February 19, 2018

Hiking Feb. 17, 2018

Elder Halvorsen on P-Day

Checking out property to

build in San Clemente (ha, ha)

February 19, 2018

Happy President's Day!  How blessed we are to live in the United States of America.  We're so grateful for the opportunity we have to support young men who are preparing to serve and protect our nation.  Semper Fidelis

We had a family history oriented senior couples family home evening this week.  There is so much to learn about how to research our families.  Each person at the meeting shared a story about an ancestor.  It was interesting one sister told of her grandmother who immigrated from Leipzig, Germany (That's where my Knorr grandparents started).  It really is a small world.  The funniest part of the evening was we were asked to bring appetizers or a dessert for a light meal.  I decided to make a seven-layer dip because no one had ever brought that to one of these gatherings.  But, as luck would have it--the only appetizers that night were chips and dips (mostly bean based) with a few cookies for dessert.  We were certainly all on the same page.

Fox Company graduated on Tuesday.  After the graduation we took the missionaries out to lunch.  They chose to eat at Bonzai Bowl  So, we enjoyed an açai smoothy for lunch (so California)--it was actually very good.  Spent the afternoon sorting clothes at the FAM Thrift Store.  I must admit, we're getting faster each week and really emptying a lot of bags--hard work!

Valentines Day was a day to be thankful for those we love.  We are so thankful to be married and to be able to share this missionary experience together.  We're grateful for our wonderful family that brings so much joy into our lives.  We will be forever grateful for our parents and we are especially thankful to have Grandpa Halvorsen as the patriarch of our family.  He is such a great example and inspiration to us.  We have been blessed with dear friends and siblings who encourage us to be better people.  We're thankful for the sealing power that binds families together forever and for a loving Heavenly Father who loves each of his children.  We had a lovely Valentine's dinner with the elders at President Stephen's house.  It is a blessing to be able to work with Michi and Keith Stephens.  They are such generous and good people.

Things were pretty slow at the Camp Pendleton Thrift Store this week.  But, some weeks are like that.     Unfortunately our work on Friday was also very slow.  We were, however, lucky to be able to talk to Emma Halvorsen that day to wish her a happy birthday. She is an amazing young woman and we love her very much.

We had a deep cleaning day on Saturday and then we took time for a hike.  Gwen has asked for more pictures of "Podge" so we took a few on the hike.  The one with all of the power lines reminded us of the challenge at our Midway property.  Hope our lines are a little smaller than these.  We had a conference call with Brad's siblings that night.  We certainly love and appreciate these wonderful people.  It's nice to have a family that supports one another and is willing to listen to other's opinions--a great family.

I didn't sleep well Saturday night.  I was scheduled to teach the Sunday morning lesson at the Branch and I had a nightmare that my PowerPoint didn't work.  I was implementing the new discussion teaching style and had prepared a presentation on always remembering Jesus.  The pictures were going to lead us from point to point.  I got up and made sure Brad checked his computer and we verified everything was working.  We picked up Elder Fambrough to ride with us to the Base and when we got in the chapel we realized there was no power.  My nightmare had come true.  I quickly started rifling through all of the pamphlets and books on our shelves to see if I could pull up pictures I could use.  Then, as people started arriving, I realized we still had a laptop that was charged.  The pictures would be small but I had the pictures.  I ended up walking up and down the aisle with the laptop so everyone could see the pictures and the discussion went really well.  So it all worked out.  But, I was warned in advance.  

We got to the San Clemente Ward in time for Relief Society.  After the lesson, a visitor stopped me to ask about serving a military relations mission.  Sister Fisher's husband is a retired army colonel.  We chatted a few minutes but I had to cut it short because we had to drive back to the Base to pick up a marine (Gardson) who is investigating the church and needed a ride to the YSA Ward.  Gardson is from Ghana and was such an articulate and interesting person.  We really enjoyed our time with him. But, the traffic was horrible and it took us an hour to reach the YSA Ward so we arrived late.  The young elders came out to welcome him to the ward.  Gardson was introduced to the gospel through a chaplain on his ship during his 7 month deployment.  He attended all of the LDS services conducted by Chaplain Hammond and is excited to have the discussions.  

When we arrived home about 2 pm, Sister Fisher called with more questions about our missionary experiences.  We invited them to attend the Fireside that night, which they did.  They are from Orem and have met Grandpa in the past and Blair Tree (director of Meet the Mormons) is their Sunday School Teacher.  They are were very excited about the possibility of working as military relations missionaries.  Brother and Sister Harline, who recently returned from serving a mission in Ethiopia, were the speakers at our meeting.  They were powerful speakers.  It was a wonderful day.