The Happiest Place on Earth

We finished up the week with more interviews....



This is the High Plains Zone... I have had a wonderful time talking to them and getting to know them better. I've been so impressed with the Young Men and Women they are. We talked about their homes and families. Some had photo books so I got to see what their families and lives look like. We talked about the prettiest spots in the mission. The answers vary by where home is. For some it's the Valley; others said Salida, and still others Castle Rock and Larkspur because  of the view of the Rockies. Now that we've been around the mission, I can honestly say they're all my favorite. Questions that they have asked me, What do I like best about coming on a mission and being in Colorado? My number two answer ...when our car navigation tells us "slow traffic ahead", we look around and wonder where. Colorado Springs traffic is so different from LA traffic. My #1 favorite thing? ...Meeting and being with all of them.

Friday night we drove out to Manitou Springs area for a Baptismal Interview. It was late in the evening when we were done so we had just a brief date night at a place called The Dive..

We have now officially been to all three Triple D's Diners..Drive In's and this is our Dive.

I tried a local favorite called a slopper...it's and open face burger with green chili on it.

This baptism was so sweet. I visited with the family while President Stevenson conducted the baptismal interview. The mom is a widow and active member of the church;  her son and his new wife (the one baptized) of just 3 weeks at the time are a great help to her. Helping her take care of the upkeep of the home. The wife who was baptized has been taking the missionary discussions and loves the gospel. When she became interested in the gospel she brought her boyfriend--now her husband--back to church with her. He had stopped coming to church when he was 14. All these years his mother loved him and prayed for him...and is now seeing him become an active member and working toward the temple in a year. She was baptized by her Brother in Law. She came up out of the water just beaming. She said I don't think I remember ever feeling this happy before. Answers to a mother's prayers do happen.

Our Elders

After the Baptism we drove down to Manassa for Manassa Days. There are a ton of photos so It will be a separate post.

Last but not least, we met for interviews with the Castle Rock Zone.

These sweet sisters serve in the Castle Rock Ward with a family we knew were in our mission.

Jerome and Ardel Gienger. I've known the Giengers since I was 13 or 14 years old when they were a newly married couple. Our families were stationed in Germany together...and then we were in Provo together at BYU when Jerome was in Grad School and we were just a newly engaged and then newly married couple...we watched the BYU Miracle Game (1980 Holiday Bowl) at their home. I'm so excited to get to see them again. 💕 the Giengers. 

Aren't they and amazing group? We're so excited to serve with them.

The President Stance

One interesting question I got was: Were you and President Stevenson talked about at General Conference? My answer was, no...the nearest I came to that is the patriarch, Brother Peter Mourik, who gave me my blessing was talked about in General Conference. Brother Mourik was the Patriarch for the Service Men's Stake I lived in in Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl8V8aZB_wg

The missionaries then told me: We had a visiting General Authority here. He told us about a Stake President and his wife who had season passes to Disneyland. They went often with their children,  grandchildren, friends, and often for Date Nights. When they discovered how many times they had been to Disneyland and compared it to the number of times they had been to the temple--which was at least monthly but usually twice a month--they decided that they should attend the temple at least as many times as they went to Disneyland...the speaker ended with "that Stake President and Wife are your New Mission President and wife."

The missionaries asked: "Is that story true? Are you the Stake President and his wife?" IT IS! And We ARE!?!? ...... I don't know how a General Authority heard that story. President Stevenson used that story in a Stake Conference, but there were no visiting Authorities there, to encourage members of our Stake to think about their temple attendance and maybe increase it to as often as the times they do something they enjoy. That the temple is truly "the Happiest Place on Earth" and we should enjoy spending time there as much as we enjoy doing other things. I had been to Disneyland 39 times in less than a year. During that year I had also accepted the invitation to be an Ordinance Worker in the temple. We also decide to spend as many Date Nights at the temple as we did at Disneyland and during the time following the discovery attend the temple far many more times than Disneyland. Our temple President and Matron were there at our stake conference...and at other Stake Conferences invited the Members to spend more time at "the Happiest Place on Earth" ...the Redlands Temple.