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Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
SUNNY CALIFORNIA
We just got back from California. We were there for 5 days and it was nice to get away for a little while. While we were there we hit Seaworld a couple of times, the beach, and Cabrillo Nat'l Monument. The weather was perfect. Brynlee's favorite part was rolling around in the sand. She had a blast running into the water and then screaming when she saw the bubbles and foam. Seaworld was fun but I think Brynlee was a little overstimulated. It's a lot for a little kid to take in. Her highlight was probably meeting Elmo and Big Bird. She also liked the flamingos because pink is her favorite. We also saw a statue of a cow wearing a swimsuit and sunglasses and she thought it was 'really cute'. Kevin and I enjoyed watching Brynlee experience new things. It was fun spending time with our little family.
Petting bat rays at Seaworld.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Joshua's First Pumpkin
We were very honored this year to have Joshua's first Halloween pumpkin carved by Grandpa Brady. Even though he won't remember it, we will never forget it. Happy Halloween.
Lessons Learned At MTC
Tomorrow, Oct 26th we will be starting our 12th week at the MTC! We are now the longest Senior couple currently at the MTC! There are two more couples, also. We still have no word about visa's, but we did get an email from Pres. Andersen on Thursday that said they were signing some papers on Monday, hoping to open up the visa situation, hopefully...
We have thought a lot about you kids, that went on missions and attended the MTC, walking the halls, learning in the classrooms, eating, playing, holding doors open for the sisters or the senior couples, and saying, "Hi" in the languages you were learning. When we say "Cann Banno" (Hello, how are you?) we get some who will ask where we are going, and some who will do a double take to look at our name badges. We tell them, Mongolia, "That's cool!", they say, and then they are on their way. It's fun to watch, be with and talk to these special young people, who are also making sacrifices to serve the Lord! And we think how blessed we are to have sons, a daughter, son-in-laws, and daughter-in-laws who have walked those halls! And even more special to think we have 11 grandsons who were born of righteous parents, who may also walk those halls, and of course, 4 darling granddaughters who may also!
I want to share one story - We attend the International Branch, #56, on Sunday's. There are aprox. 24 countries represented there, all learning to speak English. Last Sunday, an Elder from Tonga, led the music. He was so fun to watch! He did not keep the beat, he was swaying back and forth, and using both hands to lead us. You could tell he wasn't worrying what the piano player was doing , either. He sang very few of the words, he was probably just learning English and couldn't say the words fast enough. But, he was so fun to watch and that grin! He wasn't just smiling, he was grinning from ear to ear! I couldn't help but smile, too! And, as I looked around many others were smiling, also. It was so fun and inspiring to be in his presence, he was loving just being there! As I was pondering this I thought of a few things...As a missionary, we can jump right in - not worry, and just love the people and what we are doing! Also, even though we may not know the language as good as we would like...WE CAN SMILE IN MONGOLIAN!
One of the blessing of still being at home is to see you kids. We went to the Pumpkin Carving Dinner with some of you and with Grandma and Grandpa Brady. Grandpa carved a pumpkin for Baby Joshua, since he was the only one who brought one! It was small, but it was so cute! He couldn't even attend - doctor's orders to keep him in for a few weeks. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful heritage! So grateful for righteous parents and grandparents! I ask all of you to keep in touch with Grandma and Grandpa, drop them a note, or call them. I would appreciate it and so would they - they look so good and are blessed to be doing well! Love all of you! take care of yourselves and each other!
We have thought a lot about you kids, that went on missions and attended the MTC, walking the halls, learning in the classrooms, eating, playing, holding doors open for the sisters or the senior couples, and saying, "Hi" in the languages you were learning. When we say "Cann Banno" (Hello, how are you?) we get some who will ask where we are going, and some who will do a double take to look at our name badges. We tell them, Mongolia, "That's cool!", they say, and then they are on their way. It's fun to watch, be with and talk to these special young people, who are also making sacrifices to serve the Lord! And we think how blessed we are to have sons, a daughter, son-in-laws, and daughter-in-laws who have walked those halls! And even more special to think we have 11 grandsons who were born of righteous parents, who may also walk those halls, and of course, 4 darling granddaughters who may also!
I want to share one story - We attend the International Branch, #56, on Sunday's. There are aprox. 24 countries represented there, all learning to speak English. Last Sunday, an Elder from Tonga, led the music. He was so fun to watch! He did not keep the beat, he was swaying back and forth, and using both hands to lead us. You could tell he wasn't worrying what the piano player was doing , either. He sang very few of the words, he was probably just learning English and couldn't say the words fast enough. But, he was so fun to watch and that grin! He wasn't just smiling, he was grinning from ear to ear! I couldn't help but smile, too! And, as I looked around many others were smiling, also. It was so fun and inspiring to be in his presence, he was loving just being there! As I was pondering this I thought of a few things...As a missionary, we can jump right in - not worry, and just love the people and what we are doing! Also, even though we may not know the language as good as we would like...WE CAN SMILE IN MONGOLIAN!
One of the blessing of still being at home is to see you kids. We went to the Pumpkin Carving Dinner with some of you and with Grandma and Grandpa Brady. Grandpa carved a pumpkin for Baby Joshua, since he was the only one who brought one! It was small, but it was so cute! He couldn't even attend - doctor's orders to keep him in for a few weeks. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful heritage! So grateful for righteous parents and grandparents! I ask all of you to keep in touch with Grandma and Grandpa, drop them a note, or call them. I would appreciate it and so would they - they look so good and are blessed to be doing well! Love all of you! take care of yourselves and each other!
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Pumpkinheads
So it is almost the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas, but Halloween. The boys love, absolutely love Halloween. Of course they love the candy, what Anderson doesn't; however, the thing they love the most about this holiday is all the pumpkins. For weeks they have pled with us to take them to a pumpkin patch. We finally gave in and went yesterday, swine flu and all. The boys were in heaven; Bronwyn Sue could care less. She just liked being out of the house.
Ethan meticulously searched for the perfect pumpkin. Jonah was happy with whatever pumpkin that happened to be in his line of sight. They finally settled on some pumpkins and, as far as squash go, they are nice looking gourds. Jonah named his pumpkin "J.Killer". Ethan is still searching for the perfect name. (Hopefully this won't take him as long as it took to find the pumpkin.) Ethan says he wants a name that emphasizes "big and round". I suggested Rosie O'Donnell or "Beached Whale". He wouldn't even consider them. The boys have been pretty good pumpkin care-takers. They washed them with warm water, have taken them for a walk, er roll, made soft beds for them and even had a pumpkin picnic. They have kept pretty busy. I think I heard the turtles breath a sigh of relief when they discovered something else may grab the boys' attention for a little while. We will see how long the pumpkins handle all the attention before they beg to be made into some pies. Saturday, October 17, 2009
Two Months into our Mission
We are two months into our mission, still at the MTC and in language 6 hours a day. I thought I would fill you in on our daily schedule, just to let you know:
We start out class at 9:00 am every day. We have a native Mongolian Tutor for two hours, she helps us with grammar, tasks, words, phrases, vocabulary and word endings - love those words endings!?! She gives us approximately 2 hours of homework also. We have 3 hours for homework and lunch. Then, at 2:00 we have a Guide come in for 2 hours in the afternoon, she doesn't speak Mongolian. For an hour she guides us, helping us learn how to study and use the materials, CD's and books, we received. An hour of that time a volunteer comes in, usually a return missionary, they do alot of role playing with us (my favorite thing - not!!), and help us practice speaking and listening. Class ends at 4:00. We are pretty tired by then!
We come home to - more studying, scriptures and so on! Jody is good to keep doing the cooking and cleaning, but Dad still likes to putter outside and is trying to winterize things. He and Garry went to Scofield last Saturday and winterized the cabin.
This week has been a long week - we started a new task, "Make a Contact", I felt a little overwhelmed with all the new, and BIG, LONG words, one had 17 letters! But, we are learning, and they keep telling us we are doing really good, and we can see improvement! We can even understand some of the conversation - if they talk slow! They told us today that we have received more language training than any couple - ever, at the MTC, that is because of the visa's! So that probably means they are learning on us! But, that is OK! We're grateful they are willing to do all of this, I imagine it is costing them some money.
Two other couples entered the MTC on Monday, it looks like they too will be on delay. Sister Lasson, they left 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave in August, emailed us and said that two of the couples in Mongolia had gotten sick and went home early, so they are now short 5 couples and 13 young missionaries...they are anxious to get us there, too.
The travel office told us that the Mongolian Govt., still has not issued the letters of invitation - once they do it takes 2 weeks to process them - I guess someone hasn't heard of faxing, emailing or something!
We are so grateful for something to do and somewhere to go everyday. The Lord is aware of us and we have felt of His love and protection - All is Well! Take care of each other and we Love You!
We start out class at 9:00 am every day. We have a native Mongolian Tutor for two hours, she helps us with grammar, tasks, words, phrases, vocabulary and word endings - love those words endings!?! She gives us approximately 2 hours of homework also. We have 3 hours for homework and lunch. Then, at 2:00 we have a Guide come in for 2 hours in the afternoon, she doesn't speak Mongolian. For an hour she guides us, helping us learn how to study and use the materials, CD's and books, we received. An hour of that time a volunteer comes in, usually a return missionary, they do alot of role playing with us (my favorite thing - not!!), and help us practice speaking and listening. Class ends at 4:00. We are pretty tired by then!
We come home to - more studying, scriptures and so on! Jody is good to keep doing the cooking and cleaning, but Dad still likes to putter outside and is trying to winterize things. He and Garry went to Scofield last Saturday and winterized the cabin.
This week has been a long week - we started a new task, "Make a Contact", I felt a little overwhelmed with all the new, and BIG, LONG words, one had 17 letters! But, we are learning, and they keep telling us we are doing really good, and we can see improvement! We can even understand some of the conversation - if they talk slow! They told us today that we have received more language training than any couple - ever, at the MTC, that is because of the visa's! So that probably means they are learning on us! But, that is OK! We're grateful they are willing to do all of this, I imagine it is costing them some money.
Two other couples entered the MTC on Monday, it looks like they too will be on delay. Sister Lasson, they left 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave in August, emailed us and said that two of the couples in Mongolia had gotten sick and went home early, so they are now short 5 couples and 13 young missionaries...they are anxious to get us there, too.
The travel office told us that the Mongolian Govt., still has not issued the letters of invitation - once they do it takes 2 weeks to process them - I guess someone hasn't heard of faxing, emailing or something!
We are so grateful for something to do and somewhere to go everyday. The Lord is aware of us and we have felt of His love and protection - All is Well! Take care of each other and we Love You!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Oct 2, 2009
It has been almost 6 weeks we have been on visa-delay, and trying to think of something different to say. But, we are so very grateful to have been here for Joshua's birth! He is a cutie! We are so proud of all of our wonderful and cute grand kids!
We have had a couple of e-mails from Pres. Andersen in Mongolia, informing us that they are making progress on our visa situation.
Today, we checked in at the travel office, at the MTC and they said Salt Lake has not as yet received the invitation, but once they do get it, it will be approximately 2 weeks longer for the paperwork and sending it to Washington DC, or whatever they need to do! We were taken back a little, hoping they wouldn't be that long.
We are still in language lessons - learning the finer points of Mongolian grammar. We can pray and testify and talk with members, a little! We can tell the taxi driver to turn right or left or take us "near to the Chinggis Khan Hotel"! The church office building is next to this Hotel. Next week we will be learning how to purchase something.
One quote, I really liked, they gave us in the MTC is about language..."When we can teach someone in their second language, we speak to their mind. When we can teach them in their native language we speak to their hearts."
We are doing good and grateful to Jody for putting up with us and cooking, too! I haven't done much of that. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and checking in with us. We love you!
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