The beginning of our new mission to Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temple

January 12, 2014 Dear Family, I thought I’d better write my first mission letter tonight since we are actually “on our way” so to speak. It is hard to believe that it was just four weeks ago that we received our mission call to the Quetzaltenango Temple. And it has only been 3½ weeks since our date to report was changed to January 13th. We begin our orientation and training tomorrow in the Salt Lake Temple. The last several weeks have been rather insane. I have literally worked about 16-18 hour days to get things ready. I did decrease the hours when I had family here right after Christmas. I loved taking time to play games a visit for a couple of days—but then they had to help me take down Christmas and pack things away. During those 3½ weeks we also had many family and Christmas events. On Dec. 20-21st we were in Mesa. Once a year we try to have a combined, blended family Christmas dinner. Once again, Chad and Ann Marie graciously let us use there beautiful home. It was so-o-o-o much fun to be together. Ben was a great Santa. It also gives us a chance to distribute gifts to our family. The following Tuesday, December 24th we went down to St. David, AZ to spend Christmas with Grandma Brown, who is 95 years old. She had been sick with the flu so I prepared Christmas breakfast and dinner. It was a great day. We also visited with Spencer’s brothers’ (Mark and Curt) families. We are grateful they are in such close proximity to help Grandma and allow her to live in her home. December 26th my Arizona kids came to Prescott for our annual Christmas dinner and visit. Sadly, Ann Marie had to work and Carolyn stayed home with Sonny who had pneumonia. We played games and had fun. On Friday night, the 27th, the Crawfords arrived from St. George, so I had four of my kids together! That was a real treat. We missed the Alexanders and Jason and Chandra’s family. On Saturday Chad’s family had to leave because they had company arriving at their home and Adam went back home to help and support Carolyn. We undecorated the Christmas tree that day and visited the Gingerbread Village. The following day we were so happy to have all or part of the Judd’s, Raymond’s, Brewster’s, Goodman’¬¬¬s, and the Jon Brown’s come to Prescott. Rachelle and Nathan’s families were still there from my side. In addition, Diane and Erin drove up and Harold and Kitty joined us. Spencer and I gave our farewell talks in church and then we gathered at the house for sub sandwiches and side dishes and lots of great visiting. We had great topics—mine was on Oaths and Covenants and Spencer’s was on Eternal Marriage. Great for departing temple missionaries. I’ll attach a copy of my talk for those who might be interested. That Sunday, the 29th, Dave and Gibson left as well as Nate and Christena; and of course all those who just came for the day. On Monday morning Rachelle, Sierra and I started working. I went back to waking up at very early hours to get a jump start on the day. We did a combination of purging and spring cleaning. Spencer took one load to the dump and we loaded up the truck with stuff for DI. We even sacrificed three boxes of books. While Rachelle brought down books from the upstairs closet (where Risa and Trevor will be) I sorted books in Spencer’s office and we organized all Spanish and scripture references books. On another day we sorted and re-organized all of the books in the library. I still had to get a tetanus (Tdap) shot and see a dermatologist (who took a biopsy off my back). It was a crazy, hard week, but we accomplished more than I can begin to describe. Everything is “spit-spot” for Risa and Trevor. We even took a break and for home evening we went to see “Saving Mr. Banks”. It was a great show. We especially enjoyed it because we had just watched the DVD of Mary Poppins. On Friday, January 3rd Rachelle went home for her anniversary. Spencer and I added to the DI load with stuff to give kids. We met James and Terry for lunch at Texas Roadhouse on our way into town. It was so nice to sit and visit. We then proceeded on to Audrey’s house where Cody was staying. We wanted time to visit with her during her visit from Colorado. Later we went to the park with Jon’s family, Ammon’s family, Brewster’s, Judd’s and Raymond’s. Kids played and ate and visited. It was a lot of fun to eat pizza and watch kids play. I made brief stops at both Adam’s and Chad’s. The next morning we attended a funeral in the morning and then visited Clate and Carol Mask (the former temple president in Guatemala City) for several hours. It was a great visit. On Saturday evening (4th) I attended a cousins’ party in honor of Aunt Pearl, who turned 90 y.o. Today is her actual birthday. Spencer stayed at Audrey’s to visit since he has been fighting a cold and generally not feeling well. I loved seeing so many of the people who influenced my life. I feel very blessed to be one member of such a great posterity. Aunt Pearl looked wonderful. We drove home late that night. It had been a full two days. So you can see that we were away from home several times—which decreased our time for mission preparations to about 2½ weeks!! It has been crazy. To make matters worse, Spencer has not felt good and has required more rest than normal and felt like he needed to exercise to help get his strength back, so he hasn’t been able to do most of the things he wanted to do. On Monday the 6th we enjoyed our final FHE get-together with Carl and Linda and Harold and Kitty. Harold and Kitty are feeling rather abandoned. I cannot cope with thinking that Carl and Linda will be moving to Utah after their mission, so I just keep denying it to myself. Tuesday I conducted my last DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers Meeting) and then turned the reins over to the first VP for the next year and a half. We also had to appoint someone to take Linda’s place as the Historian. Wednesday I was so happy to have Vicki Jo and Steve Anderson as well as Risa and the kids, bring us lunch. It was so thoughtful and such a treat to visit with them. Once again I feel blessed. Wednesday night was a special experience when we were set apart by President Brett Mangum. He pronounced many blessings. We were especially touched when he assured us that our families would be blessed in our absence because of our willingness to serve. He shared many other things as well. It was a challenge packing and weighing and re-distributing things to get the weight of our suitcases just right. All four checked bags weighed 49#. So we were very efficient! We drove to the Valley on the 10th and visited Ammon’s family then we visited Chad’s because we hadn’t seen Ann Marie during this crazy time. We had great visits. We slept at Chad’s and Saturday morning Hondo drove us to the airport. We are staying at the Radisson Hotel just a block from Temple Square. It is very nice. Saturday night we met Dennis and Sandy and John and Lynda for dinner in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We visited for a long time and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We LOVE our family. We never run out of things to talk about. This morning we attended Music and the Spoken Word. It was very touching. The theme was sort of on saying goodbye. The message was titled, “Love, Loyalty, and Belonging.” After the broadcast was over, Brother Lloyd Newell explained that he chose this topic because on Wednesday their son McKay will be entering the MTC to serve a mission in Australia. He talked about having to say goodbye. Then the choir sang “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.” Then the tears started to flow. I have held them in check up until now (partly because I was too busy to cry, and partly from self-control). Now I am feeling the pain of separating, but at the same time knowing that we are doing the Lord’s work. I just remind myself that like everything else in life, “This, too, shall pass.” It will be a great time, but is hard to leave loved ones behind. We attended church in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Cassie and John met us there. Rachel has grown just since Thanksgiving. We just happened to be in the ward of Elder Dallin Oaks and two of the Seventies. They sat on the stand. Being a downtown SLC ward, it was all older people. There isn’t a Primary or YM/YW program. It was cool to see High Priests blessing and passing the Sacrament. At the end of the meeting, the bishop had Elder Oaks take the extra time. It was wonderful to hear testimonies of finding the information and doing temple work for the dead. Another good send-off for us and a confirmation of the importance of what we will be doing. Elder Oaks mentioned that the world has become more challenging for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren than it was for him. I know that is true and that is why we will be praying for each of our posterity during this time. After church we came back to the hotel. Cassie and John brought a picnic lunch, but it was much too cold to eat outside. Rachel had fun crawling around the floor and the bed. It was so thoughtful of them to bring us food--and they left enough for our dinner so we won't have to go out on a Sunday night. What a beautiful little family. After they left, we crashed for two hour naps! Whoo-hoo! Maybe I can start to get some normal sleep now (last night was not good, but tonight should be better). Once again it was hard to say good-bye. We love you all. Please keep us in your prayers. Love, Mom/Jeanine