Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Today is August 31 - tomorrow we leave home and stay at a hotel near the airport so we can be there by 4:30 a.m.  What a nice time of day to start on a Great Adventure -  September 2 at 6:30 we leave for Salt Lake City via Seattle and into the mission home on Monday September 5, 2011.
 
We appreciate all the  family that came to hear us speak last Sunday and for lunch and a visit. It was great to see most everyone there - missing Julie and family and Janice.  Our packing today was the weighing and reweighing, packing and repacking.  We think we have things balanced out and are semi under control.  It seems when you are getting ready to do the Lord's work that Satan really puts on the pressure and that has been the case this last while.  We do wish we could control that but know that blessings will come if we go and do that which we are supposed to do.  So... kids,  be your best and the blessings will flow we promise. 

We will miss everyone, friends and family, and appreciate your help in our being ready to go.  Thanks and we love you lots.  We have signed up for Vonage and hope that works over there - not sure.  It may take some time to get the internet and phone up and running.

We heard from President Padovich via email on Sunday and he answered some questions we had.  Yay!
We are really good at asking questions - sometimes even more than once.  Our memories aren't what they used to be.  Maybe they'll improve for 2 years.

We're pretty excited overall about the "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go Dear Lord" aspect of this call.  This continent is one that had not even entered our minds.  The Lord works in mysterious ways - we want to be on his team. 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

It's already August 24th and we have been sidetracked for a few weeks for a Great Missionary Experience.  We have been able to have Li Jing (our new Chinese friend) in our home with the Mandarin Missionaries.  She was baptized on Saturday August 20,  by her husband (Fred Sun).  We were blessed to be able to get to know them and are grateful for them in our lives.  Li Jing left this a.m. for Shanghai then Suzhou where she will continue to teach Mandarin to high school students until the new year.  She hopes to come over to stay at that time.  We will miss her but hope to hear from her often.



We are now refocusing, have sold the cars back to the dealership, about finished the major shopping,  emptied the cupboards, taken the boxes downstairs, etc.  After we speak on Sunday, we will be able to finish the house off and be ready??? to go.  We are staying at the airport Sept. 1 as we leave early on Sept. 2, 2011.  Then off to Seattle, Salt Lake, stay 2 weeks, then to Chicago, London (9+ hrs), then to Johannesburg, and up to Lusaka, Zambia - our new home for the next 23 months.  Whew.  We should arrive very refreshed, right?  More Later.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Time is flying!  We are very busy getting ready to go, helping others, and teaching a beautiful young spirit, Li Jing, from China.  She has committed to baptism on August 21, 2011.  She returns to Souzhou, China on August 24th.  She teaches Mandarin in a high school there.  She is so bubbly, kind, honest, and open to the gospel teachings and principles, it is our privilege to have gotten to know her.  We took time this weekend to go to Waterton to Church - we love to do that at least once a year so this was the weekend.  It was Great!  President Rosenval is a fantastic Sunday school teacher.  Hopefully we can improve and be better teachers ourselves as time progresses.  Hopefully, we can remember how to post this.