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Showing posts from October, 2021
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 SUNDAY Even though our friend Charles was not available to go to church today, we attended the Laveen Ward (which would be his ward) with the hope of meeting some of the people there. We met the Bishop and other ward leaders, the Full-time missionaries and others from the ward. It is a diverse and very welcoming ward.  Then we attended for the first time the Tempe Ward, our assigned ward. They are small in number but a great spirit there. Elders Tappan and Ludbey are the FT Missionaries and have several people they are teaching. After church we met with Bishop Cowley. He had some people in mind for us to contact that could use a visit. Since Dustin and Meagan are here for the Mesa Temple open house, we all met at Matt and Mary's for dinner. MONDAY We try to start each day with exercise. Doug goes to the LA Fitness near our home and rides a bike and uses the machines. I walk the neighborhood.  We picked up Ethan and met Dustin and Meagan and kids at the Mesa Temple Open H...

Meeting the Arizona Tempe Mission (ATM)

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 SUNDAY We were able to go to Church with Matt and Mary and kids. Mike and Lance were visiting this weekend and it was good to see them as well. Mary's brother, Brian Lehnhof and his wife Bobbie live very close to Matt and Mary and are in the same ward. It was great to have dinner with everyone! Each month a New Convert Devotional is held. This is a time when several people who have recently joined the church speak and tell their conversion story. Since we just arrived yesterday we were able to  meet President and Sister Goaslind, Elder and Sister Thorsen, Elder and Sister Bell,  (the Thorsen's and Bell's work in the office) and lots of young Elders and  Sisters The speakers, Deanna Leuvano, Mathew Silcox and Sister Wills all have great stories. It was an interesting and inspiring evening. Later we met up with Ann and Dwight at Dwight's brothers house, Peter and Pam Michaelson. The Michaelson brothers and friends had their semi-annual motorcycle trip this weekend. So...

MTC Week 2 and on to Tempe!

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Front Row: Sister Glauser, Sister Blaser, Sister Benson, Sister Slade, Sister Walker (teacher), Sister Madsen (teacher), Elder Slade Back Row:  Elder Glauser, Elder Ward, Sister Ward, Sister Simmons, Elder Benson, Sister Dyer, Elder Dyer, Sister Pond, Elder Pond, Sister Johnson, Elder Johnson   Elder and Sister Benson, will serve in the Washington DC North Mission Elder and Sister Pond, will serve in the Washington DC North Mission Elder and Sister Hoopes, will serve in Uganda Elder and Sister O'Dell, serving in New Mexico on the Reservation Our second and final week at the MTC was just as packed as the first. We were trained in working with Young Adults, Young missionaries and local leaders. We learned new features of FamilySearch and the Memories app for FamilySearch and more on how to use FaceBook and Zoom in our teaching. We practiced using our new skills with others over Zoom. Elder S. Mark Palmer and his wife spoke at the Tuesday Devotional this week. Another inspiring m...

MTC Week 1

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                                                                           Our Senior Missionary Group Elder and Sister Pond Our MTC teachers Sister Abigail Walker and Sister Eliza Madsen These young women are adorable, capable, and anxious for us to learn  all we can while we are here at the MTC.  9 Oct 2021 As we begin our missionary experience, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord and to serve the people of Tempe, AZ and Belgium/Netherlands. The training at the MTC has been amazing and really inspiring. We arrived on Monday, settled into our room (looks like a small hotel room), lunch at the MTC cafeteria which is HUGE! We met the MTC Presidency in the afternoon along with training in our large group and then in our District groups. The...