At the MTC in Provo Utah

We spoke in our Ward Sacrament meeting on January 20, 2013 and had an open house at our home.  The next day we drove to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah for 10 days of training.  There are 40 couples in training with us, going to serve throughout the world.  They have put us in districts and assigned us instructors which are recently returned missionaries.  Our instructors are Elder Keddington (served in England) and Sister Clark (served in New Zealand).  They are really good.  In our district we have 3 other couples, Wire (from Kanab, Utah) going to Russia to work in the mission Office, Miller (Centerville, Utah) going to Mongolia member support and Haugen (West Point, Utah) going to Norway to work with young single adults.

 

 

It has been a very spiritual experience for us to be here with all of the young elders and sisters approximately 2,000 all receiving training before they go to their assignments. Last night we had a devotional with Elder David Evans from the missionary department.   He told us about the increase in the number of the missionaries due to the change in age requirement 18 years old for elders and 19 years old for sisters.  He told the missionaries expect to be the trainers of these new missionaries after 12 weeks in the field and talked to us about faith precedes miracles and we all have received miracles in our lives.  That we should each day note what God has done for us so can recognize his love and guidance in our life.

The MTC provides the housing and food for our stay here.  It has been great.   We start at 5:30 am and end at 9:00 pm each day.

 

Left to right Millers, Haugens, Sister Clark our trainer and Wires



CES training class.  All of these are called to serve the young adults throughout the world.

Going on a mission for the LDS church as a couple has been a goal for us since we have been married.  (45 years on July 12, 2013) We love the Savior and look forward to serving Him for 18 months in the London England Mission.  We started the application process in May 2012.  Before we submitted our application to the Church we needed physical and dental examinations which took a couple of months.  We submitted our application on August 15, 2012.

We had planned on a trip to Paris France and England as a retirement trip before I retired on January 1, 2013.  We had thought that it would be our last trip to England and Europe and Vorelle wanted me to meet her cousins in England.  So we left on September 12, 2012 for two weeks and had not received our call.  We had a wonderful trip but was anxious to know where we would be serving.  I was standing at the top of the Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds overlooking the beautiful scenery of the Cotswold when I received a text from our Bishop telling me that our call was issued and it would be waiting for us when we got back from our trip.   Vorelle did not climb up the tower so when I came down and told her the news she was ecstatic.  She asked me where I thought we were going and I said England.  Her choice was New England.  We still had a few days left to our trip so the suspense was mounting.

We came home late Wednesday and our call was not in the mail. The next day on Thursday September 27 our call arrived.  We got the family together and opened the letter.  Each of us had a separate letter and when we read the words you have been called to serve in the England London Mission we were amazed.  The date of the letter was September 25 which was the exact date we were in London.  Our call is to serve the Young Single Adult members of the Church (18-30 year olds) in the London area and any other assignment our Mission President has for us.  We enter the Missionary Training Center on January 21, 2013 for 10 days of training and leave for England on February 4, 2013.

Since September 27 we have been working to get ready.  From yard work to organizing our finances and house care, we have been busy.  The highlight was that we had all of our family together at Disneyland and San Diego during the Thanksgiving week.  We had a wonderful time being with our children and grandchildren.

As I mentioned I retired in January 2013 from Security National Financial Corporation.  The Company had a open house for me on January 17, 2013.  I have really enjoyed my career and we look forward to serving the Lord in London.