Philippines MTC Here We Come!

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In June we got a phone call that would once again change the course of our lives. We had been home from the Philippines Cauayan Mission since July 2013, living in Spanish Fork, working in the Payson Temple and enjoying our grandkids. Being so close to them and near so many of the returned missionaries that we came to love from Cauayan made for a great life. Rudy was working again with a wonderful group of people and I was building a small consultancy firm. Life was good, life was predictable and life was peaceful. But when the phone rang and we were asked to meet with Elder Brent Nielsen we figured something was about to change.

Elder Nielsen presented a call from the First Presidency to preside over the Philippines Mission Training Center. Our service would begin in January. We felt a real flurry of emotions. First, we were humbled to even be considered as there are hundreds of more capable, amazing mission presidents who have also served in the Philippines. Next, we were so sad to say goodbye again. Third, we had lots of do to prepare, including selling our home and organizing our belongings. Our kids advised us to try to list it in July while the market was still hot and to try it on KSL online first before hiring a realtor. Since we had only lived there 2.5 years we didn’t have a lot of wiggle room for the realtor’s fees. So our beloved daughter-in-law, Melissa, used her photography talents and took the most beautiful photos of our home. We listed it and immediately the phone started ringing off the wall. It sold in three days for full price to a wonderful family. The only trick was they needed to be in before school started in Mid-August. Immediately we had to start packing and figuring out what things we would store, what to sell or giveaway and what to bring with us to the Philippines.

None of that would have been possible without the generosity of our son and his wife. We knew they would let us spend the next months in the apartment in their basement. That ended up being a wonderful time–with grand-kid visits many times each day.

Also none of our move would have been possible without the help of our dear friends, Randy and Cheri Shaner who dropped everything, came and stayed with us while we packed, loaded and moved. We will forever be indebted to them. (Plus we had a blast while we were doing it!)

After visiting my mom and family in Colorado, our dear son Clint and spending time with our darling granddaughter in Arizona were ready to leave.

We entered the MTC on Jan.9 in Provo and spent 5 glorious days being trained and inspired by many general authorities and able professionals from the Missionary Department.

We got to return to our son’s home for the weekend before flying out and were greeted with four spanking brand new great grand puppies as our grand puppy, Penny, had given birth to her babies.