Day of Transfers

A group of our Sister missionaries at Transfers!

In Flagstaff this past weekend they had 4 feet of snow. So our creative Elders from Flag decided to come to transfers in Phoenix with a truck load of snow to share the experience with all of us. We actually had a snowball fight in the parking lot. Leave it up to the missionaries to keep it exciting!

Gathering up their bags to go to their new areas with their new companions.

Straight From the MTC

Our New Missionaries were late on their arrival as President &
our Assistants awaited anxiously!

Welcome Elders & Sisters!
Sisters Hoof, Rogers, Fleener & Bowles, Elder Mortimer, Montgomery, Nuttall,
Farmer, Egan, Farnsworth, Wight, Schaffer, Perkins, McCarty, Mitchell, Menlove

Loading our new Mission Trailer with all the missionary luggage. It is quite the sight to watch
the entourage of 16 missionaries parade through the airport with all their luggage.

This is part of the morning prep to make sure they look their best as they go to meet their new companions at the Transfer Building. The shower lines are long in the morning as there are only 3 bathrooms for 16 Elders and Sisters! The morning ritual is really quite amazing to watch. Everyone wakes up at 6:30, takes a shower, prepares for the day, enjoys a breakfast on the patio, watches a short video on manners to assure they are informed on how they should act in members home where they are fed each night, get their final instructions from Sister Beck, gathers up all their belongings and load their suitcases in the trailer and head off to the transfer building.

January 2010 Transfers

Our January Departures

Elder Mcdonald, Fronk, Noland, Lewis, Rose, Gross, Smith, Grey

Elder Diaz, Sister Matthews, Sister Beach, Sister Larsen, Elder Nelson


Story Time and the "M" discussion.

"M" stands for Marriage! Now that they have finished their missions it is back to school, work and looking for that perfect someone. We have a discussion before they leave about finding their eternal mate and what things are important in determining the qualities they will be looking for. I encourage each of them to make up a list of these qualities they want in their eternal mate before they return home to date; making sure that each person they date fit the criteria that they are looking for. Each one of them are encouraged to marry up and not just settle for anyone as they seek out their future mate.

The Cooks!

President Beck makes a mean scrambled egg dish!

The morning of the departure Elder Diaz asked President Beck and I to come in the family room because they had a gift for us. He went on to explain that they were all poor missionaries but they had a gift from the heart they wanted to give us. They proceeded to sing to us "Mother I Love You" & " Father I Love You", a primary song they all sung in their younger years. It was so touching that tears fell. It is so hard to see these young men and women who we grow attached to, leave the mission. I also received a beautiful bouquet of roses from Elder Nelson that was also very touching. Thanks Elder Nelson!

The Final Pose to Remember them by!

Thirteen Missionaries Off to the Airport!

Olivia Kathryn Pitts Has Arrived!

Olivia arrived on schedule, Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:52 She weighed 7lbs.2oz. and was 19 1/2 inches. What a miracle life is and we feel so blessed to add her to our flock! Olivia evened up the grandchildren to 6 boys and 6 girls. Gratitude has filled our hearts this past weekend with this little blessing from heaven.

A happy mom and Dad. Congratulations Bill and Tricia for this beautiful little girl!

Goodbye Elder Cox

Meet our awesome Office Staff! The Millers, Egans, Elder Peck and Ely's are (shown in the picture)Also the Loftgreens and Sister Peck who are not shown.
Birthdays continue to be big in our lives, and we have 229 missionaries to celebrate with. Every day I call a missionary with a birthday greeting. If I forget (which sometimes I do) then they let me know. This time it was Elder Cox's birthday. He has been our Assistant since August and will be going out to proselyte his last transfer before he goes home. He has done an honorable job of leading the mission with the President.
We will miss you Elder Cox.

Elder Clark , Elder Cox, Elder Carver, & Elder Grayson.....Our Wonderful Assistants!

Hygiene 101 - Missionary Training

We took the opportunity to have a shoe shinning activity during interviews, which gave the missionaries an opportunity to really change the appearance of their shoes. It was amazing the difference it made in some of the most worn shoes.

Elder Burris really took this activity seriously and put a lot of elbow grease into his shinning efforts.

Elder Berry's shoes took the prize for the worst looking shoes. Now he was residing on the reservation where they are continually going through dirt and even mud. Missionary shoes on the reservation never quite look the same. I told Elder Berry that he needed a new pair of shoes immediatelyas you can see by his soles.

End result were a lot of shiny missionary shoes

Families are Forever!

What an beautiful experience we have had over the last 3 weeks as we celebrated the marriage of Tyler and Sarah. It was not the best of months to have a wedding, but the Lord directed my ability to accomplish so much. The highlight was having all our children and grandchildren gather in the mission home beginning on Christmas Eve day. The joy of the celebration with children around made it even more meaningful. Travis surprised us when he appeared on Christmas Day with Eli and Emma and then Sharese, Halle and Jordan came the next day with Tracy, Ryan, Nicholas and Ethan. That was it....we were now all officially together and ready for the activities to begin. We had a packed week ahead of us including activities of Sarah Endowment day at the Mesa Temple followed by a dinner at the Beecher home. A family Home evening with all of our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and cousins at the mission home. The house was packed and it was a touching experience to all be together as we gave Tyler and Sarah some wedding counsel. I felt at that time the surety that "Families will be Forever". We enjoyed the celebration of the wedding day and all the festivities and then the next day a trip to Williams to ride the "Polar Express" with all the grandchildren, and then the activities of the New Years Celebration. We enjoyed getting reaquainted with all the grandchildren and to see their growth and cute personalities. I reflect back on the events and give thanks to my Heavenly Father for each of these treasures in our family and for the opportunity we had to be together during this special time.

Goodbye's

On the morning that Travis' and Tracy's crew left to go home ( Jan 5th) we all gathered together for our departing family prayer. We had experienced a wonderful time together and now it was time for everyone to return to Cincinnati. Before they left we gave them each a Book of Mormon and asked them to do as we were doing with our missionaries which was to read the Book in 60 days, which was the same time it took Joseph Smith to translate it. We testified to them that it was the most correct book on earth and that they would grow closer to their Savior by reading it. As they read the book they were to underline all the references to Jesus Christ which were over 100 names of the Savior. There were over 6,000 verses in the Book of Mormon and over 4,500 referred to Jesus. In 239 chaptes only 6 of them did not mention something about Jesus. They were also to highlight the doctrine of Christ. We reminded them of the words of one of our past prophets, Ezra Taft Benson.

"There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives
the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find
greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid
deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow
path.... When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you
will find life in greater and greater abundance."

Ezra Taft Benson

With that challenge, the mission van was loaded up with our precious possessions and they returned to their homes in Cincinnati with lots of wonderful memories we had just had.

Izzy wanted to pick her own orange the morning she left to go home.

Tiffany, Michael and the girls were the last to go on January 10th. It was so fun to get to know these little ones

The Pitts family were the first to leave on New Years Day. Tricia had been a real trooper during all the activities but it was important to get her back on safe territory as Baby Pitts had arrival date on January 22nd.

Decorating Gingerbread Cookies

A Nana activity......End result, creative gingerbread cookies loaded with lots of candy and frosting

Halle was very particular with her decorations

Nana tried to add a little frosting decoration as directed by each grandchild

Waiting to begin the project of decorating individual gingerbread cookies