One of my favorite mission activties is traveling around to meet with the missionaries. That's how we've spent the last two weeks. I have the opportunity to attend each area's zone development meeting. Watching the missionaries interact with each other while they follow up and practice the training they've received from zone conference helps me see how much they grow and develop during the two years they serve here. During the meeting, Mark will pull out each missionary for a personal interview. The more we get to know these great young men and women, the more we come to love them.
Summer vacation yields the benefit of having the kids come with us. Taylor wanted to come to the meetings, so we decided to have all the boys go with us. When our travels take us to the northern area of the mission, we stay at this bed and breakfast in Snowflake. http://www.heritage-inn.net/ That's how we spent last Thursday and Friday. We all love this beautiful place and its proprietor, Dean Porter. He's an attentive host, even loaning us his van once so I could take the kids to see some local sights. His love and knowledge for his community color the history and stories he shares with all his guests. 
Flowers, flowers everywhere! I love it. Roses, geraniums, lavendar, hosta, flowering fruit trees. It's about 10 degrees cooler in Snowflake; a refreshing break from the heat of the valley. It was nice to sit outside and go through paperwork with the warm sunshine and cool breeze. Here, Mark is reading letters from the missionaries. Each missionary writes him a weekly letter about how he/she is doing. We have just under 200 missionaries, and depending on the missionary, the letter could be anywhere from 5 lines to two full pages of reading. That's a lot of reading! (Improving your handwriting wasn't always something I'd thought of as a way to prepare for a mission, but now I know better.) Again, the letters are a great way to get to know them and how to best help and support them. Thursday was typical of our interview schedule. We left the house just after 6:00 am and drove an hour and a half to Payson. After finishing with the missionaries there between 1 & 2, we had a quick snack and then drove another 2 hours to Snowflake. We spent the rest of the evening with the kids, studying/letter reading, and on the phone with the missionaries (there are always calls with the missionaries, but the evening is when most of them come in). 
We usually walk across the street to Eva's Mexican restaurant (my favorite dinner is the carne machaca-WOW!). Then we head back to our room to stretch out and finish up the days work. There are 11 different rooms, and they are all beautiful. This is one of my favorite rooms, even though I can't remember its name. I also love the honeymoon suite and the Lincoln room. Most of the time we stay in the main house, but the kid's room was in the remodled carriage house. They like 'being on their own", but I think there's always a struggle for who will have control of the remote.
SWEET BREADS! Upon arriving at the bed and breakfast, Bishop Porter has an array of sweet breads, cake to you and me, waiting for his guests. If the plate empties (and I admit, it has happened), he always has more in the pantry. He's also happy to offer homemade Mexican hot chocolate in the winter, sodas, and popcorn. I think all the snacks are a big draw for kids.
Another attraction is breakfast. Taylor is squeezing some fresh lemons on his German baby, our family's breakfast of choice at the inn. Breakfast is always accompanied by more sweet breads, piles of fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, toast and home made jams (the cinnamon peach is my favorite). You can also order french toast, waffles, hot cakes, omletes, eggs... but we are creaturse of habit so I know he stocks up on lemons when we're coming to town. Bishop Porter gives all his guests a copy of the recipe, but we've only made it once. It's just better the way he (and his cook/assistant Christina) does it in the cast iron pans. Since we need to leave early and begin interviews, we usually have the breakfast room and Bishop Porter to ourselves.
Next door to the bed and breakfast is an old fashioned soda shop and antique store. It's run by Sister Porter (wife of Bishhop Porter), but closes early. The kids are always excited when we get there early enough to get some ice cream or soda at the big counter. Brandon loves perusing all the antiques for sale; especially those in the basement. He has a wild imagination.
Flowers, flowers everywhere! I love it. Roses, geraniums, lavendar, hosta, flowering fruit trees. It's about 10 degrees cooler in Snowflake; a refreshing break from the heat of the valley. It was nice to sit outside and go through paperwork with the warm sunshine and cool breeze. Here, Mark is reading letters from the missionaries. Each missionary writes him a weekly letter about how he/she is doing. We have just under 200 missionaries, and depending on the missionary, the letter could be anywhere from 5 lines to two full pages of reading. That's a lot of reading! (Improving your handwriting wasn't always something I'd thought of as a way to prepare for a mission, but now I know better.) Again, the letters are a great way to get to know them and how to best help and support them. Thursday was typical of our interview schedule. We left the house just after 6:00 am and drove an hour and a half to Payson. After finishing with the missionaries there between 1 & 2, we had a quick snack and then drove another 2 hours to Snowflake. We spent the rest of the evening with the kids, studying/letter reading, and on the phone with the missionaries (there are always calls with the missionaries, but the evening is when most of them come in). We usually walk across the street to Eva's Mexican restaurant (my favorite dinner is the carne machaca-WOW!). Then we head back to our room to stretch out and finish up the days work. There are 11 different rooms, and they are all beautiful. This is one of my favorite rooms, even though I can't remember its name. I also love the honeymoon suite and the Lincoln room. Most of the time we stay in the main house, but the kid's room was in the remodled carriage house. They like 'being on their own", but I think there's always a struggle for who will have control of the remote.
SWEET BREADS! Upon arriving at the bed and breakfast, Bishop Porter has an array of sweet breads, cake to you and me, waiting for his guests. If the plate empties (and I admit, it has happened), he always has more in the pantry. He's also happy to offer homemade Mexican hot chocolate in the winter, sodas, and popcorn. I think all the snacks are a big draw for kids.
Another attraction is breakfast. Taylor is squeezing some fresh lemons on his German baby, our family's breakfast of choice at the inn. Breakfast is always accompanied by more sweet breads, piles of fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, toast and home made jams (the cinnamon peach is my favorite). You can also order french toast, waffles, hot cakes, omletes, eggs... but we are creaturse of habit so I know he stocks up on lemons when we're coming to town. Bishop Porter gives all his guests a copy of the recipe, but we've only made it once. It's just better the way he (and his cook/assistant Christina) does it in the cast iron pans. Since we need to leave early and begin interviews, we usually have the breakfast room and Bishop Porter to ourselves.
Next door to the bed and breakfast is an old fashioned soda shop and antique store. It's run by Sister Porter (wife of Bishhop Porter), but closes early. The kids are always excited when we get there early enough to get some ice cream or soda at the big counter. Brandon loves perusing all the antiques for sale; especially those in the basement. He has a wild imagination.
I'm not sure if he does it intentionally, but every time we bring the kids there is a cup of fish pellets on the bench by the koi pond. Jeffrey loves it. It's one of the first and last stops he makes.
Though our trips are brief, we enjoy the town and the people we've met there. We're home now, but will be back before we know it.
2 comments:
That was SO fun to get a glimpse of what a weekend trip is like with the kids. Thank you Angie for letting us in on it! I think that B&B stop is going to be a favorite memory for the kids. How fun! and I didn't realize how those msisionary letters must add up for Mark....forget Twilight or Harry Potter, huh?
What a beautiful spot. Such a bonus while out on the road.
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