September 11, 2011

Here we go!  Tonight we were set apart by President Bevan to be full-time missionaries in the Australia Perth Mission.  Bishop Barton and Bobbie came, as well as Erin and Travis and the kids.  President Frailey, Pres. Johannsen and Bro. Nill  were also there.  Pres. Bevan gave us each a few minutes to share our feelings about our call, and our testimonies of the Gospel.  We both feel very tender, and also very hopeful.  We want to do the very best that we can for the Lord who has given us so very much.

We have had a constant stream of visitors and calls over the last couple of days from wonderful people who care about us.  It's humbling to know that we matter to so many great people!  Two weeks ago we spoke in church, and the same thing happened then.  Every one of our siblings came, and all of their spouses, except Mike McInnes, who had to work; every one of our children came, and all of their spouses came, except Gary Bevan, who also had to work; all of our 22 grandchildren were there!  We felt that nothing could feel more like Heaven than that.  When we spoke in the meeting, we looked out on a sea of faces of good friends and family who were all wishing us well and praying for our success and happiness.  Who wouldn't stumble over her words!  But we had constantly prayed for weeks to be able to feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost in that meeting, and the Lord didn't fail us.  We all felt it.  Bishop Barton assigned me a talk about the Plan of Salvation, and to Ray he gave one about the Atonement.  I had to put aside the talk I had prepared because I was faltering so much.  I told them about what happened when I watched Planet Earth...

After the block of meetings there were well over 100 people to have lunch with us the the back yard.  We borrowed 3 large canopies for shade and enjoyed a delicious pot-luck meal together.  We moved about in a kind of daze, and our cheeks hurt from smiling too much.  

The day before, our children and their spouses, and our two eldest grandsons, had all gone with us to a session in the Salt Lake Temple.  Ammon and Liz had gone with Nathan and Bryan downstairs to the baptistry.  We met a man afterwards who took our pictures, so I will include pictures of that glorious day too.    We went to Sizzler for lunch together, and then to Dawn's, where our sons, their hands on our heads, gave us special blessings.

To all of this, I have to say that I have felt an added measure of joy from spending many hours in my scriptures, transferring my markings from my old set to my new.  It has been a wonderfully sweet experience as the witness of their truth has come over and over, and a new understanding of so many of the passages has dawned on me.  How I love the Lord, and how grateful I feel for the great privilege of serving Him in this mission!  There are so many who have expressed a wish that they could go do what we will now be doing, and I feel I don't want to waste a minute, and that I need to represent all these good people who would like to be there, but can't.  I know the Lord will help us with so many people praying for us.

So now we have finished our preparations, cleaned our house, have turned over our keys to Tycen and Caitlin Lear, have sold our car and Ray's motorcycle, and have given away our 4-wheeler.  Ray quit his job as a chaplain, and we have packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes and left!  Erin drove us here to Dawn's home, where we will stay the night, and tomorrow morning she will deliver us to the Provo MTC, where we will be for a week.