Mission Training Center

Timothy and his family were visiting Utah from California and he offered and we accepted a ride from him to the MTC in Provo, Utah. We had just come to Tyler's and Charlotte's home from the Family reunion in New Mexico on Sunday and we left for the MTC on Monday morning. We spent some time sorting out our clothes so that just our carry on luggage was needed.  

This is as we have just said "good-bye" to the grandkids 

that were there.

This is our "district" at the MTC. These are the people we studied with. Sister Preador, Sister Iversen, they were going to Spokane Washington as employment specialists, us, and Elder and Sister Hogg, going to Fiji doing office work we can't remember. There was another couple that was with us and he thought he was having an asthma attack but when he went to the hospital they found he had pneumonia. The bottom two are our young returned missionary trainers, Bro. Lystrum and Bro. Barney.
The food at the MTC was very good and it took a lot of will power not to eat the ice cream, cream puffs, and heavy meals that were offered. Like one lady said many meals were breaded, sauced and basically great tasting.
      We really enjoyed our time at the MTC, the young missionaries there are very impressive. They study all different languages and they are in little pockets deep in studying. For a huge group of basically teenagers I never saw any unwise goofing around, not to say there wasn't laughter and joyful times, just not rough housing, mean spirited stuff. The big meeting we had on Friday night when all the missionaries came together was very impressive. We stood with about 2,000 young men and women and sang "Called to Serve", it was a very touching moment for me and I didn't resist the urge to turn around and look at all those great young people willing to go and help others come unto Christ.
       Brother Featherstone came to speak to us. He talks just as fast as he always did, but he is older now and some things got slurred. Many of you will remember he came to Philmont when we were there many years ago, he held Micah on his knee and took a picture with Rachel there too. He met Alyssa and Steve coming out of the temple on their wedding day and congratulated them on their choice to be married in the temple. We were glad for his message. He told of one of his grand daughters who is somewhat challenged and on a mission.  One day as she and her companion were walking along the sidewalk they saw two young girls playing in their yard. They began talking with the girls when the girls mom came out. The mom talked with Jennifer, Elder Featherstone's grand daughter (the missionary) and her companion. She didn't want to be taught but finally agreed to let the missionaries teach her young daughters scripture stories. After the missionaries had been there several times to teach the girl's mom came to sit in on one of the lessons. Jennifer asked the mom about her parents. The girl's mom said that she didn't want any contact with her parents, she had left home in anger years ago and was very happy with her life away from them. Many times Jennifer told the mom that she needed to call her dad, the lady refused. Maybe because of Jennifer's challenges, or maybe because it was the right thing to do, but one day after many months of encouragement, the lady went into her house and called her dad. The dad on the other end of the line could hardly speak but was able to get his wife, the girl's mother on the phone. The girls mother just told them she was fine and enjoying a good life, they told her how they had worried and fretted all these years that they didn't know where she was or how to contact her, and basically how over joyed they were to finally hear from her. The mom of the girls did share with the missionaries that she had been raised in the church and when she left home was the first time she had not gone to church. There was a bit more to the story but the missionaries were able to continue to teach the girls and one was old enough to be baptized and wanted to be, the mother agreed. Jennifer encouraged the mom to call the dad again and ask him if he would come and baptize the little girl, at first the mom flatly refused but with Jennifer's help she finally called again, and he readily said they would be on the next plane.
        Just a little example of how anyone's boldness could draw families together.  

New Zealand here we come. After waiting for 10 months for our Visas to come, finally we are on our way.

Catch UP!

Because we are already are in New Zealand and I want to document all that is happening here, I will do a little catch up blog to tell a little something about our Huntzinger Family Reunion in Farmington New Mexico. 

         It started out as a Jenkins family reunion, but now it is basically a reunion for Cecile and Ralph's children and their families. We are graciously hosted in Del and Becky Washburn's lovely home. This is how Becky is related, Cecile's brother Gerald, wife Cleo, was Becky's dad. So Becky is LaVar and all cousin. There home looks like it could be in a magazine. That is until we sweep in with our air mattress and all the stuff!

First there is the creature hunting. This is where Evan, Max and Jacob found the snake hole. 

Then the beautifying, talent sharing, Anna did my toenails and I am not taking it off for a long time. 

And there is the sharing and getting re-aquainted, lots of laughter. Savannah, Aynsley, Anna and Grandad looking on.

And there is bonding. Alyssa, Izzy, Max, Jacob and Evan

Then there is sleep. We all lay our sleeping mattresses and assorted blankets out and sleep. Some sleep outside and enjoy the cool nights of New Mexico.

This picture was taken of Tucker, Izzy and Kate Allen during a walk along the Los Alamos River.

Many adventuresome souls braved the heat and went up into the glade for a hike and to remember old times. Front left Oliver, Izzy, Anna (with the largest piece of petrified wood found!), Katie, Evan and Emmaline. Second row, Tyler, Kendall, Brad with Sabastian, Alyssa, Max, Aynsley, and LaVar. Jacob is in the tree and David and Steve are in the background. All came home with interesting rocks and excited about the finds in the desert.

The MOST looked forward to activity was the .........

WATER FIGHT!

It all starts out with  water ballons and all that are not in the shelter get wet. This year they started using buckets of water. Brad is enjoying LaVar splashing Charlotte.

Little Fayette, Rachel and Greg's youngest, thought being IN a bucket was just fine.

After many were wet, the waterslide was set up and the competition for the longest slide was won this year by Tyler, Justin coming in a very close second.

Emmaline took home the snake that Aynsley and  Evan are admiring.

Terry brought some Lavender taught people to weave a little sachet. Terry is helping Evan and Tammy helping Max. Charlotte is doing her own. With Del and Becky chilling in the lovely smell of lavender.

The auction was a huge success! Thanks to everyone's generous donations of things and others generous buying. Here mom is collecting a piece of fabric, habits die hard. Jacob donated gorgeous pens that he turned on his own lathe, Emmaline made necklaces with Grandma's picture in them, Tyler donated a couple pieces of artwork, there were a few pieces from Grandma's home done a few years ago, shells, necklaces, and other things from Brad. I can't remember them all, it was a great auction though.

These are the original family members. In youngest to oldest order Bret, Brad, Curtis, Terry, Tammy (thanks for the organization of a great family reunion), LaVar and Linda and of course Ralph 96 and Cecile 90 years old whose birthday we were celebrating!

Some came from Utah like Emily and Justin Allen and their family, Curtis and Ruth, Ron and Tammy came from Arizona.

Rachel and Greg and their girls, Naomi and Fayette also from Arizona. Me and Aynsley enjoying their family.

Oliver and his family Tyler and Charlotte, Savannah, Emmaline, and Tucker also from Utah

The DeHarts from San Antonio must have won the distance came with the most amount of people if there was an award for that. Steve, with Katie, Anna, Jacob, Grandpa, Aynsley, Grandma, Evan, Max and Alyssa.
Thanks to all who came and we certainly missed all who were not able to.
We will do this again in 2 years. July or August of 2014! please plan on coming. Love to all of you!

 

Celebrating 42 years of Marriage!

 We were married 42 years ago in the Manti, Utah temple and we got to go back there for our anniversary. We wanted to go straight to the temple after arriving in Manti but the temple closed early because of the pageant practice so instead we went out to dinner and back to our lovely bed and breakfast.

 This is the Yardley Inn. It smelled of essential oils because it is also a spa. It was wonderful. We picked up 3 lbs. of sweet cheeries and ate them all the way.

 For 2 nights we stayed in the Victorian. It was very romantic, it had a great shower and we loved it.

 We ate dinner at a local fund raiser and that was good, turkey burgers. We went to the pageant and were amazed that so many people were there. It was a gorgeous night and we met some very interesting people.
That night we stayed in another room that was just lavish, but I didn't get any pictures of it. We came back to our room where there was sparkling cider waiting for us and we went out on the little porch and looked at the beautiful stars. LaVar planned this get away mostly by himself and it was truly a wonderful memorable anniversary. Thanks dear!

OOOh I forgot to mention that I got a fabulous message!


On the way back to Brigham City we went through many small Utah towns and went on the Nebo Loop. BREATH taking.

Brigham City Utah Temple

After we completed everything for our New Zealand Visa applications in January we learned that the government of New Zealand changed the requirements for the type of Visa that missionaries will use. Church lawyers recently completed negotiating new requirements and we completed again our medical forms and applications. They have been submitted to the New Zealand government. We are expecting approval in a few weeks.  We are currently scheduled to report to the Mission Training Center on July 16, and we will fly to New Zealand the following week. 

In the meantime, we have been doing a very wonderful thing.  Our son Tyler has a company that creates and installs decorative finishes (iconographyfinishes.com/). He told us he could use our help if we wanted to come to Brigham City Utah and work on a large design project in the new temple. We decided that while we waited we would do that. The company rented a home here and we have the premier bedroom spot. There are about 8 workers that are staying here during the work week.

This is our first day on the job. The smile was off my face after climbing the 3 flights of stairs. We are really out of shape. After these 8 weeks we are getting stronger. The one of the first days we were here Tyler asked me to go and put some vinyl on one ceilings. It was at least 30 feet up and there was only an electronic lift. Having recently heard of a good friend that was killed in one of those, I was very afraid. I had one of the crew teaching me how to use it. I had a panic attack and just gave up.
 I am happy to report that I used the scissor lift and laid on my back to install vinyl on the ceiling a few days ago. Keep in mind that was inches from the ceiling. I overcame my fear of that. My other option was a scaffold that I needed to climb which I did and overcame the sway that is inevitable that high up.

Even though it is spring here this is Utah and we had snow in our flowers. We are really enjoying the flowers, they are everywhere and new ones pop out every week.
The back yard is just a fairy land with all the flower beds and "attractions" like a pond and a ceramic mermaid, turtles and stepping stones.

 This beautiful white wisteria was right outside the kitchen door and we saw it transform into this gorgeous thing. I had not see white wisteria before, always purple and it was glorious.

There is a website that shows some more pictures of the temple outside. mormontemples.org/brighamcity

 Later I think they will have more of the inside.The public is invited to visit the new temple during an open house from Saturday August 18, 2012 until Saturday September 15, 2012 excluding Sundays. Free tickets will be available beginning on July 30, 2012 at BrighamCityMormonTemple.org

The grandchildren came up break for a few days during the week of spring break.  We had a good time walking around town with Oliver and Emmaline.

 Ollie with his "favorite flower". Who knew that an eight year old would know anything about a bleeding heart?? Well there you go.

A wonderful old building at the end of our road. 

Love that beehive and the bees!

 Emmaline is up on the stairs but you can barely see her.

Nice pose from Ollie though

.

Brigham City Tabernacle across the street from the temple.

This is how an artist goes to work.

 This is us as we went to work on Saturday, not a normal work day for us. There was only one other worker and us. It was a quiet day.  There was a ceiling that needed peach blossoms installed and we were racing the carpet layers. It was a complicated design and we are basically slow. I took us almost 14 hours. Working above our heads most of the time. We got the scaffolds taken down put away, another first, and come out very tired and sore. We are very glad for this Sabbath day and a rest. We are glad for this Monday being a holiday and one more day of not working. We are anxious for the "gold Guy" to come in and start getting his part done and see if we did ours right. Hope so!

We have going to the local ward here. The house we are in belongs to the Bishop's dad. The missionaries assigned here spoke today and did a great job.The sister is assigned to write the history of this temple and he is helping with the overseeing construction.

This is the bishop's family collection of the most fabulous rocks and fossils. They have a whole building dedicated to their rocks.

 I believe poppies are my new favorite flower!!
They are all over here and in a variety of colors, this one is in the neighbor's yard and we are loving seeing them.

So that is what we have been up to lately. We really think the new date of July 16th will be the day we start our mission, until then we are very happy doing this!