to be called to serve them. We get very specific training on the issues we will probably face and the resources we have to deal with them. I find myself feeling confident that the Lord will bless us and we will be able to fulfill the assignments and responsibilities He has called us to. No tutoring tonight because Tuesday is fireside. We are so exhausted that we go to our room instead. We do our laundry and pack all the things we won't be using before we leave and fall into bed again.
  Wednesday it's back to SLC for more training. It is very interesting. We do mental health issues. I'm surprised how prevalent mental health problems are with the young missionaries. People who are prone to perfectionism can have a lot of trouble. Don't know why that would surprise me: it's true for most people. We go up for an hour long presentation in the Welfare Department on the various projects they have going around the world. One of the couples in our group is going to east Africa on a welfare mission. That's ALL of east Africa-they'll be traveling quite a bit in some very...different places. We now see what they will be doing and what kinds of conditions they will be living in. The Philippines MTC looks like a very cushy mission call!!!
  Wednesday evening we're too tired to do anything but sleep. We spend several hours in the morning packing, weighing, and re-packing our luggage, making sure each bag is less than 49.8 pounds (the scale is in the exercise room). Almost before we know it, it's time to meet our driver down at the travel office. We take our carry on luggage and go down, then Johnny recruits a few missionaries to follow him back up and bring the rest of the bags down for us. 
 I stand in the hallway waiting for them to return, missionaries flowing past me like a never ending river and I realized I feel like crying. I keep my expression neutral but tears are trickling down my face. I refuse to draw attention to them by wiping them away. Several young missionaries that we've talked with over the last 10 days come to talk to me, excited and happy for us finally getting to leave for our mission. I feel like an idiot because I can't keep my eyes from leaking. I tell them I'm happy to be going as I brush tears off my face. They understand completely. Finally we're in the van and off to the airport. Johnny sits up front and chats with the driver the whole way and I sit in the back and let the tears fall.
  By the time we get there, I'm feeling much better. I feel very self-conscious of the black badge on my clothing and feel a serious responsibility to act as the Lord would want me to. I also wonder if it will draw the ire of anti-Mormons. I square my shoulders and follow Johnny into the airport. The porter helping us is a returned missionary and is very friendly. When we get to the counter they weigh our very carefully packed bags and each one comes in at over 52 pounds! I think Delta has a scam going. They say, “don't worry, as long as they're within 2 pounds we don't bother with it”. But as he finishes our check-in the agent tells us that because we're not flying internationally with Delta, we only get 88 pounds each total instead of the 100 pounds we were told. So we have to pay extra anyway and we might as well not have left Johnny's extra pair of shoes, three pairs of brand new slacks, my purse, our shampoo and all the other stuff that weighed too much after we packed all the paperwork we'd accumulated in classes. Er.
  We finally take off from SLC. It's a small plane. We're headed to San Francisco and I'm not looking forward to the 14.5 hour flight across the ocean at all. First, we have a 6 hour layover in San Francisco, which is a good, a great! thing because Johnny's son, Scot is going to meet us at the airport with his pregnant wife and two kids and go to dinner with us! We're really looking forward to seeing them, but I'm a little worried I'll be a zombie after the last couple months. 
 I still feel very vulnerable and fearful that I won't be able to fill my own shoes on this mission. Johnny and I aren't even in seats next to each other on the flight, but a nice woman offers up her seat so we can sit together. I sleep most of the way and feel disoriented and insecure when we land in San Francisco. While waiting in the jetway for Johnny to pick up his carry-on a young blond woman passes me in the crowd going by. She looks me in the eye, squeezes my arm gently, and says earnestly, “Goodbye.” In that one word I sense all that she doesn't say as she moves on with the crowd. My heart swells and I know Heavenly Father cares. I am so grateful for the gospel that makes us all family, even if we don't know on another. I'm grateful for this unknown sister's support and the support of all our friends and family at home in Eureka and in other places. It takes a village to send out missionaries! Thank you all so very much for loving us, and praying for us, and supporting us in so many ways. We love you dearly and will miss you.