October 2012

To begin this exciting month of travel and activity, the news of Monica and Adam expecting a GIRL to be born in February was paramount. We waited for the announcement and were delighted with the news of a new grand-daughter.

The beginning of the month we drove to Utah to attend General Conference. On our way we stopped to visit with Elder Astle who recently got back from Mozambique.  He is one of the last elders we served with before we left almost one year ago. It is hard to believe time has passed so quickly.

As always, we stayed with Josh and family in Layton, Utah. I was able to accompany his scout troop on activity night. Danielle helped Dawn with her Relief Society work.

Before the conference we were able to play golf with Angie Bytheway, Dawn’s cousin, and visit with Holly and her family. Brock is doing well. Thursday night we had our Maputo Mozambique Mission reunion. There were many of the missionaries we served with in attendance. Also, every mission president to Mozambique was there: Spendloves, Packards, and Wallaces. It was good seeing all of them and particularly to visit with Chanizi living in Washington, DC now. She is the adopted daughter of the Spendloves.

Friday was spent shopping downtown SLC and golfing with Angie. Friday night we drove to Orem, Utah to attend the reception of Jennifer Godbold. She was recently married to a man from Nigeria, Africa. He was very handsome and very nice. We were so happy for Jennifer.

The Mision Presidents

 Dawn is crossing the walkway across the road to our apartment in SLC. We stayed at the University of Utah Guest House on the old Fort Douglas campus.

 Josh and his family at Heritage Village at the historical park across from Hogle Zoo, "This is the Place" monument.

Next to temple square 

Just outside the Conference Center

Halloween is filled with pumpkins on our steps! Along with many other decorations for this exciting holiday.

Then Sunday we were at the Conference Center early to find a seat in the balcony. We were so delighted to be there with 30,000 others. We were fortunate to team up with the Ross’ and there grand children upon leaving.  They were with us in Mozambique. They had served previously before we arrived in the mission. He also served as a sealer in the Johannesburg temple speaking Portuguese.

Life continues at a very rapid pace for Dawn, because she is the Relief Society president with many challenges ahead of her. Each day there are families to visit and assist. We have presented our mission experiences at a fireside at the church in October. I doubt many will ever want to go to Africa after we talked about the rigors of the mission. However, we have met the Metsteins in the Idaho Falls temple and asked them to sub for us when leaving for India in November. They were missionaries in Africa before serving another mission in Canada. We met them in the MTC. These are the folks who love to serve. I would love to go on another mission. Right now we are enjoying serving in the ward and stake as well as temple ordinance workers each Tuesday at 5:00AM each week.

Golfing with Woody and Julia is always enjoyable. We had our year end golfing outing last week. We went to Heise Hot Springs golf course and the weather was delightful. Now that we have snow on the ground, golfing has virtually ended for the season.

Max Bennett and I about to ride!









Dawn coming up the trail at Harriman Stake Park

One other adventure we were able squeeze in before the snow falls was a trip with Max Bennett to Harriman State Park. We rode with him for 15 miles on our mountain bikes around the rivers and lakes filled with ducks, geese and swans. We saw eagles (golden and bald) along with thousands of ducks. It was chilly and rained slightly but what a great trip before the beginning of winter. We hope we will have enough snow this year to ski the same area.

Halloween is the next celebration. Our house is decorated with all kinds of fall reminders. There are pumpkins on the steps out front and there are many goblins inside, sitting on the tables and stands in the front room.

We are in our last stages of preparation for our excursion to India beginning the first of November. We will be gone for two weeks. Our friends the Nebekers are meeting us in SLC to spend two weeks in Nepal and India. I am looking forward to the trip because the weather will be more desirable.