What a week we have had! We arrived Monday morning and as we walked through the doors, a couple arrived right behind us. Naturally, we asked who they were and where they were going, We found that my cousin had arrived too! Curtis and Ramona Miller from Fruit Heights! Grandma Jenny was the oldest of the Miller Family, her brother Carroll is Curtis’ Grandfather. We have spent time this week getting to know about their family and the rest of the Millers. They leave for the Congo this coming Thursday! We finished our check in and found that in this past week, the 78 couples were going to every inhabited continent of the world, and were going to 22 countries and 26 states. There are thousands of young missionaries here in various stages of training. We hear companionships speaking their languages on their way to class, French, German, Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Thai, Mongolian, Spanish, and on and on…

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Later in the week while at lunch, a couple came up and sat next to us, their last name was Allred, and they were from Star Valley Wyoming. DeAnn has often thought about her cousin Marie, who married an Allred from Wyoming. We know that they teach school there, and raised their family in Star Valley not having seen her since college, so naturally we asked if they knew any Allred’s in Thayne, who taught school for 40 years and whose wife’s name was Marie….He responded, I have taught in Thayne for 40 years, My name is Allred, but I don’t know another Allred who has been there 40 years…After a few minutes of chat, we realized we were sitting next to the Allreds we had been inquiring about! DeAnn and Marie erupted in excitement! Tears welled up, hugs were exchanged and pictures and stories were shared! The Allreds left for their mission in Phoenix yesterday. What an exciting week!

We have also spent many hours of instruction on how to teach, how to invite, how to testify of the Gospel. Friday, we were given the chance to teach people from the community. We taught a wonderful woman from Saratoga Springs, we shared a message that we cherish. We talked about the peace and beauty of the Temple. She was wonderful and kind and gave us encouragement for our mission. We have met people from all over the world, going to places all over the world. We have been to the most wonderful devotionals, and have felt the peaceful feeling of the Holy Spirit as we spend our time here.

Monday we begin our training on Humanitarian work. We anticipate learning much more to help us in our assignments in Cambodia. As we share meals with other missionaries, we have heard stories about different countries and the cultures there.

We miss you all. You are in our Prayers. We love you! We love the Lord! We are thrilled to be starting our mission. We fly out Friday morning and arrive Saturday evening late. More next week! We love you all!