Sunday, February 6, 2011

Today has been Fast Sunday. We went to the MTC at 8:00 am for Sacrament Meeting. We were in with some young people from other nations preparing to serve in various places around the world. The Fast Meeting was very inspirational.  A young sister from China bore her testimony first. She said her mother didn’t want her to go because she relied on her to take care of her brother. She really wanted to serve and through answers to prayer, her brother’s needs were taken care of and here she is, ready and willing to serve her Father in heaven.

These were young people here who were learning English and we couldn’t really understand them very well, but the spirit was really strong. We know that many of them were making real sacrifices to come and we felt blessed to be in their presence.

After Sacrament Meeting we went to the Wilford Woodruff building for Mission Conference. It was awesome to be in the presence of all those mostly young men in dark suits and ties. The Mission Presidency spoke and just fired everyone up.  There is just a special spirit there. It’s really worth going on a mission, just for that experience.

Dinner was served from 4:30 to 5:30 so we thought we would wait, knowing it would be really busy with hungry Elders only having an hour instead of the usual hour and a half dinner hour. By the time we got there, it was still really busy. Wow! Elders everywhere. And then when we got our food, it was a challenge to find a place to sit. It all worked out. After dinner, we sat in the lobby just a little while till time to go to the Fireside. The Speaker was President Cardon, of the District Presidency and it was excellent. He talked about honoring your name, personally, and even more importantly, your name and the name on you tag of who you represent. It was so good. It’s easy to feel the spirit in this place.

We returned to the hotel and retired early. We have to be back to the MTC in the morning ready to board the bus for Salt Lake at 6:30 am. It should be another wonderful day.

Monday, February 7, 2011

We set the alarm clock but didn’t really need to. I woke up about 3:30 am and lay there, trying to get back to sleep. It didn’t happen and we got up about 5:15 am and got ready to leave for the MTC. When we got there, we picked up a sack breakfast to eat on the bus. Soon everyone was gathered and we had prayer before boarding the bus and heading to Salt Lake. The weather was quite nice. A storm was forecast but so far it didn’t materialize.

We had a pretty nice bus, although there wasn’t a lot of leg room. I told Gene the seats were probably a lot like the plane we would be on. He agreed. We drove up to Welfare Square. We started in the Bishop’s Storehouse and gathered in a room where we were given an orientation about Welfare Square. I have been there before but it was a good review. Gene had never been there and it was good for him to see.

We talked a lot about the beginning of the Welfare program and the need for it today. They gave us samples of the food that is produced there. We had fresh bread with raspberry jam. It was delicious. There were samples of cheese and it was tasty. We toured the rest of the square, going to the dairy building, the Deseret Industries, walking past the huge grain elevator, the only original structure still standing on Welfare Square. Then we went to the Employment Center. Really it is quite an operation. There’s no way it could work except through the direction of our Heavenly Father. We were just so impressed.

When we left there, we went to the Joseph Smith building. There we met Elder and Sister Gibson, Senior Missionary Coordinators, with an office there at church headquarters. We had a photo session and they took group photos and then photos of the couples and sister missionaries. They said they would give us copies of them. I hope so. We have made friends with many of them and want to stay in touch with them.

Salt Lake Temple from the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Building

Then we went to the tenth floor and had a very nice lunch with Brother Glenn Rudd. He was in on the ground floor of the organization of the Welfare Department. Lunch was a formal affair. There were place cards. We sat at a table with Terry Oakes, who is Managing Director for Welfare Services of the church. He sat right by Gene. Patrick Reese was also at our table. He has managed humanitarian services since 2001 and will be at the MTC to instruct us later in the week. I was sitting by Sister Jamie Glenn, who works as the Director, WFP and Staffing for the church. I’m not sure what that all means, but she said she did a lot with Human Resources. We’ve wondered how we got to sit with this table. Gene talked to Brother Oakes quite a bit and said he learned quite a bit from him. It was delightful. Oh, and the food was delicious. We had turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, asparagus and carrots. For dessert it was a beautiful chocolate layered cake.

Sister Glenn asked where we were from and when I told her Smithfield, She asked if I knew any Lindhardt’s. I told her yes, that we lived in the same ward and had known them for a long time. She said she is related to them and asked if I would say ‘hi’. It’s such a small world.

Brother Rudd was wonderful. He is almost 93 years old and just as sharp as a tack. His talk was fun. He told us lots of stories and things about past church leaders. We enjoyed it very much.

By this time, it’s about 2:30 and time to get back on the bus and go to the Humanitarian Center. That brought back lots of memories for me. When I was a Stake Relief Society President back in 1995 – 1999, we were really involved in the humanitarian work of the church and made many trips to the Humanitarian Center. We took a tour and were just impressed by what goes on there and how much the church does to help the needy around the world. The spirit is very strong there.

After the tour, we went into a conference room and had some training. It opened our eyes and we are so grateful for the opportunity to do humanitarian service in the beautiful country of Nepal.

We got back to Provo just in time for dinner. We feel like we have had a lot to eat today and so just had a salad. It was just right. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and time to put our feet up for a while.

When we got back to the hotel, I noticed that Brent had called and left a voice mail to call him. So I did. We chatted for a few minutes and then I asked him what was going on. He asked how I would feel about visiting two sons while we were in Phoenix. I was surprised but just so delighted. He said he had been interviewed and had had a job offer. He said he was getting ready to go to Portland for another interview, but when this job offer came, decided to take it. It still has to go through the proper approval channels, but he feels like it’s a pretty sure thing. He said he should know by the end of the week.  I feel it’s another blessing for our family because of our involvement with humanitarian service. I really am so happy about it.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Only two more days to go. I’m tired tonight. I didn’t sleep well last night. (What’s new?) I woke up about 2:15 and didn’t sleep much after that. I hated to get up, I don’t want to wake Gene. Finally about 5:45 I did get up and we got ready to go. We rode the hotel shuttle today. We spent the day getting familiar with Chas. It’s the church humanitarian computer program. There’s a lot to it. Our instructor for the day was Dean Walker. He had our noses to the grindstone. When it was time for a break, it was a 5-7 minute break and then back to it. We tried to remind him of Glenn Rudd’s advice, that seniors take a ten minute nap every day, but to no avail.

We went to lunch and sat by a couple of new senior’s. There were quite a few at our table. As we were chatting, I asked where they were from and they too were from Cache Valley, from Providence. We told them we were also from Cache Valley, living in Smithfield. Of course, you ask each other where you are going. When we said Nepal, they were surprised and delighted. They had heard there was a couple going to Nepal and wanted to see if they could find them. I’m reminded that there are no coincidences with the Lord. Only tender mercies, of which this is one. 

Elder and Sister Burnett

Their names are Elder and Sister Burnett They were in Nepal as country directors returning home in 2006. We learned a lot from them and talked most of our lunch break and then again after dinner. They told us about the home there, about some of the responsibilities we will have as Country directors. They talked about some of the people and asked us to say ‘Hi’ to them. They told us we would love it and we know we will.

The afternoon was spent with Eric Wunderlich and we went over some of the initiatives we will be working on. Things like the food initiative, the wheelchair initiative, and the neonatal initiative.  Tomorrow we will cover the clean water initiative.

We attended the MTC Devotional tonight. The speaker was Elder Eduardo Gavarret, of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife. She said this was only the second talk she had ever given in English and she did great. They looked pretty young.  He talked about the Plan of Salvation. They were both good, but to tell the truth, I was pretty tired and had a little trouble staying focused. We went back at the hotel and hoped to get a good nights sleep.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

I slept better last night. I wonder if it could be the two Melatonin  I took. I woke at 4:15 AM. That’s way better than 2:15 AM. We got up about 6:15 and got ready and then back to the MTC and breakfast.

Our day was spend by being instructed by Matt Heaps. I think he is pretty much over the clean water initiatives for the church. We loved our time with him. We learned a lot and he made it fun too. We learned that we need to be mindful that the humanitarian funds are sacred funds. But he told us that as senior couples we are usually way too conservative and that if there are good projects out there, not to be afraid to submit them. We were amazed at the amount of money the church spends on Humanitarian needs and the good they do worldwide. And he reminded us that all that money is contributed for Humanitarian Work by members of the church.

We were introduced in more depth to the CHaS program. It’s a software program for the Humanitarian Program. We need to get a little more familiar with it as we will be using it a lot. That is how all the projects are submitted for approval and then tracked. It sounds like lots of reports and stuff are submitted through it. Sometimes you wonder how all this worked without the computer.

With Matt leading us, we had a good question and answer period. It was great and very helpful. Matt told us not to stress out about this and don’t worry about remembering it all because there are Short Term Specialists who will be available to help us. Elder and Sister Reynolds were in our class today and have just been called. People like them will come to our country and help us make sure the Partner, or NGO, is reliable and the project is viable. And then there is always the Area Welfare Specialist, Elder and Sister Sackley, who are only a Skype call away.

We talked about being sensitive to people and being sure not to offend them. We need to be aware of cultural differences. That could be a challenge and we will rely a lot of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

At noon, we saw Elder and Sister Burnett again, and they are just so nice. They shared some pictures of Nepal they had on their computer. There will pictures of the home we will be living in. It looks pretty nice (if only it had central heat). They also had pictures of some of the branch members and some pictures of some of the projects they had worked on. They have answered some of our questions and it’s been good.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

We can hardly believe we are at our last day at the MTC. What a wonderful experience it has been. Today we were instructed by Patrick Reese, from Church Headquarters. He covered a lot of topics.

During our presentation this morning, Sister Wright came in and said that Carol Makita from KSL Channel 5 was there doing a story and would like to do a section on Senior Missionaries. Since President Monson had asked for more Seniors to serve missions at the last conference, she wanted to focus on some of the training for the Senior’s at the MTC. They came in and filmed in our classroom. The segment will be shown on KSL between sessions of conference in April.

After lunch we had presentations from Family Services. They were also good. We are going to be wearing lots of different hats. They assured us we will have lots of different kinds of opportunities.

During one of the breaks, I looked at the email and there was one from Elder Borland. Sounds like we will hit the road running as they have planned a trip to Hattikhor to see a water project. We leave the day after we arrive, stay overnight and then return the next day. He said he knew we would be tired and have jet lag.  This village is five hours away over bumpy curvy mountain roads. We will be in a comfortable van and perhaps we could catch a little sleep on the way. This is a project in its beginning stages, and we will oversee the completion of it. The day after we return, President Jackson, our Mission President will be there and we will be able to meet him. Also the branch has a little get-together planned to welcome us and to say goodbye to the Borland’s. It’s going to be busy. And that’s great. We look forward to it.

We did meet together with Brother and Sister Wright again as a group. They gave us some final instructions. They are such wonderful people and we have loved them. We have also made wonderful friends among our group. We hope to stay in touch with them. One of the couples took the initiate to get an email address list put together and sent it to all of us. That will be good. We gave everyone hugs as we departed. People begin flying out tonight. A lot of us are flying out on Monday. For now, we are going home and packing the suitcases and 101 different things, including dinner with the family one more time.  It will be a busy weekend.

Friday, February 11, 2001

It’s been a pretty busy day, and I’m sure you understand we have a lot to do. I did sleep better last night and that was nice. I didn’t wake up till 4:45 am and got up about 5:15 am. It was good to sleep in our own bed. I got on the computer and caught up a little bit. Gene got up just after 6:00 am and about 7:20 am Clay called on Skype. It was fun to visit with them for a few minutes. I am really going to enjoy Skyping and know even though we will be half a world away, we can still talk to the kids and grandkids.

Gene and I went in to town and took his suit to the cleaners. We had a few last minute things to pick up and a few errands to run. We came home and I did some wash and I ironed a couple of Gene’s white shirts. Then I started to really pack my suitcase. It’s starting to fill up and more importantly, the weight limit is creeping up as well. We will do more of that tomorrow.

It’s been a beautiful day with bright sunshine. Gene did go for a walk, but I stayed busy here. I do feel a little pressure to get this done and to have  a little time to think, ‘just what else should I be taking?’

I called Chad and asked if he might have a minute to come and look at my computer. It’s wonderful having a son who is so tech savy and who is willing to come and help me out. Thanks, Chad! He did come and checked out a few things for us. He has put a program on our computer that will enable him to take control of our computer and fix any messes we get ourselves into. It’s amazing to me how that works, but oh, so comforting.

There’s really no food in our house other than a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread and a bit of cheese. We really don’t want to buy much food and have to leave it in the fridge so Alison invited us over for dinner last night. Thanks Alison. It is just great having the love and support of our wonderful family. It would be hard to go with that and we appreciate them so much.