Office Couples Barbeque

The Eagars were so kind to host the Senior Couples barbeque on Friday

evening. We had a wonderful steak dinner, cooked by Elder Eagar and

everyone brought something yummy to go with it. After, we sat in a circle

and told stories, laughed and enjoyed each others company. We had three

new couples join us as they were the replacements for the Eagars, Clarks

and Ely's. We presented a plack to those leaving as an appreciation of all

that they gave in the prime of their life to serving the Lord in the Arizona

Phoenix Mission. We have an amazing office staff that keep things running

so smoothly and we have grown to love and appreciate each of them so much.

Skonnard, Clark, Eager, Ely & Cherry

Elder Eagar doing his magic on the grill!

Magic in Sister Eagar's kitchen.

Welcome Williams who will take the Eagar's place

Elder and Sister Cherry have already brought much to the office as they have

applied their skills and talents to help us out.

A trip to Mesa Temple

After a long process of determining where each Elder & Sister will be for the

next transfer, we go to the temple to take it to the Lord for confirmation.

These are our dedicated Assistants, who work relentlessly during a transfer

to make it all go smoothly. You would get tired just watching them accomplish

all they do, not to mention living their purpose as a missionary. We love and

appreciate them so much. Thanks Elder Tripp, Brase, Klemme & Miles!

Leadership Training

The Assistants did a great job of training the Zone Leaders and District

Leaders at the meeting. This was a part of their demonstration; that as

leaders we must always have on our leadership hats and never take them

off and forget the responsibility we have.

Dr. Hawks - the Great One!

Dr. Jack Hawks and his wife Kathy have been a great asset and heaven sent
gift to us during our 3 years in Phoenix. He is a family doctor here in Glendale
but also has been called to be the mission doctor. We do not know how we could
have done the medical end of the calling without them. I am not kidding either.
He has been so good to respond to our calls no matter what time of day
it is to give us medical advice. Many a nights he has had missionaries come
to his home that have needed his immediate help. Did I say we could NOT
have done it without them. They have both added a sense of humor to the calling
which is sometimes needed. They are our dear friends and we will
never be able to repay them for their service to the mission!

Update on the Family

Abigail turned 8 in April and was baptised. She wanted to wait until nana and papa returned home but we told her she needed to go ahead. When the Hensleys were here in Arizona, Uncle Ryan video taped my baptism talk to be played at her baptism. Abby looked beautiful on the day of her baptism!

The Hensleys visited us also in April. This was the first time that papa got
to see our newest grandchild, Taylor, since he was born last September.
He has come a long way since the day he was

born 7 weeks early. He is such a fun addition to the family.

We were trying to get Taylor to sit up on the lawn by himself.
He has actually never sat or seen lawn before.

Nicholas and Ethan were fascinated by the cactus plants

Emma, Halle,and Eli didn't come with their dad this time. Only Jordan did to
do a little outdoor practice before his season began. Unfortunately, he met
with an injury the first day and was out of commission.
Jordan's team, coached by his day, is rated 5th in the nation.
Hopefully, we will be able to see a game before the season ends this year.


Taking in a little Red's spring training game with Jordan and Travis.

Isabelle, who will be 4 years old when we return home, asked her mom
why all of her aunts, uncles and cousins got to go to see nana and papa
in Arizona. She didn't think it was fare at all!

More Level Six Study Guide Recipients

Elder Abel

Elder Cook, Hair Choules, Sister Kolo , Elder Tripp and Brase

Elder Goddard, who was one of our first missionaries to go home
came and visited with his cute wife and new baby!

Elder Tyler Yorgason made a visit with his family this weekend!

Elder Browning just happened to be visiting the mission
at the same time as Elder Westbroek and his family. Sister
Beck checked up on their progress in finding their eternal mates.

Both need a little more focus to applying President Monson's counsel.

Another wonderful week

Mom & Dad decided they too needed to make a visit to the mission to see what a day in the life of a Mission President was like. I also know it was an excuse to get out of the dreary spring weather in Salt Lake. So they followed us around for a week, beginning with a Saturday evening Stake Conference and also a Sunday morning one. We were asked to speak that day so they liked that. One day they went to a specialized training with our Sister Missionaries. They loved being a part of that morning also. It was not a heavy week for us so I was able to spend some quality time with them and catch up on their history.
I was truly born of goodly parents .....and I love them!

We attended the Mesa Pageant again. Everyone needs to see the Mesa Easter
Pageant some time in their lives. We also had a dear friend from Cincinnati
that was here for a business meeting and he and a friend went also.
It was a very spiritual night for us.

Elder and Sister Pickerd, our area seventy sat with us also.

On Friday morning there were 17 hot air balloons in front of the house.
You can always see them rising early in the morning.
This was a record number for us to see. It was an amazing
sight to behold as they rose into the atmosphere.

Our New Spanish Assistant Elder Miles

Elder Miles joins Elder Klemme as our new Spanish Assistant

Zone Conference - Church Tours

This week we had our Zone Conferences on
"Revelation through Church Attendance".

We found that one of our powerful tools of conversion was Church Tours and it had been forgotten. We keep reminding ourselves that we have a lot of new missionaries that haven't caught up yet. So this was the focus. We had a Stake President at each ZC to instruct us, which is always a highlight.

A reminder to everyone that we need to put ourselves in our investigators shoes as
we invite them to church. It is a completely new experience for them and we
need to make them feel comfortable before they attend.

The sisters in the Relief Society provided us a delicious authentic Mexican lunch
and they went all out. We appreciate the love and service they provide
to feed the missionaries. We always sing "Armies of Helaman"
a song of gratitude after lunch. They love it!

Our mission fight song continues to get more and more intense every time we sing it.
You can see the energy they give it just from the pictures. It is truly a sight to behold.

This was the highlight of the day as we gave out the Fundamentals of Preach
my Gospel awards. Our missionaries are working really hard to be gospel
scholars. About 80% of them received awards this time.

It's birthday time again. Sister Turville, our honorary missionary,

joins our group of birthday missionaries.

Elder Romwell memorized the Family Proclamation
and received his buck knife that Harvey Gardner,
from Page Steel gives the missionaries when
they finish their memorization.

President's Sisters & Mom Visit the Mission

Every year the Beck Sisters plan an outing to get away and spend some quality time with each other. I have been obviously been absent from the scene for the past two years. They all thought it would be a good idea to come to Phoenix before we went home and enjoy a little warmth from the sun, which has been missing from Salt Lake for a long....time. Our time was short together but wonderful memories were made.

We took our P-day and drove up to Sedona to see the beautiful red rocks and spent some time shopping. Something that President hasn't really given me the opportunity to do when we have gone there. Actually he hates to shop. We enjoyed an ice cream cone,eating at a Mexican restaurant and each others company.

The highlight of the trip was a trip to see the incredible Mesa Pageant.

President Beck led his sisters and mom up Sunrise Mountain for the usual hike.

One night we spent reading from Valene's journal of memories growing up together.
We were sad Paul's brother Reed was not there to share the experience with us as that would have completed the siblings. We laughed and we cried together as we relived the events of their past. It was a wonderful four days together as they caught a brief glimpse of what our mission life was like. We had Zone Conferences
that week so they were able to come and participate in one of the days.

Our Last Mission President's Seminar

We went to our last mission president's seminar in April.
It was a bonus for me because the wives usually do not attend.
They are always a motivating and spiritual experience for us to
be able to listen to Elder Costa and Elder Ellis as they instruct
us on how we can implement new ways of becoming a better Preach
My Gospel mission. These are great men and women which have touched
our lives through their dedication and their service.

We will miss not getting together with them anymore.

Our Last Hike up Sunrise Mountain