A Visit to Montezuma's Castle & Well

President is getting good at participating in P-day activities, even if he doesn't dress for them.
Every 3 weeks we drive up I-17 North and pass the sign "Montezuma's Castle" and "Montezuma's Well" We always say,"Someday we are going to see those places", and this time on our way back from Flagstaff we did.
They are ancient Indian ruins of the Sinagua, a prehistoric culture that once flourished in the Verde Valley who occupied it for thousands of years. Their dwellings were one room pit-houses built on terraces overlooking their fields in the bottom lands. It was fascinating to see and visualize how these people lived so long ago.

This is how our poor car looks after a road trip up North. Lets just say we slaughter a lot of innocent
insects. You should have seen the windshield.

Graduation

On April 23rd Tyler graduated from BYU in Marketing. He has worked hard and we are so proud of his accomplishments. It has been a year full of events for him, including getting married on December 29th to Sarah. She has been a big support to him. Both her parents flew up to the graduation to be there for him. It was a beautiful spring day. The day after his graduation he received word that he was accepted to the University of Utah to go to graduate school. That made his daddy proud, after all
that is the real school, or so he says.

Tyler and Sarah

Cathie and Jeff Beecher, Sarah's parents, attended the graduation and took
everyone out to dinner afterwards. Tyler opened a gift from Sarah, which were some beautiful cuff links. Jeff asked to see them so we passed them around the table. Somewhere between Jeff and Sarah's grandpa, they fell into the dish of fresh horseradish. Calmly, Jeff pick them out of the dish and licked them off and continued to pass them around the table back to Tyler. We all laughed until the tears fell. It was a wonderful celebration for everyone there.
The tulips around the Marriott Center were in mass bloom and were beautiful!

Transfer Day

Elder Beames is our newest Spanish Assistant. Elder Crandall was excited to have him back
as a companion again. This is one Spiritual Companionship and we could all learn a lesson from
them. Their responsibility is to oversee the Spanish companionship and work in the mission.

Welcome Elder Beames!

We have had a rash of stolen bicycles in the mission lately. Unfortunately, our missionaries
get on and off their bikes so much they are a little lax in locking them up. We even had
a companionship that locked them up together in the back of the truck. The person who
took them got a double bonus that day. We encourage our missionaries to get a really good
bike lock to discourage people from taking them from our poor missionaries.

Elder Davis' bike looks like it is ready to be ridden in a parade. What are you thinking Elder Davis?

On a Transfer day the missionaries have fun reuniting with old companions and missionaries after the
transfer meeting and before they are off to their new areas with their new companions.

Elder Farnsworth found out that you can't put your cell phone on top of the car
and then drive off. The result for him was a smashed phone. Poor Elder Farnsworth!

Fresh from the MTC

Welcome to our seventeen new Elders and Sister. Elder Hatcher, Henrie, Daniels, Duda, Mitchell, Barker, Bartlett, Cannon, Carter, Davenport, Geren, Jaussi, Juchau, Sheets, Harris, Neubert, Falconer, & Sister Kolo. Try memorizing those names before you have even met them, especially at my age.

Our new missionaries stand out in the airport as it is, but when you have seventeen of them
following their leader (that's me) through the terminal, then the eyes do turn

Have you ever heard of feeding the ten thousand...well maybe not ten thousand but

I do know we had a lot of hungry missionaries that day for lunch.

After a big lunch in the warm weather out on the patio, a two hour introduction to the mission

and an interview with the President, we had a lot of tired missionaries that took a quick cat nap.
They crashed where ever they could find a spot.

Our garage is turned into a locker room. We just have them keep their luggage in the garage because we don't have room for it inside. It is like figuring out a puzzle when placing mattresses in the family room to bed down. Sister Kolo had her own bedroom and didn't have to deal with that.

Just before bed they all pulled out the journals and captured the feelings of the day. Tomorrow they
would be introduced to their new companion, new area and become a missionary in the real world,

not just the MTC. With the Lord's help they will become instruments in His hand to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Arizona.

Elder Sentman & Elder Taylor are our most helpful office Elders who drive the mission van and trailer.

They actually fit all the luggage into the trailer and all the missionaries in the van and off they went to transfers!

So Long...Farewell

It's that time again for transfers! We sent home 7 missionaries this month....Elder Sweeney, Elder Clark, Elder Sly, Elder Payne & Elder Owens, Elder Bramwell and then, of course, Sister Eustice, the only rose in the group.

The night before this group left, Elder Sweeney bore a testimony of his love for the people in Buckeye, where he was serving. He said he wasn't ready to go home........little did he know that the airlines would be calling him to say that his flight to Scotland was canceled until May 4th because of the Volcano eruption. I guess Elder Sweeney won't be going home with the rest of the group as displayed above.

Some of these missionaries really know how to dress up a waffle.

Bloom Where you Are Planted

It is that time of year that our sisters anxiously await. A day that we all come together for spiritual renewal as daughters of God. The theme was "Bloom where you are Planted". Indicating that wherever we are placed in God's garden, we need to do our very best and find out what we can learn and grow from. We had twenty three sisters come from across the mission to have their wells filled spiritually and to spend time getting to know each other. We enjoyed a get to know you game, a morning of spiritual renewal, a wonderful "cafe rio" lunch, a talk by a guest speaker and questions answered by President & Sister Beck. It was a wonderful spring day to just be together. Our Sisters are the best!

Cafe Rio Salads

Sister Kunz shared her expertise and lead us in some exercise routines that the sisters
could apply to their morning schedules.