Croydon "Intermission"

We took part of Sunday, August 31 and drove up to Croydon, Utah to Join in the DeLaMare family reunion.  We were able to participate in their church service where we were able to hear insights and special experiences from those participating in stake or ward "Treks".  We heard from Lisa, Jon, Whitney, Amy, Karen and Kimball. Emmeline sat on my lap and slept for over an hour - that was a special Grandma time!  We ate a yummy lunch and shared some family time.  It was fun to surprise everyone with our visit and a time to share hugs and goodbyes. We stopped at Emily's house on the way home for Scott and Ben to give her a blessing.  She is going through some difficult procedures right now. " Elder Cannon" gave her a beautiful blessing.  We came back to the MTC in time for our evening devotional which was by Elder and Sister Holtzapfel of the seventy.  He was very enthusiastic and encouraged us to use a study journal in the MTC as well as in the mission field.  As we record the times the Lord speaks to us, we will recognize more of His guidance.  We will then be given more and more direction and knowledge.

Monday morning, September 1st, we began our 2nd week of training.  This time it was office training.  We had a group of five couples... Elder and Sister Butler who are going to Manchester England; Elder and Sister Mikelson, going to Brisbane, Australia; Elder and Sister Tolman, going to Sydney, Australia; and Elder and Sister Peel, going to Rancho Cucamunga (sp?). We have started trying to record our tender mercies each day and this training is a tender mercy in itself.  We are able to look at a computer program called iMOS which is the system used throughout the church in mission offices.  When we signed in, we could see our own mission and begin training using their names and information.  We learned our mission is big and we have over 315 missionaries.  A couple came and spoke to us about things they had done while serving as office couple on their mission.  She really stressed being sure the office is a place of spiritual safety for the missionaries. This couple encouraged us to record tender mercies and help the young ones also do so. They had a lot of suggestions of ways for us to be more involved in the missionary work. All week we learned how to create templates and do mail/merge for letters; how to work on a transfer board, how to do newsletters, how to record baptisms and confirmations/ how to send out referrals, etc.  Elder Cannon learned more about the financial programs, housing and cars. 
Tuesday night was another Devotional and this time we heard from Elder and Sister Don R. Clark.  He advised us to take off our missionary badge each night and look at it for a minute.  Notice the name Jesus Christ on it, then kneel down and report to him. We should each take the responsibility for all aspects of  the work of Salvation 1) Member Missionary work 2) Convert Retention 3) Activate Less Actives 4) Be involved in Temple and Family History Work 5) Teach the Gospel
We finished up our office training on Thursday afternoon and after packing drove to Paul and Vee's house to say our goodbyes to them.  They took us out to dinner and we enjoyed a couple of hours with them. We came back to Logan for a couple of days to see more family and finish packing for 18 months in England. Alex, Kimi, Rachel, Jeff, Teancum, and Gideon were all at our house and we enjoyed time with them.