The Journey

We had a nice long drive to California. We had to stall a little since we had set up the mission president’s exchange day to be June 30 at 8:00 am.

Thursday, June 26 we left the MTC and to celebrate a few half birthdays had lunch with Lisa, Dale, Kara, Will, Kate, and Spencer in Provo before heading out. We stopped at the cemetery in Ephraim to see Leah and Vernon’s grave one more time. We attended a session in the Manti Temple. We spent the night in Cedar City with Shakespeare fans.

Friday, we attended a session in the St. George Temple. We spent the night in east Las Vegas. We went to get some supper and ended up at a Subway, even though we were headed somewhere else. We went in to order and turned around and there were two elders behind us! We ended up buying them dinner and had a nice talk with them and learned all about the work in the Las Vegas area. They told us an easy way to get to the temple [which was in their area] and so we took a little drive up there and walked around.

The grounds there are particularly beautiful.

We spent Saturday night in Baldwin Park, California. We attended church in the ward that used to be the Baldwin Park Ward where I was born. Right after we sat down, a sister came to talk to us. She was Sister Livingston. Turns out she is the daughter-in-law to Bishop Livingston, my bishop when I was born and who gave me a name and a blessing, which is why I remember the name. Small world, I think.

It was a fun ward. They gave us full size Snickers bars in Sunday School.

My first home in Baldwin Park, California

Oh, another funny. When we walked into the church building, the Elders that were there, were lounging around a little on the couches, perked right up and stood up. They thought we were their new mission president and we had caught them! It was great.

We spent Sunday night in Calabasas, just to the east of our mission boundaries. We needed to keep President’s Murri’s feet from touching the ground in the mission, because as soon as he did, he would be the mission president. We weren’t quite ready for that until the next day.

[Were we ready then?]

Monday flew by. We spent a few hours with the Ellsworths being oriented to the home and office. We took them to the airport in Santa Barbara around 11:00 am. We dropped them off and then had to find our way back to Ventura by ourselves. We lived in dreaded fear that the cell phone would ring. Actually it wasn’t too bad that day. We were kind of lost finding our way back to the mission home since all our maps were in our car and we were in the mission car, but we happened along by a Café Bariloche. We stopped there and had an Argentine food lunch.

What a pleasant surprise! It was great.

We did find our way back to the mission home and proceeded to learn about

our new residence and responsibilities.

We also needed to pack for a trip around the mission, beginning the very next day.

The Elegant MTC

Our experience at the MTC was certainly elevated compared to other stays. It was, however, just as busy and involved as they all have been.

We arrived on Saturday, June 21 around noon. We were able to have a little lunch and then headed to downtown Provo to register at the Provo Marriott hotel. The senior MTC building is just not large enough to hold one third of the mission presidents [those that were there for the seminar] and other Mission Presidents’ Seminar participants. We had a very lovely room with a sunset view. [See previous photo.] We spent very little time there during our stay.

We were treated like royalty every where we went. The food was exquisite, well prepared, and served quickly and elegantly. The dinner company was amazing. Of course, all the new mission presidents were fun to get to know. There were also many General Authorities around. They were the ones without name badges. All new presidents and companions had name badges, as well as the staff and presenters at the MTC. So, if the badge wasn’t there, it meant they were a General Authority and we should know who they were. Sometimes we did, but usually we didn’t.

First thing in the morning we had spiritual meetings and training as an entire group.

We were taught by the First Presidency and the Apostles, and

some of the seven presidents of the Seventy.

We were divided up by areas of service and had workshops about Preach My Gospel procedures, etc. These were done by members of the missionary department, MTC staff, and General Authorities as they rotated from room to room. A lot of questions specific to areas and missions were discussed. These groups varied from day to day, and became slightly smaller as the days went by and concluded with a final dinner with an apostle and other General Authorities with only the mission presidents going to the America West and Pacific Areas.

We were assigned to Elder Dallin Oaks.

We attended the Sunday evening and Tuesday evening devotionals with the entire missionary force behind us. We were able to see our nephew Andy Murri, who was there preparing to serve in the Busan Korea Mission. It was a great treat to see him.

Most of the time we were quite secluded from the missionaries, or they were secluded from us. We went out as often as we could to see them and see what they were up to. We had the great opportunity to meet two that were heading out to the California Ventura Mission.

[They are now here and two that I actually remember.]

It was a marvelous experience, totally different from last year,

and a great motivation for us to go forth with faith, which we did!

Hanging with Elder Andy Murri at the MTC. The new California Mission Presidents and wives.
Harris cousins.
Workshop set up.

The Blessing Outfits

Before I even knew that we would be coming home to Logan before the new babies were born, I promised Sarah and Kara that I would make blessing outfits for the new little ones. I was very excited about trying out the Paraguayan embroidery that I was falling in love with while we were serving our mission in Paraguay. This emboidery is called Ao Poi. It is done on an open weave 100% cotton fabric. The fabric is close to an even weave and very open, so it can be used for counted stitching. These stitches involve pulling out threads and stitching around others in a geometric pattern of flowers or other designs. In the temple we saw many beautiful all white shirts, ties, blouses and skirts. I had decided that I wanted to try some baby clothes and thankfully Kara and Sarah gave me the perfect excuse for coming up with something. A wonderful sister in Paraguay, Lorenza Acosta, taught me how to do the stitches. These outfits were very fun to make and amazing to do. I purchased the fabric and thread in Paraguay from their best source. I ended up designing and making them in the United States. This is a part of Paraguay that will always be with me. I hope I will have some time in the future to make some more things before the old hands and eyes give out.

Close up of Spencer's little suit.

Close up of hemstitching around sleeve hem.
Overall front view.
Overall back view.
Spencer in his outfit on his blessing day.

Close up of dress bodice on Ella's dress.
Close up of dress front and hem. Front view of the dress.

Back view of the dress.

Ella in her blessing dress.

Pte. Murri and I wore our Ao Poi shirt and blouse to a 24th of July party in Santa Barbara. The president's shirt was a big hit. One sister called it hardanger.

It is very similar, but the base fabric is different.

[I didn't know that the Danish went to Paraguay.]

Ao Poi is so much easier than Hardanger.