It's 9:00 pm Friday evening and we have survived our first 72 hours. What a whirlwind! Tuesday, June 30th, we arrived in Chicago around 1:00 pm. We were picked up at the airport by the Stoddards, the out-going Mission President and his wife and their assistants, Elders Hansen and Gonzalez. We came to the Mission Home and enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by Sister Stoddard and then dove in with a 3 hour orientation in hyperspeed with the Stoddards. We left directly after this meeting to attend a welcome dinner in our honor. It was held at a local restaurant and attended by many leaders in the 4 stakes comprising our mission. What a wonderful group of people! The Stoddards were amazingly organized in their transitioning of responsibilities to us, and the stake leadership of our mission were extremely warm in welcoming us. We came home around 9:00 pm, the Stoddard's drove away and we unlocked the door of our new home at 1911 Carlyle Place, realizing we were now "in charge." We looked at each other and said "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Shrugging our shoulders and grinning at each other we found our suitcases and hung up our clothes. I ironed the clothes we would need for Wednesday and we retired around midnight.
The alarm sounded at 6:00 am on Wednesday and we quickly showered and dressed to begin the day with our first of 3 scheduled "Meet and Greet" the new Mission President meetings scheduled for 8:00 am, 12:00 noon and and 4:00 pm. We spent about 2 hours at each of the locations meeting the missionaries in our mission. We were impressed with them and appreciative of them making us feel so welcome. Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday with the last two of our "Meet and Greet" meetings. By 4:00 pm we had officially met all 108 of our missionaries. We stopped at Burger King for dinner around 6:00 pm, went to the grocery store to buy the makings for the brunch and lunch I would need to have ready for the Zone Leaders Council Meeting we held today. I baked muffins, made a huge fruit salad bowl for the brunch, then baked brownies, arranged a deli meat platter, and a relish platter for the hoagie sandwiches, and poured chips into four large bowls. Made it to bed by around 11:00 pm. The alarm sounded again this morning at 6:00 am, we again showered and dressed quickly, grabbed the brunch foods and went to the chapel for our 8:30 am meeting. The meeting lasted until around 1:00, then all 24 of the meeting participants came to the mission home for lunch. I could not believe how fast all of the food disappeared! Note to self: when feeding twenty-four 19-21 year old boys, plan on doubling the quantity! One bun and one lettuce leaf was all that remained 20 minutes after the food was set out!
A comment about the meeting itself. President Doll (I have only slipped once in public and called him Sherman) was amazing today. He only had about 3 hours last night to pull together the agenda for a 5 hour meeting. Yet he was inspired and inspiring in the counsel he gave, the way he was able to get discussion going and encourage participation from all of the missionaries. I could truly see the mantle of the calling rest on him today as he led out in his new role of Mission President. It was a memorable moment for me as his wife and missionary companion.
So how are we feeling right now? Normally, a schedule like we have kept these past few days would have been suicidal at home. But we have felt energized and pumped as we have driven many miles, shaken many hands and spoken more times publicly in three days than we have in 3 months at home. We have also slept harder these past two nights than any we can remember in a very long time. The bonus in all of this is that we are able to do EVERYTHING together. We are never apart. In 33 years of marriage, this has been something that has never happened, and I am pleased to report that we both are loving it! It has been a spark in our marriage and I am seeing, again, why I fell in love with this man in the first place!
Best seats in the house
13 hours ago

After we completed the registration process, we were able to meet with, Fabrizio, one of the tutors we have had over the past few months, and take a picture of us in front of the world map, pointing to our ultimate destination - the foreign land of Chicago . . .
Finally, we drove to where we would be staying - the Provo Downtown Marriot - and were surprised to find this wonderful welcome basket waiting in our room. All of the kindness we were shown throughout the registration process was culminated in this thoughtful gesture from Church headquarters. We had doors opened for us, people waiting at every corner to greet and answer questions, and an overwhelming feeling of love and respect was shown to us just during the registration portion of todays activities alone.
But the icing on the cake were these beautiful flowers waiting for me on the desk of our hotel room. Tomorrow is our 33rd wedding anniversary, and in spite of how crazy-busy Sherman has been this last week, he still managed to remember to order flowers . . . any wonder that I would follow this man all the way to Chicago?.jpg)
Today was a day "set apart" from others. Many family members were able to join us as Elder Dallin H. Oaks set us apart as full-time missionaries. While that was a wonderful experience, the day was set apart in another way as well. It was plain to Sherman & I, how surrounded we are by amazingly supportive family. Both those present, and those who were not able to be there in person, have done much to encourage us when we have "wondered" if we are truly equal to our new assignment. Thank you to each of you! We love you all!.jpg)
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After Church, the grandsons joined us for a photo of the "future missionary club" as evidenced by their nametags. (Thank you Kati and Suzi for making the nametags happen!) Sherman and I were jealous and wished we had ours!
I'm not sure if we stored up three full years of memories in those three days ... but I think we