Week 19

May 28, 2017

Dear Loved Ones,

I was happy to see so many of you celebrating Memorial Day in your various locations. I knew today would be hard for me to not be with you, so I invited my friends from the Ward, the Kunze, to dinner.  The dinner was something of a disaster.  I walked in from church and realized I hadn’t put the potatoes and carrots in the crock pot. I raced around to get them started in the microwave, but I had to just invite them to sit down while it finished up. “Pride goeth before the fall”. I was really proud of the cupcakes I made yesterday for them.  She is “gluten free” and dairy free.  I found a box of gluten free cake mix and used coconut oil in place of the butter and used Marsali’s banana cake recipe.  They were delicious! Then I went a blew the dinner. Such is life!

After dinner, they told me about “The Field of Heroes” that the high schools in Pocatello with help of local military units erect on the soccer field of Century High School. I went with them to see for myself.  It is an amazing project to erect crosses or stars of David for every serviceman killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. Each cross bears the name and unit of the serviceman.  There is a special row along the driveway with larger crosses for those from Idaho that died.  There are even larger crosses with pictures of those who received the Medal of Honor. It is a very sobering site. You realize all the happy hours the rest of us have enjoyed since 9/11, and then you stand in front of the cross of a local soldier and see the notes left that say “Love and miss you Dad”. It brought to my mind Memorial Days in Washington DC which were always centered on the fallen warriors.  As much as I enjoy our Memorial Day dedicated to our ancestors, I think we should be careful to remember why Memorial Day was created and incorporate tributes to those who have given their lives in defense of liberty. We are so blessed to not have a family member who died serving their country.  Uncle LaMont served in the Navy in WWII, Uncle Alden in the Coast Guard, Uncle Grant was in Germany repairing Tanks, Uncle Ken was in the South Pacific and was on an Island where Japanese troops walked over him where he was hiding, my Dad was in Arctic, then during Viet Nam Craig flew fighter jets –All were spared to make it home.  That is a blessing we should not forget!!!

Check out https://www.facebook.com/IdahoFieldOfHeroes/ They have a video that they made 2014 which was the first year they created the memorial. I think I will go to the closing ceremony tomorrow night.  I didn’t have my camera with me today and I would like to have some pictures.

I’ll send this letter now and send more tomorrow if I do something interesting.

Love to all of you,

Mom/Grammie/Sister Shill

Fun Pictures

 

Week 17 & 18

May 13, 2017

Dear Loved ones,

I was wrong last week in my letter that anticipated that we would have the mission tour with Elder Satiti this week. He will be here in the coming week. I was right to think I was headed into a busy week, because we did have transfers which creates havoc with our normal schedule. Monday, night was the Farewell dinner at the Mission Home for the three Elders and two Sisters that flew home the next day. It was so much harder to say goodbye to this group of missionaries, because I knew them so much better.  I was really attached to Elder Horne, Elder Latu, Elder Johnson, Sister Bueno, and Sister Archer. To make matters worse the President sent the assistants back out to the field for their last transfer before they go. Elder Hale has been sent up to Montpelier and Elder Dawson to Blackfoot. Elder Dawson has come to my technological rescue several times, and I am feeling very insecure knowing he is so far away. The best part of the evening was the after-dinner testimony meeting. It is so wonderful to hear these remarkable young people tell what their mission as meant to them and hear their powerful testimonies.



May 21, 2017

Sorry I didn’t finish this letter on the 13th – but Jon, Katrina and the kids came up and took me out to
lunch. We went to a place new to me called Freddie’s. The hamburgers were good but some dessert
they called a “Turtle” was beyond wonderful – ice cream, with nuts, caramel and fudge dripping over it!!  So fun to get caught up on their family activities.
The next day continued the family fun. Sally, David and their kids came up. David’s niece, Rebekah
George invited us to have dinner at their house. I appreciate all the notes and calls from others of you. It made such a delightful two-day Mother’s Day celebration for me. I should say two-week celebration because the week before, Emily came up and took me out to dinner and stayed the night with me. Thank you all that made me feel special.
This week has been amazing!! It has been the Mission Tour with Elder Sitati and his wife. Wednesday, he met with the mission office staff and shared his remarkable conversion story with us. He knew a member of the church who contacted him about helping a young man, recently returned from earning his engineering degree in New Mexico, find employment. One evening when the three of them were meeting to discuss employment opportunities, the only missionary couple in Kenya stopped by for a visit. The missionary couple were not proselyting missionaries, but had been sent to work with the government to gain recognition for the church, so a mission could be established. The American members of the church working in Kenya were holding regular meetings at the Missionaries’ residence, the couple invited the Sitati’s to join them. Elder Sitati had hungered for something to fill a void and he thought religion would be where he would find it. So he and his family had gone to the Baptist church, and several other evangelical churches, but he had not found what he was looking for. He had almost despaired of ever filling the void he felt. So when invited to meet with the Mormons, his family decided “why not try one more religion.” He felt something in that first meeting that he had never felt before.
His children liked the meeting, and so they continued to come faithfully. Such a small branch required everyone to participate. Eventually, Elder Sitati was taking his turn, and one day he ask if he could be baptized. He was told that there were no missionaries to teach him the discussions he would need, but they had the written lesson that he could read. After reading all the discussions, he was baptized. You can say he converted himself and eventually his family.
Elizabeth shared with me after the Sitati’s visit to San Jose that he told them when his family learned of any church program they just did it! Family Home Evening, family prayer, Home teaching their family just began to do it 100%. How amazing that the Lord sent such a powerful spirit to a rural village in Kenya, prompted him to seek an education, and had him in the right place at the right time to find the gospel. Thursday, we had two zones meet in the chapel of the building that houses our mission office. President and Sister Hancock began the meeting and then Elder Sitati had his wife give us a wonderful exercise on how companions can help each other develop Christ-like Attributes. Then the remainder of the time Elder Sitati taught us by effectively using the Parable of the Sower and Lehi’s dream. Friday, two zones from up in the mountains came down to Soda Springs for a repeat of Thursdays meeting. It was such an inspirational week! The Gospel is True!!!!.
Remember my Brother Winston in your prayers. He is having prostate surgery tomorrow.

Love to all,

Grammie/Sister Shill

Week 16

May 7, 2017

Dear Loved Ones,

This has been a wonderful week here in Pocatello.  Spring finally arrived!! The trees are blooming, tulips are up, and thankfully the temperature is up also. Friday, we actually hit 82 degrees.  Today is a lovely 78. I am so happy that Emily made it up and was able to go to church with me this morning and meet my friends the Kunze and Shellie Elliott who teaches Primary with me.

Monday, the Wilkins, the new Housing Couple that is replacing the Balls came to work to be trained by the Balls. They are such an agreeable, pleasant couple I know we will enjoy working with them.  Tuesday after work, I signed up at Gold’s gym so I can do water aerobics with Sister Parkin. We had a great time and the exercise felt great.

Wednesday, David’s niece, Rebekah George, invited me to attend the year-end musical festival for the Charter school that her daughter, Mariah, attends.  Mariah had a solo that showed off what a lovely voice she has. It seemed so normal to have May concerts to attend. Thursday, night I was able to see the music program “Let’s Play Music”. This amazing program starts the first-year students preparing to use a keyboard by using small xylophones while they sing.   Rebekah’s daughter, Sally, was in this group and she got to play a Zephier.  Rebekah told me that my daughter, Sally, has little David in this program also. Second year students learn to play the keyboard, and third year is introduction to piano.  All through the years they are taught to sing Do Re, Me. Two of the third-year students, played original compositions that they wrote for piano, Very impressive! I wasn’t able to attend the program earlier for the preschoolers because the office was having a farewell dinner for the Balls.

The Farewell dinner for the Balls was held at Perkins Restaurant, the Balls had taken the Kunze place, so they were invited also.  After dinner, we went to the Mission Home where Sister Hancock had prepared a yummy dessert for us.  We had been asking to see the video of her time on “The Price Is Right,” so she showed it to us.  I was so afraid I was going to miss that but because we started the dinner at 4:30 I was able to stay to see the video.  Years ago (so long ago that Bob Barker was still the MC) Sister Hancock bought tickets to the show for her daughter’s 18th birthday.  Her daughter had been a big fan for many years.  So Sister Hancock and her daughter and two other members of her family went wearing matching orange tee-shirts.  She said even with tickets you had to stand in line while producers come by and to get to know everyone, you are not guaranteed a seat.  She said that she was flabbergasted when they called her name.  She had only intended to make a fun birthday for her daughter. She is such a cutie it is no wonder that she was picked.  She first played the game you guess the price of things and she won $16,000 later in the show she won a showcase that included a brand-new truck and a trip to Paris.  She said they never went to Paris but her husband got a lot of wear out of that truck.  He was bishop at the time and they took a lot of lectures about gambling when she came home-- the show gives you money for nothing. I think the $16,000 was a reward for her being a careful shopper.  I could have never matched the prices to products like she did.  The producers got their money’s worth of her being such a darling contestant.  

Well it sounds like I just played around all week.  But I did have several baptisms to report and referrals to send on.  Next week will be a spiritual high because Elder Sitati from the Seventies will be here for a mission tour. Elizabeth has told me how much she enjoyed Elder and Sister Sitati’s  visit to the San Jose Mission.

Emily and I tossed some ideas around about the reunion, tee-shirts, etc.  Please give us your input.  I did buy 45 adult tickets and 8 children’s tickets for Bandito, Thursday night at 8 o’clock.  I’m worried I don’t have enough for the Hancocks, but Marsali should get home from Africa today so she can give me a more accurate count.

Love and hugs,

Grammie

P.S. The Gospel is true!!