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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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... :(
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!
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...
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
