Saint George, Easter Plans and... It's Going to Be Hard Taking Off My Missionary Tag!

Bill and I are leaving now for Saint George.  We are going to stay overnight there and drive in to Utah tomorrow.  I will be staying there with Lorinda and then Cherie, until April 23, so I can be there for Easter on Sunday and Jonas' and Lorinda's birthday on April 22.  

Bill will go spend that whole time and Easter with his sons, daughter and grandchildren (there is a lot going on there for him).  We will be going to Idaho on April 23, where we will finally be released from our mission by our stake president sometime after that.  

In the meantime, we are still on our mission.  In fact, I did some missionary work at the pageant last night and will be doing it with my name tag on until I am released.  After that, I will strive to be a good member missionary forever.  The work is true!  It has been an honor to serve Jesus Christ and bear testimony of Him and wear His name on the tag I joyfully have been wearing every day.  When I have to take the tag off, it will be, I think, like tearing part of my heart out. :(  

I feel like I could drive back to Tucson and Green Valley right now and serve another year... or forever!

Mesa, Arizona Visit

After our last meeting and saying goodbye, we arrived in Mesa at about noon.  Mesa is a 2 hour drive from Tucson. 

We met Bill's sister and niece and their husbands in Mesa and attended the Mesa Temple Easter pageant in the evening. About 6,000 people attend each night and the pageant ends on Saturday.

Farewell Arizona Tucson Mission!!

I love this mission logo.

Last Day in Tucson... an Early Morning!

After packing half the night, we went to a meeting at 7am with President and Sister Killpack.  There were about 200 other missionaries there. Some were just arriving to the mission (6) and others going home (10) and others just being transferred to new locations. 
  The President interviewed us and the office staff gave us a nice plaque and a book of all the missionaries who have served here.  Very nice and a precious keepsake!

The mission office staff met us at the door and gave us this beautiful plaque.

Our precious gift and we just pray we have lived up to what it says.  We certainly did what we could most of the time but feel we are leaving a lot undone.  Now we will just have pray for and support those who come behind us.

Many Thanks!

Thank you, office staff, and thank you Heavenly Father for allowing us to serve in the great Tucson Arizona Mission.  We have grown to love all of God's children in this mission area and pray for them that the Gospel will spread more and more in their hearts as they accept  Jesus Christ and His true Gospel.

Arivaca Ranch Visit

We are going to the Arivaca Ranch today. It is a part of our ward boundary but is 25 miles southwest of Green Valley.

Members Ron and Peggy Searle own this boys ranch, where they help boys from all over the United States. 

Snow!!

We finally got some snow in Tucson !!!

Brother and Sister Halvorsen Visit

Just left the home of Bro and Sister Halvorsen  (Alias candy bomber)  It is so hard to leave marvelous people like them who live in our ward.  They are ward missonaries so they have been a strength to us in so many ways.....besides showing us great Arizona hospitality.  He is 93 and she is 89.  

There will be a new film at the legacy theatre this fall (in Joseph Smith building).  The Halvorsen's and 4 other people from different places around the world will have their stories told in this film.  There was a sneak preview in SLC two weeks for them, the general authorities and others.  They told us about it and they had such a wonderful time......can we just imagine?  

But for now....we just arrived back home and can look forward to seeing them in the Provo-Orem area when they visit their family there and where they go to their second home....a ranch in Spanish Fork.  They told us to come visit them and they want to meet our families. 

Our Farewell Party

Between morning and afternoon sessions of general conference today, the ward members gave a farewell party for us at the pavilion behind the Madera Ward building.

It was wonderful but at the same time...very sad because these people all mean so much to us and I am going to miss them !!!  

We are leaving April 15th.... so sad.  I do not really want to leave all my dear friends here.......it will be so difficult.  I wish I could just transport all of you to live here in this delightful area.  

Larry

Bro England's friend and neighbor, Larry, who is pushing the wheelchair.  He now comes to church with him to help him with the wheelchair.  He is coming along slowly in the Gospel and we believe he will be a fine member in the future.

Beautiful view on our way to Mount Lemmon

On our way up Mount Lemmon to an obervatory at 9,000 ft!  We are with Elder and Sister Bowles.  They are a fun couple to be with and we have enjoyed their company and support.  They are from Murray, Utah.

We were told to bundle up and expect 45 degree weather....plus it was windy  !!!  Don't look at my pink gym shoes  :) Its all I had and could find with a closed toe ..that didn't interfere with the ankle wound area and my crossed over toe needed a soft fabric to move in.  














This general store in a tiny resort town of Summerhaven at the top of Mt Lemmon. It is a ski resort area and the sky observatory is just beyond it.  Nice.  We actually saw a few patches of snow (it's April).  Haven't seen snow in a year!

Observatory at Mt Lemmon... Amazing!

Adam Block is a Professor from the University of Arizona.  He designed the program and was our instructor.  He is a well known astrologist.  

This observatory is the 2nd largest telescope in the world and is better than Kit Peak near Tucson.  We promised Adam we would advertise Mt Lemmon for him.  Adam also designed Kit Peak Observatory and says Mt Lemmon Observatory is better.  Of course, he earns more from the U of A (who funds his Mt Lemmon project)...but who is counting if it is the best.  It was a wonderful experience.  Outstanding !!!

Before going up to the observatory,  we watched the last two minutes of the sunset and just as it goes down.
We saw the green lining  (some call it the green flash.)  It was very exciting !!!   All of what we saw in the observatory was photographed by Adam and sent to my email.  Available from me upon request.  Just know it was fantastic !!!

Before we saw the green flash at the edge of the setting sun, Adam turned and cast his shadow on the building. Who could guess what color our shadows are?  If you said black, you are wrong.   If you said blue, congratulations for being smarter than most of us there!




One pic of many that we experienced.  We truly are connected to Heavenly Father and his creations.  In this immense universe, we must never forget what our Heavenly said, " that the worth of each soul is great in the sight of God."