April 15, Saturday

Today we set up the practice zip line.

We then had lunch. Elder Fullmer made some Poor Boy sticks for all the new (1st year) Challenge Course missionaries, so we made some dessert.

Elder and Sister Hansen joined us for dessert. Sister Sanderson served with Sister Hansen last year.

These were delish!!!

We walked to town to meet Hansen's and Sanderson's for dinner at the Spin Cafe.

On the way home we met a few friends.

These pictures were painted by Chris Thornock Humfrey's, a second year missionary.

She made enough copies for all the missionaries.

Beautiful artwork!

 

April 14, Friday

This is our first decent, homemade meal.

My "Cousin, Elder Archuleta" gave us an onion from his garden, so we fried it up and put it on a turkey burger.

We received more welcome treats from some other missionaries.

 

April 13, Thursday

Thursday, April 13, we attended the Provo Temple, as a mission. We then met at the Wilkinson Center at BYU for lunch.

We had the pleasure of hearing Sister Bonnie Cordon address us. She talked about unconditional love for the young women that will be coming, as well as the leaders. She also stressed the importance of being a good example and loving and supporting each other as missionaries.

She then had us sing as a group, "Peace in Christ". It was a very emotional and touching experience.

Training & Instruction Begins

Monday and Tuesday, April 10-11, was full of

and instruction.

We were drinking out of a water hose with all the information they gave us. Monday was mostly about facilities and guidelines. Tuesday was all about Medical and Emergency. Both days were very informative and who'da thunk that it could be spiritual, but it was!

They again fed us lunch both days and we ended the training with dinner on Tuesday night. 

Wednesday was going to be P-Day. A few days before we left on our mission, Dad broke a tooth. The dentist was so good get squeeze him in and get it fixed and a temporary cap put on. They were going to be out of the office while it was being made, so that worked out. Tuesday at lunch Elder Shelley called the office to see if the tooth came in and arranged to have his permanent cap put on his tooth Wednesday morning. So we headed home after the dinner to get that taken care of and to do laundry at home.

MTC Training & Mission Conference

 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (April 6-8) were full days of MTC Training in church dress.

Lunch was provided all these days and we ate VERY well.

Tuesday we found out which zone we would be in, which ours will be Challenge Course. We don't know which Challenge Course we will be on yet, though. We also went out to dinner with our Zones. Our Zone went up the mountain to Smith Pavilion and had dinner.

All days we would turn our "Relative Around Us" on the "FamilySearch" app, and see who was related to us. All of my relatives were from my mom's side. There was only ONE who I was related to on my dad's side. His name is Elder (Dennis) Archuleta. This is his second year, and last year he wasn't related to ANYONE. This year, I am his only relative. We are 6th cousins.

Elder Shelley also met MANY cousins.

This is Sister (Jaryl) Crawford. They are 3rd cousins, through Thomas Shelley & Charlotte Elsmore side.

This is a goody that the YW Committee gave everyone.

And this, my friend, is from Goochy Goo's restaurant. 

We went there TWICE so far. The first time was with Elder & Sister Hansen. Last year it used to be a yummy steak house. They changed this into a BBQ and catering place.

I had, BOTH times, the "Hot Mess".

It is a baked potato with pulled pork, bacon bits and gooey stuff on it. 

Elder Shelley had a "Scoops" meal. It has big Fritos and he choose pulled pork as well.

This is a blanket that all first years got from the YW Committee.

And this is the finished quilt that I put binding on. This had some fluffy batting and I had to finagle the back (because it was a little shy of the front) to make it reach.

These blankets are handed out to girls throughout the year that have had hard times or shown great faith while they were there.

Sunday, April 9, EASTER, we attended Sacrament Meeting at 2pm and then we went back to the church at 6:00 pm for dinner and the Mission Conference/Devotional. There were wonderful speakers throughout the whole MTC experience. The spirit was wonderful.

Did I say they fed us well?

Shoveling, Opening Social & Dinner

We signed up for a service project on Wednesday morning, April 5. We went with Elder and Sister McQuivey up to HVC a little early so we could throw a load of laundry in before we had to meet the rest of the group for snow removal. We didn't get the laundry done, so Sister McQuivey stayed and finished that while the rest of us went and shoveled.

The service project the day before was cancelled because there was too much snow and it was still snowing. So a lot of those people joined us on our day. Many hands made light work.

It is BEAUTIFUL up there with all that snow!

This next picture gives you a better idea of just how deep the snow is.

We were supposed to move our trailers up at the end of next week, but it might be two-three, maybe even four weeks longer than expected.

They have been working like crazy to get a lot of the snow off the roads just to get up there.

The campsites and cabins are still pretty much buried.

Notice the sign on the right side of the road is buried.

This is the laundry mat. There are 16 sets of machines. We will have to figure others times beside just on P-days to do laundry, because there are 83 sets of missionaries, and for the first couple of weeks we all have P-day on the same day.

This is the Guest Service building.

After shoveling some diesel and fuel tanks out, and at the highest pavilion, where some equipment was stored, we went back to the trailer and changed our clothes to go to the Opening Social from 1-4pm.

At the Opening Social we learned how to tie zipper pulls. They already had the name tag lanyards made, which was probably a good idea. The zipper pulls were hard enough.

They had a few more things they were doing. One was making mats, for refugees and the homeless, out of grocery bags.

There were two quilts set up as well. I brought one home to bind.

That evening we all met up to Lucy Mack Smith Pavilion for dinner.

This was just our table.

It is great getting to know these missionaries and see how we are related.