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Our Mission Ends!

Today we were released from our Mission by our Stake President Blake Facer. It is hard to believe that we have completed our assignment and are on to a new chapter in our life.

The past couple of weeks have been busy, sad, happy, rewarding and full of gratitude. We are going to miss so many things about our mission. Here are a few of them:

The beautiful Palouse countryside, The Young Adults, The Institute lessons to study and teach, The young missionaries, The cooking and meal preparations, The adult leaders we worked with, Being on the Lord's errand 24/7.

Here is a picture of us with our wonderful Institute director Rob Salmond. We learned so much from him and loved working with him.

The Friday before we left we did a special waffle lunch for the missionaries after their District Meeting. We love these missionaries so much and appreciate all the hard work that they do. This picture was taken after waffles.

Some of the couples that we work with were so sweet to have us over for dinner or take us out to eat. Brother and Sister George had us over for dinner and we had a wonderful visit. She teaches at the Institutes and she and her husband were service missionaries in the Pullman YSA ward when we first arrived to Pullman. Then our YSA Bishop Kim Mellor and his wife Sue took us out to eat at a very nice place in Pullman to say good bye. We really loved working with them. On our last Sunday, Bryan and Karine Wacker had us over for their family dinner. They are the current service missionaries in the YSA ward and have a couple of YA children currently in the ward (Kahlin and Erich).

We were happy to have had Valerie and her Boyfriend Ze come and visit us for three days. We went to the Farmer's Market in Moscow which was fun, and then they came to church with us as well as the "break the fast" meal. We also went on a short hike at Klemgard Park.

Their visit overlapped Ben and Ali's visit by a day. We made waffles for them all at the Pullman Institute and and then took them over to the Moscow Institute to meet Brother Salmond. The three little girls loved playing ping pong with Ze and Val. On our way back to Pullman we stopped to see the "Round Barn"

Here is a picture of Shirl showing them all the kiosk that he built, and the "round barn".

We went with Ben, Ali and the girls up to Coeur de' Alene for a few days. We took a boat around the lake, went to an old gold mine, and biked the Hiawatha. We had a wonderful time with them.

We were able to teach the lesson at the Senior Mission FHE on Memorial Day. Shirl mostly taught. He taught about covenants and how God made His first covenant with Abraham. It was a very good discussion. After the meeting I needed to get my temple recommend renewed by President Kerr in his office there at the mission home. After my interview he asked if we would like to see the "Transfer Board". It was really interesting to see it on a very large computer screen. It is amazing to see how complicated it is, and how much prayer and inspiration it takes to figure out the transfers. Sister Kerr said that they pray and pray over it, and then when the transfers are made it is up to the young missionaries to "make it work" by relying on the Lord.

The day before we left, Shirl helped Sister Mellor set up the NEW SLUSHY MACHINE that she and her husband bought! They really wanted to have one for their family and since he is the Bishop, they plan to mostly keep it at the Institute. He said that if we had taken our machine away and it didn't get replaced there would be MUTINY from the YSA members! Ha Ha (and the missionaries would miss it too you can be sure!) Here is the Mellor's new machine all set up and going.

We drove home with a FULL car on Monday (June 9). When we got home at 10:00pm we got on the Mission FHE Zoom call. President and Sister Kerr had asked us to bear our testimonies along with the other two missionaries that were completing their missions. It was very sweet to be able to do that. We really loveed serving in the Washington Spokane mission and will miss it very much. We know the Lord is in this work and wants His children to be ready for the second coming of our Savior. We all have our part to do, and we pray that we will be able to continue doing ours!

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A Surprise Ending!!

The past few weeks have been busy and full of surprises. One thing for sure in life is that things can change quickly.

On Monday April 28 we were able to go to Spokane for the Senior Missionary FHE. It was so wonderful to meet with all the missionaries and President and Sister Kerr. The weather was warm enough to eat outside. After dinner we all went out to the front yard of the Mission Home and had our pictures taken in front of the "famous" willow tree. This is the tree that Elder Palmer of the seventy spoke about in General Conference this April. It has really grown since the story he told. He was the Mission President here in Spokane several years ago.

We were able to help one of the students here (Baley) move into a different dorm for the summer. It was kind of fun to help him out.

We had the first Stake Conference for the new Pullman Stake on May 2nd and 3rd. I was asked to put together a string ensemble musical number for the Sunday Session with as many musicians as possible from all the wards of the Stake. We ended up playing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with about 11 people. We had several young adults in the mix, and I think every ward in the stake was represented. It sounded really good. There are some good players here.

On May 6 and 7 we were able to host Seminary at the Pullman and Moscow Institute buildings for the graduating seniors. It was fun to meet them and show them around the buildings, as well as teach lessons getting them ready and excited for Institute. I am so impressed with how well they know the gospel and how ready some of them are to serve missions.

Later that week we were able to go the the Moscow Institute and help take down all the pictures from the walls in preparation for the whole building to be painted. This building is the very first Institute building in the church and is having its 100th birthday in 2026. The Pullman building will celebrate its 50th birthday the same year!

We had a fun experience on Friday May 9. My friend from High School, Sue Bennett Weber, and her husband Dan live in Walla Walla and drove here to Pullman to have lunch with us! We hadn't seen them since 2002 when they came to stay with us and attend the Winter Olympics. We had such a good visit.

After that lunch we drove over to Moscow to be with the Zone at the end of their lunch. It is always fun to be with the young missionaries, and President and Sister Kerr were there as well. We took some fun pictures.

Mother's Day was nice. I was able to talk to all of our children. Shirl gave me a real fun card.

Now for the SURPRISE ENDING as mentioned in the title of this blog post:

A few weeks ago we were contacted by the TEMPLES AND SPECIAL PROJECTS department of the Church. They wanted us to consider serving another mission as Temple Construction Building Site Missionaries. This would be a 3 year mission in Europe starting early spring of 2026! We told them that we were interested. When we talked to Brother Salmond, our Institute Director, he suggested that we could consider shortening our current mission to 18 months as he felt we had accomplished the things the Lord had sent us here to do with our particular talents. We gave it some thought and prayer and decided to do that. We are now awaiting official word from President Kerr, but the plan is to return home on June 9. This will give us time to put in our papers for the next mission, reconnect with our family, and prepare to serve a different kind of mission. We actually took about 10 days during the teaching break here in Pullman to go to Utah and help some of our family members with some things. (We were able to take some of our belongings back so that when we leave here we won't have such a crowded car!) We are now finishing up our teaching assignments here and will host some family members that had planned to visit before this all happened. We are sad to leave this mission early, especially since we weren't able to say goodbye to many of the students that went home for the summer. But we are also very excited about the new adventure ahead and feel the Lord's hand in all of it. So yes, kind of a SURPRISE ENDING to our mission here. I will probably do one more blog post when we get ready to leave this place and beautiful chapter in our lives!

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Easter Time - Busy Time - The Semester Ends

The past two weeks have been busy and inspiring! We have been doing a lot to celebrate the Easter season with the Young Adults. The weather is quite a bit warmer, and a few flowers and blossoms are popping up! I took this picture because I know it is the BEST things will look in front of our place the whole year long. The owners pay for someone to mow the lawn but that is all they do. No watering, no weeding or weed treating. But we will enjoy it while it lasts!

We were able to go to the temple and do the same endowment session as the 5 young sister missionaries serving here in Pullman. After the session we went out to eat at Cafe Rio. They are such great missionaries - and we especially love spending time with Sister Adrie Cox from our home stake.

The Moscow Stake puts on an interfaith Easter concert each year. There were several Pullman people in it as well. We were able to attend and enjoyed it very much. It was a wonderful way to start of our celebration of the Holy Week.

I did pretty much the same thing at the Institute this year that I did last year for Holy Week. Each day I set out pictures that went with what Christ did during the last week of his life. I'll put pictures here of some of the displays.

On Wednesday that week we had a special "Passover Meal" that Sister George presented. We worked VERY hard to prepare, cook and clean up this meal. We served the tables and they passed the food family style as Sister George explained each course and read the scriptures and words that went with each part. We decided to use the real plates, utensils, and glasses --- so it took a long time to do the dishes afterwards. But it was very well attended and very inspiring.

On Thursday instead of the home made bread, I made HOT CROSSED BUNS, and put out a card explaining the history of them and symbolism of the cross.

The Wackers recently returned from Germany and brought us back a beautiful blown out carved easter egg. I hung it on some daffodils that were growing in our front yard.

The night before Easter the YSA had a regional devotional. We sang with our little ward choir as part of the program. We also sang the next morning for the Easter Sacrament Meeting. We sang "Consider the Lilies".

Saturday was also Shirl's birthday. We celebrated by going to Lewiston and getting some things at Costco and the US Chef store. Then we went to Applebee's for an early dinner. On Sunday some of the YSA members decorated our office door. They all signed a card, and Joseph Malan also gave Shirl his grandfather's leather jacket!

On Sunday afternoon we put on a ward "Easter Dinner" and it was very nice. Everyone stayed around and visited for a long time. I think it can be hard for some of the students to be away from their families for Easter, so it was a nice thing to do. Quite a few of them helped bring things to add to the dinner. This is a picture of the fun dessert Sister Mellor made.

The day after Easter we went on a hike with the Pullman Missionaries up to Kamiak Butte. We had a picnic lunch afterwards. I think it was nice for them to get out into nature for a little bit! They were glad that we planned it!

We have been helping out a new member, Ryan, who has actually been homeless for a couple of weeks. The Bishop and some other members of the ward have also been helping him out. We have been giving him rides to several appointments to find housing, a job, etc. It looks like he may be getting into an apartment in the next day or two. Some of these young members have very difficult family life situations for sure! I found out that Ryan plays the ukulele, and so I got mine out for him to play for a bit.

On Saturday we were able to go with the YSA ward to the temple in Spokane. We had a very large group this time - 15! We helped them do the baptisms and confirmations, and then because one member brought a sprinter van and we weren't needed to give rides home, we stayed and did an endowment session. Here is a picture of the YSA members afterward.

This week we finished up the semester of classes. We will have a little bit of down time now before we start the summer schedule. We will use the time to make some trips to the temple in Spokane as well as prepare as many lessons ahead as possible. We are looking forward to the warmer weather for sure!

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Feasting at General Conference

Last Saturday and Sunday was General Conference where we have about 10 hours of wonderful instruction and encouragement from our Church leaders. This is truly a spiritual feast. We we especially enjoy watching conference with the YSA here! It is inspiring to see how devoted they are and desirous to hear the word of the Lord. They love to make guesses as to how many new temples will be announced and where they will be built.

It is also a real feast of food! Sister Mellor and I put together LOTS of food. We had breakfast each morning an hour before the session. We had lunches as well as lots of snacks for each session. We had good turn outs for all the sessions. The missionaries brought some people that they are teaching which was exciting.

We were able to go to a production of Jane Eyre here at WSU. One of the members of the ward, Mabel, played a major role and did a fantastic job! It is such an inspiring story. We really enjoyed it.

We have been going to the movie theatre to see the new season 5 of The Chosen. It is so good! We have been impressed with how well it portrays very difficult things.

This week we have been helping a couple of ward members that have had some special needs. One of them got very sick, then needed a tooth pulled, and THEN his apartment flooded all at the same time! We were able to help him out and get his apartment cleaned. The bishop then brought over a new bed and a recliner for him, as his bed got ruined by the flooding. The other member is a fairly new convert that has recently become homeless. He has needed some help this past week. We have been feeding him, helping him get his laundry done, and giving him rides to places as he tries to get housing and a job. Several ward members and the bishop have been very helpful letting him stay with them. Hopefully this week he may get some housing and a job. He is trying to keep a good attitude which is great.

Our classes have been going quite well. We have really been enjoying the Seminary/Mission Prep class that we teach in Colfax every-other Sunday. It is a great group of youth. I think they like having a different teacher once in awhile.

Family Home Evening has been pretty fun the past couple of weeks. We had a cupcake decorating activity one week, and then the next we tied fleece blankets to give to a charity.

Last night we had the sisters over for dinner - Sister Cox and Sister Morgan. It was a good time. They gave us a great spiritual thought using a single piece of paper that they folded and tore into a cross.

We are excited for this week as we celebrate the Holy Week and Easter Sunday. I am doing the same thing I did last year with daily displays and activities. We feel so blessed to be here serving and being a part of the Lord's great work. We feel His love and support each day and can't believe that we only have about 7 or 8 months to go!

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Surviving Spring Break and Continuing On

We we had a nice Spring Break. It was great to catch up on a few things in the apartment and rest a little bit. On Wednesday night, the Wackers (local service couple serving the YSA Ward) decided to go ahead and have a dinner for the YSA members that were in town. We actually had a good crowd. We served pancakes and sausage. It was fun.

On Thursday we decided to drive up to the Spokane area. We went by way of Kellog ID. We wanted to check out some things to do and places to stay when Ben and Ali come with their girls at the beginning of June. It is very beautiful in that area, as well as around the Coeur de' Alene Lake. We then went to Spokane and stayed in a Hotel. On Friday morning we went to the Spokane Temple. We did 3 endowment sessions and one Initiatory session. It was a full day, but very nice to be sure.

Saturday was the baptism of Tim Goodwin. I was able to play the piano and Shirl led the music. It was so great because his family came from 3 different parts of the country to attend. His grandfather baptized and confirmed him. He went to church as a child, and never was baptized. We are excited to have him in our ward.

On Sunday night we had the worldwide Relief Society broadcast. Our Pullman Stake is a new stake, and so they made up a wall of the history of the church in this area. It was pretty nice to see. They had sticky notes that you could write on to put yourself into the history. I put one up about us serving here.

School started this past Monday and it snowed heavily early that morning and most of the day. Lots of kids missed their morning classes! That night we had a fun FHE making Leprechaun Traps! Here are some of them. The first one is a tight rope that leads to a "Fall". The second one is a room that has so many fun and comfortable things that the Leprechauns won't want to leave. The third one is just a pull-string trap.

Shirl has been sick since Tuesday. He has a bad cold/congestion etc. So I have been teaching all of our classes. He had prepared the Book of Mormon class with a fun matching test covering all of the people that we have been studying. Everyone seemed to enjoy working on it.

Then I taught the Mission Prep class on Thursday. It went well but we only had 4 members come.

Waffles on Friday was great. We have a new missionary here serving with us that we are SUPER EXCITED about. Sister Adrie Cox from our home Stake! (we used to be in the same Ward). Here is a picture of her and her companion Sister Morgan making waffles! We are so happy to be working with her. She has a great spirit about her. As soon as Shirl gets better we will get a picture of us with her.

Also, we had 4 new nonmember friends come to waffles. They were all very sweet. Brother Samond gave them a tour of the building and one of them may come to the Isaiah class tomorrow morning!

Shirl is still sick so he didn't go to church, but I played the piano for Sacrament Meeting, and then Shirl went with me to Colfax. He actually stayed in the car while I taught. It went very well. It was about putting on the whole Armor of God. We read through lots of scriptures and then labeled the armor and wrote what each piece means to us as we follow Christ and receive His power. We then read in Preach My Gospel about putting on the Armor, and how it relates to missionary work.

coming up we have a blood drive at the Institute building on Tuesday, so that should be good. Hopefully Shirl will finish recovering and be able to do some of the teaching this week!

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WSU Spring Break Starts

Spring Break has started! This week will be kind of a slow week for us, but that's OK. It's kind of early this year. It is amazing how quiet it gets here in town on these breaks! It is kind of nice to not be constantly looking for pedestrians while driving around the campus.

The past two weeks have been pretty fun. Our FHE activity was making "candy sushi". It was fun to be creative. Here is a picture of what I made.

We started a new calendar that is posted by the library. It seems to be helping everyone know what is going on. It helps to have multiple ways to access the information; Online, TV screens in the building, Social Media, and Physical Calendars. It's my job to keep the Institute activities and classes on this new calendar.

We were able to have a group of Young Men and their leaders from the Terre View Ward come one Wednesday evening. We gave them a tour of the building, and then had them watch a video that our Institute Director made for them on how to teach a good lesson and give a good talk. They really liked it all. They loved the slushies! Here are some pictures of Shirl teaching them about the covenant path using our wall mural.

The YSA Moscow and Pullman Wards hosted a fun game night in Moscow. There were Young Adults there from Spokane and Lewiston as well. They had volleyball, computer and board games going. There were lots of treats - including slushies. Yes, we brought the machine over there for the evening. I learned a new board game, and Shirl watched a lot of volleyball.

This past Friday night the YSA Ward had a fun activity. One of the Young Adults wrote an Irish Murder Mystery. There were about 25 people who came. Each person was assigned a character with background and instructions and everyone was supposed to interact and figure out who the murderer was. It was fun because part of the setting was a pub, and there were barmaids actually making mocktails that people could (in character) come get. We actually didn't figure out who the murderer was - but it turned out real fun. Everyone had a good time.

On Saturday we decided to take a little drive since we needed gas (we almost always go to Moscow because gas is always about 60 cents a gallon cheaper). We drove to Troy, Deary, and Potlatch. Here are some pictures. First is the beautiful view and church in Troy.

A cool old trestle near Deary. We saw two dear near this area.

The Potlatch chapel and old railroad station.

Yesterday we started teaching an interesting class. We went to Colfax and taught Seminary after their church block. The idea is that we teach "Mission Prep" while incorporating some of the Seminary lesson. We are going to do that every other Sunday through the end of the school year. We had 11 students there and felt that it went very well.

Today we are catching up on things at home (like this blog!). I also went over to the Institute building for a few hours and worked on cleaning out and reorganizing the food closet. There were lots of tablecloths in there that we rarely use. I was able to put them in an adjoining closet and then reorganize the foods and other cooking supplies. I think it is a lot more useable now. There is more room in there for stocking up on supplies and it's much easier to see what's in there!

We will let you know in the next blog post how our Spring Break turns out. We are hoping to get up to Spokane for a day or so. Should be fun!

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Winter Goes On

We have had some fun activities and experiences these past two weeks. On Monday Feb 10 the YSA ward had a sledding activity at the Wacker's home. It was VERY cold - about 2 degrees, and dark. Not many came, but those that did had a lot of fun. Shirl and I stayed inside the house most of the time sitting by the fire. The Wackers have a long toboggan that was a real hit. Here is a picture of it.

Then on Tuesday the YSA had a baking night. Sister Wacker made up some sugar cooke dough and everyone rolled out and made heart shaped cookies. The Elders came and some of them had never rolled out cookie dough. It was fun to help them learn. The next day I frosted and decorated them for the Wednesday night dinner. Here is a picture of them.

Thursday was real fun! We got to go to lunch in Moscow with the whole Palouse Zone and President and SIster Kerr. We went to Mod Pizza. It was great to talk to all the missionaries and the Mission Leaders. President and Sister Kerr gave us the names of some good places for Valerie to go eat while she is in the Phoenix area. We really love them - they are doing such a good job with all the young missionaries.

On the actual Valentines Day - Friday- they had a craft activity. One of the students taught us how to make origami roses. It was real fun. Here is my creation!

On Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night we got SLAMMED with snow! It continued all day Monday as well. It is a good thing it came when it did, because there wasn't any school on Monday due to President's Day. Here is a picture our our duplex window. Our upstairs neighbor just had surgery, so we did all the shoveling which ended up being quite a LOT!

This week we had a faculty meeting. Those are always good. It helps to be a part of the planning and finding out how we can better meet the needs of the students here. We really like everyone that we are working with.

Shirl got the kiosk finished at Moscow! Brother Salmond is excited to start putting it to use this next week. I'll try to get a picture of it- but it is pretty much the same as the one in Pullman with a few improvements. Ours in Pullman is holding up quite well - even in the snow and rain.

We had a good group for waffles this Friday. I put out a puzzle and that was fun for some of them to work on a bit. We had a good number of nonmembers come in.

Yesterday we went to the Moses Lake Temple with a good sized group of YSA members. We did run into a problem. On our way there we stopped at a rest area. When Shirl tried to start up the car the battery was dead. He had a battery charger and an extension cord in the car. We found a wall plug in the men's restroom and tried to plug it in, but the cord didn't quite reach! Here is a picture of Sam Darling ALMOST getting it to reach. (Back to the Future throw back!)

Luckily someone ended up coming by and jumping us and we were right back on the road. But is was pretty funny! We had a great temple trip. Shirl and I did Initiatories, and most of the rest of them did baptisms. One young sister in our group had some difficulties, but the others jumped right in to help. It is great to see how they all are willing to take care of each other. Afterwards we went to a place called Dragon Express (knock off of Panda Express). It's always a crazy ride with a car-full of these kids-- but lots of fun.

The past few days have been much warmer, and a lot of the snow has been melting. That, plus all of the rain that we are currently getting has caused some minor flooding. Part of Grand Street here in Pullman was closed today. Here are some pictures of water where normally there isn't any or only a very small amount.

Our little choir sang in church today. It went well, and then we took off to Colfax. We are working on seeing if we can do a Mission Prep class out there with the Seminary students. We will go out there again next Sunday and meet with students, parents, and teachers to figure it out.

All in all we have had a good couple of weeks. We are enjoying our time here. This afternoon we had a call from a senior couple from the Danville CA area that are possibly going to replace us. They wanted to know all about what we do and what the mission is like. It was fun to tell them about our work here. It really is a great mission for a couple like us!

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Winter Activities and Blessings

The past couple of weeks have been great. The YSA had a 3 Ward (formal) dance for Pullman, Moscow, and Lewiston. They held it our new bishop's barn in Colfax. The dancing was upstairs and the food/visiting area was downstairs. It turned out VERY WELL. The venue was just the right size. There were probably about 70 people there at the height of the evening. Everyone had a great time. It had a nice spirit about it. Here are a few pictures.

We have had two baptisms lately. We were able to attend both of them and help with the music - - I played piano and Shirl led the music. We are so impressed with how hard the Elders and SIsters are working here in the YSA to find and teach some great young adults. The two new members are Kam Rogers and Gabe Popof

Both of these new members have come from pasts that were very difficult. It is so wonderful to see them take hold of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and find such purpose and peace in their lives now.

Last Sunday was the World Wide Young Adult Devotional that was broadcast from BYU. Elder and Sister Uchdorf spoke. It was VERY inspiring and exactly what the Young Adults need to hear (and us old ones as well!!). One of the ward members said he just can't wait to get the written transcript so that he can study it more!

We are getting more and more young married couples to come to the Wednesday night Dinner and Book of Mormon lesson that we are teaching. Many of them also stay for the Christlike Relationship class taught by Sister George afterwards. A few of them bring their little children with them which is so fun! Anyway they now know about our Waffle Friday, and some of the young moms are bringing their children. Shirl puts "Bluey" on in the game room and they love to watch it after eating their waffles. It's really fun to have some little ones around the Institute a bit.

This week I taught the Book of Mormon Lesson and it went well. I was teaching about the preparations that Moroni had his people do in fortifying every city in the land. We learned that it takes lots of small things added upon each other to build the protection we need against the adversary.

This week the snow finally arrived!! Wednesday morning school was delayed 2 hours. Here are two pictures of the snow outside our office window. The first picture was a few hours after the snow started on Tuesday afternoon, the second one was taken Wednesday morning. The snow is sticking around and we keep getting a little bit more almost every day.

Yesterday just the two of us went to Spokane to attend the temple. We did an Endowment session and then a Sealing session as well. We then went to Costco to pick up a few things including some more Hot Chocolate packets for the missionaries to share outside the Institute building. On our way home we couldn't get the car radio/information/navigation screen to work. Well, it turned out to be a battery problem, because this morning we couldn't start the car to go to church. We got the bishop's wife to give us a ride, and then after church the bishop jumped our battery. Hopefully we will get it all figured out so that we aren't worried about it.

Two of the students in our Mission Prep class last semester have been at the MTC in Mexico starting their missions! Kyla Jones (Texas Spanish speaking) and Hyrum Lee (Florida Spanish speaking). Here is a picture of them at the MTC that was sent by Kyla. She said that when she arrived, she needed a blessing and Hyrum was able to give her one. The word Cartel on the top has to do with the fireworks that can be heard from the MTC there every time members of the Cartel make a big drug deal. Crazy!

We are enjoying all the things that we are doing here. We really like having the time to study the gospel in preparation for our lessons. We love teaching the classes and bearing our testimonies. We like the cooking and the serving. We like giving rides to church and activities to the students that need it. We like socializing with them, and encouraging them in their various studies and work. We love the older adults that we are working with, as well as the young missionaries. We feel like this is the perfect mission for us right now and feel so blessed to be able to have this opportunity. We can see that the Lord is watching over us and our loved ones as we are away. We are feeling the urgency to help as many as will to prepare for the 2nd coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the earth!

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Back to Pullman

We had a lovely time in Utah over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Shirl was able to build cabinets for Creed's house as well as get materials ready to take to Washington for a new kiosk for the Moscow ID Institute. I was able to connect with family and help with some of the grandchildren and their activities. We were able to see all of our children except Valerie who was in Texas with her boyfriend Ze. We also saw extended Larsen and Mitton family members at dinners and parties. We feel very blessed to have had this opportunity.

Now we are back full swing into the new semester of classes and activities at the Institute and YSA Ward. We are teaching two classes this semester: Mission Prep, and Book of Mormon - the War Chapters. We are enjoying both of them. We have seen some increase in the numbers of students gathering here at the "Pullman Gathering Place (or Institute Building). We have some great missionaries serving here right now, and they are teaching a lot of young people and bringing them to church and the activities. Last Sunday we had two Elders over for dinner and it was great to get to know them better. Both of them have only been out for 4 months, but they are very hard workers and have lots of enthusiasm for the work.

The YSA committee is now planning and putting on their own workshop activities on Tuesday nights. We attend and offer help if they need it. The first one was baking calzones, which was fun, and then this week it was Family History. At the end of the Family History workshop, Shirl got to searching around on his Family Search account and found a line that went all the way back to Adam!! It was pretty exciting.

One of the Young Adults here, Joseph Malan, had his 30th birthday. We were invited to his party which was held at Bishop Mellor's barn in Colfax. It was pretty fun. The YSA is going to have a formal dance at this barn next week. I think we will plan on going.

We are getting new ceiling tiles in the hallway. The workers are only able to work at night, so it is taking a long time. Right now this is what our temporary light situation looks like!

We are enjoying our work here and feel like we are making a difference to the people that we are serving. Ryan Anderson, the ONE consistent student we had in our Colfax class last year has started coming here to the YSA ward! He also entered the temple for his own endowment a few months ago! It is great to see some of these members take the next steps on the covenant path.

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A Christmas Surprise!

On Friday night Dec 6 we were able to go to "Follow the Star" a live drive up nativity that is put on by the "Living Faith Fellowship" church. They have been doing this for 20 years. We really enjoyed it. Their whole congregation participates and it is a big undertaking. It was so great to see people anxious to share their love of Jesus and his birth in Bethlehem. Here are some pictures.

Well the Christmas Surprise is that we have come home to Utah for Christmas! Our Institute Director said that there was nothing for us to do during the next 3+ weeks and so we asked the Mission President if we could come home for a bit and he said YES! We traveled yesterday (Saturday) and plan to be here until right after the New Year. We were surprised by coming home to our Christmas tree and other decorations put up by our daughters. Shirl is going to be working hard cutting and preparing materials for another kiosk for the Moscow Institute, and helping our son Creed build some of the cabinets for his new home. We also feel blessed to be able to witness our grandson's baptism in January while we are here. We are excited to be here for a bit, but we will also be anxious to get back to Pullman in 2025. It's hard to believe that our mission is half way over!! We have enjoyed it very much, and feel like we have grown in many ways as a result of serving the Young Adults.

The Stockings came with is and we are excited to spend time with loved ones during this beautiful season of remembering our Savior and his wonderful gift of love to all of us. I will wait to post another blog post until we return to Pullman.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!

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Thanksgiving and Looking to Chrismas

The past two weeks have been way different that usual. WSU has their Fall Break for the entire week of Thanksgiving. It is totally empty on campus and we don't hold any Institute classes or activities. Because of this, we were able to attend the Senior Missionary FHE at the Mission Home in Spokane on Nov. 25. This was the first time that we had been able to go since the arrival of the new Mission Leaders - President and Sister Kerr. President Kerr served his young mission in The Netherlands (just like Shirl) and loved the Indonesian food there. So that night he had some Indonesian food catered for the FHE. It was very good, and brought back many memories for Shirl.

We were able to meet two other couples that are also serving in Institute as we are. It was fun to compare notes and get ideas from each other.

We were asked to lead a discussion with the group, and play our instruments. We played "What Child is This" and then we led a discussion about meaningful Christmas traditions that we had experienced in our lives. President Kerr told about his first Christmas away from home when he was serving a mission in The Netherlands and how it strengthened his love of Jesus Christ.

We decided to stay the night in Spokane at a hotel so that we could go to the temple on Tuesday morning. We enjoyed that, and then we headed to Costco to get food for Thanksgiving Dinner.

We hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Institute for those who couldn't go home. We had 12 people including ourselves. We had Missionaries, Members and Friends who are learning about the Gospel. It was a lot of work, but very rewarding. The day before we put up Christmas decorations inside the building.

Shirl had pretty much finished up the library stools. He worked over the Fall Break sanding and painting finish on the Pullman ones, and then had a great activity with several students in Moscow doing the same for the stools there. It has been a good experience and lots of work for Shirl -- but now there are great stools in both libraries. (6 in Pullman and 12 in Moscow)

Shirl had a great idea for Christmas lights outside the Institute! He strung a wire from the light poles. It is simple but very nice. Here are two pictures - one with and one without the kiosk outside.

I hung up in our apartment our "Sister and Elder" stockings that we got last year right before we came to Pullman. They are really cute!

I was able to finish up another sewing lesson with Sydney and Kyla. The little table runner turned out nice. Both of these girls are leaving on their Spanish speaking missions after the semester ends. We will miss them! Sydney is going to Michigan, and Kyla to Texas. They have both been in our Mission Prep class for the last two semesters. They will both be great missionaries!

The YSA ward did a "heart attack" for Bishop - now President Robinson. His brother had passed away and they wanted to give him some extra love. We all made fun hearts with messages and then put them on his door.

This past Tuesday our Institute Director Rob Salmond did a fun AUTHENTIC STREET TACO LUNCH for the students. We all helped prepare the food. Shirl BBQd the steak and chicken, and I was chopping ONIONS and doing other tasks. We had a pretty good turnout and the food was WONDERFUL!

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Two More Weeks!

The past two weeks we have been pretty uneventful, but rewarding. We got a new Bishop in the YSA Ward. Bishop Kim Mellor is going to be great for the Young Adults. He and his wife are from Colfax. He is a physician, and he and his wife Susan recently returned from serving a mission in Africa where he was over the health and medical needs of 3500 missionaries. They are almost exactly the same age as us and have 8 children. We are excited to work with them. The rest of the young bishopric stayed the same.

We have been enjoying our teaching these past couple of weeks. Brother Sears needed me to teach his Book of Mormon class one night, and I really enjoyed that. It was all about how our faith iin Jesus Christ s built by going through trials. It included the examples of Nephi and the people of Jared. We had a great discussion and I think if was helpful for one young man that was having a difficult week.

We have also enjoyed our Mission Prep class. We have had one young man attending who is investigating the church. His family just came to the USA from Iraq and he has some interesting insights to share. At our last class the Elders came in and taught the students about the importance of using technology in missionary work. Here is a picture that one of the students posted.

Here is the Spokane Mission goals/guidelines for using technology with missionary work. It is pretty interesting to see how much emphasis is put on it. It is the second best way to find converts that stay active (the first is to be brought to the Church by member friends).

On Fridays we make waffles for the students which is one of our favorite things about our mission! We make a "Buttermilk Syrup" quite often that they all love. Jullian - a new convert from The Netherlands really loves this syrup. He wanted to learn to make it so that he could make some for his girlfriend's family over the Thanksgiving break. So I taught him on Wednesday afternoon, and he really liked helping me make it. I'll put the recipe here. Then what was also funny is that on that day I had put up the new question of the week which was asking what people were grateful for and I noticed that someone had written "buttermilk syrup". I think I know who wrote it!

It is always fun to have the missionaries around. They usually have their district meeting at the Institute building on Friday mornings. It works out well because then they can have waffles afterward. Here is a picture of the Ssters discussing their calendar after waffles. I thought it was a fun picture.

I have been helping two girls learn how to sew. One of them wants to make a pieced quilt before she goes on her mission. So we decided to make a table runner which will be made like "mini quilt" so that they can learn the process of planning, cutting, sewing and quilting. So far we have pieced the squares together. Here is a picture of it so far.

Shirl has been finishing up the work on the stools. He set the Pullman ones up in the library and was sanding and painting the finish on them yesterday. Later this week he will also work on the Moscow stools. Hopefully some of the students that are still around this week will help him out a bit.

This week there will be no Institute classes as WSU has the whole week off. We will be doing a Thanksgiving dinner at the Institute for those who can't go home, and the Pullman missionaries as well. More on that in the next post!

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A Hawaiian Detour!

Well the past two weeks have been WAY out of the ordinary for us! Our daughter EmmaLee needed to have some surgery done, and we were given permission to go help her for about two weeks. She had surgery on Oahu and so we met here there and stayed in a rental condo. Everything went quite well, and then a few days after the surgery we all flew to her home on Maui. We got her all settled in and she is recovering well now. There were a few nights of much less sleep, and lots of helping her, but we still were able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings there on the islands.

We flew on Alaska Airlines and were able to go straight from Pullman to Seattle and on to Hawaii. On our first flight, they bumped us to seats with some extra leg room. Here is a picture of me stretching my legs all the way out and not being able to touch the seat in front of me! Shirl was able to stretch his long legs out fine as well.

Here are some pictures around the area we stayed in Honolulu for EmmaLee's surgery.

Me and EmmaLee on a walk the day before her surgery.

Here are some pictures on Maui around EmmaLee's place.

Last night EmmaLee felt well enough to go down to the beach and watch the sunset. Here she is, and also Shirl and I wading in the ocean a bit.

We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to help EmmaLee here in such a beautiful place. We were able to do lots of things around her place to help her and make it easier for her to heal in the coming weeks. We fly back late tonight, and then we will be back in full swing in Pullman.

Love to you all.

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October Rolls On

The past two weeks have rolled on and we have been continuing our duties here. Shirl has been working hard to finish up building the library stools. He got one totally finished and here is a picture of a student actually using it! In the next 3 weeks or so they should all be done. We are having students finish up the final sanding, and painting clear finish on them at both of the Institute buildings. It has been a lot of work, but a handful of students have learned some woodworking skills and the finished product will be nice.

On Friday the 18 we took off a little early from Waffles (thanks Sister Robinson for your help) and went up to Spokane. We went to the temple and did a sealing session. After that we checked into a hotel and met up with Eric, Kendra, and Hadley. It turned out that Hadley had a wheelchair basketball tournament in Spokane! It was actually the first time she had ever played in an official game! It was so great to be there to watch her and her cute team play and improve with each game. We got to see her play 3 of her 4 games and she did very well. Here are some pictures of her playing.

We were also able to spend time with them and see some of the sights in Spokane. We went downtown where the World's Fair had taken place 50 years ago. We also went on a gondola ride to see the Spokane Falls. It was pretty fun.

We had a fun FHE on Monday the 14th. Instead of doing pumpkin carving, we did apple carving. Here is my simple green apple, and a YSA's impressive red apple dragon carving.

We had a young man get baptized last week. He is a WSU student from The Netherlands and has a girlfriend who is a church member that goes to school in Montana. He got baptized in Montana by his girlfriend's father. He is such a great young man. It has been fun for Shirl to speak Dutch with him off and on. We were able to watch his baptism over Zoom while we were in Spokane. Today he received the Priesthood and a calling to work with service projects in the ward. We are excited for him.

Our classes have been going well. It has been great to be able to discuss the topics we are presenting. We are impressed with the testimonies of these young people. They do have a desire to follow Jesus and be a part of His great work on the earth.

On Friday the 25th we were able to go the the WSU choirs concert. There are 3 members of the YSA ward that are in the various choirs. It was a great concert, and we were so happy to see these 3 perform.

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General and Stake Conferences

These past two weeks have been fairly eventful. The weather has been very beautiful with quite warm days and cool nights. The leaves are all turning colors and against the clear blue sky provide beautiful views. Here are the trees right in our neighborhood.

On my walk the other day I saw something that I hadn't seen before. Some men were using a remote controlled machine to paint the lines on the High School playing field. It was kind of cool to watch.

Last week the WSU Music Department had a Jazz Festival. I was able to go hear two rehearsals with the guest artists that came from Brazil. It was GREAT! I'll have to keep watching for things like this.

Our teaching has been going well. We are enjoying teaching "Mission Prep" on Wednesdays, and "Accessing the Savior on the Covenant Path" on Thursdays. We have had some more students pass off their memorized scriptures! (Note the SLUSHIES they each have - ha ha)

We had a fun Family Home Evening activity. It was a photo scavenger hunt to go around campus in groups of 4 and get everyone in the group in pictures with certain things/landmarks. I was with Brooke, Baley and Elly. Below is our pictures of a mail box and then a fire hydrant!

General Conference was great. We had the YSA at the Institute for all 5 sessions. We also did food for EVERY session! Shirl and I decided to do something new and try some fried foods. On Saturday morning we did scones with the Larsen family recipe (thanks Lonnie!). Shirl got kind of covered with flour and tracked it on the carpet! But everyone liked them. Then on Sunday morning we did "Spam Fritters". They were actually quite good and all got eaten. They were made by slicing the Spam and then putting on Dijon Mustard, sliced cheese and dipping that in a batter and frying. You then dip them in fry sauce to eat!

We loved the Conference and learned so much. It was very exciting when President Nelson announced the Coeur d' Alene Temple! Everyone was so happy. It is actually about the same distance from here that the Spokane Temple is now - but still pretty exciting.

We had another Karaoke night for FHE and even the Missionaries joined in the fun. The one on the far right is Elder Swenson - he was doing home MTC at the time and had been in our Mission Prep class. He just went on Thursday to the Mexico MTC!

Shirl has been working on the stools a lot. We went yesterday for the workshop and had one student come - Travis. Here are some pictures of the progress. I did lots of sanding of the seats!

Speaking of Travis, he is a master Lego Builder! Before he got married he had a Lego club going at the Institute. He made his own design for the Manhattan Temple and we have it on display in our office. He also brought a bunch of his Lego sets for the missionaries to work on for fun on their P-Day. They loved it!

We had another opportunity to attend the Moses Lake Temple. Our Bishop and his wife (Mark and Sharon Robinson) were planning to attend and invited anyone in the YSA ward to come along. Only two YSA were able to go so there was room for us to come along. We had a great time driving the 2 1/2 hours each way. We talked a lot about the gospel, and listened to a Come Follow Me podcast. We surely appreciate the closeness of the Utah temples much more now!!

Today we had Stake Conference and some big changes were made that will effect us with the YSA and also the Institute somewhat. The Moscow Stake had included 11 wards and 1 branch that was about half in Idaho and half in Washington. A new stake - the Pullman Washington Stake was formed and the state line is the dividing line. So now we are in the Pullman Stake and it has 5 wards. But the real difference for us is that our YSA Bishop has been called to be the 1st councilor in the new Stake Presidency -- so we will be getting a new Bishop soon. He has only been Bishop for about 16 months. Also things will be a little bit different for our Institute Director, Brother Salmond, as he will have another Stake President to work with which may cause a few changes. We have really loved working with Bishop Robinson and his wife. We will miss them, but as he said in his talk today at Stake Conference "I will be coming around, I know where the SLUSHY MACHINE is!!!"

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Another 2 Great Weeks

The past two weeks have been good. We are really settling into the semester and learning to know the new students that have come here this fall. On Monday the 16th I was able to go to a special art exhibit that the local St. James Episcopal Church is hosting. It is called "Icons in Transformation". It is done by the artist Ludmila Pawlowska who is Sweedish, but has ties to Ukraine. She uses multi media to portray her interpretation of centuries old religious icons ina very contemporary way. There are 195 items in the exhibit and it was very inspiring. I went with the young missionaries on a special tour and we got to meet the artist! Here are some pictures.

These are pictures of the missionaries, me, and the artist standing next to me!

On Friday the 20th we were able to take a couple of the YSA members to the Moses Lake Temple to do an endowment session. Here is a picture of us with Kristen Stoker and Elder Roman Felsted (Service Missionary) in front of the Temple. This temple has been operating for 1 year now and many of the members here were able to go to the Open House.

On Saturday the 21st our stake had a service day. Each ward did different service projects in conjunction with another faith group. We were supposed to do ours with the Catholic Young Adult WSU group, but they backed out at the last minute. Our project was to be volunteers for an emergency situation enactment.

It was really quite fun for everyone because they got to get makeup for wounds etc. and they act like they were hurt. My job was to take notes as to each person and how they were treated, let go, taken to the hospital etc. They fed us a lunch afterward. Shirl didn't go because he was feeling sick with a bad cold. Here are some pictures.

That night the whole stake had a BBQ at a Moscow park and everyone that participated in service was invited. I took about 4 YSA members to it. By the way our stake is going to be divided in a couple of weeks at Stake Conference along the State line! So we will be in the Pullman Stake.

This is kind of cool. There is a picture of the WSU cougar that is made in a field with dark dirt and bark. We drive by it on our way to Colfax. It's actually kind of amazing. This picture was taken off Youtube and from the air obviously.

I started a sewing workshop on Monday afternoons for anyone that want to sew things. So far Alex has been learning to do alterations on his own clothes and is working on making a tie. We also have had some come and do their knitting and crocheting during the time.

I have been making some different breads for the Tuesday home made breads. I've tried Cinnamon and Italian Parmesan. Tomorrow I will make Orange Craisen!

On Wednesday the 25th we had an unusual thing happen. The day was a perfect warm weather day and then at about 3:30 everyone got a severe dust storm warning on their phones. All of a sudden there was severe wind, rain, dust, and the Power Went Out!! We were without power and could not cook the dinner. It was Hot Dogs and so we thought we could use the grill outside, but then realized that the propane tank was too low. So we had to cancel the dinner/devotional and the other classes for the evening including our Mission Prep Class. One of our class members - Sydney was around though, and she passed off a memorized scripture - so we took her picture with the sickle!

A bunch of the kids played laser tag in the dark around the building. Shirl went back about 8:30 that night and the power had just gotten back on. There were lots of branches of trees down around the town. A very interesting day to be sure!

Saturday the 28th the Stake Relief Society had a conference in the morning. It was about keeping our covenants. They had a main speaker and musical number and then 3 break out sessions and a fabulous lunch. I REALLY liked it. I was uplifted and got some great ideas about how I can be more devoted to the Lord.

On Saturday night we watched a movie at the building with some of the YSA. It was "Thelma". It was quite funny about a 93 year old lady that is scammed and what she does to get her money back. We made popcorn for everyone and had fun.

We are looking forward to General Conference next week! We have been planning the food and it will be great for sure!

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Another Funeral, A Birthday Party and a new Workshop Class

We traveled a few miles away to Yakima Washington on Sept 6 to the funeral of Shirl's nephew, Christopher Neal. Christopher is Shirl's oldest sibling LesLee's son. We were so happy to be able to visit with that part of the family, many of whom we hadn't seen in years. It was a beautiful funeral. It reminded us of the beautiful promise of resurrection we all have because of our Savior Jesus Christ. We felt so much love from all of the family, and feel very blessed to have participated in that sad but special day with them.

Shirl started a woodworking workshop with the students to make stools for the Institute libraries. I went along and really enjoyed it. We are doing it at the wood shop of a member in the Colfax Ward.

LIttle Betty got baptized on Saturday. She and her brother were part of the little family that came to our house for dinner with the missionaries when we very first came here. Her brother got baptized a couple months before her. It was a very sweet baptism.

Our classes are going well. In our Mission Prep class we are having the students memorize several scripture passages, one being D&C 4 which talks about the field being white and ready to harvest. As each student "passes off" their scripture they get to hold the "Golden Sickle". It makes it kind of fun.

We had the Birthday of President Nelson on September 9 (along with our granddaughter ElliJo!). He turned 100! We invited all who wanted to come to the Institute to watch the Worldwide Church Broadcast of the event. We had quite a few come in, including the missionaries. It was very nice.

Our daughter Ellen is married to Russell Irion and he is President Nelson's grandson. So their family got to go be a part of the broadcast and other celebrations that day. Here is a picture of their family at the event.

This Saturday I decided to go on a hike with Brother and Sister George in our stake instead of going to the woodworking workshop. We went to Elk River Falls in Idaho east of us here. It was such a beautiful hike. Much of it reminded me of Silvercreek Falls in Oregon that I grew up going to a lot. There are three falls: Upper, Middle, and Lower. I am amazed at the beauties that the Lord has created for us here on earth!

The weather here has gotten a little cooler and more rainy. We are going into Fall for sure! It really is fun to be in a different place, meeting different people and concentrating on serving the Lord!