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