Thirty Years Ago

In the spring of 1994 I opened an envelope which contained a call to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, assigned to the Korea, Seoul West Mission. I left for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on I think June 30 (maybe the 29th?), then boarded a plane for Korea on August 30th of the same year. I returned on December 30 of 1995. That mission was quite an experience. I loved it, I struggled so hard, sometimes I think I did some good and sometimes I think I was just a big dork who missed the point of a mission. I'm sure it was both and everything in between as well. 

Oh my gosh. I was so young. And had so much hair. (One second, I need to go cry. Be right back.)

Okay, moving on. Several months ago I started hearing about a mission reunion happening in July. Honestly, I was really nervous to go. I kind of felt like maybe I didn't actually have real close friends from mission. I was definitely feeling more focused on the "I think I might have been an idiot for my whole mission" side of things. I almost didn't go. 

OH MY GOSH I'M SO GLAD I WENT.

The reunion consisted of a whole weekend of events, and I was able to attend three things. 

On Friday night, there was a casual dinner at a Red Robin restaurant. Then on Saturday morning we reserved a whole bunch of seats for a session at the Draper temple. Finally on Saturday evening there was a Korean dinner and program at a stake center in Riverton. There were the fewest people at the Friday night restaurant. At first I was just kind of glomming on to a couple of elders I knew a little bit but not super well. Such nice guys. Funny, both named Elder Richards. One really short, one really tall. Great guys. And then two absolutely wonderful sisters arrived - Sister Bissey and Sister Brown. They actually were companions at the time I arrived in Korea and I spent my first day and night in the mission with them. They just made me feel taken care of. So great to see them! But best of all was towards the end of the evening, probably my best friend from the mission arrived. I honestly didn't expect to see him - I thought he lived in Arizona. His name is Elder Sanders, and we were in the same district in Incheon for a long time. He's just a dear dear friend. We were pretty close when we both got home but of course life happens and we hadn't been in touch for years and years. And the reunion was so sweet. He's just a brother of my heart. 

The next morning was the temple session, and I was able to reconnect with a different group. I was just glowing inside. Elder Little, Sister Backman, and more. 

I had to skip out on lunch at the park that afternoon because of the play at Hale Center Theater, but that night was the Korean dinner. I saw so many more people I was excited to reconnect with. The best was my big buddy Elder Brock from Florida. How cool that he came! He used to call me biscuit. Probably not appropriate for missionaries. But it was never meant in any way but dearest affectionate friends who were getting through missions together. I had been on a zoom call with him a couple of years before and there was no chance to connect because it was a big group. I was nervous he wasn't going to be that happy to see me. But the reunion was joyous, and the first thing he said was, "Biscuit!!!!" I'm grinning right now just thinking about it. I got to meet his wife too, who is just a total sweetheart.

I felt so comforted, like actually I hadn't been just a dork out there. I am so grateful I got to serve that mission. Would I do a better job today than I had when I was 21? Of course. But this reunion helped me feel better about the ways I wasn't perfect and better about the time I spent. That love we all felt was so real. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out.

Elders Mazcheck and Sanders, Korean Sign Language speakers

Elders Brock (Biscuit!) and Acton

My mission president, President Neilsen

Sister Bissey

Elders Little and Richards

Looking for the Bright Side

July. Seems like it has to happen every year. And we do our best to make the most of it. I'm sure it's no secret that July (and let's face it, August too,) are just not my favorite times of the year. I get very grumpy and feel claustrophobic in the heat. I just do not love it. 

I have been trying to remind myself that there are things about July that I actually love. These things occur mostly in the early mornings and the late evenings, but here are some things I love about July.

Fresh tomatoes.

Birds singing early in the morning. 

Flowers on our porch. 

Breathing in the warm summer air late in the evening.

Lying in a hammock. 

Crickets.

Watermelon.

Flip Flops. (Actually I get sick of those and long for my socks and shoes, but it's great at first.)

See, there are good things about summer. I just have to really focus on them and even then I sometimes lose my mind from being too hot and sweaty. 

Some July highlights:

Independence Day. It started out the way we like it - up Millcreek Canyon, with a fire in the pit, biscuits in the dutch oven, and gravy on the stove. We were missing one very important element, and that was our Romney. She had to be at work instead of with us! She spent the day slaving over sandwiches at Great Harvest Bakery. She's a hard worker, that Romney Ann. Weirdly, none of us had the slightest desire to watch fireworks. We went for an evening swim with the Moores and then retreated indoors. Well, Romney didn't. She went to see fireworks. 

Oh! We had a visitor! This little guy came to hang out in our yard all day on the 4th. We think it's a Western Screech Owl. He let us get so close! He did give me a couple of warning clacks with his beak when I got within about 10 feet, but he stuck around for quite some time. I sure hope he was interested in mice and not our chickens. He was quite small, and our chickens weren't nervous at all with him around. So I vote mice. 

Other July events - 

We celebrated the International Day of Play at the hospital. Here I am at one of the play tables with two of my officemates. Actually, former officemates. But that's a different story. 

We had some fun projects get finished up - Emma took an old satchel bag, removed a patch that was on the front of the pocket, and created her own design to embroider on it. This is the Place really got under her skin, I guess! Cute bag.

And I finished her gardenia quilt! Don't look too closely at it - it has a lot of flaws. But I love the design and it's so fun to have it on Emma's bed.

The last Saturday in July was an absolute marathon for me. It involved a 30 year reunion for my mission in South Korea, with events in the morning and evening, and in between Troy and I went to Hale Center Theater to see the son of our dear friends the Tates star as Ren McCormack in Footloose. He was absolutely fantastic. We had such a good time seeing him in the show then going out to lunch with this incredible group of friends.

Farmer Gil Saves the Day

Yes yes, more talk about chickens. Sorry!

We needed to find a new home for Francine. (Formerly Mean Francine, occasionally Franny.) Fran was our oldest chicken, the only remainder from the 2020 flock. We just loved her too much to get rid of her. Problem was, Francine was so freaking LOUD. She was the earliest to rise, and as soon as she did, she'd commence her request to exit the coop by pretty much screaming. She also tried to sound like a rooster. Her obnoxious squawking lasted all day. And if we lived out in the middle of nowhere we'd just get used to her I guess. But we kind of live in fear of making the neighbors angry. One complaint to the city could really be trouble for us. We decided it was time to find her a new home.

Instead of driving to Orem like I have a few times now, I looked again for another place to take in hens. And I found a magical farm. There's this guy named Gil. When I got on the phone with him, he said, "Hi. This is Gil. Gil stands for God is Love." Well hello Gil! This old farmer just doesn't want animals to get killed and he takes them all in. He is the guy to call if you want a petting zoo at your birthday party or if a fair needs an animal show-and-tell. He just takes them all. He's not totally out in the country, but he's out of the way a little. When I asked him if his neighbors minded the roosters he told me that his farm is next to a cemetery and the residents don't seem to mind too much.

So once again, I loaded a chicken into a bucket in my car and drove off to some little random place to deposit a chicken. What made me happy was that when I met Gil, he took Francine into his arms and said, "Oh a sebrite!" Yes sir he knows his chickens. I felt better. Not great, but still better. 

Hopefully Franny is still living her best and really loud life with Farmer Gil.

In the meantime, I have been working really hard to get this new flock comfortable with people, and more friendly than the last bunch. I know the secret. Dried mealworms. Chickens LOVE this treat, and it turns out, if you fill a cup with them and sit on the ground and sprinkle them around, chickens shed all skittishness and basically climb onto your lap and let you pet them while they gobble them up. This is the most tame flock we have ever had. And we are discovering that there can be too much of a good thing. Those gals will flock right up to you and crowd in around your ankles every time you step outside. But I'd rather have friendly birds that like me than a clean porch and freedom to step outside, I guess.

All the Camps

This post will come somewhat out of order because these camps happened at various times over the summer. But I must document in my old-lady complainy way (coining a new term there) that I gave 100% of my PTO plus some to church camps this summer. This is the way it goes when you are the ward young women president and your husband is the stake young men president. 

Early in the summer came stake young women camp. (There are so many iterations of stake/ward/young men/young women that it gets a little comical.) Camp is always held at Aspen Lakes Camp in the beautiful hills above Heber, Utah. Yes, that's right, the very camp I helped clean and open and complain about. Luckily, I was not in charge of this camp in any way. I even have a ward camp director, so my only job is to be supportive. I did not attend all of this camp, but I helped shuttle a van-load of the girls' stuff up to camp, get the girls settled in their camp spot, and then return two days later to spend an evening and sleep over and help clean up and get the girls home in the morning. We have fantastic camp leaders who made the week really meaningful for the girls. I love how our ward is really quite tightly knit. There are only 5 girls in our ward, so it's really small, but they really seem to hold space for each other and really be a supportive little group.

The next camp I was significantly more involved in. Ward level, both young men and young women. It's called Ward Youth Conference. Most wards don't do this every single year, but ours does. We have some strong traditions in the ward that the kids really love - everyone shows up! This is a big deal. Everyone showing up is not a thing that happens very often. We almost always go to Bear Lake. Some years there is a boat, some years not, and all years someone gets badly sunburned. Last year it was Emma. Thankfully this year it was not. (I'm very sorry to Calvin whose turn it was to get sunburned, but he did not listen when I repeatedly told him to apply sunscreen.)

I have never been on the Bear Lake Youth Conference before - all three of my kids have gone multiple times and have been part of establishing the long-held traditions such as playing mafia, playing "dramatic go fish" and going to Zipps for dinner. This was my first time being witness to it all, though, and although it was quite exhausting, I was so happy to be there. Beautiful Bear Lake, happy kids, sweet devotionals, hilarious games, and yummy food. I think my favorite moment was when we were deciding how to divide up the young women into a couple of cars for the ride up and none of them wanted to be separated. We ended up unloading all the gear that had been put into my minivan and finding another spot for it all so all the girls could pile into my car together. Lots of singing happened. LOTS OF SINGING.

Here come a lot of photos which are totally out of order and I don't think I'm going to fix them.

One little alarming thing happened - Emma took a paddle board out onto the lake and I'm happy to say that she was wearing a life jacket, which she wasn't required to because she's older than 14. I was on the shore and everyone else was drifting in from an anchored floating trampoline thing that we had rented. I just kept watching Emma get farther and farther away, and the next thing I knew she was in the water next to the paddle board. Everyone else was gone but me and the bishop's wife Ellie. She and I looked at each other and just grabbed a kayak and headed out into the water to snag Emma, who was steadily floating out to sea because it was so windy. I know it wasn't a big deal - she had a life jacket on, she was calm, but I was totally freaked out thinking of her being powerless in the water. I'm grateful for Ellie who is way stronger than I am and helped me get to Emma in a hurry. Grateful she was nearby when I noticed Emma.

Anyway, it was a wonderful few days.

Later in the summer came...Stake Young Men Camp. (Cue the foreboding music.) Troy has been in charge of this camp for four years, and it's pretty stressful for him. In the spring when we started planning, I hadn't yet been asked to be the yw president. I thought it might be nice to take a load off of his shoulders and do the cooking for camp. He was relieved and grateful when I offered. Little did I know that I'd have plenty going on already with other camps over the summer, but I'm not at all sorry that I was there with Troy. It was really nice to be together, and the food was kind of fun. I kept it very simple, and did any of the real cooking at home before camp. I got some quiet time to myself and got to support Troy during a very busy week. 

And...I don't have a single photo from camp. That's funny. I thought I had a few but no. 

So there you go. Camps and camps and camps. And fun. And work. And missing a lot of work at the very same time. I have great memories of it all and also yay that summer is over!