"Holey, Wholely, Holy"

  Grab you booties campers because it's cold outside, at least that's the word on everybody's lips, (everybody's chapped lips!). February has been a perpetual Groundhog Day and we're starting to wonder is Phil ever going to see his shadow? The snowing has stopped but the inversion is really yucky, and the bright sunny days are actually the most frigid of all! So what do you do with eternity? You just make the most of every single bitter cold day you're given. Bing! That's the ticket. I am truly grateful for turtlenecks and sweaters, earmuffs and gubs, long underwear, and Heatwarmer socks. If not for them, I should've surely perished by now. Apparently Salt Lake is not the only place suffering from bad weather (Even St George got snow!) I know I am truly wimpier than most when it comes to cold weather but even Rob has murmured a bit in our Siberian-like tundra environs. We should count our blessings though. Gratefully, the Lord has helped us to stay healthy through this month. But my socks are getting Holey Holey Holey, and aren't going to last much longer. Darn it. Hurry Spring! Or India! (Whichever comes first) 

This is not a handgun or a horse puppet

There were plenty of wonderful things to focus on this week other than the weather; Valentine's Day, some call it Singles Awareness Day, but we prefer Carbohydrate Overload Day, was great because it fell on our P-day.  We found the yummiest frosted soft sugar cookies for $4.80 a dozen at the Church Office Building (COB) Cafeteria and decided to treat our zone to 24 of them. Look out Swig, Crumbl, Crave, there's a new cookie in town. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea and we had other cookies, cupcakes, chocolates, and sundry treats aplenty in our breakroom that could've buzzed an entire starving nation. Still it was fun to indulge for a day with our zone friends in a festive environment.  At home we listened to our Love Songs Playlist all afternoon and had the most beautiful sunset ever, even if we could only look at it for a brief moment before hypothermia set in. 

Love was in the air

Vidhya, one of our Indian Young Adult friends moved into our very apartment complex this week and knowing we were close by, called us to help her move her things up to the 3rd floor. We were soooo glad she thought to think of us! It allowed us to meet 2 more Indian friends, plus her new roommate Anna from Mongolia, who's not the least bit bothered by the cold and was out sunning on the balcony. JK.

Vidhya, Bala, and Clinton. Anna, not pictured

We got an email this week from Elder & Sister Gibson saying they had met one of our friends in Hyderabad. What? How could that be? Well it was Ambika, the one-name sensation! She is back in India for a month visiting her family and had come to the meetings held in Hyderabad with Elder Uchtdorf. isn't it crazy to think someone in India knows us when we're not even there yet? We confess, it's been a little hard to see all those wonderful photos posted on Facebook of India right now, knowing we could've been there had the timing been different. Ah well, even in this desire we were duly compensated. We were blessed to have a devotional with Seventy Emeritus Tad Callister, the author of The Infinite Atonement. The Spirit was there in abundance and he taught us how to enhance our scripture study. All is well.

Sister Gibson, Ambika, Elder Gibson

We continue to console ourselves with all the marvelous visits we had this and every week. Our surprise family pop-in this time was Kinzi & Tom! It is such a blast to look up and see people you don't expect to be standing in front of you! Surprise!! They were coming down to Ogden to attend the temple and figured going 30 extra miles out of their way to surprise us would be a kick. We had a real great chat but since we were on our shift, weren't able to do much more than that. I was excited though to give Kinzi some of her Dunlap family names to take to the temple and even more thrilled to see the next day that Barbara Sanzi's endowment had been completed, thanks to her. Yay Kinz!

The Kunzlers and photobomber Gwen.

Just as promised, the Young Men of the Midvalley 6th ward, our old ward from 2013-2018, came to the FSL for their activity night after the Young Women did a few weeks ago. I mentioned before that we adored these boys when they were in our 7 year-old Primary class. Now they are shaving! We had yet another night of fun and merriment helping them do the ipad discovery activities. 

Imagine my utter surprise while helping James, who moved into the ward after we left, that we were 3rd cousins twice removed. Here, I'll prove it!

Rats, the glaring screen of the ancestral lines is not real visible but you can vaguely see only 3 generations before we find our common ancestor, William Parker and MaryAnn Child. Besides my siblings and daughters, this is the closest relative I have found since working here. It's Cuz Luv.

The guys had the most fun choosing their green screen backgrounds and hamming it up.

It was a double-dose treat this week seeing Bishop Dwight with the guys, and then again in his capacity as our attorney, getting our trust ready before we leave the country. In any and every capacity, He and his wife Jillyn are some of our dearest friends. What a blessing it's been to have bonus time with them.

We love all our friends and family

 wholely, wholely, wholely!

We could devote an entire blog to the friends we have made while serving here. (In fact, I think I will sometime in the near future). They have made getting up every morning and going to serve at the FSL a true joy. There are many types of missionaries that we serve with;  full-time couples, full-time single sisters, the service missionaries of both varieties who generally serve just 2 days a week, and a smattering of volunteers who come in much less regularly. We love them all and we're grateful when we can serve them with homemade sourdough bread, chicken soup for the sickly soul, helps with moves, temple trips, a listening ear, and general friendship. Gwen here, a single sister and not the photo bomber, needed help to put together an Ikea cubbyhole bench. With all of us chipping in and utilizing the power of extra sets of hands to just hold it all together, we were able to assemble it in less than an hour. In the process, we came to love Gwen even more from our time together. She is a dear soul. Service always leaves us feeling happy. You should try it! Daily!

Voila!

Our dear friend Jennifer from S. Africa recently had a huge scare when she learned she had skin cancer on her back. If I could show you the scars on her back, you would've thought she had had a run-in with a samurai and his sword. She has 2 large lacerations over her shoulder blades and back after her surgery. Earlier she had asked our Zone Leader Bryan and Rob for a priesthood blessing to guide the surgeon's hands to find the cancerous parts. They also blessed her that she could be completely healed, according to her faith in Jesus Christ and could resume her mission. She was out for a couple of weeks but here she is back at work, with a smile on her face, and now only complaining about her arthritic middle finger. We're so grateful for the Priesthood power of God that has been restored to the earth to bless and heal us in our times of greatest need.

"And with His stripes, we are healed" Isaiah 53:5

It was a wonderful dilemma to have the Bountiful temple so crowded and busy this week that the only free sessions we could find to attend were in the wee hours of the morning. Despite the added frigidity, there was a peaceful stillness to arrive in the bleak midwinter and see the lights against the darkened sky. It gave us such a feeling of awe and holiness. 

A light in the midst of darkness

We are blessed to be on this mission at this time and in this place. 

Holy, Holy, Holy are thy ways, O Lord.

 

The Pinnacle

 

         The morning sun on the Bountiful Temple

It was a glorious sight to see the statue of Moroni lit up with the morning sun this past Tuesday, February 7th. (The picture doesn't even do it justice.) It was like a sign for us of the pending experience to come. Like many of you who went this week, we thrilled at the clarifying changes we heard that morning in the temple ceremony. We felt deep in our hearts that the Lord Jesus Christ is preparing a people to be ready for His imminent arrival. The Bridegroom is coming for his Bride, (the church) and Elder Dunlap and I truly want to be wise virgins, ready with oil brimming in our lamps. The time is NOW to get to the temple! We encourage all of you to get there, get ready to get there, or get ready to get back there, whatever your case may be. It is GO TIME! Soon there will be no middle ground to rest on. We feel that our focus on the temple has been the pinnacle of our experiences here these last 3 months in the Headquarters Mission before we leave to India and one of the main purposes of our time here. Knowing we won't have this blessing soon, we have taken full advantage of being within a 1/2 hour drive of 5 temples, the Bountiful Temple only 15 minutes away. We've been motivated to find our ancestors like never before and offer them the opportunity to be a part of the First Resurrection. (It's a long time to wait for the 2nd!). Many of the names we reserved will expire during our time in India so this has also been a huge motivation for us, even though the expiration date keeps moving forward, for now. At some point, they'll go back to public domain. Just look at some of these great names of people and dates we've found on our lines! 

I've loved saying Fergusa MacErk's name with a proper Scottish brogue during the time I've done her work. I hope to meet her someday and learn about her life in Scotland in the 700s. You too can find these names in your own ancestral lines. A click and search rescue mission, so to speak.

We had some fun visitors at the library this week. My sister Laurel and her husband Tom came to check out the place and see if it would be a good fit for her. She's been giving tours at The Beehive House for many years but it is soon to close for renovations so she is scoping out her options for another service mission. There are no bad options when it comes to serving a mission and we know she'll find just the right one that matches her talents and experience. Good going Lolly!

On our late Thursday evening shift, I received a blast from my past. A gal came in that looked just like my post-college/pre-mission-days best friend Miriam. We both looked at each other with that quizzical look. "Mir, is that you?" Well, I wasn't too far off, it was her sister Annie that looks so much like her! It had been decades since I'd seen Annie. We had such a great visit, remembering our past and what we remembered of each other and a "Heinz57 catchup" of where our lives were now. Peanut and Bingo are all grown up! (That's the nicknames of her children I remembered somehow.) She was able to put me in contact with her sister Mir who I'd lost touch with when we moved to St George and it was so fun to remember again The Starlight Mint Chalet, Ponkies, Porkers, Licorice Allsorts, and many other things that wouldn't make a lick of sense to anyone else!

A happy reconnection

The group of Visa Waiters waxes and wanes through the weeks we've been here. We've seen many of them come and go. We and the Schramms (Norway) who got here the same day from the MTC are now the Senior VeeDubs. The Thurstons (Pakistan) have been here almost as long and they are so good about hosting FHEs, Sunday after-fast Pot Lucks, etc. for the gang. This picture also shows the newest arrivals~ The Oswalds (Peru) and the Jex's (New Zealand) We enjoy being in the same building as all these couples with the Oswalds right next door. It feels a little like college dorm living!

Classic VWs

I saw where the BYU International Folkdancers were performing for Winterfest at the Conference Center Theater on March 11th.  I adore folk dancing more than just about anything in the world; the music itself, the costumes, the cultural underpinnings of the movement. And how can you resist when all you have to do is walk across the street to see them? So we bought some tickets to give us something to look forward to next month. No sooner did we purchase them than that very day a few hours later we received an email letting us know our visas were submitted and received at the Embassy in Washington DC and are being processed. Yahoo!!! The email also said that in 2022 the return of the visas took anywhere from 20-63 days with the average time being 37 days. When we got out the calendar and counted 37 days from the 26th, that put us at March 4th, a very apt day to march forth to our appointed calling.  Yikes, now we have 2 reasons to be excited about March! We shall see if we have to give our tickets away or if we'll still be around. There are many missionaries who said they'd love to use them so we're not too worried about that. Isn't the timing of that too crazy? If we had read the email first we surely wouldn't have bought the tickets but maybe it will all work out. But that email gave us a lot of hope and reassurance that we are not going to have to apply again and India is just weeks away from becoming a reality. Hang with us! It's getting closer!

Finding Our Bearings

 Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night (like me right now) and due to a vivid dream or a new environment, (like a hotel room) not have the slightest idea where you are?! I have felt some mild panic in those brief moments until I can figure out my bearings. On other occasions, I'm awakened by the sound of a loud honk/gasp for breath by my husband who's flipped on his back and has become a "temporary mouth-breather." (We won't call it snoring). With just the gentlest of nudges I can easily coax him to flip back on his side so he can once again become a quiet nose-breather. And just that quickly, one of us is right back to sleep. Ah well...What a perfect time to write a blog in the dark of the morning. This wonderful and adorable companion of mine who I dearly love and desire to be by his side for all eternity had a birthday this week! I honored him by completing this puzzle as a gift. How generous of me.

                                       Rob's still getting his kicks at 66

Missionary birthdays are pretty low-key overall, but we had 3 days of feasting this week to celebrate him and thanks to all of your kind cards, texts, and Facebook wishes, he felt supremely loved.

Adding to occasional sleep deprivation, another disorienting aspect of our current mission life is our unique schedule. Because our preparation day (P-day) is mid-week on Tuesdays and we work on Saturdays, work a late shift on Thursday evenings with a half day off on Friday mornings for temple and research time (which makes it feel like a Saturday) we can't always find our bearings in this schedule. It's so different from what used to be our typical 5-day work week/2-day weekend. Gratefully our Sundays always feel like Sabbaths and we get grounded and reset for a new week. We've come to love this day of the week most of all. Every day of the week, after our daily morning routines, we ground ourselves with companion scripture reading and prayer. We read and discuss 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon and a Conference talk or Liahona article, interspersed with our own thoughts and testimonies on various gospel principles we're learning about. Sundays we proceed right after our study time to walking a mere block away to listen to Music and the Spoken Word with the Choir and Symphony at Temple Square. Wow, like I've said before; what amazing way to begin a week! It is a Spirit-infused 30 minutes that fills our hearts with joy and peace. We used to watch it on TV at home, but it simply can't compare to attending it "live" to feel the power of it. When it's over, we mosey back to our apartment to do our "Come Follow Me" reading and studying of the New Testament and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Often we extend this block of time by listening to Talking Scripture or Unshaken Saints podcasts while we prepare lunch, make bread, etc. Then we're off to our branch meetings at 1:00 for two hours held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building which allows us to renew our baptismal covenant weekly through the Sacrament. This ordinance recommits us to be followers of Jesus Christ and to be witnesses of him in all our thoughts and deeds. This is one of the most important things we do all week to get our spiritual bearings. 

This past Sunday we had an extra special bonus treat. We had invited our Indian Young Adult friends to come to our apartment for dinner after church. We had 2 no-shows but also at the last minute, Sowmya asked if 3 of her friends we'd never met before could come. Of course! We would've loved to squish us all in our apartment but the #s worked out well to fit us around our table with a little elbow room to spare. We welcomed Sam, Daisy, and Vidhya along with Sowmya and Gideion from the time before. What a dynamic group of young adult friends! Each one is so charming and personable and friendly! When we heard this week from another couple serving in India of the 500+ Regional Young Adults that gathered in Hyderabad and another missionary retreat that we missed out on, our little gathering was a sweet compensation for us.

                         Sam and Gideon in GQ mode. Did I mention they're handsome too?

As I was talking and getting to know Daisy, we thought it would be fun to become Facebook friends. Imagine my utter surprise when I saw we had two mutual friends already. 1-Eb Solomon (not that surprising) 2-Maddy Huerta. (very surprising) "How do you know Maddy, Daisy?" She replied, "Oh I'm good friends with her husband Franklin from Ensign College and I've become friends with her too". She asked me, "How do you know Maddy?" I said "She's my daughter!". Isn't it just too amazing?! We were strangers only 10 minutes before, but no longer. Making new friends and connections is a joy all its own. All this time we were talking, amazing aromas were starting to fill the air and oh, what a culinary treat our taste buds were in for! To think that we added curry powder to a stir fry or garam masala to Cream of Chicken soup over rice and called it Indian Food?!?!? Unh-uh! Sowmya, our cook extraordinaire has an entire spice wheel and the flavors she created were nothing short of spectacular! 

The Spices of Life

 

The first thing we learned that night was how to eat Indian food authentically

-with our hands! (See Rob's paw in the lower left corner)

Like learning to use chopsticks while on a mission in Korea, we think it's pretty essential to eat just like the natives do, and whatd'ya know, eating with no utensils made using my right hand much easier AND it forced Rob to slow down and savor the flavor instead of wolfing it down in one swell foop! I laugh now that I had gone hunting for extra forks from other empty apartments when they weren't even needed that night. (we both cheated a little and used them). Another thing we observed, they didn't generally drink water during their meal (thank you Ambika, we should've known it wasn't just you) and they prefer no ice in their water. Can we adapt? You bet!

Monday, the 30th, we enjoyed Feast #2, American style, with forks and ice water. We gathered at the Rohlfings with all my nearby siblings to celebrate all the winter birthdays; Rusty, Rob, and Lolly. With everyone contributing, the meal was wholly satisfying and delicious, but good golly, Ms. Lolly, you provided the lion's share with the main course and all the added touches! We greatly missed not having Kate and Diane & Jeff with us but felt them all there with us in spirit. Happy birthday to you all, from Utah to Idaho to Heaven! We're so blessed to have Paul back in our midst who had just a few days before moved back from Missouri to Utah. We all shared great conversation about our families, our faith, our heritage, our loved ones on the other side of the veil, and other edifying topics. We could've talked much later but some had to drive back to Salem and Midway, on an icy night no less. We're just so grateful we could be here for such a lovely time. It makes this mission time in Utah so exquisitely sweet! 

 Feast #3 came the very next day on our P-day, after another grounding experience in the Bountiful Temple. We were willing to drive clear across the valley to eat at one of our favorite spots in Sandy. According to The Gentleperson's Guide to Budgetary Feasting-- "If a party arrives at the Golden Corral between the hours of 3:45 and 3:59 PM, one can purchase a lunch meal for $10.50 for seniors Monday thru Thursday. Shortly after at 4:00, the steaks are put on the grill, sauteed mushrooms and onions are free for the topping, and the shrimp comes hot out of the fryer soon thereafter, with optional cocktail sauce available for dipping." One can enjoy a Steak and Shrimp dinner complete with salad bar, soup, roll, drink, a vast array of desserts, all at a fraction of the cost you might pay elsewhere." Yes, it was definitely worth the drive. 

And ending with a world-class birthday hug from Reid, the 3-day birthday celebration was finally deemed complete.    

Now it's time to get back to our austere life of prudence and moderation in eating. For us it's feast or fasting. But we will continue to feast upon the words of Christ daily for in them, we have the words of eternal life. Without that daily feasting, what else would provide our spiritual moorings and nourishment? We all need to find our bearings to bear the viscisitudes of this life and we have found ours! 

Here for the loooong stretch!

 

The near-end of January signified many things for us; 1- We survived the coldest and longest month of the year! (or so it felt) 2-It's nearly time for Rob's birthday! (More on that next week) 3- It's now perhaps the time we should activate our international medical coverage since it can only be done at the beginning of each month. (February is surely the month we leave for India, no?!?)

Although we've been told not to bother the Travel Department, we thought item #3 merited at least an email to see how the visa applications were coming along. What we learned is they are still waiting for one last pokey Elder to submit his application so they can all be sent in the same batch. So 2 weeks later, after we went to the effort to get ours in the very next day, we learn they are still at Church Headquarters and haven't even been submitted to India. Gahhh! Their educated guess of departure was, once submitted, it can take anywhere from 25-60 days to receive the visas back with the average time being 37. Well, yippee-ki- yi-yo. And here's where it gets a little crazy-making. Remember how we put February 22nd as our day of arrival in India on the last application? Because this is no longer feasible, won't that mean we will all have to reapply again? And couldn't this same cycle just keep continuing ad nauseum? I'm afraid we've entered a wormhole that has no end! But we are maybe imagining the worst. This is where we have to take a big huge deep breath and apply our latest mantra:

When others are being frustratingly Pokey, isn't this the ideal situation for us to be Gumby and s-t-r-e-t-c-h our capacities to not get bent out of shape?! So we are trying to stay positive through this. And hey, the bright side is we'll be here for RootsTech in March! Woohoo! And maybe even beyond! We can start wearing our hot weather clothes! We've thought it might be helpful to wear badges that state "We're happy to be here, please don't ask us about our visas"  because it's the usual conversation starter question we get asked many times a day. If we can keep in the mindset that we have already started our India Mission here, and count our blessings for all that is going so well, then we will make it to the other side no matter what or when. Believe me, there are far worse trials to go through, this is a cakewalk. Well, enough said about that. Let us move onward and upward.

Favorite Visitors This Week - a darling group of teens from a special needs school in Provo. We worked with them one on one. Their teachers had prepared them well to enter all their parents and grandparents' information into Familysearch. You can tell by their photo what fun, unique, and delightful personalities they had! I got to work with Demetrio who had an awesome mixture of Mexican and Native American heritage. It was amazing to see his Native American branch pop. As we clicked on various ancestors, Pretty Voice Woman, He Runs Away, etc. it was interesting to see that there was sparse documented sources but plenty of photos and stories which implies tons of oral history passed down from generation to generation. 

                                  

Yet ANOTHER family member came to visit us this week!  Our new son-in-law Tom, who's married to Kinzi, came down for meetings all day in connection with his church employment. He wanted to get on the road back to Burley before it got too dark but we had just enough time to print out some 2'x3' fan charts for him, his parents, and a sibling before we sent him on his way with a big happy grin, knowing his gifts will be treasured by his family. We think he's the treasure!

I think I may have mentioned last blog that tomorrow (Sunday) we are planning a Young Adult Indian dinner at our place after church, so yesterday (Friday)we took Sowmya shopping for all the necessities to make the meal at a great little market with "ethnically universal" groceries. She and her girlfriend are going to amaze us with their culinary skills! We can't wait! 

India Central ala SLC

While there, we met a man and who we thought was his son, helping him do the shopping. We couldn't help ourselves but start up a conversation with them, found out they were from Chennai which is in our mission, only to learn this was his daughter, not his son. Oops! I am always so impressed with little Indian children. Her English was so clear and concise and she was not shy to talk to adults. When I told her I used to be a school teacher and loved Kindergartners the father wanted to take a picture of me with her. so I asked if I could take one too of them.

                                                  

Well that about wraps up the highs and lows of the week but let's end on a high note with:

"GREAT MOMENTS IN FAMILY HISTORY"

This event did not happen in the library but over the phone. Rob's brother Steve, after hearing us talk about various ancestors in the Dunlap Tree in our blogs, was curious if he could gain access to all this free-for-the-taking information. But of course! So Rob called his brother in Boise and with a teleconference, helped him open up a free account and taught him how to navigate the intricacies that is Familysearch. I enjoyed just listening to the two of them banter, laugh, gasp in awe and amazement together while they shared funny and touching memories of their dad, mom, and grandparents for a good half hour.  They have such a close brotherly bond that I admire and am so grateful for. Steve and his wife Penny have been so very supportive of us going on this mission and I think Rob was truly happy to share some of what we've learned to do these past couple of months with his brother. We see this same joy that Rob & Steve felt almost daily in people who come into the library from all over the world. It is real. I feel a twinge of sadness for people who are estranged from their family because I know those family relationships are eternal, that we are all born into our family and life situations by divine design and they don't need to be divided by death, shunning, or estrangement. I know firsthand that the Savior Jesus Christ has the power to heal the broken branches of our family trees. If we come unto Him with humble hearts, he can mend our hurts and misunderstandings. I also know too that because He broke the bands of death, he offers the whole human race "ethnically universal" resurrection. We will all live again and can enjoy these family relationships though Christ's Atonement and beautiful and eternal Plan of Happiness. Have a good week everyone and go hug someone in your family you love immediately! Life is short!

Rob's hero-brudda Steve

 P.S. If any of you would like to read of happenings in India, may we recommend our friends the Neff's blog below. They are Humanitarian missionaries in the New Delhi mission and we love hearing and seeing in photos what they are experiencing. 

https://rickneff.us

Ode to Joy

 Mission Life... Shall I compare thee to a winter's day? A snowy-blowy, sleety-slushy, soggy-foggy, icy-windy kind of bleak experience? No, I don't believe I will. Granted, we have surely seen plenty of "moisture" this past week in its various forms to color the background tone of our week. But in truth, there's been Sunshine In Our Soul(s) and we've scarcely even noticed the weather. It verifies the truth of Russell M. Nelson's statement that says our happiness has very little to do with the circumstances of our life and everything to do with the focus of our lives. We just keep having the best week of our life, over and over again! This may sound a bit boastful to say that, but we are not boasting of ourselves, we can only boast of our God, for in His strength can we do all things, including being perpetually happy in the midst of a Utah Winter. He is providing us with a most abundant life and I hope to convey that in this week's blog if nothing else. We just never know what joys each day will bring, here's a few from this week~

I'm sitting at the front Information Desk at the FSL looking out the giant glass doors when I see a young man approaching. "Man, that guy looks so much like Rob's son, Ryli." The closer he gets I realize, oh my word, that is Rob's son Ryli! He was flying home to Idaho Falls from spending time in Reno but the weather wouldn't allow them to land so they rerouted them back to Salt Lake for an overnight's stay and booked them on the next evening's flight. So without any advance notice, he just shows up on our virtual doorstep, much to our utter joy!

Rob was on the moving committee that day, getting new missionaries into their apartments, so he was nearly done with his assignments and was able to spend a good portion of the day with him. I joined them for a fun night out of food and conversation in downtown SLC. This makes seeing 6 of our 8 children during our time we've been here. Incredible! That's 75% when we were expecting 0. What unbelievable joy! C'mon Breydi and Paisley, we're on a roll!

Another joyful encounter was when our old Sandy Midvalley Ward's Young Women had a Family History activity one evening this week at the FSL. We were in heaven seeing old friends Jillyn, Jana, Jen, Kelly and Steve.

Even more fun was seeing some of our then 7 year-old Primary Class members all grown up as teenagers! I only wish I had taken a picture of the whole gang. It was a blast playing all the interactive games with them. What a lovely group of young women they have all grown up to be.

                                             Rob, Jana and Marley

There's a distinct possibility the Young Men of the ward will be following suit and coming in the near future. We hope so! Other amazing visitors came this week, including some of our newest favorite subset--people from India! Vijai, a newly baptized member came in with 3 sister missionaries. We were excited to tell him about our small young adult group that we plan to have another FHE with before we leave. He is a student at the U and will be in Utah for 2 more years. Perfect timing.

Then...2 more women came in from Bengaluru, India on the very same day! They spoke English and Tamil, our latest "language of the week", so they taught us a few phrases. Nandri! (Thank you!) We also told them about our growing Family Home Evening group and they said they would love to meet with other Indians and would be happy to cook some food for our gathering too.

                                     Rosaline and her sister Swathi

As it turned out, we found out these women were not young adults but have husbands and 4 children between them so now we're in a quandary, do we invite all 12 people plus us into our tiny apartment with 4 chairs? We have not decided yet what to do but stay tuned to what shakes out (our motto is usually the more the merrier!).

Rob took a real shine to this young man Christopher and let his inner Cub Scout emerge as they talked like a couple of 9 year-olds together. They formed an insta-bond. I think it was the common love of old man hats and satchels that started it off.

Now its that time again for GREAT MOMENTS IN FAMILY HISTORY! Meet Linda and Sharon, two friends who came in from a small town in Nevada. I was working with Linda, she didn't know her father or even his name so half of her tree was already bare. She told me her deceased grandma's name was Amy M. Married Name but she didn't know her birthdate or where she was from. We searched to find anything that might shed some light on her existence but came up empty. We guessed at her approximate birth year and entered it into a census search. Up came a woman named Amy May...... (Can't say for privacy purposes) from a nearby Nevada town where they were from. She had never known her grandma's maiden name but she thought this had to be her, the May of her middle name sounded exactly right. As soon as we entered Amy May Maiden Name, records right and left started popping up, including marriage records to her grandpa, confirming it was indeed her grandma. Then we just watched her family tree populate with ancestors to the 1500's. She was dissolved to tears, she could hardly take it all in. After it had all sunk in, I asked her if she wanted to do any more digging on the other side of the tree but she said she was too overwhelmed for one day but promised she'd do more digging on her own. So we printed her and Sharon a fan chart and she cried again when we told her there was no charge. You would've thought we had presented her with diamonds and rubies but such is the value of knowing your roots and finding lost relatives. (Cue the Relative Race theme song.) Her reaction reminded me of Ammon in the Book of Mormon that we had just read that morning.. "Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full, yea he was swallowed up in in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness." 

 

I love that we can give this experience of finding family to patrons, completely free of charge. Do you agree that the best things in life are free?! Or relatively inexpensive at least? How can you not feel joy when you go to Deseret Industries, hoping to find a pair of khaki pants and find a brand new pair with the tags still on and an unused missionary journal too, all for under $10.00?

Oh dear, now I fear I have given way to boasting. But once again, I will praise God and his goodness and our shopping angel, who always helps us find miraculous bargains just when we need them. 

In closing, I'll share a few pictures of "Things that Remind Us of Home." 

Rob's old job right in front of Temple Square

Our pet Matt incarnate!

Last summer, we introduced the series "All Creatures Great and Small", to Linda, our dear friend who was diagnosed with Leukemia and Barb and Tim, her next door neighbors. The 5 of us had our own little film festival and watched Seasons 1 & 2 all together at Linda's home. Such happy memories!  Imagine our joy when we found Season 3 available on our computer at PBS.ORG. When we heard the intro music, our hearts were completely swallowed up in joy, remembering all of our dear friends back home, praying and hoping they will all be there when we return, God willing. 

Lastly, we switched a toggle , that allows you now to leave comments here without having to log in to your Google account. Yay! We would love you all to share something with us that gave you complete joy this week, big or small!

We love you all so much and thank you for your interest and support in our mission,

The Sunny Dunlaps

De Ja Visa

 The week was going along swimmingly when mid-course we received a dreaded email from the Travel Dept~ "We're sorry to inform you, you will need to re-apply for your India visa, changes have been made that require new responses-1) All missionaries, going to either mission will put as their airport destination city- New Delhi, 2) All visas are for the duration of 1 year, 3) the new departure date is February 22 or before."

 Although we were a tad dismayed at the thought of another delay, we quickly dropped everything, jumped through the hoops, and filled out the online paperwork (again) and promptly returned it in person back to the Travel Department by the next day. She said she had 2 of the 6 elders' applications as well, so once the other 4 submit them, they can then send them all off in a batch. (Heavy Sigh.) No, don't mistake our sigh, mind you, we have no problem in staying here longer in the Church Headquarters mission, it's only a matter of adjusting your mindset. And it's just helpful to know when you have to buy your last bottle of salad dressing, that's all, since we had started to thin down our supplies. And who knows? It may be very evident in hindsight the purpose for our delayed departure. We consider this more time to assist our kindred dead with our access to several temples and to see Music And the Spoken Word live every week. What blessings! These are two of the many perks we surely won't enjoy in India. In turn, we have felt the joy of actively gathering Zion on the other side of the veil. It's pointless to worry about the 1 year limitation at this point. 1) Policies could change, 2) we could end up in SriLanka, which is part of the Bengaluru Mission but requires a different visa, 3) we could come right back to where we are now, 4) None of the above. For now, all we need to worry about is the next step in our 23 month mission so we will put all trust in the Lord to figure out those details when the time comes. Until then, Carpe Diem!

So on to the rest of our week~ 

It's time for "Great Moments in Family History!" We attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to do the baptismal ordinances for Rob's great great grandparents Andreas Larrson Finn, Carolina Andersdotter and their 5 children (and their spouses and a couple of their sons too) with our Swedish genealogist friend Collette and her niece Nicole. 

                                                 Points for spotting Nicole, the photo bomber.

On my very own, with a little further digging and research, I was able to find additional family members; spouses, parents, and some grandchildren, which for me has the same sweet satisfaction as working on a jigsaw puzzle, I just have to find that missing piece! In Sweden, each son takes on the father's name as part of their surname as do the daughters, But at some point in history, they switched to keeping the same family surname the same as their father's surname, so it can be tricky to know which it is. Also when they immigrate to America, some of them simplify the spelling of their last name, for example, from Andreasson to Anderson, or their first name from Johannah to Hannah, Lovisa to Louisa. So that too can be sometimes confusing. It's been a real sleuthing job to look at dates and names and I admit it can be tedious at times but I thoroughly love it, which surprises me, I never thought for a minute I would be a family historian-type. My greatest discovery was when I saw another Swedish record that showed a marriage in 1868 of Andreas to a woman named Maria Sophia Andersdotter. What? I thought Carolina was the mother to all these children!? Then I started putting the pieces together- Baby Lovisa was born on October 31, 1867, and suddenly there's a marriage to a new woman with the same last name as his first wife in 1868. Are you coming to the same conclusion as me? Carolina must've died in childbirth or shortly after and perhaps it's her sister, 10 years younger, maybe a widow, maybe never married, who steps in to take the job of caring and raising this newborn baby. It was literally the night before going to the temple that I found his second wife, Maria Sophia so thankfully we were able to include her with the experience of being in the temple together with her kin. It was a beautiful time spent in the temple and of course, one of the workers knew a pastor from India that she had met and interviewed when he came to visit Salt Lake for a world religion convention so she gave us his contact information. You just never know when you meet people inside the temple what the purpose might be. We are never surprised anymore when this happens, because it is practically every time, the norm now, not the exception.

  Another temple meeting in the Bountiful Temple with the Tews. They served with my brother Bill & wife Rusty in Austria and they had friends who served in Sri Lanka who they put us in contact with. The badges are a sign of instant comraderie to start up a conversation!

Today 3 siblings and their aunt came in to the Familysearch Library.  (Yes, the new name was made official on the 10th! We will refer to it hereafter as the FSL) Their mother had passed away in the hospital that very morning. They were from out of town with a lull in their schedule, they said their mom loved doing family history so they thought to come here. I have never seen a family so exultant as they watched their family lines populate. I think their emotions were so tender and jubilant as they talked about family members and perhaps in this discovery, felt a very close connection to their mother. Perhaps she was still very near. It was very beautiful to watch and listen to their experience, without being directly involved. Unfortunately my photo doesn't capture a bit of the emotion they were feeling.

                                             The aunt, daughter, and two sons on the phone 

Last of all, just some photos and videos of extra special friends we have mentioned in past blogs~

Tab and I clad in our earmuffs

                        Marie who's NOT wearing her earmuffs, I might add!

Last of all~ Take a moment and watch this video of our sweet friend Reid who works at the FSL every weekday. He is truly The Greatest Showman! You can see his exuberant spirit shine through and his impressive talent too. It's everyday people we meet and come to love that make living a joy and serving a mission so rewarding. Carpe Diem everyone!