Christmas Phone Call

What a treat to be able to talk to Michelle on Christmas Day! She and her companion were able to spend almost the whole day at the Dickson's home. They are a member family in the area where Michelle is serving. They had an Internet phone so I was able to talk to Michelle for quite a while, and it didn't cost anything. It was so great to hear her voice.

Michelle is doing wonderful in Anchorage. She is really enjoying the work. She says the pace is hectic, but she loves it. The weather has been really cold, but she isn't having any problems keeping warm. She says the people up there are really nice, even if they don't want to hear what she and Sister Hubbard have to share with them.

Christmas was special for her. A few weeks before Christmas I received an email from the Dickson's. They asked me what kind of things Michelle usually got in her Christmas stocking. They wanted to provide a little bit of home there in Anchorage for her. I told them the traditional treats that I always put in her stocking, and the Dicksons were able to get the items and have a special Christmas stocking from "home" for Michelle. That's so cool! Thank you Dicksons!

Words of Wisdom

Thanks Bobbi!

Merry Christmas

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." ISAIAH 9:6

In this Christmas season, our family wishes you and your family, the peace offered by the Only Begotten of the Father, Him whose birth we celebrate, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Mail Call!

I received another email from Michelle today. She says she doing great! I asked her if she was having any problems staying warm. She said that they wear enough layers that she hasn't had any problems.

This Wednesday is the mission Christmas party. She is looking forward to that. I sent her a package to the mission home, so she would have a present waiting there for her. She's excited to open it.

The teaching is going well, and she and her companion are excited that they have some people progressing towards baptism.

It was a short email, but I could tell she was excited to be there doing the work.

Weather Statement

We've had a huge wind storm here in western Washington. They're calling it a 100 or 200 year storm. Over 1.5 million people are without power. It could be a week before everyone gets it back. It is our family prayer that everyone will be okay. We are fine and received no damage. We even have power. Just no broadband Internet. I'm using dial-up to post this. I'd make some jokes about how slow it is, but with so many people without power or heat, it's probably not very funny... Everyone keep safe. Our prayers are with you.

New Pictures!

I've added two new pictures to the Mission Photos link. One is Michelle with her Mission President and his wife. The other is with her companion and trainer, Sister Hubbard

Mail Call!

I received an email from Michelle on Monday. She's doing great. Here's an excerpt from her letter:

I'm glad you've enjoyed the pictures! I had so much fun at the MTC, I'm seriously considering applying to teach there after my mission-I think that would be such an awesome job! :D We'll see though, I still have 17 months to figure everything out. I had my first "click day" on Friday the 8th...whoo hoo! I don't know if you know what a click day is or not, but it's the day that you entered the MTC, so mine is the 8th of any month. Yay! :D lol.

Yeah...Elder Scott was AMAZING! :D Wow...

I'm not sure if I'm moving in January or not, but that's when Transfers are so I might be. Sister Hubbard thinks I probably will. I'll send you an email/letter a week or so before transfers to tell you to send stuff to the mission office until you get an address from me, that way things don't have to be as confusing. Transfers are every six weeks.

I haven't gotten your Christmas package yet, our big Christmas Zone Conference is on the 20th and that's when we should get everything.

Yeah, the guys are already after me...it only took me being here for 4 days...crazy. Exciting news regarding those investigators though-they have a baptismal date set for the twenty-third! :D

So,you got my package that I sent? Awesome! Feel free to put most of those pictures up on the blog-I'm still vain though so don't put any up where I look ridiculous.

You said that you got a letter from President Lewis, was that the one with a picture of Sister Hubbard and me, and the Lewis's and me? Those were taken our second day here in Alaska when we got our assignments and everything, so if I look a little overwhelmed that's why..lol.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up so I can write to Caiti. I love you and I miss you guys! Tell everyone hello for me! :D

love,'chelle

New Pictures!

Check out the Mission Photos link!

Mail Call!

Finally, I received the much anticipated letter! Here's some of the details of her letter... It's cold! It actually warms up when it snows, but the snow is so dry, it won't pack to make snow balls. Her new companion and trainer is Sister Hubbard, who is from Idaho. She's been on her mission for almost 11 months. She and Michelle get along great and really seem to be hitting it off well. They both like to sing and are already scheduled to sing in church the end of this month.

Michelle and her companion have been teaching two people (investigators), who seem pretty interested in the gospel. They have since turned them over to the Elders because they wanted to go to the Young Single Adult ward. Michelle thought that was a good idea anyway, because one of the investigators had a crush on her and was disappointed the she doesn't date while serving a mission. Everyone is giving her a hard time (jokingly) because she's only been there for a week and already has someone crushing on her.

Right now Michelle is serving in the Chugach Foothills area of Anchorage. She'll be there until at least January, so if you want her address, check the address link.

Email!

So, I received an email from Michelle today! How exciting. Unfortunately, she was mostly just testing it and she really didn't tell me much. I still don't know where she is in Alaska! She did tell me that she mailed a letter today, so as soon as I get that I'll let you know how she's doing.

Anyway, here's the email address for Michelle:

shortnsweet164@myldsmail.net

It is good for the duration of her mission. I don't think this address accepts attachments. Michelle has also specifically asked that no "forwards" are sent.

As with the regular mail, keep it upbeat and remember that even with email, she still only has one day a week to read and write it. You may not always get a response. She's very busy on her p-day.

I will post this on the "Current Address" link, as well.

Off To Alaska!

As I write this, Michelle is on her way to Alaska! Her plane left Salt Lake City at 8:05 this morning. She actually has a layover here at SeaTac, and then on to Anchorage.

Have a safe trip Michelle!

Edit:

Just some fun facts about Anchorage today:

At 9:45 a.m. it was 5 degrees F. !
Today will have 6 hours, 12 minutes of sun. Tomorrow will be almost 4 minutes shorter.

Mail Bag!

I received another letter yesterday! She wrote it on Thanksgiving day. Here's the gist of it:

They had a pretty much traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She didn't know that they had yams and green bean casserole until after she had already left the cafeteria. She was really disappointed...NOT. She did get some pumpkin pie though, and she was pretty happy about that.

Thanksgiving day started with a continental breakfast. From there they met the rest of their district in their classroom and then headed over to get seats for a devotional at 9:30 am. She was pretty excited because they got seats just 8 to 10 rows back from the front. The speaker was Elder Richard G. Scott, from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! Michelle was very excited to be able to listen to him.

The speaker they had Thanksgiving evening was John Bytheway. Michelle said he was Awesome!

Last Sunday the speaker for all the Sister Missionaries was Sister Bonnie D. Parkin the Relief Society General President for the church. These are just some of the great speakers that Michelle has been able to listen to in the short time she has been there. She rattled off several other prominent speakers that she really enjoyed seeing as well. She was also looking forward to a humanitarian aid speaker this last week also.

What exciting times! Michelle has thoroughly enjoyed her time in the MTC.

Address Change

Since Michelle will be leaving the MTC this Wednesday, the 29th, It's now best to send mail to the Mission Home in Anchorage. After she arrives in Anchorage, she'll get assigned to a new companion and a new town or city.

See the link for "Current Address" for more information.

As a side note... the temperature in Anchorage tonight at about 10:30 pm was 3 degrees!

Christmas Package

Hi everyone,

As you know, Christmas is just around the corner. Within the next 5 to 7 days, I’m going to be sending a Christmas package to Michelle. I thought it would be really neat if she could get letters and pictures from all her friends. If you would like to participate, please email me a letter, and if you have any recent pictures, those too. I’ll print them up and put them in the Christmas package for Michelle. Of course you’re all welcome to send her letters on your own, but I thought it would be neat if she got a package full of letters and pictures.

Thanks everyone and Happy Holidays!

Okay, so the picture might be a little silly, but we all have much to be thankful for. Here are just a few of the things I'm thankful for: My wonderful family, My Savior Jesus Christ and ideed, my very life. I hope you all take some time today to think about the blessings you have in your life. If you can't think of any, start thinking about what you have now, that you would miss if it were gone tomorrow.

Below is an exerpt from the LDS Church News

In 1863, amid horrible devastation, President Abraham Lincoln carefully noted all for which the nation should be grateful.

Then he wrote, "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

And yet today, amid material blessings that would make earlier generations blush, too many people have forgotten gratitude. The results affect us both spiritually and emotionally.

We Just Got A Letter!

Well it finally came. The first letter from Michelle! It was dated Friday, November 17th. Here are some of the highlights:

First of all she wanted me to let everyone know that her "P-Day" is on Fridays. That's the day that she can write letters, among many other things.

As most of you may know, missionaries are assigned companions and are always with that companion 24/7. It's a safety thing and a scriptural thing. The Lord has said: "...and in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. " So that's why you always see Mormon missionaries in twos. Well, Michelle actually has two companions, so there are three of them. One is Sister Grubbs, who is from North Dakota and the other is Sister Pedersen, who is from Utah.

Missionaries are grouped together as companionships. Several campanionships make up a District (there are 11 missionaries in Michelle's District). Several Districts make up a Zone, and lastly, several Zones make up a mission, or where she is right now, makes up the MTC. So, anyway, on Friday, the Zone that Michelle is in went to the Provo, UT Temple. She said it was beautiful and it was good to be there. Later, on Sunday they went back and took some pictures of the temple grounds.

Michelle has been enjoying being at the MTC. She likes the teachers, and the classes. She really looks forward to her gym class everyday. Her own words were: "I've never looked forward to gym this much in my entire life, weird huh?". I imagine it's a nice break from sitting in a classroom studying all day. She says the food isn't too bad. So the whole gym thing is probably a good idea.

Well, that's about it for this letter. When I get some pictures I'll post them under the "mission photos" link.

Waiting...

As you are probably figuring out, the updates here are going to be further apart. Any news I get from Michelle, from now on, will be by mail. Once a week she has a preparation day ("P-Day"). That's the day she uses to prepare for the coming week. It's a day of shopping, laundry, planning, etc. It's also the day where she'll have time to write letters. So hopefully (I'm not counting on it), we'll hear from her once a week. Since she's been at the MTC for about a week and a half, getting mail this week isn't looking good... :(

Thanks!

As I reflect on this past week of activities, I just want to publicly thank all those who have had a positive influence on Michelle's life. I especially want to thank the Bakers; Mike, Dawneen, Heidi, Ryan, Adam, Joseph and Hanna. They are the family that Michelle has been staying with this year. They have been a wonderful, guiding influence on Michelle as she has prepared to serve her mission.

And now... We're just waiting for the first letter from "our" missionary!

Thanks everyone!

Missionary Work

Here is some information about missionary work in our church.

More About The Address...

I've created a link on the right, just below "Where is Michelle Now", for Michelle's current address. I will update it immediately with any new address she gets. One note though... for safety concerns, I will only post the address on this site if it is a P.O. Box. Otherwise you'll be directed to send mail to the mission home address. If you would like her actual, current address after she leaves the MTC, call me. Ahh... the world in which we live...

Michelle's Address

Here is Michelle's address at the MTC, where she will be until November 29th, 2006:

Sister Michelle Barrett
MTC Mailbox #180
AK-ANC 1129
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Please try and follow these guidelines in your letters to Sister Barrett:

Try not to say things in your letters that might make her homesick.
Offer lots of encouragement and uplifting news.
Try and stay away from very emotional letters.

Remember that she loves to receive letters, but is also serving full time as a missionary. She may not always have to time promptly reply.

When Michelle moves from the MTC, I'll post another address.

On behalf of Michelle, I thank all of you for your love, support and encouragement as Michelle takes this huge step in her life.

A proud dad

Missionary Training Center

This morning, Michelle and I headed down to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. It was about an hour and forty five minute drive from Pleasant View. Once there, we were greeted by many friendly missionaries and staff. We then went into a short orientation meeting and listened to some short talks from the the president of the MTC and his wife. We saw a short video of some of the things that go on there and then received a schedule for the rest of that day.

At the end of the short orientation, Michelle said the closing prayer, as she had been asked previously by one of the MTC presidency. Then there were many tears in the room as missionaries and families said good bye to each other. It was very emotional. It was the hardest, most wonderful, happiest, saddest day in my life. I will miss her for the next 18 months.

Temple Square

We had a great time in Temple Square yesterday. The Temple is beautiful, inside and out. The grounds are really nice. They are already starting to put up Christmas lights! We had dinner at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It had an open roof! It was a beautiful night and it was fun to be there. If you have never been to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, I urge you to go. Even if you're not a member of the church. It's a beautiful, peaceful place to be.

When we got back home to Pleasant View we went to the church so that Michelle could be officially "set apart" as a full time missionary. For those of you who are not familiar with our church, missionaries are "set apart" or officially given the authority, by the power of the Priesthood of God, to serve our Lord as one of His full time missionaries. She was also given some heartfelt advice and testimony from her local church leaders, and then a beautiful blessing to help her on her mission. It was a very spiritual evening... and day.

Getting Down To The Wire

Well, it's getting down to the wire here. Michelle goes into the Missionary Training Center tomorrow! She's almost packed. Just a little bit left to do.

Today we're heading down to Salt Lake City. Michelle and I are going to go through the Temple and Caiti and her cousin, Heidi are going to do proxy Baptisms for those who have passed away. Afterwards, we are going to tour around Temple Square. It should be a wonderful day.

Yesterday, we went and visited my Uncle Paul, who lives here in Ogden. One of his daughters, Sandy was there as well as another cousin of mine, Madge Baird. It was good to see some family and let the girls visit with some relatives they didn't know.

Eat Drink And Be Merry...

... For tomorrow you may be in Utah. We're here! It's good to be out of the truck for an extended period. We had a pretty much uneventful drive from Boise to Pleasentview. This picture is representative of what we saw the "whole" way. As we looked out at the expanse of... nothing... we were grateful the we weren't pioneers, who had to travel through all this in wagons and hand carts... and take months to do it, instead of hours. Thank you pioneers for your sacrifices!

Famous Potatoes

Yup, we're in Idaho. We had Mostly rain free travel from Portland to Boise. From Portland to about Pendelton is actually pretty scenic. From Pendleton on, "nothing" is the word of the day. It sure makes me appreciate the rain and the green of western Washington.

We just got through finishing our Chinese food from last night and watching the original "King Kong". Wow, special effects have come a long way.

We'll check in later. Take care y'all!

Up an' at'em!

We're up and getting ready to head off to Boise, ID. We had a good, albeit, short sleep. We're going to go check out the free continental breakfast they have here, or... you guessed it; Chinese food. Yum!

We'll check in later tonight!

Checking In On The Road...

Well, we're on our way to Utah! Right now we are in Portland, OR. Michelle and I went to the Portland LDS Temple. It is a beautiful temple on the inside. It was raining and dark outside so we really didn't get to see what It looked like on the outside.

We are spending the night here in Portland. Tomorrow we're heading to Boise, ID. Hopefully we'll have nicer weather.

We had Panda Express for dinner... not bad food really. We bought more than we needed though. Guess what we'll be having for breakfast... :) It should go good with the cheesecake we brought! ;)

More later,

G'night

Friends...

This is Michelle with her cousin that she's been staying with. Although they are four years apart in age, they have become close friends. They are both better for having spent time together.

Da Plane! Da Plane!

So she has finally arrived! Four hours late, but she's here. I'm actually still waiting to hear from her...

Open House October 29th, 2006

Just a reminder that Michelle will be speaking in church at 11:00 am, on October 29th. Everyone is invited.

There will be an open house for Michelle that same Sunday, October 29th, 2006 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. It will be held at her grandparents home in Auburn. Come and wish her well as she prepares to serve the people of Alaska.

Because this blog is posted to the world, for security reasons, please email me here if you would like addresses or more information.

Thanks!

Update

So, from what I hear, Michelle's talk in church went very well. I talked to both her and her bishop. Her Bishop was very impressed with her preparation and delivery, and she thought she did a good job too. As soon as she is able to email me her talk, I'll post it here for all to read. She'll be speaking in our ward here at home on the 29th of this month.

Talking in Church Tomorrow

I talked to Michelle for quite a while today. She was preparing for her talk in church tomorrow. Her subject will be about how missionary work helps families. She is supposed to talk for about 12 minutes and not have her talk written out. Her Bishop just wants her to use a few notes and talk without reading. She's struggling with it just a little because she has never done that before. I know she'll do a great job though! When I get the notes from her talk I'll post them here.

Michelle is also busy getting everything together for her mission. She's done a lot of shopping for warm clothes. She also had to get a passport, as some of her mission area covers the Yukon Territory in Canada. She has met a couple of women who have actually served a mission in Alaska, and they have been a great help to her as far as what kind of clothing to get.

Where is Michelle...

Under the "Links" heading on the upper right side of the page, click on "WHERE IS MICHELLE NOW?". This will bring up a map of Alaska with flags of where Michelle is and where she has been. Cool, huh?

You've heard of baby showers...

Today Michelle had a "Mission" shower. What a cool idea! A bunch of the women in her Ward in Utah threw her the shower. She said it was really fun. She received several gifts and some cash to help with her expenses.

It was raining and drizzling there today. She loved it. All her friends down there think she's crazy for loving the rain. That's my Michelle!

Seamstress

This week Dawneen has been helping Michelle make a skirt. Michelle informs me that she hates sewing, but thinks the skirt will turn out cute. She's preparing to be a happy homemaker, when she returns from Alaska. :)

Mission Info

Here's just a little information about the "Alaska: Anchorage Mission". This mission covers all of Alaska and part of the Yukon Territory. Michelle will serve for 18 months and could be sent anywhere within the mission. For the most part though, "Sister" missionaries serve in the bigger towns and cities.

For those of you that do not know, Missionaries fund their own missions. Michelle has been working two jobs all this year to save for her mission. I'm a pretty proud dad.

Before Michelle heads to Alaska, she'll spend three weeks in the Provo, Utah, Missionary Training Center (MTC). She reports to the MTC on November 8th, 2006. There she will spend most of the day studying and preparing to serve.

On October 26th (I'm kind of going backwards here... ) Michelle will be flying up here to spend time with family before she goes into the MTC. She will be speaking in church on October 29th at 11:00 am. At 7:00 pm there will be an open house for her at her Grandma & Grandpa Barrett's home. All are invited to both.

To Keep Family Informed

Hi everyone! I've started this "Blog", or online journal to keep our family updated on Michelle's Mission to Alaska for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Please check back often for updates!

Also, this is for family members and friends, so feel free to comment on any of the posts and share with family and friends.

While Michelle is on her mission, she won't be able to read or post to this journal, but feel free to ask questions and I'll make sure she gets them.

Chris