Goodbye to St. Pete

I love the song, I Walked Today where Jesus Walked.  I have played it many times as I have practiced at the church.  I have often thought that we have been given the opportunity to walk where Jesus walked.  Figuratively, we can walk where Jesus walked.  When we are serving others we are walking where Jesus walked.  When we attend to the sick, calm a crying child, help a neighbor by taking her shopping, or shovel the walks of those that are unable, and visit the lonely, we are walking where he walked.   He set the example.  "He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead." (The living Christ)    As we walked the roads of St. Petersburg, I feel that we have walked where he walked as we have gone about His work.  Like the Savior we met people who listened to us, who shut doors, who called us names, and some who were indifferent.  But, all in all, it was a wonderful experience and we had the opportunity to share our testimonies often.  We love this work.  We love our Savior.  He lives, he loves us and will bless all of us as we do his work and share our testimony of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the last blog of our mission.  The past week has been a very busy one with lots of goodbyes.  Many teary eyed.  We have grown to love the members of this ward as family.  They have become lifelong friends.

Monday, July 1st, was P-day.  It was raining when Paul and I left for my art class and his golf.  He was hoping it would stop and so he dropped me off and went "golfing".  Less than an hour later he was on the doorstep.  It was pouring.   I'd had time to finish my last project.  We spent the rest of the day cleaning and doing laundry.  We started to get organized for the move.  That evening, our friend, Colette Mazey, brought dinner for us and the missionaries.  She brought swiss steak and a vegetable casserole.  It was delicious and Elder Sholler, as usual, finished off the left overs.  He's a little kid but with a huge appetite.   Thanks, Collette.  We love you.

Notice the empty bowls.

Elders Sholler, Paul, Colette Mazey

He also had seconds on dessert and ice cream.  

 Tuesday afternoon, July 2, after my hair appointment, we went to dinner at Carrabbas.  The sisters in the ward took Colette and I to say goodbye.  Colette is going back to Biloxi, Mississippi for work.  She was baptized in March 2012.   Vickie Engerer arranged the dinner and gave both of us a pretty bracelet and earring set.  It was a fun evening with those I have come to love.  When we left I forgot the earrings on the table and it took quite a bit to get them back.  It took three days.

 Kathy Neilsen, Colette Mazey

Ann Larsen, Barbara Jameson, Sue Kennedy

 Vickie Engerer, Marva Beck, Nancy King, Ann Larsen, Sue Kennedy, Barbara Jameson, Kathy Neilsen, Sheri Fiedler, Julie Bangerter

Me, Colette Mazey

Wednesday, July 3, I made pizzas for the missionaries.  We had been planning on having them over to have District Meeting and it got cancelled because of a meeting to meet the new mission president, President Cusick.  So we told them to come for lunch.  I spent the morning making all the fixings for the pizza.  One of the Elders doesn't like vegetables and I put a lot of them on pizzas.  So I made a large pepperoni pizza first.  We made sure he had 3 good pieces.  I then made two large (16") taco pizzas.   They all ate to their hearts content and, of course, our little Elder Sholler finished it off.  We love having the Elders and Sisters over.  It has been so much fun working with them and feeling of their spirit.  The young people are such good missionaries.  They have a special spirit about them and are so well versed in the scriptures and the gospel.  They have been well taught.  During our lunch, Paul told the Elders and Sisters how I prepared each week for our 4 minute talks and only once had the opportunity to give one so Elder Ballish, our District leader asked if I would give a 4 minute talk since we didn't have district meeting today.  I hadn't planned on this, [thank you Paul] but I got my little notebook out and talked on the attribute that we had been focusing on - Obedience. 
 

Notice the Christmas plates.  Paul wanted to use up everything we could.  Doesn't matter what you eat on...it still tasted good.

Notice the Christmas plates. 

After the Elders left I made one more large pizza.  We had invited Mel and his daughter, Christine to dinner a few weeks earlier.  She is here visiting with him for the summer.  Another neighbor, Dorothy, came with them but left before we got the pictures.  I had some clothes that I was going to give to the sisters and was able to give her a cute outfit.  She was excited.  We have wanted for a long time to give Mel a Book of Mormon.  We were able to give him a copy with our testimony in it.  His daughter has gone to church a few times lately.  She is reading the Book of Mormon.   His heart has been softened since we first met him.  We pray he will also read it. 

Thursday, July 4th, we did inspections of the apartments of the missionaries.  We love the opportunity to visit with the missionaries and make sure that they are keeping their apartments clean.  They all received Celestial certificates.  We had 7 apartments to inspect.  But only got pictures of 5 of them.  Two companionships were not home. 

                     Elder Russell       Elder Laguna

Elder Simonson                      Elder Ballish (Got transferred this week)

 Sister Gillett              Sister Turley (Got Transferred this week)

Elder Scott (Zone leader)         Elder Prigmore (going home)

Sister Bush                  Sister Jenkins

Thursday evening we went to the Bishop's home for dinner and then to the Becks for an evening visiting with our friends and watching the fireworks from 31 floors up.  It was a beautiful site.  We could see the whole valley.  They had a veranda that went around two sides of their house.  We could see fireworks from all over the valley.

Bishop Bangerter, Marva Beck, Warren Beck

Friday, 5th, we spent some of the day trying to get some of our things organized for packing.  We are going to have a good time trying to get our car packed.   I think we are going to have more to take home than we brought and our car was filled to the top then.  That evening we went with some friends to Cheddars.  It is a new restaurant that just opened up here.  We went with the Bangerters, Kennedys, and Kings.  We enjoyed being with them.  The Kennedys gave us a picture of the waterway that we were on when we took our ride on the air boat at the church ranch.  The Kings gave us a gift basket from Cracker Barrel with goodies for the trip.  We have been so blessed to have met these wonderful friends of ours.   

We noticed our husbands sitting together and one of the sisters said "hear no evil, speak no evil,  and see no evil".  So they all did their part.  

         Paul                Joe King              Chuck Kennedy

We are going to miss them.

Saturday, 6th.  The last eventful day of our week.  We spent the morning decorating the church for our ward party.   We were having a party to celebrate our return to our ward building after 3 months of meeting in the Gulfport building.   We asked the ward members to bring friends and family.  When the party started there was a handful of people but within a few minutes the cultural hall began to fill and we were full to capacity.   We ran out of food and seating.  But not until all were fed.  Each of the auxiliaries were to do a skit.   They were all so fun.  The theme was Nautical.   Most of them did water themes except the bishopric and R.S.  There was water synchonizing with all that we saw were the feet and legs of the kids.   The funniest of the water routines was done by the Elders Quorum.   The R.S. sang the song "Sisters" from White Christmas and then when they came to the 2nd verse they began with "Nelson's, Nelson's...).  It was our last goodbye to so many we have come to love.  Leaving a mission is bitter/sweet.  It's hard to leave wonderful new found friends but we so look forward to seeing our family and friends back home. 

Paul pulled pork for about an hour before the party began.  His hands smelled like pork for two days afterwards.

 Carli Welling and her daughter, Mallory.  They are a special family to us.  We taught Mallory in Seminary.  She is going to BYU-I and we hope to see her later this year. 

Susan Fulton made the cute watermelon boat

 Julie Bangerter made this cute boat out of cardboard and paper.  The kids loved it.  We put a little stool in it so the kids could sit and have their picture taken.

These cupcakes were just a few of the delicious desserts we had.

Colette Mazey is also leaving the ward.  She is moving to Biloxi, Mississippi.  She will be missed by us and the ward.

The YM/YW did their water routine

 The Bishopric did the classic "Who's on First"...but put a twist to it.  It was "Who is speaking first..."  It was hilarious.  They were so good.

Erika Rickel, her mom, Nicole Erbel and Dan Wright

Joe and Nancy King

 Lane and Revalina Nye holding Tad Weatherly

The Primary kids were so cute.  The little blond boy in the blue/white shirt, Greyson Kennedy, got hold of the mic and was so funny with it.  He is not shy!  This is basically our Primary.  About 11-12 kids.

Carol Hesse, Colette Mazey, Jan  Fleck

A little basketball after the party.  William and his dad, Jeff.

Sunday, July 7th, was hard.  We now knew that this may be the last time that we will see many of these people.  There were a few tears and lots of hugs.  Being Fast Sunday,  Paul and I were able to bear our testimony.  After church we did our last work of our mission in the clerks office inputting names to remove from the ward and to bring into the ward.   Many of our Sunday's we were at the church building from about 8:30 am to 3 or 4 pm.  We often went visiting families (active and less active [we like to refer to them as "returning members"] with the Elders.  Sunday's always seemed to fly by.

Monday, 8th, was spent packing all our stuff.  It is amazing what you can accumulate in just a year and a half.  Paul and I were up at 6 am to get organized so that when Erika and Dan came they could pack their car with all the things that we were leaving with them.  We left them a freezer full of food that we didn't quite get around to eating.  Then just a lot of miscellaneous things like towels, sheets, kitchen utensils, etc. 

The beginning of a long day.   We were so busy I only got one picture of our moving day.

Our friend Mel came to visit and helped Paul secure the suitcases on the top of the car.  He was afraid that the ropes were not enough and he brought us some cords to help secure it.   Another of our dear friends we will miss.  At 5 pm we left our little apartment and went to the Bishop's home for dinner.  Julie had prepared a delicious spaghetti dinner for us and the Elders.  Afterwards we played our traditional game that we play when we go to the Bishop's home - Hold to the Rod.  It is such a fun game.  It's hard to quit.  But we had to call it quits when the Elders time was up and had to go get back to work.  They have an hour for dinner.  Elder Crowley, who was new this transfer, is a wonderful, obedient, hard working missionary.  We love our missionaries.  We stayed at the Bangerter's for the night and had a chance to visit and reminisce.  We will surely miss them.

 Elders Sholler and Crowley

We were up at 5:30 am to get ready for our long drive home.  I'm almost wishing we could just blink our eyes and be there.  I am so anxious to see my kids and grandkids.  But we now have two weeks ahead of us driving.  The good part is that we get to see some family, friends and visit some of this beautiful country.  Much of which we still haven't seen.

We are nearing the end. One more week.

Happy Father's Day
A little Late

I want to give thanks to all the Father's in my life.  My own wonderful father was an example of  love.  Too many memories to mention but I always knew that he loved me.  He had a pet name, Jenna-Lynn, for me which would bring a smile to my face. I always knew he was happy when he called me that.  My father-in-law was also a wonderful example.  He was so accepting and loving.  I miss them both but know that they are happy and busy in the work of the kingdom.  I'm so grateful for my husband.  I love him very much and appreciate all that he has done for me.   He has been a faithful husband, father and member of the church.  He honors his priesthood which is a blessing for our family.  He has willingly served our Father in Heaven and set the example for our sons and daughters to follow.  There are so many other fathers that have had an influence in my life to whom I am very grateful:  grandfathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Look Familiar?

On June 13th we had a specialized training.   Several of the companionship's did the training but the most fun part was when President  & Sister Summerhays and Elder & Sister Nordfelt did a skit on keeping the apartments in good repair and not getting lax.  They were so funny.  They had the whole group in stitches at times.  One part was where he was hitting a practice "golf" ball at a wall (chalk board).  It supposedly went through the window.  They just covered it with a picture of Christ.  When they dropped grease on the carpet, they just rubbed it in with their foot and covered it with a scripture case.   They also showed the missionaries how to operate a vacuum.  Seems some of them don't know how.  The first thing they said was, You have to plug it in! They were showing the missionaries that they have to be a little more responsible in their actions.  When Paul and I did inspections last month the Elders in one apartment showed us big holes in walls that they discovered that had been covered up with posters and pictures.  They have probably been there for a while.  (It wasn't done by our present Elders.)
One of the training missionaries said that "missionaries have power, but we must release that power by being completely obedient.  I think that obedience is the key to it all.  If we are obedient, which is an attribute of Christ, all the other attributes fall into place.  If we are obedient, we will be faithful, loving, humble, diligent, patient, hopeful, virtuous, and knowledgeable. As Elder Bednar said, "Obedience opens the door to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost".  With the help of the Holy Ghost we can exhibit these attributes of the Savior.
After a delicious lunch and visit with everyone we returned to our training and President and Sister Summerhays let the group ask them any questions that they wanted to know about them.  One of the questions was how they met.  He started to talk and she tried to counter what he was saying.  Then she got a giggle and had to cover her mouth to suppress it.  It was so funny watching her turn red trying not to burst out laughing at what President was saying.  They also answered some very spiritual questions that the Elders had.  She made a comment later how different each group was in their questions as they have traveled around the mission for this last training session with the missionaries.  We had to leave early because of an eye appointment we had and missed the last hour of the meeting.  President and Sister Summerhays bore their farewell testimonies.

Sister Summerhays had a hard time suppressing her laugh.

The sisters on the right are our Spanish Sisters/Hermanas Turley and Gillette

 We sang Happy Birthday to the June Birthdays and then Sister Summerhays gave some goodies to the birthday boys.

Florida Tampa Mission

Our Stake President is our eye doctor, Nathan Emery.  Last year he told me that I had the beginnings of some cataracts.  This year he said that they were much larger and could come out.  I asked if he could take them out but with the time limits that we have I would have to be here extra couple of weeks.  He is a very good eye doctor and one I would trust my eyes to.  I may have to take a trip and visit for a few weeks in the future.  I'd like that.

On June 20, we went to lunch at Don's home.  He is the investigator that we taught last year for about 6 months.  We have become good friends but he still can't seem to grasp the gospel.  He always has lots of questions that we try to answer and usually do to his satisfaction and then we tell him to read the Book of Mormon because he will find his answers and the answer to which church is true.  When I was talking to him on the phone one day he commented to me, "You Mormons have it nailed".  He knows that what we have is true.  He has felt the spirit touch his.  He is just having a hard time giving up some of the world.   We tried to help him with his smoking but he is a slave to them and can't give them up.  He knows they are bad for him and says he wants to quit, but "in time".  I hope he doesn't run out of time.  We had a nice visit with him, a delicious steak lunch, and he gave us a cute stuffed, talking parrot that mimics what you say as a memento.  He is all about the beach.  His home has a lot of the ocean/beach theme in it.  After our lunch, Paul cut down a small Shefflera tree that he didn't want in his yard.  He just had hip surgery and couldn't do it himself.  He did hold a shovel up so that he could deflect the tree so it didn't hit the house.  After Paul cut it down and they carried it to the back of the yard, Paul cut it into pieces.  With the humidity so high and the temperature at around 90 degrees you can only imagine how bad he was sweating.

Don and Paul just after the felling of the tree

 This is Don's little bit of heaven he has created in his backyard

Saturday morning, the 22nd of June, we went to the beach with  Bishop Bangerter and his wife, Julie for breakfast and a stroll along the beach.  It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was shining, the ocean was blue and the food at Caddies on the Beach was delicious as usual.  We were able to meet Tony and say Hi and told him that we would soon be leaving for home.  We introduced the Bishop to him and hope that they will visit and try to keep in touch with Tony.  He's a good man and we hope that someday he will see the light.  His son is a bishop in Las Vegas.  We told him that we were returning to our ward building this Sunday after three months of being in the Gulfport building while they did some renovations.  We invited him to come.
The beach was beautiful.  The water was calm and lapped up on the beach with small waves.  Occasionally it would come up a little too fast and get me wet.  The bottom of my pants were soaked by the time we left.  I collected some sea shells along the way.

The President invited Paul for one more round at the TPC golf course.  He was so excited.  He and a couple of other Senior Elders had a fun round together.   Paul also went to the Saddlebrook resort golf course on P-day.  Just had to go one more time.

Paul, President Summerhays, Elder LaFevre, Elder Nordfelt

We went with the Elders the other day to talk to an investigator who said that she wanted to quite smoking.  We presented her with the basic program to make sure she was serious and to let her know a little of what would be expected.  She agreed to it all and told us to come back to present the program to her.  But within a couple of days she had changed her mind and told the Elders that she didn't want to do it.  Not sure what changed her mind.  She was a sweet woman.  When we first arrived every other word was "Praise God".  I thought maybe that was just about all she knew to say.  But as we talked to her she didn't do it as much and we had a very nice visit with her.  We are hoping that the Elders will be able to give her all the lessons and then try to have her do the program to quit smoking.  We'll probably be gone by then. 

Saturday, June 23rd, we drove to Tampa to the mission home for a Couples Party to honor  and say goodbye to President and Sister Summerhays and say goodbye to us and the Lefevre's.   We had a wonderful prime rib dinner that the Nordfelds prepared and then everyone had the opportunity to bear their testimony.  Afterwards, our cute Sister Keys (she is always happy, smiling and fun), suggested that we all tell about one of our "senior moments".  At first we all had to think.  The Nordfelts were first and by the time they were done we were laughing so hard.  As the evening progressed we laughed even harder.  It was a fun time with our new found friends in our mission.

Sister Nordfelt in the Mission Home's new kitchen. 

We presented the Summerhays with a blanket and some videos and things for a night of TV when they get home.

Wednesday, June 26th, we were up at 4 am to get ready to take some of the kids up to the Church Ranch for trek.  We all met at the church at 5:45 (early for some the the kids).  The Bishop and Julie brought muffins, bagels and juice to wake them all up.  We took Zack Frisco and Spencer Swapp.  They slept most of the way there.  We arrived about 8:30.  After we unloaded our car and took a few pictures we left.  The bugs were eating us alive.  We felt bad for the kids.   Half way home we realized that Spencer left his sack of sandwiches.  We were too far to turn around and go back.  We found out when we got home that he has peanut allergies and they were having peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  I hope they had a backup for those that have allergies.
On Sunday, 30th, the Bishop had the kids that went on trek to give us their feelings and experiences.  They had an "awesome" time.  These kids were very inspiring and all had experiences that will bless them for the rest of their lives.  I was in tears half the time.  One of the Young Men made the commitment to go on a mission while on trek. 

Sister and Brother West (Ma and Pa West)

Brother and Sister Welling (Ma and Pa Welling)

My two favorite Seminary students - Mallory Farthing and Sera Makin

Mallory, Sera, Brother West, Sister West, Treston West, Brother Welling, Zack Frisco, Michael Fulton, Sister Welling, Spencer Swapp, Matt Fulton

Zack and Spencer (Love those sun rays)

Matt, Michael and Zack

June 27th - Sister Burgeson, our seminary teacher, invited us and the Elders over for lunch.  She made pizza.  It was yummy.  My favorite.  Brownies for dessert.  While we were there we had a strong storm.  We have been having a lot of them lately.  It rains so hard that the streets flood.  We love the lightning and the thunder is wonderful to listen to. It rumbles through the sky for more than just a few seconds.

Elder Crowley, Elder Sholler, Me, Sister Burgeson

Saturday, 29th, we, along with some of the other ward members met at the ward and cleaned it up in preparation for the Sabbath.  It was a very enjoyable time together.  Everyone took some part of the  building working hard for about 2 1/2 hours. Even though the building is "old", as the Bishop puts it....it has character.  We gave it some tender loving care and it looked great today. 

One thing that we have loved are the cloud formations.  We are always picking out faces and animals.  The clouds are beautiful when they are white and fluffy.  This time of the year they are black and threatening every day for at least an hour.  They come in with a vengeance.  The past week we have had several storms with tornadoes and funnel clouds.  One set down just a couple of miles south of us on Tuesday evening.  It seems that every storm does at least a small amount of damage to some area here.  We are definitely in the rainy season.   The skies here hold a fascination for us.  They are beautiful.

Evening Sunset

Threatening a storm

Sunset

Since we were moving back into our ward building this week Paul and I decided to try to reach a lot of people that we have not been able to find home in the past.   So we made up a message and invitation to come to church at our ward building and then included an invitation to our party on July 6th as a coming home party.  We hope that the members will bring their friends and family as well.  The leadership of this ward has had missionary work at the forefront of all they do.   We have had many sacrament meetings and  many of the testimony meetings have been centered about conversion and missionary work.  It is a great work.  We have had the greatest experience of our lives.  Hopefully we have been an influence in some lives.  We have had our lives changed forever.  This is the Lord's work and we have been taught in the most recent World Wide Training that we are all missionaries and that we must lengthen our stride and make haste.

We love you all and look forward to seeing you soon.