Fall has arrived in Arizona

Thanks Grandma!

Love Notes

To the side of Mark's desk hangs a dry erase board. Jeffrey loves to leave him messages. In the past, to emphasize the depth of his "I love you's", he would add dozens of extra "o's" to the word 'love' or draw an extra large heart with multiple colors. This is the message he left yesterday.

As you can tell, his writing skills are improving.

The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me.

Have you ever 'sung' a hymn in sign language? The post title will lead you to a site with American Sign Language hymns. Mark and I spoke this morning in our ASL ward. We sang with an entire congregation of ASL speaking people. I think ours were the only audible voices during each song. (I tried to sign along, but I was really only able to pick up the last verses of choruses that repeated themselves.) Our missionaries that have served in that ward have been so enthusiastic about their service there, that I was excited for the opportunity to finally attend their meeting. I've met several ASL memebers individually at firesides, Christmas/Easter pageants and stake conference, but I loved being with so many of them together.

ASL missionary work has unique challenges, but that doesn't shake the faith of the missionaries called to serve in that area. Though everyone is familiar with the concept of hunting a needle in a haystack, not many people have real experience with it. ASL missionaries do. Among the literally millions of people that live in the Phoenix/Mesa area are scattered a unique group of people in which these missionaries are specifically called to teach the gospel. Instruction they receive says that 'the Lord will lead you (the missionary) to those that are prepared or lead them to you'. Elder Chris Hamilton, one of our great missionaries, bore a strong witness of that in the way he pursued his missionary work. Others told him, he wouldn't find anyone or have success in his efforts. He chose instead to believe the counsel he recieved from his leaders-and he found them. One of the missionaries he trained (Elder Pead) loves to tell me when and how that happens. Every time they find someone, it is a miracle. Sometimes, they will be lead to a particular house, or person who knows someone. Other times, the people will find them. For example, a few months ago, someone actually drove up to Elder Pead while he was out searching-this man found the missionaries.

And today we met many of the people whose lives they influence. When I spoke of the missionaries that these people know and love, their faces lit up. They know these young people were called specifically for them, because God loves each of us individually. Each soul is precious to Him. The world has forgotten or misunderstood this basic truth. Understandably then, this concept is among the first things that missionaries teach people; a relationship of a loving Father in Heaven with His children. Love expressed in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ; in prayer as a form of communicating with Him; and in prophets called to guide and direct God's children to Christ and His gospel, for Christ will bring all of us back to our Father.

The Elders in our ward taught a sweet young mother in our home this week. There was a beautiful feeling as they spoke of this love and told her about the prophet today. Her happy reaction was something I can't describe with words, but I'm so happy that general conference is next week. She will be able to see for herself and know that God does guide us through a prophet today as He did anciently. I have a favorite scripture that teaches 'to whom much is given, much is required.' I love to focus on the phrase-'to whom much is given', for I truly feel that I have been given much just in my own personal witness of these truths, not to mention my family, health, friends....

The feeling that comes from pondering all that I have is called Reverence. There's a beautiful children's song about it titled simply, 'Reverence is Love'. I thought of it later today when we were speaking at another ward comprised of young college aged adults. It follows:

Reverence is more than just quietly sitting.

It's thinking of Father above.

A feeling I get when I think of His blessings.

I'm reverent, for reverence is love.

I wish you could hear a little child sing that song. (Actually on the title website, you can find it under Children's songs.) Those sensations prompt me to feel in my heart, with all the energy of my soul, that there is nothing God can ask of me that I would not be willingly to give. It is something to stand at the bottom of a steep and rocky climb, knowing not only that you must ascend if God requires it, but that your heart is willing. With that willingness, comes the assurance, that the path-though daunting- is the fastest and surest way to peace, salvation, and joy for it will bring us closer to God. I can't wait for conference this Saturday and Sunday-when that path will be illuminated and clarified for us. The confusion and muddle of the world will melt away, and we will see clearly what we must do individually and as families. Hopefully, we will all make plans to share it with someone who is searching.

Happy conference everyone.

Our newest arrivals

We had 19 new missionaries this week! It's been a full 48 hours since we sent them off with their new companions, but my body still hasn't caught up. Their eagerness to begin and the power of their spirits make the exhaustion worth it. They are an impressive group from all over the world. One sweet sister is from Mongolia. She'll be learning English for awhile, but she knows enough to bear a sweet testimony and share experiences/scriptures. The testimony she bears is powerful, and she has 2 good companions to guide her along through the new 6 weeks. What compels these young people to leave their homes, family, friends, educations, and put future plans on hold for 2 years in order to spend their time helping others? Ask them! There every where.

A Special Dinner

Elder Utagawa was a part of our last group to go home, but there was a little twist with his departure. Because of issues with his visa, he went home a few days before the rest of his group. That meant our family was able to have a special farewell dinner with Elder Utagawa. In honor of his home country (and our family's secret passion), we had sushi for dinner. He also read to us in Japanese and showed Jeffrey his 'special' scriptures. I think we'll be seeing some Japanese characters in some of Jeffrey's artwork for a little while. We had a wonderful evening together. He is a fantastic young man; I'm sure his parents and family are very proud of him. He was an excellent missionary. We can't wait to travel to Japan in a few years to visit!

September Departures

Another group of great missionaries left us early Tuesday morning. Jeffrey was asleep when they left just before 6 am, and cried when he didn't get to say goodbye to Elder Brown; so where ever you are Elder Brown, goodbye from Jeffrey.
As for the rest of you, good luck and make sure to stay in touch!

Kachina dolls

I found it! The names of the carvings I spoke of below are Kachinas. I posted a little note describing them below. The title should be a link to more information on the gallery we visited. If it's not, 'someone' needs to call me and give a link/title posting lesson. Love you Ben.

Kachina carving is a uniquely Hopi art. Though commonly called "dolls" they are in fact stylized religious icons, meticulously hand-carved from whole cottonwood roots by a small number of Hopi artists who have won the cultural honor of making them.

Cowboy & Indian art collection

Last weekend, Mark and I met with the other 17 Mission Presidents and their wives in our area (south west US) for our annual seminar. (It happened to be in Scottsdale, so we didn't have to go far this year!) Presiding and in attendance were Elder Hales & his wife and Elder Anderson & his wife. I'm still working through my notes and trying to decide what to talk about on the blog, but until then, I thought I would post these pictures. Elder Hales spoke to us about a love for the Lamanite people and their descendants, and told us about the private art collection we were about to view. Basha grocery stores is a large chain here in Arizona. Three generations ago, the founder began collecting from and supporting local artists of an art genre not then acknowledged by critics and the art community. It is an impressive collection with thousands of paintings, bronzes, wooden sculptures, pottery, jewelry.... Below are some of my favorite pieces. I loved these two paintings especially. The bottom one is titled Winter's light. Some of this artists' paintings are very impressionistic in design and palette-not the typical of what you would expect from 'indian art'.



Mom, I thought you would especially love the wooden carvings of the indian gods. They reminded me of your Japanese figurines in delicacy and intricacy. They are very fragile. You'd also love the basket collection from the various indian tribes. Maybe if you come up again, we can arrange for you to go up. There were dozens of these.

Friends

Liz loves to do hair...she got to do my hair all week at EFY when I forgot one of my bags at home. She did my hair before we went to Mesa to take our friend from EFY, Robert, out for his birthday dinner.

After taking forever to decided, we went to Red Robin.
We went to go jump on the trampoline in Brandon's backyard...and Liz wanted to take a picture like this...we were having a blast if you can't tell.
Then it started to rain...hard...on us :) We went to the park to go play in the rain but as soon as we got there it stopped :( we still had a lot of fun but unfortunately the pictures are all really dark...so you'll just have to imagine again!
The next day was Robert's Court of Honor. Some other girls from EFY that none of us had seen since EFY showed up so it was good to see them and catch up!

Update:Cookies Wars!!!

The contestants:Jessica, Lizzy, Robert, Brandon (the boys "accidentally" forgot the aprons we made them)

We had three judges, after the first two it was a tie, Elder Soane was the deciding vote.
We won!!! This is us just after the great news, celebrating our sweet victory. You all know how much I love to win :) and no liz and i did not plan on matching.
Ours is the oatmeal one...I swear it tastes better then it looks.
After the competition we played "honey I love you"...such a fun game!! Let me explain it to those that don't know how it is played. The person that is it has to pick someone to go up to and say "Honey if you love me, smile" and the other person has to say "Honey i love you but I just can't smile"...without smiling. It gets pretty entertaing...you do funny things to make the other person smile or to make them feel uncomfortable and smile.

I was first rejected by Brandon....

...then liz...

...then robert...i have to admit it was pretty painful.

Leave it to Taylor to make everyone laugh. He got me good.

Senior Stadium Painting

At Saguaro High School the tradition is that at the beginning of the year the seniors go paint the bleachers at the football stadium...so since I'm a senior I got to do that! After we left my friend Lizzy and I realized we didn't even take a picture of our names that we signed so...you'll just have to imagine it. Needless to say we got a little dirty...actaully I think Liz and I were the messiest people there. Lots of kids didn't want to "get dirty" so we just had fun with our group of friends :) It was difficult getting the paint off my body and out of my hair but I eventually suceeded!

Me, Liz, Ashley, Jane

we're just goofy...
my mom made me smile "nicely" in one picture...i guess she doesn't enjoy all my wierd faces...who knew?
Later that day we went to Macy's and Dillards and tried on the ugliest Prom Dresses we could find...it was really entertaining! Then she came to me house and we listened to music and just talked most of the night. Fun stuff!!

Happy Labor Day!

Today marked the finale of our family weekend. It was a great trip, and this labor day was no exception. We spent the morning 'laboring' with the missionaries that are serving up here. Mark stayed busy interviewing all the missionaries so he could know how best to help them. Angie, Jessica and Taylor helped judge a competition between districts as they tried to effectively relate random objects to the restoration of the gospel. The missionaries all did a great job, so it was difficult not to give "Paula" responses to everyone. As I became more 'constructive' with my feedback, the missionaries became more insistent that I try it and show them how it was done. I drew a hanger out the grab bag and had a minute to relate it to the restoration of the gospel and invite them to learn more. I'm happy to report...I got through it. It was a lot of fun, and it included some good practice for the missionaries. They have great zone leaders up there, Elder Stephens and Elder Ashton. That training only lasted 45 minutes, and there were several others to follow. It will be great to spend the next two weeks visiting all the zones and observe their trainings.
To help keep the little boys occupied while Mark did interviews, a local ward member [Dayl Seigfried-that's him in the red shirt] invited them to the Eurofresh greenhouses near the church building. Amanda, Sister Willis and Sister Harris came, too.
They can grow up to 1 million pounds of tomatoes on the vine a week-and average 600,000 lbs. per week each year at this facility shipping all over the US and Canada. They grow the tomatoes hydroponically...w/o soil in little root beds among some coconut husk material. There were acres of greenhouses with row upon row of plants that stretch about the length of a football field. Each plant is tied to a bobbin of string and then to the ceiling. As the plants grow up, they unwind the bobbins a turn or two. The pluck off the leaves around the ripening fruit, so the bottoms are naked vines that begin to layer and stack, then fruit, then the foliage and the blossoms above them. There's a lift system that raises workers up to the ceiling to work on the plants-but the boys didn't ride it-whew!

They also had a complex system of pipes for temperature control, watering, fertilizing & everything else you can imagine, but the boys were most interested in making the 'garage doors' open and shut and playing on the conveyor belts. Jeffrey really liked the sticker machine, especially when Dayl started labeling Jeffrey with brilliant tomato labels. There were a lot of lasers and automated machinery. It was pretty cool.
These are some of the 'seconds', since they are all 'single' tomatoes and they are producing on the vine fruit. These will go...? I don't know, but he gave a couple of flats to kids to take home. Lucky us.

After interviews we started home and stopped by the Tenney's place (one of Mark's counselors). We rolled up our sleeves and helped shuck, de-silk and prep some corn for freezing. It was fun to watch dad shuck corn in his suit! The Tenney's are an incredible family. They were there with just some of their children and grandchildren including their 40th grandbaby that is 3 months old & 3 high school age grandsons just back from football practice ready to help grandma & grandpa. (yes, they were ALL cute! Hubba hubba. I'm sure we won't have trouble convincing Jessica to come up with us again.) Eva, one of the little girls, said she loved working hard for her family so her grandpa & grandma wouldn't have to do all that work by themselves. What an incredible family. President Tenney will only be Mark's counselor for a few more weeks. They will soon begin a new assignment as the Snowflake Temple President. We have loved working with them.

We weren't able to stay as long as we would have liked to since we knew the holiday traffic was going to be miserable, but we left their place with produce packed all around us. Dinner tonight was spectacular: fresh corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, crook neck squash, and string beans w/red bell peppers. The best part, we had enough corn to blanch and freeze several bags to eat up this winter! What great friends. What a great week end.