Graduation times two

Saturday, June 14, 2014

This week was eventful, joyful, and sad all at the same time. We attended two graduations this week. The soldiers that we work with are mostly all attending Military Intelligence training, however, there are several different carrier fields that they pursue. For example, some are trained in the skills of interrogation. Their job is to interrogate enemy prisoners and get them to share information. Some are analysts, who review photographic intelligence and determine what that can tell us. Some are IT guys who work on the computers and maintain the applications that are used. We also have UAV pilot operators and maintainers. This week, two of the groups graduated and we had soldiers in both groups so we attended their graduations. In total, we lost 6 soldiers this week. It will be painful to our little group but we also received two new soldiers this week to replace them. We are having a challenge getting some of the new soldier out to church as the army is not making it easy for them to come.

Soldier from Hawaii who graduated Thursday

Soldier who graduated Thursday, with his sweetheart

Our four who graduated on Friday, we will miss them all

Yesterday, we drove one of our soldiers up to Tucson to catch a flight. It was Alice, the young lady that we baptized about a month ago. She is a real joy. I talked with  her bishop in Alabama this week and he has talked with Alice and I am sure they will welcome her with open arms. I am a little concerned because he mother was not supportive of her decision so I am hopeful that things will go well at home. She did tell me a couple of cute stories the other day. When she was in high school, there was only one girl that she knew was a member of the church. Apparently, at that time Alice was quite active in her church and during a discussion one day, Alice told this young lady, "you are wrong!" She said, I am going to have to look that girl up and apologize to her. Another thing she mentioned was that since she was baptized, her parents, who were having some marital problems have started trying to make things better between them. She seems encouraged. I remember her telling me when she first came that her parents were about to get a divorce. I asked her what kind of things are different for her now, since she was baptized. She said  that she feels  the holy spirit so strongly now when she prays. We can really learn a lot from these new tender spirits.

Last night was our Monthly Coffee house activity. The missionaries came and hung out. It was really interesting, a young man came up and started talking with them. They talked for several minutes and I went over and stood and listened for a couple of minutes. He was talking about the church in Prescott, AZ. I asked him if he was a member. He answered no, his family was but he was not. I asked if he was raised in the church. He said yes. I then left it to the missionaries. At the conclusion of their discussion, he told them that he might be interested in coming to institute. It is amazing how people are not intimidated at all to talk with the young missionaries. I could tell he was not anxious to talk with me. Am I intimidating? Apparently so, my children tell me that I intimidated all their friends. I told them sometimes that was my intent.

Next week we have our last Zone training with President and Sister Killpack. They have been a joy to work with and very inspiring. We will miss them, but look forward to meeting and working with President and Sister Passey, who are from Houston, TX. The Killpacks will be going back to Delta, Utah where President Killpack is a pharmacist.

Our dear mission president and his wife, only two more weeks!

I expect that next week we should be able to announce the birth of our twin grandchildren. Kimberlee is scheduled to go in Tuesday if she does not have them before then. We have been so blessed while on this mission. If you have not previously considered serving, I encourage you to reconsider. If you are planning to serve, do not delay. You are needed.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers and prospective fathers out there!