Adventures Adjusting to the Virginia, Chesapeake Mission - first week

November 16

Beginning on Wednesday morning, November 12, arrived at the mission office to begin learning our duties and soon found out that the office is a bustling place.   The vehicle coordinator (otherwise known as the car czar - Elder Ashton) gets lots of calls from the missionaries reporting their mileage for the week, that they have a flat tire and don't know what to do, that they don't know where to go to get the oil changed in their vehicle or that they have had an accident.   I think they currently have 8 or 9 vehicles pending repair from little fender benders.   With all of those things going on, the phone rings often and young Elders and Sisters are rarely happy when they have to ride bikes for a week or two while their vehicle is repaired.  We are currently in the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a break for lunch because that is the hours the couple we are replacing works.   When they go home in 10 days we may decide to change our hours but only time will tell.  We worked in the office being trained on our tasks on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I've noticed some interesting things about Chesapeake/Portsmouth.

Many of the buildings are red brick - at least in some areas of the towns.   On our drive from the hotel to the office each day I have noticed that it is rare to see buildings that are NOT red brick......whole neighborhoods are nothing but red brick, much like whole neighborhoods are nothing but tan stucco in Arizona.

The red brick construction applies to homes, stores, schools, and all different kinds of churches.   And speaking of churches......there are MANY different churches here.   I think there is at least one church per block along the main streets and I learned from the young missionaries last night that they find most of the people here to be very interested in religion and God....most attend church of some kind on a regular basis.

There are also MANY bushy tailed squirrels around here.   I see them in the parking lots, running across the grass and scampering up the trees.   I have tried and tried to get a picture of one, but they must have super-powered hearing because I can't get within 50 feet of them and they run away :(   We talked to a guide at one of the  historical sites yesterday and she said she is OK with one or two but when she came out of her apartment the other day and 8 of them were gathering acorns around the base of the tree it freaked her out and she thought, "that is too much like a rat convention for my liking!"

Thursday nite we went with the young elders and another senior couple to dinner at a member's house.   She fixed us blueberry pancakes with fresh picked blueberries and blueberry syrup......Oh, so tasty!

We did find a few buildings that are not red brick construction.   One of those buildings is our apartment building (the one of the bottom right will be our apartment) that we are moving into on Tuesday.   I am anxious to get moved in and settled and to stop living out of suitcases!   Yesterday morning we went shopping for a few things we think we will need when we get in the apartment....mostly towels and bedding.   After we get moved in we will need to go shopping for food and any other things we feel we might need.

Our home for 2 more days will be this Hampton Inn.  It has been very comfortable and they have treated us great and although I will be glad to get in our own apartment I will miss having a maid to clean up after me and someone else to cook all the meals ;-)

Yesterday (Saturday) we went and did a little exploring of some of the historical areas in the town of Portsmouth.

We started out in the harbor area and walked along the boardwalk.   I found it to be a very calming place with the sound of the water lapping against the sea wall, the sound of the gulls and the breeze blowing.

I loved the sign.....it made me laugh because no one would ever need to worry about me doing ANY of those things.

Ferry service between the Portsmouth area and the Norfolk area started in 1636.   The service was continued for a short time in the mid 1950's but is back in operation now.   A person may drive through the tunnel under the bay to Norfolk or take the ferry.   We saw a rather large number of people rushing to catch the ferry so it seems to be a popular mode of transportation

We found monuments to fighting men.....this one had to do with Cubans and the Spanish American War.   There was also a large monument (looked like a smaller version of the Washington Monument that is on the Mall in Washington, D.C.) that was honoring the Confederate dead.   We are truly in the south here!!

Our speaker in church today told us before the meeting that he was going to tell us how to conjugate "y'all.  He said one person is "you", two people are "y'all", and three or more people are "all y'all"....and that is exactly what I heard during one of the classes.   I'm going to have to work on my southern speak ;-)

 

We spent some time in the Maritime Museum.   This area has a long and rich Maritime history dating back even before the Revolutionary War.   This anchor and the two cannon below are found outside the Maritime Museum.

The first exhibit in the museum.....this ships wheel.

Another cannon found inside the museum.

A British bayonet used in fighting against the US.   The British took control of Portsmouth for a time during the war.

An empty rum bottle from one of the early ships.....now I know where that saying "Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum" comes from ;-)

Fire gear for a Portsmouth fireman from the mid 1800's

Many years ago, there were no lighthouses to protect the ships along the coast.   In order to fill the need to warn the ships, light boats were commissioned.   Portsmouth had one of the first light boats....the crew was responsible to keep the lights burning on the boat and to sound the fog horn if ships got too close to a dangerous situation.   One of the light boats has been restored and is anchored in the harbor and may be toured as a museum.   It was closed on Saturday so we were unable to tour it. :(    After several years of service, the boats were de-commissioned and light houses were constructed.   The lights in a light house are called Fresnel Lens and one of the early ones was displayed in the museum.

 

We also toured the train "museum" which was really just a few train cars that have been partially refurbished and set on a small section of track.   We had a personally guided tour and our tour guide showed us a diorama of a train route that he had built.   It was very detailed and impressive.   I could tell from the things he said that he really loved railroad cars so I asked him what got him interested (Elder Ashton was talking alot about his grandfathers who both worked on the railroad....one for a short period of time and one for a long time) so I wondered if our guide also had family who worked on the railroad.   He said, "I don't know, I have loved trains since I was a little 4 year old boy!"

Before the advent of computers, train crews kept a log of where they traveled, when they stopped, when they took on coal, passengers, etc.   The page above is dated 1941 and would have been something that was kept as Elder Ashton's and my parents rode the trains across the county to get to their assigned duty stations during WWII.

There are many beautiful and intricate churches in the historic district.

Also many wonderful historic homes that have been restored (at least on the outside.   I was intrigued with the intricate trim and architecture!

And guess what Elder Ashton has found......several cemeteries.   We found this one yesterday afternoon and he estimated that there are between 10,000 and 12,000 headstones there.   Billion Graves would probably love to get all those images!   The oldest death date was from the early 1800's and  he found several Civil War, Confederate veteran graves.   I think he will have plenty to do in any spare time he has :)

To top the day off, the young Elders asked us to go along to a teaching appointment they had with a young black woman (in her early 20's).   Her name is JaNae.  They met her earlier in the week and she told them she was attending different churches looking for just the right one so she was amenable to hearing about the Mormon church.   When we started chatting with her last night, we learned that she had recently been hospitalized for post partum  depression.   She has an 18 month old little girl who was there last night, and a six week old baby boy who is staying with her cousin right now until she is a little more recovered.   I immediately felt drawn to JaNae, and felt even more compassion for her when she mentioned that the baby's father is in prison.   She has a hard situation to deal with!

JaNae came to church this morning and brought her little girl (I think her name is Jaden) with her.   I AM SMITTEN!!!   That little girl is the cutest thing I have ever seen and so very polite.   I gave her a couple of things out of my purse to entertain her during sacrament meeting and as I handed them to her she looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and said, "Tank U".   My heart just melted!  I hope I will get to know JaNae better during the 18 months we are here and I also hope that her life will get easier!   Meeting and talking with her reinforced just how blessed I am - and I hope I can share some of my blessings with the people I meet here.

So far this is turning out to be a very rewarding adventure :)

Adventurous Trip Across the U.S

November 12

I apologize for the quality of the photos on this post.....I am not a very good photographer and am even less talented when taking pictures from a vehicle moving at 70 miles per hour!

We left the MTC last Friday morning (November 7) and started our road trip across the U.S.   It was quite an adventure!!!

Day 1 - Friday
We got up about 6 a.m. and started packing the truck back up in the "cool" morning air.   We got most everything loaded up and then it was time to load the really "important" things.

Elder Ashton loading the bikes 

There were several other couples loading up the "important" things, too and it was so funny it made me laugh out loud!   Elder Ashton was loading his bikes, the guy across the way who had only been there 5 days came down the stairs carrying his 36" flat screen TV and loaded it into the back seat of his car, and the couple that lived 4 doors down and had been there 5 days also loaded those things that were most important to them.   The Sister was a tiny little lady with white hair and she came out gently carrying two house plants and carefully placing them in the back seat.   Her husband followed her out of their apartment slowly (he was very shaky in his walking and didn't move very fast) but he carefully loaded his important high top basketball shoes on the other side of the back seat.   Guess we all have our little quirks.

We stopped at the main MTC campus to turn in our keys and to pick up a sack breakfast.   Then we hopped in the truck and headed south/east toward our first stop.

Driving away from the MTC

We drove along in Utah for a couple of hours and before we knew it we saw the sign welcoming us to Colorado.   We were traveling across the state on I-70 and it was beautiful scenery.   

We climbed up and up and up - passing through the ski town of Vail and on up over the top of the Rocky Mountains.

Up and up we go.......and Denis hat to protect him from the sun is waiting to be used :)

Entering Vail - notice there is no snow

Condos for skiers in Vail.....they all looked like they were empty

About 10 miles further along the road we found the snow

Getting ready to drive through the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel.   It is called Eisenhower tunnel going West and Johnson tunnel going East.  Note we are nearly at the top of the mountain

We topped out on Loveland Pass at 11,600+ feet and headed down the mountain heading to Littleton, Colorado where we spent the night with an awesome family and three of the most beautiful/handsome teen-agers/young adults around (stayed with our son Curtis and his wife Merilee and their 3 kids, Brynna, Joel, and Josh.  It was great to spend the evening and night with them!

Day 2

We left Denver/Littleton about 6 a.m. and headed east.   We soon entered the Sunflower State/Kansas.

As we drove across Kansas we started to notice beautiful fall leaves along the road.   We also noticed that Kansas is VERY flat and we could see for miles around us. 

Its hard to see the sign, but it was pretty interesting to us....it says COLBY, Kansas. :)...made us think of our son Colby back in Arizona.

We made it to Kansas City, Kansas on Saturday night and were privileged to stay with Elder Ashton's sister Connie and her husband David Hepworth.   They provided us with a delicious dinner and a comfortable bed for sleeping/resting.   We stayed in Kansas City on Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night before heading east again on Monday morning.   We got to spend some time with two of Connie's and David's children and their families...Clark and his wife Emily, and Keith and his wife Amy and their five children all came to dinner on Sunday.   It was wonderful to have the adults and kids around for Sunday dinner..... made me think of Sunday dinners with my family.   I sure do miss them!!!

Day 3

We left Kansas City, Kansas about 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning and as we crossed the river we entered Missouri.   

As we drove along we saw a beautiful sunrise in Missouri.....made me miss the beautiful sunsets of Arizona.

A little further along the road we noticed another interesting sign........as we neared St. Louis.   Here's the sign for Tucker Blvd.....made us think of our grandson, Tucker, back in Arizona.

The St. Louis arch seen in the distance reminded me of the time we took our family to St. Louis on our return trip from Washington, D.C.   We rode the jerky cars up in the arch and looked out over the river and the city.

More beautiful scenery and colorful leaves!

Crossing a wide river!

Approaching Louisville, Kentucky where my parents lived 1942-1944 while my dad was serving during WWII and stationed at Fort Knox just outside Louisville.  I offered to bring my almost 91 year old mom along with us so she could see if Louisville had changed in the last 70 years, but she declined ;-D

As we approached Lexington, Kentucky we saw this retirement farm for retired thoroughbred horses.  Wish we had some extra time so we could take time to go and see Churchill Downs.   We did note that as we were driving along I-70 east it was called the Purple Heart Trail and as we neared Lexington, Kentucky the name of the highway changed to the Bourbon Trail......thought that was funny!

We drove through hundreds of miles of beautifully colored fall leaves lining the roads.   For a period of time I thought my head was on a swivel as I looked from side to side trying to take in all the breathtaking scenes.   I was really taken with how different the topography is from what I am used to in Arizona......both beautiful in a different way.    I stand in awe of the beauty of this planet where we live!

As we traveled along the road, I saw this white drifting over the road from the hollows/valleys on the side of the road.  I thought something was on fire....imagine my surprise when we got to the white area and found it was clouds sitting in the valleys and drifting across the road.   Beautiful!

We drove and drove and drove on this 3rd day of driving and passed through parts of multiple states: Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia.   We spent the night in Charleston, West Virginia resting up for our final push to Chesapeake on Tuesday.

Day 4

We left Charleston about 6:30 a.m., still heading east and continued to drive through hundreds of miles of beautifully colored fall leaves on both sides of the road.   We also noted something very interesting as we traveled on across West Virginia....in several places along the road I could clearly see a 6" to 1 foot wide seam of coal in the rocks along the road.   Now I know why West Virginia is known for coal mining!

At about 3 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon we reached the Chesapeake bay area of Virginia.

In order to reach Portsmouth, we needed to cross a part of the bay.....we first drove through a tunnel that went UNDER the  bay and then came up and crossed the remainder of that arm of the bay on a long bridge.   I was driving at that time and felt pretty claustrophobic while driving through the tunnel under the water....I had to keep reminding myself to breathe calmly :)

As we drove across the bridge spanning the remainder of the bay, I mentioned to Elder Ashton that it reminded me of driving across the bayou in Louisiana.....sure drove carefully to make sure I didn't drive off the bridge into the water ;-)

Sign pointing the way to Portsmouth after we got across the bay.

The water tower for the town of Chesapeake where our apartment will be located when we move in next week.   For now we are in a Hampton Inn, also in Chesapeake...It is about 5 miles from our office (which is located in an LDS (Mormon) church building in Portsmouth.

My new office - finally arrived at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.   Whew!   What a trip :)

MTC Adventures

November 5

The last few days have been very busy and we have had a variety of adventurous experiences-the ones I love best are meeting new people!

On Monday morning, I was walking to our classroom and passed a beautiful young sister missionary who had a dazzling smile on her face.   She immediately wished me good morning and I responded a little slowly because I was so busy admiring her braided hair.   I saw her around the campus two other times that day and on Tuesday at lunch I finally got brave enough to ask if I could take her picture.   She was with a small group of other missionaries and I decided to just take a picture of all of them....they are all going to Spanish speaking missions, one to Montana, one right here in Provo, and the others to different parts of Mexico.   The boy in the picture is the one going to Provo and said he just came here from Mexico 2 weeks ago......and could not speak a word of English when he arrived here but is speaks quite fluently now.   I asked if he had taken any English classes while in Mexico and he replied that he had not....everything he knows he learned in the last two weeks.   I was very impressed with that!  Don't you love the braids on the girl in the front left of the picture?

New Senior Missionary couples arrived on Monday and we have had opportunity to meet quite a few of them.   They come from all over the world (but mostly North America) and are going to be serving all over the world.   I have talked to two couples this week who will be serving in Australia and one couple that will be serving in Armenia.  When we met the couple this morning that will be serving in Armenia we found out that they have lived in Evanston,Wyoming for 40 years.  I asked them if they knew Grammi/my mom  and they indicated they did know her but not really well.   Then they noticed our name tags and said we knew some Ashtons that lived in Evanston and they were about the nicest people we have ever met...in fact they were in our ward.   I said, "Were their names LaMar and Ila? and they immediately got big smiles on their faces and said, "yes, we just loved them."  I told him they were Elder Ashton's parents and that we loved them too!  We chatted about things related to Evanston as we were eating breakfast and as we were getting ready to leave and go to class, the man stopped Elder Ashton and told him again how much he loved LaMar and Ila and what great people they were.   Made me feel nostalgic and miss them today.

At lunch time today we met a young Elder with his hand all wrapped up in a soft cast and Elder Ashton asked him if he had an accident and he replied that he had an accident with a wall....hmmmm-sort of sounds like some Ashton boys I once knew.   He said he broke the bone in his hand that comes down from the middle finger when he got mad and slugged the wall.   Guess he got a stern talking to and has been assigned to attend Anger Management classes.   He was feeling pretty frustrated because he is scheduled to leave for Australia on Tuesday and he will find out tomorrow if the hand requires surgery.  If surgery is required he will be sent home to get that taken care of and may get assigned someplace different.   I felt bad for him having to learn a hard lesson about controlling his temper :/

Yesterday was an interesting day......first thing I thought of when I woke up was that it would have been my sister's birthday.   She would have been 70 years old.....she's been gone 21 years but I still miss her and think of her often - especially on her birthday and on the anniversary of her death.   I'll be so glad to see her again when I reach the other side.

When we went out of our apartment yesterday morning to go to the cafeteria for breakfast we noticed that the windows on the truck were completely frosted over.   It's a good thing Elder Ashton prepared ahead of time and bought an ice scraper while we were in Evanston last week.....he had to scrape ice off the windows for the first time in nearly 40 years and I was reminded of why I like living in Arizona!!!   Then, as we were coming back from running an errand at lunch I looked up and noticed that there was snow on the tops of the mountains.   It was beautiful but made me think of how much more of that is to come soon.   I heard there was snow on the east coast last weekend so maybe there will be snow when we arrive there next week.   Guess I better get used to wearing stockings and closed toe shoes or boots - no more sandals for me for awhile!

This week we have been attending computer classes to learn the software we will be using when we get to the mission office in Virginia.   The classes have reminded me so much of teaching AZTEC/court software for 16 years that I have wanted to give the instructors a few tips.....especially about giving adult learners a break every hour to 1.5 hour......they just go on and on and we have to ask for breaks!    And they go pretty slow for those that are having a hard time catching on so Elder Ashton has decided to use the spare time he has in class and begin preparing a PowerPoint presentation to teach the young Elder and Sister missionaries in Virginia and North Carolina about caring for a car, including how to check the oil!

After talking to the young Elder with the broken hand and watching Elder Ashton prepare the presentation with VERY basic information, it made me think about what a huge job it is to train and prepare so many 18 and 19 year olds to go out in the world to teach people about the church!   I love seeing the energy,enthusiasm, and joy of the young missionaries and have come to appreciate more over the last week and a half how awesome they are to be willing to step so far outside their comfort zones to share what they know with others.    

So far, our experiences/adventures have been great and I feel like I am learning a lot and am being strengthened to do more than I ever thought I could do.   I have walked up and down more stairs in the last 1.5 weeks than I had walked in the last 4 years combined.   It is getting easier to do the stairs most days and I think that is a really good thing!   I know I am being blessed with more energy and improved mobility.

Missing all of you!

An Adventurous Trip Down Memory Lane

November 2

Yesterday after we finished the laundry and came back to the apartment we had many hours to fill.  Elder Ashton had planned to go for a bike ride but the wind was blowing fiercely and we were getting some rain so I suggested we drive around Provo and see if we could find the three places we lived while Elder Ashton was attending school at BYU.    I surprised myself to be able to find all three places without too much trouble - had to look at one additional block before we found the first place we lived but drove right to the other two. Memories came rushing back as we found these places.

1967/68  We lived in a little upstairs apartment in this house.   We drove around back to park and entered a door at the back right side of the house.   Stairs went up to our upstairs apartment and a set of stairs went a different direction to a basement apartment.  I moved into this apartment as an 18 year old newly wed...it had a kitchen with 5 shelves to hold dishes, pots and pans, etc and no cupboards.   There was a combination living/bedroom and the bathroom was located across the open hallway that led to the outside stairs.   That turned out to be quite a challenge for me when I became pregnant with our first child and suffered with morning sickness....I hated running across that cold hallway in the mornings while I was suffering with that morning sickness.   I remember that we paid $55/month for that apartment and that included utilities.   Elder Ashton made $110/month at that time as a teaching assistant to one of the professors in the Industrial Arts program.   The most memorable thing about that apartment was the daily "entertainment" that was provided by the homeowners - a widowed mother and her 18/19 year old son.   I remember very few days in the 9 months we lived there that the mom and son did not have a yelling match that lasted at least 30 minutes! I moved back to Evanston in early May of 1968 to await the birth of our baby and Elder Ashton came a few weeks later when school ended for the summer.  The baby (Curtis Ashton) was born on 6/8/68.

1968/69  When we moved back to Provo in September we moved into this house that had been converted into 5 apartments for college students.  (We drove right to this house and found that it looks almost exactly the same as it did all those years ago  - although I do believe it has a new roof on the house.   The windows you see in this photo on the ground floor were windows into our apartment...the windows on the left are the kitchen windows, the 3 in the middle are the living room windows, and the window on the right is the bedroom window. I don't remember for sure but I think we paid $70/month for this apartment. Elder Ashton still had his teaching assistantship and we had saved some money during the summer with him working construction around Evanston, so we had a little more money in the budget. 

The unique thing about this apartment was that we finally had a separate bedroom and a bathroom that was part of the apartment - not across any hallway and that bathroom was so tiny that it had a square tub!  That made it kind of interesting to take a bath, especially toward the end of our time there when I was 8 months pregnant with our second son.   

Curtis took his first steps on the patch of lawn next to the big tree when he was 10 months old.  We left this apartment at the end of May 1969 when Elder Ashton graduated with his BS in Industrial Education.   We were ready to take on the world but instead returned to Evanston where our second son, Wyatt Ashton, was born 6/9/69!

At the end of the summer of 1969 we moved to Pacific Beach, Washington where Elder Ashton had accepted a teaching position at Moclips High School.   Moclips and Pacific Beach were both tiny towns located close to the Olympic Peninsula/Rain Forest and there was lots of logging that occurred in the area.   There was also LOTS of rain that occurred in the area - in fact, the second winter we were there it rained for 87 straight days and we never saw the son.  At that time I (Sister Ashton) was fed up with wet soggy ground and gray skies and said we needed to do something different.   So we left Washington and returned to Evanston where Elder Ashton again got a job working road construction for the summer prior to returning to Provo to obtain a Master's Degree in the fall of 1971.

1971/72  School was set to begin for Elder Ashton on September 10, 1971.   We had timed it pretty close but thought things would work out fine as we were expecting our 3rd child on September 4.  But, the baby decided he was not quite ready to make an appearance and our third son, Ryan Ashton, was not born until September 15.   Elder Ashton moved into our NEW apartment (we were the first tenants) for the first week of school and then returned to Evanston to get Sister Ashton and the 3 boys.

We moved into the second apartment on the first floor on the left side of this picture (the first door you can see clearly).   We paid $135/month for this apartment and just didn't have enough money saved so we finally had to take out a student loan.   At this apartment complex we first became acquainted/re-acquainted with some people from St. Johns, AZ.  Pam Conant and her children lived in the complex.   I had babysat Pam's children in 1968 and lost track of her so was surprised to find her living in the same complex.  We also became acquainted with Barry and Risa Udall who lived there with their 4 children, Travis, Symonie, Brady and Cord.  In addition to the people from St. Johns we became acquainted with newlyweds Steve and Sheila Driggs who "adopted" Curtis and Wyatt and loved to have them come up to their 3rd floor apartment to visit.  If I remember correctly, one of Pam's daughters had left her doll buggy in the playground one day and Curtis decided it would be fun to drop it from the 3rd floor balcony to see what would happen.  Needless to say, the buggy broke and Curtis had to go and apologize and work out a way to pay for the buggy!  

Those were eventful days/years and I loved reliving the memories, but I don't have the energy to go back and do it all again.

We had some great meetings this morning....it is so invigorating and uplifting to see all the young missionaries with their energy, enthusiasm and smiling faces.   I don't think I have seen any young missionary that looked mad or sad in the week we have been here....and I wish I had half the energy that they do!!!!  As we left, I was stuck by this scene and asked Elder Ashton to take a picture of the low hanging clouds over the mountains behind the Provo temple.

The Adventure Continues and we find "It's a Small World"

October 30-November 1

We have had a WONDERFUL time this past week and have been reminded many times that it really is a "Small World".   

Our "small world" experiences began first thing on Monday morning.   After our initial check in we were instructed to pull forward to another parking lot and someone would direct us where to park.   As we pulled up to the man and rolled down the window, he noticed that our name tags said Elder and Sister Ashton.   He commented and said, "My first roommate at BYU many years ago was Paul Ashton."  Elder Ashton responded that he has a cousin named Paul and after a bit more conversation we determined that the man's roommate and Elder Ashton's cousin are one and the same.

About 3 minutes after that, as we were walking across the parking lot, a policeman on a golf cart pulls up beside it.   The officer was Oliver Nielsen, son of Mr. Ole Nielsen, our backyard neighbor from St. Johns.  He was just checking on us to see if we needed a place to park a trailer.

That afternoon as we were all introducing ourselves, we learned that there was a couple from Springerville, AZ and another couple from ShowLow, AZ.   I made a mental note that I would try to have a conversation with both of those couples before the week was out.

On Wednesday, I was standing in line waiting to get some lunch and looked up to see Sandy Nielsen (Oliver's wife) in the line.  She had a "volunteer" badge on and I asked her what she did at the MTC.   She said her assignment is to get with the new missionaries that come from 3rd world foreign countries who do not have the money to purchase missionary clothing.   She takes them shopping and gets the clothes they need for their specific mission.    We have seen lots of Asian missionaries, met a young missionary from Etheopia last night, and one from Australia on Wednesday at breakfast.   I am sure there are many more nationalities represented but it is so busy in the cafeteria I haven't had the opportunity to meet them.

On Monday we were broken up into small groups/districts and we have spent most of our time with those groups.   We have a morning teacher and an afternoon teacher for our district.

This is our district with our morning teacher, Brother Smith.   He is from North Carolina and now attends BYU and teaches at the MTC.   Back left to right are: Elder and Sister Butler - they are going to Holland, Brother Smith our teacher, and Elder and Sister Jones who are going to Sandy Utah to do records preservation.   Front row is Elder and Sister Smith - they are going to Fiji and Denis and I.

This is our district with our afternoon teacher, Sister Yazzie.   She grew up in Holbrook, AZ and her family now lives in Gilbert.   Her mother is Caucasian and her father is Navajo.   She said her father did not want his children to be raised on the reservation because he wanted them to learn to work and be industrious.   She had the most beautiful smile and every day and gorgeous brown eyes!   I grew to love her in just the few days that we worked with her.

On Thursday night when we were eating dinner, another couple came up to us and asked if they could sit by us.   We responded that we would love to have them join us and then proceeded to try to learn a little more about them.   When I asked them where they were from the man, Elder Lorimer, responded that they were from Riverton, Wyoming.   I told him we had grown up in Wyoming and that I have a brother who lives in Lander, Wyoming which is about 15 miles from Riverton.   He asked what my brother's name was and I told him Paul Cornia.   He asked about the last name and I told him it was spelled C-O-R-N-I-A.   He then said, "Do you know Jerry Cornia?"  That took my breath away for a minute but then I responded that he was my big brother and that he had passed away May 2013.   Elder Lorimer told me he knew Jerry well and that he was so sorry to hear when he passed away.   Elder Lorimer was serving as a Stake President in Riverton and Jerry had served as a counselor to the Stake President in Casper.   We spent a few minutes visiting about Jerry and what a good guy he was.   Who would have thought I would have a conversation with a stranger in the MTC about my big brother?

Friday afternoon I had a few minutes and went over to talk to the couple from ShowLow.   As I was talking to them about having lived in St. Johns for a long time, the lady said," I bet you know our good friends Ruthie and Danny Price".   I told her I knew them very well but didn't get a chance to talk to them any more because it was time for the meeting to start.

As we were returning to the cafeteria building last night we ran into Brother Petersen who is responsible for all the senior (old) missionaries.   I mentioned to him that I had overheard him saying earlier in the week that his wife had some health problems.   He said that was true, that she was diagnosed with breast cancer last June, she had a lumpectomy and they found it had spread to her lymph nodes so she had another surgery.   She has just finished chemotherapy and will start radiation treatments soon.   Her scenario very closely mirrors what I went through and when Elder Ashton and I mentioned that I had gone through the same thing a year ago, Brother Petersen gave me a hug and said, "So you survived and it's all OK."   I responded in the affirmative and told him to tell his wife that we had spoken and I asked him to tell her that it is hard to go through what she is but she can make it through and feel good again......still another small world experience.

During this past week and we studied and ate and talked together, I came to realize that all of these senior (old) couples have had challenges in their lives, some more recent than others, but they have a great desire to serve others and were smiling and excited every day.

The three pictures below are of the group of senior (old) missionaries that we spent the week with.   One Elder is missing from the third picture as he was sick that day.   I think I said in a previous post that there were 92 couples, but that was wrong; there were 45 couples and two single sisters.

Hope you are all taking care of yourselves.   I miss family and friends but am having many great experiences!