Graduations, weddings and visitors...

We had a very exciting graduation for Lima Company.  Elijah Fields obtained the highest in the company and was selected as the Company Honorman.  We were very excited for his accomplishment.  The other exciting part came the day after graduation when he was sealed to his fiance in the San Diego Temple.  We got to share in this special occasion with him and his family.

We are very excited to welcome back Brother and Sister Lawson, who shared their time as military relations missionaries with us at the beginning of our time here.  They helped us every week on family day with our reception.  We shared lunch and caught up on news and will go to the temple together next week. We love them!

Finally, we will be returning home in three weeks and are trying to gather and figure out how we will get everything home.  We are shipping some boxes home and Camden is storing them.  Jim keeps saying that I should not have bought anything while here, but, it was a year and a half after all :-)

I mentioned months ago how I was assisting President's Schmitt's wife with her memory quilt for all the Elders and Sisters that have served in the California San Diego mission.  I didn't want to leave without at least completing the quilt top for her.  President and Sister Schmitt will be here until 2017 and the blank squares will be filled in at every transfer for those who are returning home.
Now she just has to find someone to put it together and quilt it once they return home.
I am so happy I could help her. It brings me joy to have something I can share.

 
We have given our farewell testimonies to two different groups now and it makes us realize how much we have gained through serving here.  We give our final talk to the recruits in one week and I am not sure how I will be able to keep from crying because we love these young men so much.
It will be hard to leave all the people that we have served with in the MCRD branch too.  I am already planning to come back for a visit later in the year and this gives me some comfort knowing we will see them again soon.
I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth in these latter days and I rejoice in the knowledge of our Savior's love for us and know no matter how much we mess up, we can return and find the joy the gospel brings.
We are very excited that soon we will be able to visit our children and grandchildren and share the love that we have for them. Families are forever!!!

A Lovely visit with Friends... (lots of pictures)

We had a visit last week from our good friends Greg and Susan Talley from New York.

They enjoyed the great weather and we enjoyed having them here.  We shared some touring with them. Jim gave them a tour of the Midway and showed them his A-6 Intruder on the deck.

 After our Midway tour we went to the Maritime Museum which was just down the street.  We got to go inside a submarine as well as several old sailing ships. We really enjoyed it.  I wanted to take pictures of some of the paintings we saw and share them (especially for Becky :-)

 I loved the old ships. Below is the Star of India.

Wednesday we went to the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park and they had a special exhibition focusing on Leonardo da Vinci.

 I did not know he was such a prolific inventor.  I only knew about his paintings.

 Leonardo's Robot!

The rest of these pictures are from the air and space museum also.  Jim was a great tour guide with his knowledge of the various aircraft.

 A model of the A-6 Intruder.

We had a wonderful week with great friends and great fun!  We are so blessed!

Turnovers and rain!

We have lots of senior missionaries going home in the next couple of months. During our FHE with the seniors we always have the couples both coming and going say a few words.  This is Elder and Sister Barnes.  They were the directors of the Mormon Battalion for two years and did a wonderful job.  We always enjoy going to the battalion especially when we bring some of our new Marines. 

We had an enormous amount of rain two weeks ago and because of that on Family day the Marines that attended our cake cutting reception had to wear their utilities just in case.  It turns out it did not rain on graduation and they were able to wear their Bravo uniforms.  This was the first time they were not in uniform for the reception, but their commanders did not want them to ruin their Bravos before the graduation ceremony.  They are still looking good!

The Marine farthest left in the picture above plays the flute and played for us on Christmas day. It was wonderful. Sister Baird rented a flute and he played without any practice. "Oh, Emanuel"  He will be part of one of the USMC bands.

These are four of the San Diego Elders who serve at MCRD and they come to help us with our reception. The boards are on display for the families to see what their sons have gone through and also where we have church.

On this board I have to update the pictures and the name of the company that is graduating each week.

This is our Christmas gift from Brother and Sister Bullick.  It got so tall and finally bloomed!

We have been preparing for leaving this mission by packing boxes and shipping them back to our home in Texas. Camden and Eric are taking them and storing until we get there.  It is amazing how much more we have in 18 months here and we only have our car to bring stuff home in.

We have very mixed emotions about returning home. We want to see our family and spend time with them, but we will miss the young men and all who have served with us at the branch.  We have had a glimpse of the love our Heavenly Father must have for us as we have grown to love all we have served here.

We know the Lord loves each of us and will always love us no matter what mistakes we make or failings we may have. He never closes the door; all we must do is reach out to Him and he will bless us for our wanting to be better.  These young men have shown us that prayers are answered and angels are always there to help if we but ask.

Lots of pictures, be warned!

 We went to the wreath laying at Ft. Rosecrans Cemetery again this year. Luckily, we got there early enough to have a seat for the ceremony. Last year we stood for over an hour because we were only 15 minutes early.
They have all branches of the military represented.

Elder and Sister Glahn hosted a Christmas FHE at their apartment. It was so fun. We had dinner and then did a white elephant exchange. I got a wonderful wall hanging I hope to quilt at home and Jim got a steamer! It was so funny!

 The Senior Missionaries were asked to help with gifts for those young Elders and Sisters who would not be getting gifts in the mail.  I was asked to make 10 Christmas pillowcases.  It was supposed to be easy and it was once I got the hang of it. They have french seams which I had never done before.

 We had our last graduation before Christmas.  On family day we had three Marines who were ordained Elders after the cake cutting ceremony.
Below is Tye Parsons and his Mom.  President Bennett did the ordination.

 We would have an extremely hard time during all we need to do on family day without the help of Elder and Sister Moore, who cut and serve the cakes after the ceremony.

 This young man is amazing!  He had been hurting  for a few weeks and received a priesthood blessing. He pushed through the pain and made it through the crucible.  It turns out he had a broken femur!  He had to have three screws placed and is now going to have to be in the Basic Marine Platoon for six months to recover. Hopefully, he will be able to work desk jobs while he recovers.

He was so happy he could go home with his family for the holidays.

 We were privileged to be invited to Kendal Ianuzi's wedding to Nathan Poulson, from Poway, California.  It is such a small world.  Nathan's family is good friends with Brother and Sister Baird, who serve with us at the base.

 We got to see many of our good friends from New York.  Below is Brittany and her husband, Grant.

 Don and Patti were wonderful!  We had dinner together the night before the wedding and enjoyed a great time catching up!

 Here is the happy couple.  Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Poulson!

 And the proud parents, Bill and Tawni!!  We had such a wonderful reunion with everyone!
We also spent time with Misa Morreall and had the opportunity to drive her to the airport after the reception and catch up.  We love all of our precious NY friends!

Finally, we got to give the Bairds and Bullicks their Christmas presents.  We love these couples who serve with us at the base.  We will miss them so much when we leave in March. We hope to come back for visits.

Of course, the men needed to have Marine Corps briefcases when they work on the base!!

While we serve here in California this holiday season, we are thinking of our friends and family and hope all will be blessed with health and happiness.
We remember the birth of the Savior of the world and the role he plays in the eternal plan by allowing us to return to live once again with Him.
We love the gospel of Jesus Christ and are so thankful to serve.

Senior missionaries are fun!

We have been helping Elder and Sister Moore on Thursday nights for the past 8 weeks as they taught the resiliency lessons for the military.  It is a program developed by the church for those military families who are dealing with deployments and how to strengthen their families through it all.

 Elder and Sister Moore were both teachers in Virginia and it was very evident in the instruction they gave these military families.

We also supported Elder and Sister Glahn as they put on a FHE for the military in their mission area.
It was fun and Elder Glahn is so talented. He has played in bands, told his conversion story and sang some very funny songs.  We were laughing so much!

Finally, I said I would show the quilt I have been working on for one of the FROs (Family Readiness Officer) who has served for three years and is leaving.
Sister Jones, who's husband is active duty, asked me to do this.  I gave her blank squares and she had everyone share messages of thanks for Michelle.

I gave her a large square for the center and she had the battalion emblem put on it and I think it really makes the quilt.
Another tender mercy story was I ended up with a blank gray square on the bottom and she said it was a wonderful blessing because the executive officer was gone when she had everyone sign squares and it was so good there was a blank one for him!

I have been working on gift for those we serve with and it makes me happy!!

We feel so blessed to serve all of these young men and to have so many who support and serve with us!!