Week 1 of Bearry's Mission

So the adventure begins.  We came home late Wednesday night from our Disney trip.  Thursday was spent finishing packing the trailer with our freshly washed clothes.  We went to the stake center at 6:15 to be set apart a along with all the family, the Elkins, Dydiw's, and the Evers.  Pres. Merrill was wonderful.  He explained to the kids what setting apart meant by using an analogy of there being a large stack of books on the table and he was going to take a few of those books and move them to another part of the table for a special purpose and that was what he was about to do to their grandparents.  I liked the image.  We received wonderful blessing of support for the mission.  It was emotional as the Greene boys were sobbing and asking us why we had to go.  We all went to dinner at Strings for a nice time.  (Memories of adam's farewell). Friday found us putting the final touches on the house and watched one final "play" put on by the Greene children.  Bravo kids! We were needing to wait for good weather up the mountain so we wouldn't have to put on chains so we finally left at 11:20.  The weather turned out to be fine. We made it to Wendover and had dinner in the trailer and spent the night in a parking lot.  Sat.  We took and dropped the trailer off at the MTC and were treated so nicely.  In memory of our last family vacation we went to J Dawg's for lunch and then headed down to the Stoddard's .  Liz and I went with Betsy and her daughter Kiera to the Woman's broadcast.  It was a historically meeting with the 8-11 year old girls joining the meeting.  I was impressed with the thought that The Lord sees the need for these girls to have this opportunity to put on the armor of God.  We had a good day in church, Sunday school had an interesting comparison of the church being like a good company.  The company to be successful needs 4 elements, 1. A good product/ message. 2. A leader. 3. An good organization. 4. A positive culture.  The church fits all that criteria and its going to be great to be able to share those ideas on this mission.  They had a combined meeting to encourage the participation in the upcoming General Conference .  I'd like to share a few of the stories that were told by members of their ward counsel.  One sister told a story of how her non member husband was cleaning the outside of their living room windows while she was watching conference on the TV .  Later that evening he asked her who those men were that she had been watching because he had such a strong feeling about them as they each came up to speak.  She explained that they were apostles and prophet of the church.  He hadn't even heard what they had to say but had received a witness that there was something special about them.  He soon investigated the church and joined.  Another brother told a cute story of a meeting of turkeys.  They wanted to learn to fly so they called in an eagle who in a short time had them all flying around the room.  When the meeting was over they all walked home happy for their good meeting.  Do you get it?  They had been taught great things but didn't apply them.  We need to not just listen and applaud our leaders we need to put into practice what they teach.  Another sister said that she decided the advice from the brethren needed to be considered a commandment for her.  And lots more to think about.  We went on a ride though the mountains and down to Manti to see the temple.

  It is more beautiful in person than in pictures.  It snowed on our way back.  We are now settling down for a good nights rest before heading to the MTC  in the morning for a 9:30 check in.  We are very excited for what we are about to experience.

Love you all