T minus 7 days

Today was a typical Sunday, except that there are not any more of those since we received our call to the Virgin Islands.  (We are really going to San Juan Puerto Rico, but there are six small islands of cruise ship fame in our mission and we are anticipating to be sent quickly to one of them to work with whatever Church unit is found there.)  We are not getting much sympathy.

You are called to Where!

We forgot to turn our clocks back.  Church doesn’t start until 1130 so there is really never any panic getting ready.  We have choir practice at 1030.  I decided to see how many of the hymns I can play on the piano (the answer is complicated--some I can play, some I will be able to work into shape, some I can simplify, and some will never be played by these hands), so I attacked the hymn book for about an hour.  Suddenly Gaye called out that she was ready to go and that we needed to hurry because choir practice is at 1030 and it was already 1027. It takes more than 5 minutes to drive to the chapel.  I hate being late.

We pulled into the first parking spot I saw instead of the usual parking in the farthest spot from the door so nobody will ding my car (and I need the exercise).  We walked quickly into the building and went straight for the chapel doors, which were closed.  In fact there was a meeting going on inside.  That is strange because the ward that meets before us should have been finished long before 1030.  Gaye had her hand on the door before we realized that we were an hour early.  That’s better than an hour late, but I have never done that before.  So we drove home, read and talked for a while, and returned for the regular choir rehearsal at the adjusted hour.  Don’t you just love Daylight Savings Time!  We lose one hour every day after it moves ahead in March but we only gain back one hour when it moves back in November.

We are getting ready.  By that I mean that we make a list and try to get it checked off, only to discover more things that were not on the list.  So a new list is made and on it goes.  The yard is put to sleep, but there are still things to do out there.  The house needs to be gone through and sorted.  Millions of things need to be put away so they will be findable and useable when we return.  Some of the grandkids love to get into closed doors and cabinets.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.  I keep telling myself it will be fine.

Next Sunday will be hectic.  Our kids are all coming home.  Even Juli and Shon and the 5 Robinson kids are coming for a brief but much anticipated visit from Anchorage Alaska.  That is sure closer than Brisbane Australia.  We have a family photo shoot lined up for Saturday afternoon.  Then Sunday will be finely choreographed as we practice a song for church with our kids joining our ward choir, are set apart by our stake president, and get to our sacrament meeting, all before the meeting starts at 1130.  Oh yea, Gaye and I are speaking at the meeting.  I have a talk to prepare.

Stay tuned.  The story is just beginning.

Two Weeks to Go

When we realized we had only three weeks to go before entering the MTC there were a lot of questions related to getting ready to go.  There are also a lot of questions about where we will be serving and what we will be doing.  Here is a little hint.

We will enter the MTC, train for 5 days, and arrive in San Juan on November 17.  The instructions say to pack so that we will not need to unpack our bags for the short stay in San Juan.  There are six small islands in our mission  that are English speaking.  (There might be others that speak Dutch or French.)  We will most likely be sent to one of them.  They are places where the cruise ships dock in the Caribbean.  I have never been on a cruise, there or anywhere else, but the islands are St Thomas, St Croix, St Kitts, Antigua, Tortola, and Dominica.  Check them out on Google Earth.  The largest is Dominica and it looks to be about 10 miles x 30 miles.  The rest of them are much smaller.  So we will be living on a tropical island south of Puerto Rico.

We also received a letter from the Church Music Department telling us that we will likely be involved in the Church music teaching activity.  We will have the opportunity to work with members who want to learn to play the keyboard and to lead the singing in their church meetings.  There is even a way that those who work at it can gain possession of the keyboards, with the hope that they will in turn teach others to play.  This is really getting exciting!

Stay tuned.  

The rest of the story, to be continued...

I have had trouble sleeping for the past week or so.  I guess the excitement and anticipation of receiving a mission call has taken its toll.  So last Friday I got up early and wrote my last blog entry.  I am sure it sounded a little frustrated, because I felt a little bit that way.  I mean, how long does it take, really, to get a letter from Salt Lake to Twin Falls!  We were planning on driving to Salt Lake Friday to go to the Book of Mormon Archeological Foundation (BMAF) annual meeting.  I was planning on taking Tom and Spencer along because they have both been to Guatemala with me on dental service missions, and they have seen some of the ruins down there.  Gaye said she wanted to delay our departure for Salt Lake until after the mail was delivered.

Handsome Peruvian boy

The first hint I had that something was going on was when my grandson excitedly informed me that “it is here!”  Yep, there were three pieces of mail, each with the same incorrect zip code on the front.  I am not sure they went to New Mexico, but they sure took the scenic routs to Twin Falls in any case.  So how are we going to do this?  Should we call all the kids and let them participate by Skype or Facetime, or just by regular telephone?  Should we just have Kim come over and open it with her, then call the others?  Becki and Ethan were here, so it  would not be like we were trying to leave people out.  Which of us do you think was the most impatient about this?  Yes, it was Gaye.  She could not wait!  Well, I was also a little excited, but I tried to not show it.  You know, be cool.

Rexburg Idaho Temple

Nauvoo Illinois Temple

I set up a couple of cameras to record our response to the moment of opening the letter.  The travel information came in a larger envelope, so I wanted to open that one first.  When I received my call to South Africa centuries ago I opened that one first and a little piece of yellow paper fell out.  It said, “You should apply for a passport immediately.”  I knew I was going somewhere outside the USA.  Gaye vetoed that idea, though, and she opened her letter.  

Dear Sister Patterson,  (There was one identical addressed to me.)

Twin Falls Temple

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission.  (We both registered shock and surprise at that moment, caught forever on camera.)  Your primary assignment is to labor as a member and leader support missionary.  It is anticipated that you will serve for 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Monday, November 12, 2012.  

Brisbane Australia Temple

My siblings just before my mission

We both also registered extreme shock and surprise at that bit of information.  That is only three weeks!  If the letters had not been wandering around in New Mexico we would have had a few more days, but then we would have just relaxed and put it off longer, so the short time is probably better.  Besides, we have actually been doing things to get ready for the past couple of months.

So there you have it.  San Juan Puerto Rico. I would not have guessed that in three lifetimes.  I was thinking of something like India or Siberia or the Seychelle Islands.  We have a Spanish vocabulary between us of about 10 words.  Gaye can say “Gracias”.  

Jackson with his dog and his chicken

George Patterson, Missionary

The rest of the day was a blur.  We drove to Salt Lake, talking all the way.  The BMAF meeting on Saturday was good, especially the part of being with Tom and Spencer, and then we drove home.  Oh, I forgot to say that Gaye went shopping with Kay, her sister.  I simply reminded her that she would only be able to take two suit cases weighing 50 pounds each, so don’t get carried away.  She actually behaved herself very well.  Now I must go get a few white shirts and pairs of slacks.  I am to take one suit, and I think (hope) that will be for when I am at the MTC in Provo.  The weather is tropical, always around 80-90 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course, because the USA is still on the archaic British measuring system) in the daytime and 70 at night.  Humidity is high, the sun is straight overhead, there are tropical storms and hurricanes for half the year, we will be at sea level...it sounds like Paradise to me.  Besides, this dry Idaho air wreaks havoc on my nose and skin.  Senior missionaries can go into the ocean, too.  

I have been making a list of questions.  The mission includes the Lesser Antilles Islands that string out from Puerto Rico like a strand of pearls.  Some of those islands speak French, some speak Dutch, some are Spanish, and maybe English even figures in there somewhere.  I had a couple years’ French in college, long ago.  Afrikaans is quite similar to Dutch.  Maybe our mission president will send us out to a little branch of the Church on one of those islands where we can just get lost in helping people grow in their testimonies as we work with them each day.  I will fill in the blanks as we go along.  Stay tuned.

That’s all for now.

Not Yet. Here's Why.

So I asked myself how long it should take to get a letter from Salt Lake to Twin Falls.  Interesting question, I suppose.  The message we received from our bishop was that our call had been mailed out on October 8, 2012.  (The year might be important here.)  He said he thought we could expect our call as early as Thursday or as late as Monday.  That should be enough time to get a piece of mail from a couple hundred miles.

October 8 was a Monday, officially the celebration date for Columbus Day, so there would be no activity in postal matters on that day.  Seeing the calendar I decided that I would go for the Monday delivery date as more realistic.  We checked the mail every day, of course, and some of our kids were thinking of gathering for the big event.  But nothing arrived before the weekend so Gaye and I just settled in for the week.  It was actually nice to have the quiet house to ourselves for a couple of days.  We love having the kids and grandkids visit.  But it also takes a couple of days to recover, get things put back where they belong, unlock the doors and drawers where the little ones find their treasures, find the remote controls to various electronic devices...you know, that sort of thing.

Nothing on Monday, October 15.  Nor Tuesday.  Maybe Wednesday.  We have had Gaye’s final doctor’s appointment in Boise to follow up on the hip surgery scheduled for several weeks.  That happened to be on Wednesday, so we drove 2 hours over there for the 7.5 minute checkup, visited the Potters Center for some pottery supplies, and even took in a tour of the remodeled Boise LDS Temple.  (It is very nice, by the way.  The chandelier in the Celestial Room took my breath away.)  As we sat down to eat at the Chuck Wagon there came a message from Kim, the daughter living in Twin Falls.  She had gone to our house to check the mail, certainly with mischief in mind, but nothing had arrived.  So we did not hurry home.

Maybe it will come Thursday.  I’m trying to not lose sleep over this, though, so I lined up some projects for the day, including mowing the lawn.  I have put the garden to sleep, but the lawn will probably hang on for a few more weeks.  If it does not come today, I thought, I will call somebody to find out what is going on.  After all, I think I could walk to Salt Lake in 10 days.  Well, I would have to be in better shape than I am now, but it could be done.  So while I was out mowing the lawn the mail was delivered.  I just rode my little tractor over to the mailbox, with a little elevation in my pulse, and wondered whether we would be going to somewhere like Madagascar or somewhere like Butte Montana.  Only the usual 6 or 7 catalogues; nothing of even cursory interest was there.  So I called my bishop and he said he would check on it.  Meanwhile, Gaye called the Church Headquarters operator, was connected to the Missionary Department, and was informed that the letter really was sent out on October 8, 2012.  

She asked where it was sent.  That was when she learned that the zip code was wrong,  It was sent to 88301 instead of 83301.  With Google at hand we quickly found out that the letters (there will actually be one for each of us, or so I have been told) were headed for Carrizozo New Mexico.  I am not making this up.  It was a little hard to find on the map, but Google Earth brought it into view.  Interesting little place with a population of 840, down from 1488 in the 2000 census, majority of whom are Hispanic (I knew I should have taken Spanish instead of French).  It looks like there are a few young families there, the highest price for house sold in the past year is $120,000, average wage is $23,000, population density is 0.765 per square mile, cost of living well below the national average, a few hours drive from Carlsbad Caverns (I would actually love to go see the caves and the bats some day), and about mid-way between Albuquerque and El Paso.  Check it out.  http://www.city-data.com/zips/88301.html#b  Maybe we will be sent there for the next 18 months.  Maybe we should just hop in the car and drive down to retrieve our paperwork.  The Missionary Department said they would send out new call letters that should arrive at the correct address (how can 83301 be confused with 88301?) some time next week.  I thought about calling the postmaster in Carrizozo to see if he/she would open it and read it to us before sending it to the right place.  Maybe I’ll do that today.

Meanwhile, I think I will go out and make some more pots.  We will quite likely be here until Christmas and I need some pots to give as gifts.

That’s all for now.

Mission Call-Not Yet

I have been postponing another entry here because we have been expecting our mission call.  We sent in our papers in April.  Actually, none of it is by paper any more.  It is all online.  Anyway, we filled out the forms, answered all the questions, and forwarded it to our bishop. He added some comments and forwarded it to the stake president, who made some comments and sent it on to Salt Lake.  We were available after mid-September.  Two of our daughters were expecting babies in August.   (Both beautiful little granddaughters are safely here now.)

While we were on a trip to Vancouver and Seattle in early May, visiting friends there and taking in the breath-taking beauty of the rhododendrons in the Northwest, I received a call from our stake president.  One of the questions in the health history was about any surgeries that we had been advised to have that had not yet been done.  President said the medical people in Salt Lake were concerned about the hip surgery Gaye had been advised to have but was not yet done.  She had been experiencing increasing discomfort in her hip, the result from a horse riding accident many centuries ago.  One of our good friends had actually received his call and then had both hips replaced after his call was received, so we sent in our papers and scheduled the surgery.  July was the earliest Gaye could get in, so that was our plan.  So President wanted to know if we should consider an assignment that would not require much walking--in other words, a desk job.

I told him that we wanted to be out and active, that the hip was scheduled, and that we anticipated that we would be all ready to go with a healed new hip by our availability date in September.  He said he would call us right back.  Well, he called the medical people in Salt Lake back and they told him that we should get the hip done and recover for 3-6 months (months!  I was thinking 3-6 weeks based on our friend’s experience), and then the papers should be resubmitted.  Okay.  Fine.  We thought we might still be able to get out of here before Thanksgiving.

The hip replacement surgery went great and after three uneventful weeks of healing we were ready to reactivate the application.  President said all he would need to do is push a button and it would be rolling again.  So I told him we were doing great and he could push the button.  Two weeks passed and no word of any action going on with the application.  Then President said there was a problem.  The application had been cancelled!  We were not even in the system any more.  So we reviewed the previously filled out application form, sent it to our bishop who forwarded it to our stake president (sound familiar?) who sent it on the Salt Lake.  Bishop received a notice by email that the application was received on September 4.  I concluded that we would probably not be going by mid-September.

We had not heard anything more, except that there was another message that the application had been received September 12 (!).  We would need to be a little patient.  That is no problem because we are really not in a hurry.  Maybe we will be out of town by Christmas.  That is fine because none of our kids were planning on coming to our place for Christmas this year.  Our turn was last year.  

September ended and still no more information.  Gaye’s sister has been on two missions with her husband and has been through this before.  She had a number to call in Salt Lake that would connect us to the missionary department and we could find out where we were in the process.  So I called the number and the service missionary on the other end looked up our names.  Our application was ready to go to the Twelve.  We learned that the procedure for assigning couples is a little different from that for the young elders and sisters.  A summary is sent to each of the departments who compare the application to their needs.  They make recommendations back to the committee who forward that on to the Twelve, who make the assignments.  Then it goes to President Monson for approval, on to the mailing department for processing and mailing, and the call will usually be received by the missionaries the end of the week after the papers go to the Twelve.  So the man on the phone said we should get our call by the end of next week.  When I first called Church Headquarters, though, and was transferred to the missionary department, there was a message to leave a message.  I wanted to talk to a real person, so I hung up and tried again, that time making connection with a real person, who gave me the information.  However, I received a call back from another missionary in Salt Lake who was returning my first attempt.  He also looked up our information and said the Twelve would not be meeting this week because of General Conference, so we should not expect to receive our call before October 20.

I am retired now (am I enjoying it?  YES!), so we are really not on a tight schedule.  There are plenty of things to do between now and when we leave.  The anticipation has been getting a little old because we would like to be preparing in specific ways for our assignment.  And the problem of not knowing has been a little burdensome.  So now we can begin to make some plans.  We want to go to Yellowstone, visit the kids, put the garden to sleep, get the maintenance issues on the house, furnace, carpets, yard, etc, all resolved.  Maybe we will be out of here before Christmas, but we are not betting on it.  (Have you ever noticed how Mormons bet on everything, but never in a way that would exchange money?  You wanna bet?)  That is okay.  Whenever and wherever we go is fine.  Gaye and I are just happy to be alive, well, and moving on with life.  I hope you are, too.

That’s all for now.  The next blog will be with specific information of where we will be and what we will be doing for the next 18 months.

A very busy week

I arrived home Friday afternoon, exhausted.  Here’s why.

I flew out to Columbus Ohio last Thursday at 0600.  That meant I had to drive to Kendra’s Wednesday afternoon, after a hard day trying to get the yard in shape for a week of inattention.  Weeds don’t take a holiday, do they?  So I arrived at Kendra’s to visit for a short time because she would be having a baby while I was gone.  She said she would drive me to the SLC airport at 0400 because she couldn’t sleep anyway.  (I am really glad I don’t have to deliver babies.)  So I stayed at her house and I drove the Prius to the airport, she let me off, and Kendra drove back to her house.

The day of flying was not particularly stressful, but flying is always stressful.  Emily picked me up at the Columbus airport and I went to their place to help get things ready to move to Lehi Utah.  Keep in mind that Gaye and I were just out there in May to help the kids move from Athens Ohio to Columbus.  They were not planning on another move so soon, but so much for plans.  I took the trampoline apart, Grant helped me take the bunk beds apart (the boys thought it was a treat that they would be sleeping on the floor), and I was ready to crash into bed.  Friday was more of the same.  The truck would be ready to load on Saturday morning.

Spencer and I picked up the truck on Saturday morning.  I thought it looked a little smaller than the one that I drove from Athens, but we drove it back to the house.  Emily took the boys to a friend’s house to play while we loaded the truck.  She was gone from their house about 2 minutes when we got a phone call that Grant had broken his arm.  He was trying to imitate the Olympic gymnasts on the bar and fell off.  So Spence spent the whole day Saturday getting Grant’s arm set and cast. It was really a nasty break, but did not not require surgery, at least for the present.  Meanwhile, Emily noticed that this was not the truck she had ordered, so she worked all day on getting the proper truck.  People who were going to help showed up and we had to turn them away.  Finally Penske said the truck would be ready on Sunday afternoon.

Everything was already packed up except the big beds, so we slept on those beds one more night.  Sunday Spence and Henry and I went to church and then drove over to pick up the truck and go home and get started loading.  We were just getting started when the whole priesthood body of the ward showed up in their white shirts and loaded the truck.  It was done in just over an hour.  What a blessing!  We would probably still be out there loading if they had not come along.  Loading a moving van on Sunday is not a usual activity, but this needed to be done and everybody pitched in.  We were able to get on our way and drove to the Indiana border to stop for the night.

We live in a vast country.  Every time I fly over it I marvel at how big it is.  But driving brings it into greater focus. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, MIssouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah were the states we drove through.  Going at 60 mph allows the vastness to really sink in.  I was usually driving the van with Emily and Sam and Penny, the dog, in the morning while Spencer took the boys in the truck.  Then we would switch and I would take Penny in the truck.  We would drive until Sam couldn’t take any more and stop for the night.  All of us fit quite cozily into one motel room with two beds.  Grant and Henry enjoyed the adventure of camping on the floor, Sam would sleep in his portable unit, and the adults would take up the beds.  Then we would be up, eat breakfast, and be on our way.  We arrived in Lehi on Thursday afternoon, found the house they will be living in, and started to unload.  A couple of neighbors stopped by to assist and Emily’s brother Mason, Jeremy, and Tom came by.  It was all off the truck, the beds were put together, and we settled in for the night.  I don’t think I have ever felt that tired.  Friday I arrived home in Twin Falls.

So what did I learn?  This is a huge country with vast natural resources.  Driving takes time.  There is not much advantage in driving faster than the legal limit.  You might get there a few minutes earlier but then you just have to wait for everybody else.  Riding with a small dog is not so bad.  She just stretched out on the truck bench seat and slept.  Rest stops are good ideas.  Kids make the trip more challenging.  People are thankful when we help each other.  The portobello mushroom melt sandwich I had at the vegetarian cafe in Laramie was actually quite tasty.  My own bed is the most comfortable.  

Meanwhile, Gaye has been busy with new granddaughters.  Kendra and Ryan now have a lovely little daughter named Alyssa, born Monday, and Ashlee and Trevor have a  lovely little daughter named Aniston, born Thursday.  Girls are a minority among our grand children, but we are happy for either kind.  That they are whole and healthy is a great blessing.  Is there any greater wonder than the miracle of children?  I can’t think of any.

This has turned out to be too long.  Sorry.  I need to write more often and shorter.  No photos, either.  I will work on that next time.

That’s all for now.

Faith is Action

July is Pioneer time in the Great Basin.  There are several reasons.  Brigham Young and the first pioneer wagon train arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in July, 1847.  Johnson’s Army was on its way to the valley in 1857.  The last of the handcart companies, Martin and Willie, were leaving Iowa City in July 1856.  We remember the happenings of July 4 1776, too, but the big one is Pioneer Day throughout the Great Basin.

For the past four years I have been reading the Willie Handcart Company journals every summer.  (These are available as daily emails from BYU studies.  Sign up here. http://handcart.byu.edu/SignUp.aspx)  But each year I find new things as I read.  It is not that the words have changed, it is just that my perspective is different.  Sort of like reading the Book of Mormon and going to the Temple.  The words are the same but the experience is always new.

The entry for July 14 contains this story:

One of the faithful Danish couples was Peder Mortensen, age 48, and his wife, Lena Mortensen, age 46, who were converted to the gospel in 1855. Due to a desire to gather to Zion and rejection by their community, they sold everything they owned in anticipation of their journey. They had land and animals. Together with their eight children, ages 5 through 27, they traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to stay at the mission home until they could emigrate to Utah. The Mortensens’ oldest son, Morten, was asked by the mission president to stay in Denmark and serve as a missionary. Morten, along with the rest of the Mortensen family, was concerned, but agreed. The mission president promised the Mortensens that every one of them would reach Zion in safety because of Morten’s willingness to stay and serve, along with the family’s willingness to do without his much-needed help. Peder was physically disabled. He and his wife had planned to buy a wagon so that he could ride in it to the Valley. However, after hearing the counsel of their Church leaders, they shared their money with other members of the company so that sufficient handcarts and supplies could be bought in Iowa City. Peder’s disability kept him from walking. He rode in a supply wagon until about September 6th, when the loads were adjusted due to a buffalo stampede. He had to be carried in a handcart from that point, until the company was rescued. Morten came to Utah after his three-year mission in 1858, two years after the rest of his family had all safely arrived in Zion.1

1. “Mortensen Family History,” typescript copy, Church Archives.

I am really boosted by this vignette.  Here is a successful family in Denmark who all join the Church.  Within one year they are on their way to another country far across the ocean.  They willingly, perhaps even eagerly, leave their traditional life, sell all their worldly possessions, follow the instructions of men they don’t really know to do difficult things, and readily give up their nest egg to help others not as fortunate as they are. 

These faithful Saints were promised certain blessings.  They acted faithfully.  They appear to have learned very quickly what faith is about.  Joseph Smith said that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, and the that laws and ordinances are faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, etc.  The key here is to learn how to exercise faith, and the key to that is learning where to center our faith.  In the Mortensen instance, the promises made were fully realized.  Others were promised that the Lord would temper the elements and they would all be brought to the valley safely and in good time.  To our perspective, those promises do not appear to have been realized.  But all those people acted faithfully.

I have spent a lot of energy thinking about this.  I think the key is in where we put our faith.  We go to sacred places and are asked to exercise our faith in behalf of specific persons.  What does that mean?  Should we tightly close our eyes and say “I believe!  I believe!  I believe!”?  No, faith is a principle of action.  (See Bible Dictionary)  We exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by keeping our covenants at all times and in all places and all circumstances.  Can faith be exercised on demand at a moment?  I think the closest we can come to doing that is to renew (remake, not just think about) the covenants and commitments we have made to be obedient.  Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-nego, and Daniel exercised faith.  They said, “We believe that our God will save us, but if not, we will be obedient and worship the Living God anyway.”  Their faith was not a barter of “We will do such and such if You will do such and such.”  They had faith in Jesus Christ, and it changed their very natures.

I am going to do an experiment as I read the Book of Mormon again.  I am going to take every reference to “the word” as a reference to Jesus Christ.  Here are a couple of beginning examples.  In Nephi’s vision of the tree of life he said the rod of iron was “the word of God.”  Is that the scriptures (words) or is it Jesus Christ (Word)?  Alma told his group of investigators to do an experiment and plant a seed.  If they were faithful the seed would grow to a perfect knowledge.  The seed was the word.  Is that the gospel message, or is it Jesus Christ?  We will not be saved by the Atonement, we will be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.  We will not be saved by promises of our leaders who are doing their best to act as agents of the Lord.  We are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, not by some abstraction.  (See Richard N. Williams, BYU Idaho Devotional, God of Condescension, God of Philosophy.) 

Pardon the preaching.  That’s all for now.