We have new wallpaper

I saved pictures off of our children's blogs the other day and they now sweetly rotate every 30 minutes and bring us smiles when we walk into our "office".  Here are a few we see:

Our texting grandson, Riley

Preston is a jogger too following after his Grandpa G.

It's hard to keep up with Wyatt

Eve, our newly baptized girl

There's always fun with Brenna

Brady loves school and sports

Anna is such a sweeheart

Happy Tessa loves school

Terrific writer Gavin

Bryant is always busy and happy

Fun to be with Logan

"No fear" Aaron

Bree is such a helper

Always learning Sadie

Adventurous Ellie

Carefree Clark

Bryce is easy going

Wide eyed Drew



Middoni Zone

Elder and Sister Gibson, Sister and President McConkie, Elder and Sister Sybrowsky and the Middoni Zone

My Missionary Commission by Elder Bruce R. McConkie

I AM CALLED OF GOD.  My authority is above that of kings of the earth.  By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is my Master and He has chosen me to represent Him--to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me.  My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine-

for I am His agent.

My commission is to do what He wants done, to say what He wants said, to be a living, modern witness-

in word and in deed-of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work.  And he that receiveth me, receiveth Him, while he that rejecteth me, rejecteth Him that sent me.

How great is my calling!

Life in Goose Creek

Goose Creek is the closest town to the Naval Weapons Station.  It's a great place to live.

We only need two chairs at the dining table, so the other two work for our office chairs.  All furniture came from previous couple missionaries.





We have a wonderful shredder at home so we like this temporary fix from the couple missionary hand-me-downs! 



We walk 5 days a week first around the complex to pick up paper, etc. and then head out to the many trails.





Elder Gibson makes sure we lift weights 3 times a week!



Graduations

Power School Graduation 1002 - a great day for the Costello and Tatasciore families and Ethan Whaley. 

Power School Graduation 1003  was 2 Sep and we said a farewell to Chris Whitmer, Kim Stohel and Humberto Garcia.  They are now settled at Ballston Spa, NY and doing well.  Chris Farnsworth and family will remain in Charleston for prototype training.

Birthdays

Sailors Kim and Rob and missionaries Elder Adams and Elder Allred all had birthdays in August.  That is an important part of our Senior Couple assignment. 

JD, Elder Gibson, Bonnie, John and Rob(not in picture) and Abraham help Kim celebrate.

Rob is 24!

Elder Adams turns 20!

Elders Stoneman, Hayward and Peterson announced they were singing a special musical number in between trainings at the District Development Meeting.

They looked the part, but began to sing with vigor, "Happy Birthday to You...."

Elder Allred leaves his teenage years,

So, we are getting excited for the September birthdays at the Dixon and Heflin households.  Wish we could be there....  Uncle Dan will have a B-day on the 12th.  He and Uncle Don plan a Grand Canyon trip and Dad wishes he could be there too....

Travel To Mission

Thursday, 29 April 2010:  So it snowed all during our late morning and afternoon training.  We viewed all the white stuff from the 20th floor and made frequent checks of Weather.com on the trusty iphone:  To drive east or To not drive east.  That was the question.  A couple of people offered their local home for us to spend the night, but it looked like the worst of the storm was sitting on SLC and predicted to move south.  We went for it!  Crazy, but blessed, as the snow got lighter as we got farther away from SLC on I-80. 

Blessed indeed!  The weather in Wyoming (and later Nebraska) was beautiful, but still more like winter than the summer heat we'd left in Las Vegas. 

After 440 miles we were ready for a cozy room at Warren AFB (where the antelope were playing the next morning). 

Friday, 30 April 2010:  Still going east on I-80, we went through Nebraska.  We called ahead to the Winter Quarters Visitors Center for basic info, and they asked where we were and if we had considered going to the Kanesville Tabernacle just across the state line into Iowa - and by the way, if we "stepped on it" we might just be able to get there before they closed for the day.  So we stepped out and arrived 30 minutes before closing (and all that without even getting a speeding ticket - or even a warning!).  The senior couple gave us a condensed, private tour inside and out.  We highly recommend this stop.  Geff checked to see if he agreed with the new First Presidency's plans for getting everyone to SLC.  It looked good.  BTW, after Brigham arrived in "The Place", he returned to Iowa where he was sustained as the second President of the Church on 27 Dec 1847 in the Kanesville Tabernacle. 

So, backtracking west across the Missouri River over "The Mormon Bridge" into Nebraska, we made it to the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters in North Omaha.  Here they closed later, and we had time for a good tour of the Center.  Our guide, Sister Meryhew, also got out her rolling tape measure and helped us find the plot of the young Samuel Flake (Grandmommie Gibson's line) in the nearby Winter Quarters Cemetary from where we could see the stained glass window of the Winter Quarters Temple glowing in the dusk.  The Marine Corps Reserve between Omaha and Lincoln hosted us for the night.

Saturday, 1 May 2010:  South on I-29 to the Kansas City, Missouri, area.  As we drove some back roads to find Adam-ondi-Ahman, we speculated on whether the local Joe-resident would even know of some future happenings in the area..., and at what point he couldn't help but notice.  The area is well maintained and very peaceful, but you have to use your imagination a lot....   

Near Tower Hill and then down to the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

We drove south to Liberty Jail in hopes of finding Sister Katie Robinson, Ed and Jane's daughter, who had just been transferred from the Independence Visitor Center to ???  They told us she was actually assigned to the Jail, but that she was on a tour of local church sites with other missionaries who had been in the mission less than 6 months.  That gave us time to go on down to the Independence Visitor Center for a few hours.    

Back at Liberty Jail, we met up with Sister Katie and her tour group.  Sisters missionaries make such sweet tour guides. We took the tour of the Jail with the Sisters.  Very impressive and humbling place.

Sister Robinson and her companion, Sister Bowman.

We spent Saturday night at the USMC Heart of America Inn in Kansas City.  Nice accommodations, but it was hard to sleep without knowing where we would be going the next day.  Heavy rains from St. Louis to Nashville had caused big flooding and the closure of a big junk of I-24 - our charted course! 

Sunday, 2 May 2010:  Tempting as it was to try to follow right on the heels of the storm as it made its way northeast, we decided to play it smart and drive directly south  from Kansas City through Arkansas and Louisiana.  This meant a few extra miles, but we had excellent weather.  We stayed the night in Meridian, Mississippi, at the Meridian Naval Air Station. 

Monday, 3 May 2010:  We drove on up to the northern part of Atlanta and spent the evening in Buford, Georgia with the Prichards, the couple we were to replace in South Carolina.  They had been released for about two weeks, but they insisted on putting us up for the night, driving us to SC and getting us oriented to the Charleston area.  Quite nice of them. 

Tuesday, 4 May 2010:  Followed the Prichards from Atlanta to Columbia, SC, to the home of President and Sister Stephen McConkie.  Had lunch with them and his two assistants, then met with the president for a 20-minute interview/orientation.  The young Elders are to GROW the Church.  We are to STRENGTHEN the Church, and watch over the young military guys.  OK.  We can do that.  Followed the Pritchards on down to Goose Creek (16 miles northwest of Charleston), where we stayed the night in a furnished 2BR/2BA unit they had reserved at our new (their old) apartment complex, Coventry Green.  We will be comfortable here.